Holy God:
We give you thanks and praise for the beauty of this day and for all the promise it offers. We thank you for life, for joy, for every opportunity to walk with you as children of the light.
An old hymn has the line, “prone to wander, Lord I feel it, prone to leave the God I love.” We all, like sheep, have gone astray. We are all prone to wander. We have times when our hearts are completely wrapped up in your heart and we can’t imagine that we would ever stray. And then, one day, we wake up and wonder if we even know how to pray. We feel as if we are merely going through the motions. We may look just the same on the outside, but inside, we are like the Prodigal Son, lost in a far off country.
As easily as we wander, we quickly judge others when they wander. We want everyone else to be held to high standards. We get tired of always doing your business of drawing back the wanderers to your fold. We want people to take responsibility and do right without having to be helped all the time. When they wander, we often act as if they should do some penance before they are fully celebrated in the family.
Cleanse our hearts and give us a new view of your heart. Give us a heart like the shepherd who left the ninety-nine to go looking for the sheep, whose heart was full of joy when he found it, who celebrated and put the lost sheep on his shoulders because he was so happy to have found it. Give us a heart like the father of the prodigal son, who threw a party when his son returned because he had been lost and now was found, dead and now alive. Help us to find our greatest joy in the finding of the lost. Help us to remember, and perhaps to know for the first time, the joy that comes from being lost and then being found by your love and grace.
Amen.
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