A Lenten Prayer….
On this first Sunday of our Lenten journey, here is a prayer for our pilgrimage from Ash and Starlight….
Redeeming One,
You came, Jesus, to show me the
best way to live and walk this path.
You let yourself feel the depth
of need surrounding you.
You kept a purity of focus.
You always, always chose love.
All with bravery and trust.
I need you, Jesus, to walk
beside me now,
helping me reflect,
confess, prepare…
This Lenten path puts before me
the questions and realizations
I so often stuff away.
With each step, I’m recognizing
barriers built through my
rote habits and unrealized prejudices,
my base-line grudges and routine neglects…
I must acknowledge compromises
that drew me further away
from my own soul and your calling.
But I’m coming back home.
Hone my desires to that
pure focus you held.
Help me fast from self-absorption,
finding my sustenance in the
rich profundity of suffering-love.
Draw my heart and feet forward
on this path that’s both total mystery
and innate to who I am in you.
A minor melody marks our cadence,
yet you tune my ears for more than that.
Resurrection is always the final number.
Help me walk, Savior Lord,
with hope amid heaviness,
ears to the ground.
I will welcome my mortality
and the potential in ashes and dust.
Amen.
Psalm 51:17 * Isaiah 53:4-6 * Luke 9:23-24
“If any want to become my followers,
let them deny themselves and take up
their cross daily and follow me…” Luke 9:23