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!