Night is drawing near.
Soon the night prayers will begin
The after-hours prayers
The prayers without the need for words
Spoken from the heart
The language of those who work the late shift of sorrow
Night prayers turn bar rooms into churches
Motels into temples, truck stops into shrines
Night prayers are first-time prayers
Last-change prayers, prayers tossed up into the stars
To see if anyone is there to catch them.
Prayers without expectation
Steven
Charleston
___________________________________________
Welcome to the fellowship of the lost
The lonely
The scared
The anguished
Welcome to that desperate space
Where all hope is gone
And expectation has been sucked into the vortex
We are the people who sit
In the eerie glow of computer screens
The flickering light on televisions
Who linger on the fringes of the light
Peering out of the darkness
Of fear and hate
We are those manipulated by those
With small souls
And big needs
We are those who go chasing after solutions
That are not solutions
Who think power and wealth will make us
Powerful and wealthy
Instead of small and impoverished
We are the night prayers
Who pray prayers of desperation
Who pray for things we should not pray for
Power
Revenge
Retribution
Affluence
We do not know how to pray and yet we pray (Romans 8)
Tossing our tortured words heavenward
Hoping against hope
May you catch our prayers
And may the anguished groans of the Spirit
(for we must make you weep)
Embrace our fear,
Our selfishness
May the Spirit transform our prayers
And return them to our hearts (Psalm 35)
and thus returned
transform our hearts and minds
and make us new
so let us pray
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