God.

Sometimes that’s as far as we can get.

We say your name; our hearts and knees collapse.

You know, we believe, the aches we are bearing:
broken bodies, broken hearts, broken dreams.

You know, we believe, our desires for restoration of every sort.

You know, we believe, our frail faith,
our fragile trust, in you, in others, in ourselves.

You know, God, because you saw this, Jesus.

Not from a distance. But with your own eyes, and your own ears.

You heard the grief in your mother’s voice.

You heard the anxiousness in conversations with people that you loved deeply.

And you walked away from fixing each of those moments and walked, then limped, toward a cross and death and resurrection.

When we say your name and collapse, you kneel in understanding. You lift our concerns to God the father with compassion. The Spirit is present with comfort and courage.

For us each and all, today, God I ask for you.

In your healing and power, in your forgiveness and presence, in your word and withness, I ask for you.

Through Christ our Lord.

Amen.