Prayers around the table

Compiled by Amanda Pink

Jesus,
There is a lot going on right now.
I don’t how this is all going to play out.
It feels like we are on the edge of something
and I’m not sure how I feel about it.
This not knowing,
this tension in the air -
It’s hard to bear well.

You see that, don’t you?
How I am caught between
temptations to flee,
temptations to fight,
and temptations to betray you
in order to force a resolution.

Apparently you see the goodness in me also;
the family likeness that is woven into my DNA
and is not to be denied;
the potential for being part of growing something good
that you saw when you called me;
and all the ways I have matured in love
as you have been leading and guiding me
in our time together so far.

Knowing me as you do,
here you are now, inviting me to this, your table,
making a space for me here.
In the midst of all this
you open out your hands and offer me gifts that I sometimes forget I need:

Nourishment
Thanksgiving
Humility
Conviction
Forgiveness
Fellowship
Yourself

Thank you, Jesus.
Thank you, thank you, Jesus.

Yes,
I will take my place at your table.

Thank you, Jesus, for these, my companions.

I know you see them, too:
your image in them which glows
when they flourish and serve in love,
and the wounds and wants
with which they walk and sometimes fall.

Thank you for all we have gained
from walking this way together so far.
The inspiration, the sharpening,
the physical, emotional, spiritual solidarity,
the benefit and challenge of each others’ gifts and mistakes;
we would not have grown nearly so much if we were on our own.

We are different.
This moment is not the same for each of us.
We feel its impact and respond in the uniqueness
of who we are and what we have experienced.

As I pray for myself, I pray for them -
May they too receive the grace they need:
Nourishment
Thanksgiving
Humility
Conviction
Forgiveness
Fellowship
Yourself

Thank you, Jesus.
Thank you, thank you, Jesus.
That they have a place at your table.
Here we are together, then,
Carrying all that has been,
Unsure of what is to come.

“One of you will betray me”, you say.
Who do you mean? It could be any of us.
Lord, have mercy.

And mercifully here you are,
laying the table -
A big, growing, messy, beautiful table.
 
Around it we share:
Nourishment
Thanksgiving
Humility
Conviction
Forgiveness
Fellowship
Yourself

Thank you, Jesus.
Thank you, thank you Jesus.
May many more
find their space
at this table.

Amen


Click here to download a pdf version of these prayers

Amanda Pink is a Baptist minister and Team Chaplain at Milton Keynes University Hospital
Access more of her writing on her blog: onelifesliturgy.blogspot.com