Broadway Baptist Pastoral Prayer, 10/11/2015
Rev. Chris Caldwell, Pastor
Prayer preceded by anthem, “My Wordless Prayer,” by Craig Courtney
My words lie still and lifeless as dust upon the sand, I can no longer voice one request or one demand. My cup of tears is empty, I can no longer cry, my lips have fallen silent, my prayer is but a sigh. Spirit, come and rest Your ear upon my heart, O come and hear my wordless prayer, my silent plea and take them far away from me. Take them from this ear of mine to the Father’s heart divine. Speak in tones unknown to man that God may hear and understand. My voice is weak from calling to You both night and day. How long will You be silent? Why do You turn away?
Spirit, come and rest Your ear upon my heart, O come and hear my wordless prayer, my silent plea and take them far away from me. Take them from this ear of mine to the Father’s heart divine. Speak in tones unknown to man that God may hear and understand.
Spirit, come and rest Your ear upon our hearts.
Come and hear what others cannot hear.
Come and see what we dare not share.
O come and hear our wordless prayer,
Secrets we do not tell
Memories we do not recount
We offer you in prayer the anxious thoughts that come to us in the night
The lonely thoughts that come to us in the morning
The worried thoughts that come to us at work.
And we give thanks that we do not have to put these silent pleas into words,
Because we are not sure we could.
These yearnings are hard to name,
Our failings are hard to describe.
We are people of unclean lips and unclear paths.
We are a people of untrue words and unkept promises.
And so hear what our words cannot say,
Receive what our hearts cannot speak,
As, in the language of your Spirit, we offer you
Who we truly are
What we’ve truly done
Who we long to be
What we fear we are losing
The pain of what we have lost
And the hope of being made whole.
These things we offer you as our prayer, and our silent plea.
Amen