#prayer #contemplation #justice #Jesus #woundedhealer #contemplativeprayer #spiritualdirection #christian

A song to serve you on election day and week 2020. Susanna and I have released music together under the name, Ordinary Neighbors. Singing with her is one of the greatest joys and comforts I know. I confess I was not sure if my daughter was a welcome addition to recording this for you, but Susanna's instinct was to simply share with you a moment of how we are taking refuge in God during a traumatic time.

This song by Kevin Prosch has been a guide, a help, and an inspiration since I began serving in EC Brooks Correctional facility some seven years ago. The verse from 1 Corinthians 1:27 is at the center of the vision/mission of the Invitation, "But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong."

Strength and intelligence--the powers of this world are not compatible with the ways or the consciousness of Jesus. I offer this as a prayer for our country and also as a prophetic testimony against the ways the church is guilty of power-grabbing, of ladder-climbing, and of contributing to the pain of the poor and broken-hearted, those whom Howard Thurman describes as the "disinherited" and those whose "backs are against the wall."

You have taken the precious
From the worthless and given us
Beauty for ashes, love for hate
You have chosen the weak things
Of the world to shame that which is strong
And foolish things to shame the wise
You are help to the helpless
Strength to the stranger
And a father to the child who's left alone
And the thirsty You've invited
To come to the waters
And those who have no money come and buy
So come
So come
So come
So come
Behold the days are coming
For the Lord has promised
That the plowman will overtake the reaper
And our hearts will be the threshing floor
And the move of God we've cried out for will come,
It will surely come
For You will shake the heavens
And fill your house with glory
And turn the shame of outcasts into praise
All creation groans and waits
For the Spirit and the bride to say
The words that your heart had longed to hear
So come
So come
So come
Even so come