(a reflection and a prayer in the wake of a series of chilling atrocities)

Lord of my soul and Lord over my life,

This is the life as we know it:

News, 24/7. Noise. Senses horrified. Unimaginable chaos.

(Well, our imaginations are tainted, seared, and we’re hardly surprised)

Violence, anguish, discord.

Loss. Suffering. Trauma. Retraumatisation. Beleaguered lives.

Inescapable. Inexorable. Contemptible. Insane.

Antipathy against You, Your Good, Perfect, Peaceable Will.

It’s too easy to deny, so sensible to escape.

But living in this divisive world brings no such reality.

Yet, You are our Father.

And, You are the Light of the World, precious Jesus.

God, Your Spirit shines out of us into our world.

Your Spirit, Your Life, Your Glory, Your Love.

If we let it. If we would.

Let it, Lord. Let it be as You will.

Change my thinking. Subsume my thought.

Chastise the instinctiveness of my reaction. My humanity. My ‘wisdom’.

Make me to be still and quiet. To hear Your voice placating, settling, soothing.

Advise me in my response, how, right here, to allow Your Light to shine out of me. And nothing else.

Make Your ways mine, at my surrender this moment, and moment by moment; my worship.

Such a motivation, and such empowering, can only come from You, alone. I need You.

Quell the darkness, Lord, which makes its haven within. Let Your Light have its way.

Make me to belong here, to believe, and to behave as You have imagined me to.

Make me merciful and compassionate to all persons, all the time.

Help me be who You have created me to be. Today. All ways.

AMEN.