A Rare Prayer...

...instigated by Isaiah 61
The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me,
because the LORD has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim freedom for the captives
and release from darkness for the prisoners,
to proclaim the year of the LORD’s favor
and the day of vengeance of our God,
to comfort all who mourn,
and provide for those who grieve in Zion—
to bestow on them a crown of beauty
instead of ashes,
the oil of joy
instead of mourning,
and a garment of praise
instead of a spirit of despair.
They will be called oaks of righteousness,
a planting of the LORD
for the display of his splendor.
They will rebuild the ancient ruins
and restore the places long devastated;
they will renew the ruined cities
that have been devastated for generations.

Oh Abba, how you gather in the marginalized and the wilderness dwellers, the disinherited and the disenchanted, how you bring us in close and wrap us up in your chest and call us your heart. How your Love envelops and enlivens us, pouring into us like a mother’s breast milk. How you heal our broken legs and broken hearts and set us free to go and live and be and do. We are enchanted with you. You are our inheritance. How strange that you have chosen us to rebuild that which has been broken, to restore and renew. But how apt, for we are those who have been broken by the broken things of this world; we have felt its cracks all around and through us. We know this brokenness more than we know our own hearts. And you are teaching us to be Rebuilders, Renewers, Restorers. You are taking us back to the soul of your creation, to the Garden of Eden, and we are bringing everyone we know. Abba, Abba, Abba, we are so weak and we forget and we hurt and we are numb and hardened and vulnerable and aching. But you—you are the Revealer of Mysteries. Open our eyes to this Mystery. May it be our one holy Myth.