The Pastor’s Desk

Grace and peace be with you all!

What is your go to prayer? Do you have one? And what I mean by go to prayer, is what is the prayer you prayer when everything feels like its falling apart and you want to talk to God but you are at a loss for words. I ask because as I look at the news and witness so much tragedy in the world and then see the response of my colleagues I realized that many us, who most would assume always have a prayer ready to go, have a go to prayer for when we don’t have the words ourselves.

One colleague shared on Facebook that she prays “I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sin, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen.” Another person shared that they pray from the book of Job “the Lord giveth, and the Lord taketh away. Blessed be the Lord. Amen.” Mine is often “Oh Lord deep sigh you know. Amen.” I am thankful that the Holy Spirit is the one who steps in when I need to pray with someone and don’t always know what to say. But when its just me, and I desperately need to talk to God and I don’t know what to say I’m glad that I found something that works as a prayer for me and allows me to then sit back and listen and lean into whatever feelings I’m feeling at the time.

Do you have something similar? Maybe it’s a prayer you learned as a child, or one you read, or one that you heard a loved one say, or maybe its just a sigh too deep for words and yet God (mercifully, thankfully) understands everything in that sigh. What a gift to have a God that understands us even when we don’t have the right words, or the pretty words. For that we give thanks. Amen.