Prayers of the People, The University Church in Yale
June 30, 2013
Friends, today we have come to the balancing point:
poised perfectly between January and December,
barely a week past the solstice,
long luminous evenings and early mornings flooding the days with light
even though we know, yes, we know
the tide of daylight will reverse and ebb
before it rises once more.
We stand at the balancing point on this thirtieth day of June
and it seems that these days will last forever:
warm humid air, the flow of wind, sun and cloud,
bursts of rain flickering across the landscape.
And yet it also seems that these days are slipping through our hands so fast—
trickling into nothingness like so many grains of sand
as deadlines approach and pass,
we make preparations to move or to settle into new homes,
we leave and acquire new positions and new jobs,
we struggle with change amid stasis.
So we come to you in prayer, O God,
you who can hold time and timelessness,
you who are eternity,
you who renew the earth daily.
Hold us when our hearts tremble with joy, sorrow, and bittersweet longing.
Walk with us when we walk with those among us
who are suffering in body, mind, and spirit.
Breathe your constant assurance into our hands and feet and lips
as we begin to build your kingdom,
bringing good news to all who seek it.
Nourish those who hunger for you; refresh those who faint for you;
comfort those who weep for you.
God of the balancing point,
God of the bitter and the sweet:
strengthen us for the living of these days.
Amen.
