O Father who ordered all creation,
O Christ through whom all things were formed from nothing,
You know me:
my love of sequence and order,
of places for things and things in their place.
And you also know, O Holy God, that this whole world has tended toward decay, decomposition, withering and moldering.
All is turned and upturned, untidied, a mess of human making, a consequence of an old curse, a wearing out, a winding down, a slow slide toward entropy and gravity, a ruin and wreckage ever accumulating— beyond our power to put right again.
And I see it in the hard realities of this world today—
in territories with by political and ethnic conflicts,
in violent incursions disrupting some hard-won peace,
in the stubborn refusal of prejudice to be purged from our public spaces,
in the hope-shattering inescapability of disease and loss and grief.
In the midst of this chaos, and all chaos,
let me learn to call upon and lean upon your name,
O God—for you are the One who ordered all things in the beginning.
You are the One who is making all things new.
You are the only One who can sustain me in my struggle with all that is not yet put right.
You are God Our Peace who alone can speak a deep and lasting calm to the chaos of this world,
and to the chaos in my own heart and mind.
Grant me peace amidst this world's relentless disorder, O Christ.
Still my mind and strengthen my hands.
Keep despair far from the door. Be my present help when I sigh at the sight of constant disarray of this world.
Give me peace of mind and heart to release long-held breath and gritted teeth,
and in your mercy grant me ordered spaces where I can be at ease.
Send me to spaces like a corner that is not in need of neatening work. Help me lean into the relationships that nourish more than drain, and remind me of the grace of unexpected beauty that sustains my wearied soul.
Refresh my faith. Refresh my hope.
Amen.
(Adapted from Every Moment Holy, Book III)
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