Prayer 13
Worship
Prayers for the Age of Technology
Object:
Dear Creator And Inhabiter Of The Universe:
How shall we, in the light of our changing understanding of your universe and your reality, think of you and address you? Names suited to our old frames of reference seem not to fit anymore. We know that you are more than a person, that gender does not become you, and that you have not been adequately or accurately represented in the many other images we have used in the past.
We are wonderfully comforted and assured by the revelation you have given us in Jesus. He clarified for us the essential essence of your being, and made us aware of the potentials invested in us by your goodness and grace. We know him as your offspring: your expression of yourself in a form appropriate to our understanding. We are grateful for his opening to us a way into the intimacy of your family circle. It is joy to us to relate to you in Jesus' name.
Our need, however, is to know how to think of you and call your name in the light of our changing understanding of your vital presence in the circling stars, the smallest atom, and the heartbeat of living things.
Teach us how to address you and walk with you in this context. We celebrate with gratitude the fresh insights with which you are enlightening the mundane aspects of our lives. Help us with the etiquette that befits this new status.
Shall we continue to approach you in the traditional spirit of awe and obeisance? Or should we assume a more proud, erect stance, in awareness that we are your offspring, trying to accept your invitation to join you in understanding and fellowship? Are you actually an imperious and distant God, or better understood as a friendly and powerful presence?
Would you be pleased with such names, drawn from the language of everyday life, as: Maker, Creator, Friend, Provider, Nurturer, Almighty One, or the like? Would a name adapted from the technical terms of our science be more suitable? Or do you prefer that we continue with the pious terms in common usage?
Forgive us for beginning to struggle in discomfort with such names as "God," "Lord," "Father," "Holy Ghost," and others drawn from perspectives very different from those currently emerging.
In gratitude and faith, we seek your counsel and guidance. Thank you for your infinite patience and for giving us a place in your great cosmic plan. Amen.
How shall we, in the light of our changing understanding of your universe and your reality, think of you and address you? Names suited to our old frames of reference seem not to fit anymore. We know that you are more than a person, that gender does not become you, and that you have not been adequately or accurately represented in the many other images we have used in the past.
We are wonderfully comforted and assured by the revelation you have given us in Jesus. He clarified for us the essential essence of your being, and made us aware of the potentials invested in us by your goodness and grace. We know him as your offspring: your expression of yourself in a form appropriate to our understanding. We are grateful for his opening to us a way into the intimacy of your family circle. It is joy to us to relate to you in Jesus' name.
Our need, however, is to know how to think of you and call your name in the light of our changing understanding of your vital presence in the circling stars, the smallest atom, and the heartbeat of living things.
Teach us how to address you and walk with you in this context. We celebrate with gratitude the fresh insights with which you are enlightening the mundane aspects of our lives. Help us with the etiquette that befits this new status.
Shall we continue to approach you in the traditional spirit of awe and obeisance? Or should we assume a more proud, erect stance, in awareness that we are your offspring, trying to accept your invitation to join you in understanding and fellowship? Are you actually an imperious and distant God, or better understood as a friendly and powerful presence?
Would you be pleased with such names, drawn from the language of everyday life, as: Maker, Creator, Friend, Provider, Nurturer, Almighty One, or the like? Would a name adapted from the technical terms of our science be more suitable? Or do you prefer that we continue with the pious terms in common usage?
Forgive us for beginning to struggle in discomfort with such names as "God," "Lord," "Father," "Holy Ghost," and others drawn from perspectives very different from those currently emerging.
In gratitude and faith, we seek your counsel and guidance. Thank you for your infinite patience and for giving us a place in your great cosmic plan. Amen.
