SHADYSIDE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH

I have accepted the appointment to be the next president of Princeton Theological Seminary. I will begin my work there next month. In order to make this transition, I have to take a break from posting prayers on this blog for the first time in 112 weeks. My hope is to return to updating this website regularly by February. …

Holy God, it is hard to imagine that you have any yearning at all. And thinking about you jealously yearning just leaves us confused. Can’t gods get what they want? So why should you yearn? The best response I can think of is that you truly love us, and love can only be given and received in freedom. …

Lord, you would never have graduated from my seminary, or any business school, or even an etiquette class. We’re big on saying “thank you” to the people who help us, and we try to avoid treating them as our slaves. You were the one who taught us to treat everyone with compassion and dignity. So what is your point in reminding us that slaves don’t receive thanks? …

I doubt that this was your idea, Holy Creator, but we have a great love for balance sheets. We want to ensure that we have received as much as we have given. It bugs us if we are giving more than we get back in our relationships and work. You did not create us to think like this. …

You always ask questions like this, Lord. And I can never come up with a very good explanation. I could tell you about how exhausting it is to stay focused on the past, rolling it over and over in my mind, with a futile dream to improve it. Or I could tell you that the energy which is left over usually gets spent on my anxieties about the future. …

What do we do with a phrase like this, Lord? Clearly you don’t give us everything we pray to receive. When my kids ask me for things, I sometimes say, “Why not?” Other times I say, “No way. Are you nuts?” My favorite response is, “We’ll see,” because that gives me a loophole just in case I decide they shouldn’t have what they want. But you didn’t do that. You just told us to ask so it will be given. …

It is striking that Moses wrote this psalm to you, O Lord. He spent most of his life walking around from one dusty place to the next, always in the hope of eventually getting to the Promised Land. But you said no. The Scriptures make it clear that he and you argued a bit about this; however, in the end, he chose to climb Mt. Nebo, where he died. …

We are told “the crowds pressed in” on you, Lord Jesus. A lot of people were grabbing for you because they wanted you to do something for them. Maybe they were all trying to pull you in their direction – mostly just concerned about their needs. I have been a part of the crowds that press in on you long enough to know that you have very little interest in being a means to an end. …

Lord Jesus, you always knew there is no way to make people pay attention to their souls. Neither the flute nor the wailing seems to help. I cannot make people dance just because they have every reason to rejoice, and I cannot help people who need to grieve just by trying to weep with them. There are limits to empathy. …

Holy Savior, why do you always call us out to the deep waters of life? That is where we are most threatened by the inevitable storms. By nature, we are risk-averse, and prefer to fish for blessings near the shore so we can always rush to safety in times of danger. …