A Retiree's Prayer--Jan. 4, 2019

[From Jan. 4, 2011; adapted from my Jan. 4, 2003 journal]

Lord, I am feeling old and unimportant,

glories of the past long disappeared.

What can replace them?

You answer with a question,

“Have I been with you so long,

and still you do not know me?”

You turned Moses aside on Mt. Horeb

to make him see the burning bush;

turn me aside and make me see.

From preoccupation with my losses

turn me to see abiding joy

in those who live with you.

From complaining of what ails me,

show me hungry, thirsty mothers,

children dangling in their arms.

As Moses shared ill-treatment of his people,

grant me strength to work for welfare

of the persecuted and oppressed.

May my source of pride be in your name;

my identity, a member of your people;

my importance, only that you love me.

Lectionary Readings

Ps. 20; 148; 93; 97

Exod. 3:1-5

Heb. 11:23-31

John 14:6-14

Selected Verses

Ps. 20:7

Some take pride in chariots, and some in horses,

            but our pride is in the name of the LORD our God.

Exod. 3:2

There [at Horeb] the angel of the LORD appeared to [Moses] in a flame of fire out of a bush; he looked, and the bush was blazing, yet it was not consumed.

Heb. 11:24-25

By faith Moses, when he was grown up, refused to be called a son of Pharaoh's daughter, choosing rather to share ill-treatment with the people of God than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin.

John 14:9a

Jesus said to him, "Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and you still do not know me? …"