Prayer

Lord Jesus
when all the words no longer make sentences
and the images are fixed in celluloid and oils
how might we recognise you
when you never live up to those images

When we are fed so much
in a visual age
and a google scrapbook
depicting what you are like
with blue eyes and white smile
perfect skin and blow dried hair
from the romance of religion
to the gothic horror of death
may we find our way
to the deep down truth
beyond image
beyond word
beyond emotion
that speaks the promise
‘you are the one’

All our religion give us:
may we sit lightly with it
knowing it is only human
half truths
words that are incomplete
images half formed
for we cannot portray
what is beyond image
that in truth
you are beyond the end of a sentence
deeper than the stroke of a paintbrush
much further than a conclusion to a creed

and when we ask
are you the one
we can only speak in faith
for we do not
cannot
know

our images
our words
and all hope-filled
and incomplete

So hear us
as we live beyond the end of prayer
into what is unknown
filled with wonder
and folded in promise

So be it
Amen