Prayer of involvement

(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Lord, you made the world, and flung the stars into space.
You looked at what you had made and said, “I like it. I really like it.”
But you weren’t content with a bauble for your Christmas tree;
You stepped into time and space,
Engaged with your creation,
Called your people into being.

God’s Creative Extravagance

 

A while back the moon put on a special dance.  It rose in conjunction with two planets, which I in my ignorance thought were two bright stars—a sickle moon opening its face to a couple of bright, colourful planets.  I looked for it again the next night but the clouds decided I had seen enough, and they closed the curtains.

 

Lord, you paint the skies with such large strokes.
The moon, in astronomical terms, a mere stone’s throw away;
the nearest star so remote that the terms we use on earth to measure distance have no meaning.

Except in the dreams of science fiction,
we cannot hope to visit even the closest reaches of our galaxy,
let alone the galaxies beyond our own.
Yet we can enjoy the panorama of the heavens:
A restless, multi-coloured dome in the daylight,
and a magnificent display in the night, ensconced in an inky blackness
that protects us from unfathomable depths, and the horror of nothingness.

On earth, close by yet unseen and beyond reach,
immeasurable wonders we are only now beginning to uncover;
hidden in unexplored crevices that scar the floors of the oceans,
loitering in inhospitable reaches of the desert,
lingering  in impenetrable fissures of mountain ranges.
Countless untouched places; an astonishing variety of unimaginable beauty

Why such extravagance, Lord?
Why such indescribable beauty with no one to see it for almost all of time?
Clearly this isn’t about us, is it, Lord?
It’s about you. It’s about your own extravagance and creative delight,
and your deep, engaging love.
Above all, love.

Free Love? Not likely!

Our local Chamber of Business sends out a daily news brief via email. It contains items of interest to local business, and financial indicators. (The latter is useful for keeping track of one’s millions stashed away in foreign currency, gold bars, and the like.) Included in the email is a daily inspirational quote. Last Thursday contained one by Brian G Jet, “The greatest possession we have costs nothing, it’s known as love.”

It sounded good and, in one sense, he’s quite right. Love is free. You cannot buy it or force it – ask any parent – it’s either freely given or not at all.

But at another level, it couldn’t be more wrong. Love is the costliest gift of all. True love, unconditional love, is beyond price. How can one put a price on a mother’s unrequited love for her child? What price the love of the prodigal son’s father? What price the Father’s love for us, pledging his all, committing himself fully to the frail and fickle creatures he made but set free? The cross was the price he paid but even God knows that he cannot buy love; he can only demonstrate it.

We too can only accept and acknowledge that love; we cannot pay for it. We can only receive it freely, revel in it, and learn to reflect it to those who need it, and perhaps even deserve it, more than we do.

All our training is focussed on paying our way. “It’s not fair,” is our cry when someone seems to get more than we do for less. You’re supposed to pay for what you get. But, with love, there is no such bargain, no such deal. We love because we have been loved. If our love is reflected back to us from those we love, beautiful friendships may blossom; if not, we love anyway because we have already been loved; we have already received far more than we could ever give.

Loving Creator, exuberant in the extravagance of your creation:
The beauty and colour; great landscapes and tiny flowers;
Multitudes of beasts, inhabiting land, sea and air,
Giants and miniatures alike.

Lord of all, whose name and nature is love,
You gave birth to all there is.
You revel in your creation but you love the particular.
You know each individual, uniquely created,
And you care what we make of our lives.

You’re the loving Parent
Sacrificing all for your children,
Delighting in our growth,
Mourning our pain,
Saddened by our loneliness.

You delight in our worship,
And rejoice when our lives reflect your glory.
Lord, whose name and nature is love,
Live your love through us.