To the depths

Lord our God,
You know what You meant
when You uttered our names
and brought us into the field of life,
sharing with us Your gift of being.

You whisper Your meaning to us in our dreams,
and even awake we sense but do not know,
only that something draws us into an abyss
we neither asked for nor chose,
like unknowing swimmers we are pulled by the undertow,
unwilling yet glad.

Bring us back, O Lord,
as You brought Jonah back from the belly of the whale.
Fish us out, O Christ,
as You fished Lazarus out of the deep,
the dark unknown, the despairing sea of death.
Gather us, O Spirit,
as You gathered Your people Israel from the four winds
to fill the land again.
‘Where could I go to escape Your Spirit?
Where could I flee from Your Presence?
If I climb the heavens You are there…’

Amen and amen, Lord.
You created us from nothing.
You made us,
what we were born wanting,
what we live is before Your face,
You feel this same grief that we feel,
You became even as we are.

How long, O Lord, how long?
Come, rescue us,
retrieve our remains,
offer our bodies to the sea and our souls to the depths,
that we may forget our dreams,
and in darkness receive from You
what we were born wanting.
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