Living with Christ Morning Prayer

Living with Christ Morning Prayer
February 3, 2014


They began to beg him to leave their district.

Jesus, as I go about my day today,
I wonder: what do you want me
to hear in this gospel?

To be honest, it makes me
a little afraid of you.
This is not an "I am meek and humble
of heart" kind of gospel.
This is a dramatic story
of cosmic forces and divine power.

And this is probably not the way
the Gerasenes expected
their day to unfold.
There they were, going about
their business as usual,
when you step out of a boat
and turn their world upside down.
They'd surely be grateful to you
for curing their very scary wild man.
But in the process,
you kill 2000 of their pigs,
thereby probably destroying
their whole economy.

Jesus, I have enough worries and concerns.
I don't need to face anything new or unexpected.
But odds are, at some point today or soon,
you will step out of a boat
and turn my life upside down.
Like the Gerasenes, I will probably
beg you to leave me alone.

Do not listen to me then, Lord;
do not leave me.
Be as gentle as you can with me,
but touch me with
the wild power of your love.
Amen.

Prayer for Today

Lord, Jesus Christ, let me seek you by desiring you, and let me desire you by seeking you, and let me desire you by seeking you. Let me find you by loving you and love you by finding you, I confess. Lord, with thanksgiving, that I am made in your image, so that I can remember you, think of you, and love you. I do not seek to understand so that I can believe, but believe so that I may understand. And, what is more, I believe that unless I do believe. I shall not understand.

- St Anselm of Canterbury