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As we prepare to remember All Saints Day and to, more intentionally, recognize that we are part of the great cloud of witnesses who have followed Jesus throughout the centuries, we turn to this prayer written by Walter Brueggemann and say together words that have be said by the saints throughout the ages. 

You with ears bent close to our lips

You, you are the one we address,
    always you,
    only you … who has given us life,
            who waits for us to answer.
We, toward you, speak and remain toungue-tied,
    for we lack words that are honest enough,
            and dangerous enough,
            and fierce enough to match you.
We do not speak first, but after our mothers and fathers,
    who knew cadences of honesty about our troubles,
    who knew cadences of danger about your presence,
    who knew cadences of fierceness to fit our rage and loss.
So we speak to you words that we have always spoken:
    words of praise and adoration:
        … into your gates with thanksgiving,
        into your courts with praise…
    words of confession and remorse:
        … against you and only you have we sinned …
    words of thanks and astonishment:
        … you have turned our mourning into dancing …
    words of rage unabated:
        … dash their heads against the rocks.
So many words we need to speak
    to you from whom no secret can ben hid,
    you beyond us, you with us, you for us,
    you with ears bent close to our lips,
You … and our woes turned toward you, always you, only  you,
    yet again you.
Amen.

(Poem from: Awed to Heaven, Rooted in Earth: Prayers of Walter Brueggemann, Edited by Edwin Searcy, Fortress Press Minneapolis 2003. page 12.)

May God’s blessing be upon you today,
Dianne

Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash