“Break up the ground that is fallow within us,
And raise up a crop that fits with Your purpose.
What You have determined should be grown in our lives,
Water it, grow it, and harvest it all.”
21 Prayers, p. 122
No False Device
“I pray that this sin be removed in a way
That honors You deeply and lifts up Your name—
That no false device or evasive charade
Covers and hides what should not be covered.”
21 Prayers, p. 119
Grace and More Grace
“I ask You, my God, to establish Your justice
Throughout our land through grace and more grace.
Restore in Your kindness, the doctrines of grace
To a people now empty, but once overflowing.
And take grace away from a truncated people
That they might then see how empty they are,
That they might then see how ungrateful they were,
That You might forgive and restore them again” ().
21 Prayers, p. 3
But He Is Not a Tame Lion
“As inveterate Pharisees, we always desire
To turn Your Word into something respectable,
Acceptable, tame, and fully domestic.
I pray that today Your Spirit would wield
Your Word in a way as to make us all see
It can never be tamed and never held down.”
21 Prayers, p. 116
As True Yeast
“I pray that Your kingdom would continue to grow,
Silently, steadily, confusedly, gloriously,
I pray that this service, our worship this morning,
Would release a great deal of carbon dioxide
Into the loaf and thus make it rise.”
21 Prayers, pp. 115-116
The Botoom of the Pot
“I speak as a close observer of some conservatives whose worldview is made out of cinder blocks and cheap cement . . . That is a problem, sure enough, but in our age, it is not a huge one. The intellectual life of our age is characterized by a squishy goulash of subtleties all the way to the bottom of the pot, a farrago of pomothot, and the purveyors of this pomothot are often quite clever—they don’t hate labels because they can’t follow arguments. They hate labels because they can follow them, and those arguments get in the way of their lusts. Remember that the devil is a dialectician.”
Staggering Grace
“Help us to learn how to fail in grace forward.
Help us to falter toward Your great glory.
I know we must stagger, but help us to stagger
From one grace-promotion to the next one You give.”
21 Prayers, p. 113
Amber Holiness
“And so I pray to be able to preach
With the fearful noise of Ezekiel’s wheels
Coming up from behind, overtaking us all.
I pray I would preach while standing rock-firm
In the glow of Your amber and terrible crystal.”
21 Prayers, p. 111
Fully Qualified
“In Your grace, You use nothing but unsuitable instruments
And here we are now, assembled for service.
I qualify as just such an unworthy servant,
So use me, I ask You, according to grace,
In line with Your goodness, in line with Your purposes.”
21 Prayers, p. 110
Pretty Simple When You Think About It
“Those who are in favor of smaller government are, when this is translated, in favor of a smaller capacity for coercion. Those who are in favor of bigger government are in favor of increased opportunities for coercion.”