Content on Friday, Praying about Sunday

I spent this Friday morning getting ready for Sunday morning. Little ironic considering so much of it has to do with being content with where you are today instead of thinking about things to come. How do you memorize a sermon 48 hours early when the sermon is supposed to be about being present in "The Now"?

 

One way is to keep a keen focus on prayer. I am grateful that my friend Scot posts daily prayers each day during this Lenten season from one of our favorite writers. I hope it speaks to you today. Today’s prayer is adapted from Henri Nouwen's, Show Me the Way (55-57):

 

Lord God,

I am learning the secret of being content

in more and more circumstances,

but that does not mean

that I am satisfied with the status quo. 

I believe that I,

like all your sons and daughters everywhere,

have an essential role to play

in the realization of the new world to come,

in the realization of your will being done

on earth as it is heaven. 

So I keep searching for your new earth

where there are no divisions between peoples,

for your new structure

that allows every person to warmly embrace

every other person,

and for your new life

in which there will be lasting unity and peace. 

I structure and arrange my life accordingly.

I am irritated by self-content in myself

as well as in others

since I know,

with an unshakable certainty,

that something great is coming

of which I have already seen

the first rays of light. 

I believe that this world not only passes

but has to pass

in order to let the new world be born. 

But I will not despair

when I do not see the results I want to see. 

For in the midst of my work

I keep hearing the words of the One sitting on the throne:

"I am making the whole of creation new."