EVERYONE’S PRAYER
I lift up my heart, O God, for all who are the prey of anxious fears, who cannot get their minds off themselves and for whom every demand made on them fills them with foreboding, and with the feeling they cannot cope with what is required of them.
Give them the comfort of knowing that this feeling is illness, not cowardice; that millions have felt as they feel, that there is a way through this dark valley, and light at the end of it.
Lead them to those who can help them and understand them and show them the pathway to health and happiness. Comfort and sustain them by the loving presence of the Saviour who knows and understands all our woe and fear, and give them enough courage to face each day, and rest their minds in the thought that thou wilt see them through.
—Charles Wesley, 1707–88
SPINNING TOPS
How strange—
we are all so ardent in our piety
so careful not to slip up
so intent on making our individual lives
count in the scheme of things
tyrannized by overful diaries
driven by the echo of our ‘well done.’
And where does it all lead?
Spinning round like tops
we spiral down before
You in now grubby, tattered clothes
Out of breath.
Deal gently with us, Lord.
—Kathy Keay
THE TOUCH OF THE MASTER’S HAND
O Master, we are like an old violin. We used to play a great tune, but now we seem old and frail, marred by life. At times we feel useless, of little worth anymore because we are out of the limelight and forced to play cameo roles. But the music is still there!
O Master, take the strings of our lives and make them vibrate once more. Some may want to discard us as old concertos, but your touch can resurrect our music. Some may want to relegate us to the museum of life, but your touch can send new music from the strings of our hearts. Amen.
A PRAYER FROM THE AIR
Lord of heavens, my one true pilot, sitting here in this airplane as we descend to the ground reminds of me these retirement years. The power has been cut, the pitch of the droning engines has changed, and the nose dips, and I know that the flight will soon end. There has come a definitive moment, a feeling signaling that the rush of life has ended, and I am moving into the final phase of my existence. As in the case of the plane’s descent, nothing has really changed but things have begun to wind down around me. I am clearing out some of the clutter in my life, thinning out some activities and beginning to take seriously the mystery of death and dying. So, even as the psalmist prayed, “If I take the wings of the morning, and settle at the farthest limits of the sea, even there your hand shall lead me and your right hand shall hold me fast”(Ps. 139:9-10). I put my trust in your hands, knowing you will guide me home. Amen.
AT NIGHT
O Lord God, who has given us the night for rest, I pray that in my sleep my soul may remain awake to you, steadfastly adhering to your love. As I lay aside my cares to relax and relieve my mind, may I not forget your infinite and unresting care for me. And in this way, let my conscience be at peace, that when I rise tomorrow, I am refreshed in body, mind and soul.
—John Calvin,1509–64
FOR EXTENDED LIFE
Loving Creator, medical science has indeed extended our years and we are grateful, yet we wonder what this means. We know that being seventy or eighty is nothing strange in these days, but just another stage of life with its opportunities and possibilities. We need to approach these bonus years with endless gratitude for this gift of more time to live. Even when these years bring inevitable loss and decline, grant us grace to bear these years with courage and hope. Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
NOT JUST A LONGER LIFE
Lord, despite our extended years, as we enter a new century with even greater possibilities of reaching 120 years of age, there is a lurking, haunting fear that length of days cannot satisfy the hunger of our souls. We have the means to live longer, but do we have any meaning to live for? Will we fulfill the words of the writer, “Remember your creator in the days of your youth, before the days of trouble come, and the years draw near when you will say, ‘I have no pleasure in them’ ”(Eccles. 12:1)? Will these extended years bring sadness and suffering, regret and ruin? Or will we live fully to the end of our days, lost in wonder, love, and praise? Amen.
GOD OF SURPRISES
God of surprises, when I think that being old is a drag on my life, you surprise me in the love of family and friends who nurture me by their attention. God of surprises, just when I am ready to believe I am useless and of little worth anymore, the mailman brings a good word, the telephone rings and someone wants me to help. God of surprises you are ever with us, just as you surprised those two on the Emmaus road, who thought you were a stranger. As our days go by and our strength weakens, keep surprising us. When our patience fails and life seems dull, keep surprising us . . . until that day when we leave this world and receive the greatest surprise of all! Amen.
GOD CALLS AGAIN
Dear Lord, it seems that all through life you keep asking us to listen for your call, and now as we put down one call, we pick up another. We thank you for the “call”that comes in the later years, as surely as you called Abraham at age seventy-five. It is a call to new beginnings, a seemingly endless journey of faith. Help us to reinvent who we are and what we are to do as ongoing servants of the God who is always calling us. We know that when we retire we feel disconnected from the power and status of our working life. We also miss our work companions. Now they are gone with only lingering memories. Help us not to waste our time, but to fill it as we enjoy you, our neighbors, and the world around us. Help us ever to “press on toward the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus”(Phil. 3:14). Amen.
PRAYER OF A SAINT
Teach us, good Lord,
to serve you as you deserve;
to give and not to count the cost;
to fight and not to heed the wounds;
to toil and not to seek for rest;
to labor and not to ask for any reward,
except that of knowing that we do your will;
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
—Saint Ignatius of Loyola, 1491-1556
TEN YEARS LATER
Lord, it is ten years since I “retired”and faced this unknown journey with much fear and trembling. I know my friends told me that retirement is when work no longer interferes with life, but I scarcely believed that. Now, I do. It has been ten good years of new directions, renewed energy, and exciting adventures. I really do have the new freedom to be who I am and not what the work role demands. I have the joy of finding ways to serve others and repay my debt to the world. And most of all I am myself . . . at last! Amen.