The Reverend Christine V. Hides
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Loving God, giver of life, light of the world, and eternal spirit:
Yours is the morning stillness that makes the dew drops dazzle and illuminates the crisping leaves,
Yours are the still waters reflecting blue-puffy-cloud skies.
Yours are the widening ripples of turtle heads and water bugs on the calm, mirrored surface.
Here in this sanctuary, let the busy edges dissolve, give us a different ear, tuned to your whisperings,
a more perceptive eye, focused on your movement.
Out of the quiet, be the incarnational presence that emerges.
You meet us in the unexpected quiet:
The moment before the bus rattles down the street, the short second after the carpool door closes,
The fleeting moment before naptime ends, on the park bench inviting us to pause, and in the peaceful moment at our desk.
You meet us on the evening walk, and the dog who nuzzles into our lap.
You meet us at the bedside in the shallow breath and the warm hand extended wordlessly in the waiting room.
Lord, be the calm that quiets our clamoring questions:
Will I get in? Will I be liked? Will it be enough? Will this work out? Will this be the end?
Lead us to that still place of steady inhale and exhale, breath after breath
Where your presence hovers over the clamor, filling us with peace beyond understanding.
Let your stillness fill us and dwell in us, that we might join you in the long work for peace and justice in an endlessly loud world.
Let listening lead us into the conversation that needs to break into our understanding.
Be, O God, mental wellness resources that calm the raging mind, the steady hand that stills the one reaching for a weapon
The food that stills the hungering stomach.
Be O God, the still small voice of wisdom that quiets the room where decisions are made about the fragile margins
Where healthcare, food, water, and basic necessities are not guaranteed.
Steady the ground trembling with the shock and the mounting losses from the earthquake in Morocco. Make a way for rescue and response. Wrap your comfort around those who wait and those who grieve.
Be the calm and steady flow of supplies and recovery teams after Idalia and the Maui fire.
Calm the storms forming over the oceans and steer them from landfall.
In your holy stillness, Eternal God, meet us in our beliefs and doubts. Meet us in the wind through the trees, the steady sound of waves, and the plinking rain shower. Meet us as we pray the words Jesus, calmer of the seas, teaches us: Our Father…. Amen.