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January is often a time of starting again to incorporate new practices and disciplines into our lives.  Today, through this prayer from Walter Brueggemann, we ask for God to help us to open ourselves once again to the words of life he speaks, words that sustain, encourage and nourish us.

We try, as best we can, to live by bread alone

We try, as best we can, to live by bread alone,
    or pie or cake or sweet rolls.
And then comes your word! In our hearing we are reminded that
    we live by every word that proceeds from your mouth,
    promise and gifts,
    blessings and threats,
    summons and commands,
    assurances and requirements.
We thank you for bread, and for the many cakes, pies and sweet rolls
    that inhabit our life of privilege.  While we munch,
    give us ears, make us better listeners,
    give us patience with our odd utterances,
        we vow to listen.
We pray in the name of your fleshed utterance become our bread.
Amen.

May God’s blessing be upon you today,
Dianne

(Prayer from: Awed to Heaven, Rooted in Earth: Prayers of Walter Brueggemann, Edited by Edwin Searcy, Fortress Press Minneapolis 2003. page 67.)