RevJSS's Evening Prayers

It is a blessing to asked to officiate at the rituals that mark important life events. It’s one of the peculiarities of this calling that I particularly cherish, God. Thank you for this privilege and honor. Amen.

I’m grateful that you know it all, that I don’t need to explain myself to you. And I’m grateful that I can let it go—all of it—to your care as I turn to the blissful job of resting. And I’m grateful that I can embody your perfect love imperfectly tomorrow and that you will value it. Amen.

Thank you, Stillspeaking God, for all the ways you communicate—through scripture and prayer, through poets and fellow journeyers, through gentle nudges and strangely warmed hearts, and even through the occasional neon sign. I hope I was listening well today. Amen.

Flexibility. That’s the word for the day, God. Flexibility. Thank you that I have a job that offers enough flexibility that I can take care of personal things when they come up. Amen.

I have many reasons to be grateful tonight, God—a comfortable home with a comfortable bed, a good night’s sleep, caring friends and professionals in my life, a great chorus I get to sing with—just to name a few. All that said, what I’m most deeply grateful for tonight is the fact that I live in a representative democracy where my vote matters and that we citizens have a voice in choosing our representatives at all levels of government … and that I got to engage in that practice today. I was at rehearsal tonight, so I haven’t heard reports of early returns, not that they really matter. It will take at least a day to count the collected mail-in ballots, and others will dribble in during the coming days. As I said in my sermon on Sunday: we don’t know what will happen until it does. Tonight, I’ll just be thankful that I got a say and so did with my neighbors. Amen.

At the same time, I’m feeling loved—and that is SO much more important to me. Thank you for your love and the love I experience from others and the love I have received over the years from beloved ones who now rest in you. Amen. 

And now, a new month is about to begin. The work continues because the call continues. And I know that you will be the constant through it all. One more reason that I am deeply grateful. Amen.

Loving One, thank you for my families—my family of birth and my family of choice. Thank you for the love that flows through and from them both. Thank you for the belonging we birth. Thank you for circles of care we create. Thank you for memories we share. Amen.

God, I love teaching. And I got to do it again today. Thank you! Amen.

What a gift to get an unexpected phone call from one of my sisters today. I don’t know if you nudged her to call me, God, or if it was just good luck, but I needed that call. On this the anniversary of her death, I’ve been missing Lizann much more than usual, and while folk have been supportive, sometimes I just need family. Thank you that I am loved. Amen.

Really, God, what was important about today was being there to listen to some friends and to be holding them now in your light. Thank you that I could do and can do that for them. Amen.

It was a gentle day for me, God, and I appreciate that. I know there are far too many people struggling and I know there isn’t anything particularly special about me that makes me deserving of a gentle day more than anyone else. That makes me all the more appreciative that is was just that—gentle. I pray that I may reflect that gentleness into the world for others tomorrow. Amen.

Thank you, God, for helping me pull my sermon together; I ended up liking it both an offering of good news and as an example of descent-enough writing. Thank you for a quiet afternoon that allowed me to leave the office by 5:30 feeling not further behind. Thank you for Heather Cox Richardson, for her knowledge of history, and for her clarity of writing. And thank you that I am not far from heading the bed for another night’s sleep. Amen.

Thank you, Loving One, for the simplicity of today and the possibilities of tomorrow. Amen.

I’m not sure why I’m telling you this, God. Maybe I’m telling myself more than I’m telling you. Maybe naming the feeling of restlessness tonight is what’s important. (I did have to sift through quite a few feelings with a “no, that’s not quite it” before I found the right one.) Or maybe what’s important is that we can sit together, that you will listen to me and that I can listen to you. That we can sigh and hope and wonder together. That we can simply be. Thank you for journeying with me through life. Amen.

I confess that I sometimes hide in my work, God. It’s been a very busy week, so it’s been easy to hide in my work from the violence yet one more faith community experienced on Monday. Thank you for today's opportunity to come out of my hiding. Thank you that there was community to stand with as we acknowledged the pain, the heroism, the trauma, the hope, the evil, and the love that all exist as we process what happened. Thank you that there was community to stand with. Amen.

Thank you for the resources—material, intellectual, emotional, and spiritual—that I have access to. Help me to be a good steward of them. Amen.