Here’s a pastoral prayer inspired by the journey of the Magi
(Matthew 2: 1-12). It was written by Dr. Susan M. (Elli) Elliott, and posted on
her Sermons & Prayers website.
Prayer for use with Matthew 2:1-12
Light-giving God –
We are magi on a caravan of lumbering hope,
traveling through grinding wind and glaring sun,
chill clear nights and skin-baking days.
We come to seek Your light.
We come lumbering in hope, each of us on our own
life’s journey –
traveling through times of loneliness and fear,
through heartbreak and anger,
through grief and loss,
through economic uncertainty,
through fear for loved ones caught up in war,
through our own private crises,
through the extended shock of horrific images of
hurricanes and genocide,
through struggles with the mental illness of a
child,
the disintegration of a parent,
the simple letting go of a child more ready to be an
adult
than we are ready to allow their growth,
through the changes in a new marriage,
the welcoming of a new child,
the completion of a degree,
the vision emerging in a new work of art.
We come lumbering in hope on a journey of joys and
sorrows.
We come as magi to seek Your light.
But Light-giving God,
we admit that we are also Herod the King,
trembling in fear at the news of the rising of Your
light.
We admit that we are afraid that the light of Your
truth may indeed rise,
and it may be threatening to us.
Like Herod,
we fear the rise of the truth of the harm we have
done to others
to build our own palaces and to fortify our own
power;
we fear the rise of the truth that lies beneath
the political spin we put on our own lives;
we fear to admit to ourselves the truth that may
rise within us
as we acknowledge the pain of what we have done to
others
and what others have done to us.
Light-giving God,
we come as trembling Herod, afraid of Your light.
But Light-giving God,
we are also magi wrapped in joy
to arrive at the manger that cradles Your light.
We greet the rising light that Herod so fears.
We, too, fear this light, this truth.
For here we meet Your light and truth,
the truth of our own powerlessness.
We are magi, wise and respected sages.
We are Herod the King, holding wealth and power.
Yet we are no more than this helpless infant,
no more than human flotsam on the tidal wave of
time,
human beings, no more and no less.
Light-giving God,
let us sit in stillness in the light of this truth
of our powerlessness,
until we can see Your real light cradled here,
until we are enveloped in the assuring light of this
truth,
until we shine in the light of the common humanity
You reveal to us here.
Light-giving God.
We lumber together in hope as Your church to lift
Your Light.
Let the light that we lift be this light visible in
the manger.
Let us lift not the light of our congratulation of
ourselves,
not the light of belief in our own superiority,
not the light of our belief in our own narrow
presuppositions,
not even the light of our own church.
Let us lift the light from You that we can encounter
here,
the light of the power You make known to us
in the truth of our powerlessness,
the light we can see as we sit quietly as magi at
the manger
learning to be at ease with our common humanity,
learning to be at ease with You.
Let this be the light we lift as a beacon
in the darkness we know best.
As we lift that light,
may we too be lifted to know
the true power that lies among us
waiting to rise as a beacon of our true hope. Amen.
~
written by Dr. Susan M. (Elli) Elliott, January 9, 2005/revised 2008. If you
use this material, please credit Dr. Susan M. (Elli) Elliott. Source: http://ellielliott.webs.com/sermonsprayers.htm
