Teach us to pray, they asked,
as the first evening star winked into view,
and the Teacher began:
Creator and Sustainer,
we center ourselves in your love,
remembering your gift of life to us. We place
ourselves within your tender embrace. Make us reverent
before the Holiness that sustains all that is,
and calls us Beloved.
Open
our hearts to the power of wisdom and compassion,
that the kingdom take root in each heart. We trust
your abundance is greater than our hunger;
we ask for today’s bread enough, and provision for
tomorrow. Nourish us
with your grace and forgiveness,
for we know our sins only too well.
Help us turn
away from sin
to a life of justice and pardon,
answering forgiveness’s gift with our own clemency,
that we may ourselves pour forth
that grace to those who have done us harm.
Show us the path
away from temptation, O Loving One, who
delivers us safely home,
whose reign and radiance and righteousness
are everlasting.
