John Lewis: “….get in good trouble, necessary trouble."
Marcia loved to sing this
prayer of St. Francis of Assisi…both for the melody and the lyrics, and I loved
to hear her sing it!
Lord, make me an
instrument of your peace:
where there is hatred,
let me sow love;
where there is injury,
pardon;
where there is doubt,
faith;
where there is despair,
hope;
where there is darkness,
light;
where there is sadness,
joy.
O divine Master, grant
that I may not so much seek
to be consoled as to
console,
to be understood as to
understand,
to be loved as to love.
For it is in giving that
we receive,
it is in pardoning that
we are pardoned,
and it is in dying that
we are born to eternal life.
Then along came the
famous author Anon., who penned a flip side to that beautiful prayer. It sort of follows the thinking of John Lewis,
and, I’m liking it!
The
Reverse Prayer of St. Francis
Dear Lord, make me a
channel of disturbance.
Where there is apathy,
let me provoke.
Where there is
compliance, let me bring questioning.
Where there is silence,
may I be a voice.
Where there is too much comfort
and too little action, grant disruption.
Where there are doors
closed and hearts locked, grant me the willingness to listen.
When laws dictate and
pain is overlooked, when tradition speaks louder than need…grant that I may
seek rather to do justice than to talk about it.
Disturb us, O Lord.
to be with, as well as
for the alienated,
to love the unlovable as
well as the lovely.
Lord, make me a channel
of disturbance.
It’s a prayer for us to
consider in 2024. I think the good St. Francis would agree!
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