Loosen Our Grip

On this, the first Sunday of a new calendar year, O God, we have have to confess how much we need to learn the art of "letting go". Our need for holding on, for controlling, is squeezing the very life out of us and causing us to miss the thousand graces that pass us each and ever day.

So:

Loosen our grip on those grudges and grievances that we hold so closely; those places where we were wronged, that we may risk exposing ourselves to the spirit of forgiving and forgiveness...the spirit that changes things and resurrects dreams and engenders hope.

Loosen our grip on fears, that we may learn to live with less anxiety and more humility; that we may embrace our own humanity and all its limitations as an authentic gift from You.

Loosen our grip on our sense of superiority that we may experience the freedom of risk and trust in the Great Adventure of faith and thus, may appear foolish as we come to discover the joke of your grace and the glory of friendship and the discovery that we are held by You no matter what.

Loosen our grip on all our words that we may learn the depths of silence and the power of our uncharted longings and find ourselves linked to You by a love that will not be broken.

Loosen our grip on all things that diminish us, O God, that we may embrace You and Your world with our minds, our hands, and our hearts this coming year.

Prayer from worship, January 3, 2009, by Dr. Roger Paynter. Listen to the entire sermon here.