A PRAYER FOR THE 22nd SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST

A PRAYER FOR THE 22nd SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST

Jeremiah 31:31-34

31 The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah. 32 It will not be like the covenant that I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt—a covenant that they broke, though I was their husband,[a] says the Lord. 33 But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 34 No longer shall they teach one another, or say to each other, “Know the Lord,” for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, says the Lord; for I will forgive their iniquity, and remember their sin no more.

We long to know your way Lord

to live in the ways of truth

We dwell in a land of messages

of avarice and greed

selfish wants and unfulfilled dreams

Each voice crying for us to follow

to happiness and unending desires

Place upon our hearts the knowledge 

that in you all our needs are met

all our wants are filled

our life whole and complete

We long to know your way Lord

to live in the ways of hope

We feel so much despair around us

mountains of gloom

oceans of anguish

that drown us in waves

of sorrow and surrender

Burn your hope into our hearts

Plant within a vision of your kingdom

where the lamb and the lion lie together

joy is known on every street

and every village and town

We long to know your way Lord

to live in the ways of peace

We live in a time of constant war

Struggles for power and riches

Tyrants triumph and hatred reigns

making widows and orphans 

Dead stacked upon dead

Light the flames of peace upon our hearts

Sow the strength to love our enemies

and the courage to turn our swords into plowshares

and study war never more

We long to know your way Lord

to live in the ways of truth

hope and peace

Write them upon our hearts

that we may walk always in your way

Amen