Being Friends with God

Today in Sunday School, we are still going through the Rick Warren book. This discussion was about being friends with God. The discussion went off in a number of directions, and I’m not sure how much I got out of this week. Today is also the Birthday of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., so I wanted to work in a reference to that in today’s prayer. I heard a great story this morning on NPR about how King had once been asked, in his teenage years, what he was looking at as he stared out the Window. He was watching the gas lamp lighter going along lighting the gas lights. King said he was watching the man, “knock holes in the darkness.”

God, we have been told byy the prophet Micah to walk with you. As we walk with you teach us to talk less and listen more…to you and to our earthly friends.

Thank you God for the processes of your world which bring us the warmth and light of the sunshine, and the cleansing nourishment of the rain. We confess we don’t always understand that natural world, and today we pray especially for our brothers and sisters in Haiti who are experiencing  a desperation we can’t begin to comprehend. Remind us too that while this a tragedy on a scale unprecedented, others experience equally difficult personal tragedies every day. We pray also for them.

As we celebrate the birthday of one of the great leaders of our time, we remember Dr. King’s story of describing the work of the town’s lamp lighter as “knocking holes in the darkness.” As we deepen our friendship with you, show us to knock holes in the darkness of our world.

Amen