Teach Us to Pray

Teach us to pray, O God.
With our words and with our hands.
With our hopes and dreams and with our lives.
With our heartbreak and our  sorrow and with our kindness and our compassion. Teach us to pray.

Teach us to pray
That we might care for each other
And care for the stranger in our midst
And the overlooked among us
And the communities in which we live
And the world entrusted to our care and keeping.

Teach us to pray, O God
That our heartbreak over high school shootings
And those who have to stand in a line to see a doctor
And children who are afraid to go to school because they might come home and their parents will not be there
And those whose lives are torn apart by terrorists and bombs and hatred and racism…
Teach us to pray that we might offer more than just “thoughts and prayers.”

Teach us to pray, O God.