We've all been there. We struggle with unanswered prayer. We identify with the old spiritual, "Nobody knows the trouble I've seen." The old landmarks seem to have slipped away. We worry about job security, terrorism, or health care. We wonder if we can pay the mortgage.
Sometimes our prayers stick in our throats and the psalmist's lament becomes our own: "Has his steadfast love ceased forever?" "Are his promises at an end?" This is the street where most of us live.
Rev. Roger Lovett, Reflections on the Lectionary, The Christian Century, June 15, 2010.
Was it Anne Lamott who said the two most common prayers are "Help me, help me," and Thank you, thank you"?
ReplyDeleteI'm continually surprised at how mainline faiths often gloss over the hard lives their congregants sometimes live. Usually, there's just a fleeting reference on Sunday mornings to those who struggle, as though people in the pews prefer not to acknowledge this reality.
ReplyDeleteFrom afar, those less fortunate often view churchgoers as the smug and the lucky.