A Lenten Prayer

by Josh Taylor

A beautiful Lenten prayer by Theologian Walter Brueggemann.

Revise our Taking: A Prayer by Walter Brueggemann from Awed to Heaven, Rooted in Earth, Minneapolis: Fortress, 2003.

You, You giver!

You have given light and life to the world;

You have given freedom from Pharaoh to your people Israel;

You have given your only Son for the sake of the world;

You have given yourself to us;

You have given and forgiven,

And you remember our sin no more.

And we in response, are takers:

We take eagerly what you give us;

we take from our neighbours near at hand as is acceptable;

we take from our unseen neighbours greedily and acquisitively

we take from our weak neighbours thoughtlessly;

we take all that we can lay our hands on.

It dawns on us that our taking does not match your giving.

In this Lenten season revise our taking,

that it may be grateful and disciplined,

even as you give in ways generous and overwhelming.

Amen.