Saturday Prayer: All the words

Holy God who spoke the world into being,
Ignorant, hurtful, hateful words from this week churn in our hearts.
Sacred texts wrestle with our mundane vocabularies to form words for our soon-to-be-preached sermons.
The words around us wound or comfort or distract.
The words within us spin, swirl, and blur.
All of these words that we hold;
These words with which you have entrusted us;
These words that we are called to contradict, to carry, to craft–
It’s a lot to ask of us.
Sometimes the words overwhelm.
Remind us, God, then remind us again:
Your Word is life.
Your Word is light.
Your Word is full of grace,
full of truth.
Your Word became the flesh and blood of Jesus
who endured many ignorant, hurtful, hateful words;
who spoke in an earthy vocabulary of birds and plants and parties and love.
Whatever words we hear,
Whatever words tumble through our thoughts,
Let yours be the Word we speak.
Let yours be the Word we live.
Amen.

Rev. Joanna Harader serves as pastor of Peace Mennonite Church in Lawrence, KS. You can read more of her words on her blog: SpaciousFaith.com. 

RevGalBlogPals encourages you to share our blog posts via email or social media. We do not grant permission to cut-and-paste prayers and articles without a link back. For permission to use material in paper publications, please email revgalblogpals at gmail dot com.