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Take heed, all of you, that your possessions
do not choke the breath from your lungs,
rout the glee from your hands, or steal the
affection of your hearts.

The longing for more, and yet more,
and more again, grows faster
than kudzu, whose greenery—
though pleasant of sight—
smothers everything in its grasp.

Take heed, all of you, and resist the urge
for bigger barns and the impulse to secure
your life by the power of your own appetite.

The longing for more, and yet more, and more again,
will spoil your appetite for all that is truly good,
     all that is truly beautiful, all that truly satisfies.

Take heed, all of you, who have more than enough,
for your bounty and abundance will become a
burden and encumbrance.

The longing for more, and yet more,
     and more again,
will sever your relations: with each other,
           with the land,
                 and with the Beloved One
who provides enough for our need (but not for our greed).

Sisters and brothers, your wanting is not flawed
if you long to be rich, be rich, be rich and yet more—
long to be rich in God!

©Ken Sehested @ prayerandpolitiks.org. Inspired by Luke 12:13–21.

Oh, Sweet Surrender, inviting our companionship along the road
 of righteousness,

Hear the thankful hearts gathered in this tent of meeting.

You—Honor of the Humble and Restorer of Faithfulness,

Hear the affirmations that grow from our gratitude:

Pursue integrity, and speak the truth from your heart, all you who
desire the strength of days!

Harness your tongue and guard it from slanderous speech!

Stand by your word, even if it comes at a price!

Lend without interest and resist the insult of bribery.

Snatch our hearts from the temple of vengeance

And plant our feet on your holy hill of mercy!

©Ken Sehested @ prayerandpolitiks.org

In the midst of great pain the Beloved spoke these words to the Apostle Paul: “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”

Grace is always sufficient when crops are abundant and food is plentiful; when benefit-laden jobs can be had; when crushing illness and death’s visitation are distant and anonymous;

When pin-striped, silk-tied pirates no longer plunder tomorrow’s dreams; when young ones have all that is needed for healthy bodies and vigorous minds; and when old ones need not fear being burdensome or abandoned.

But can grace be sufficient when bones grow brittle or when wells run dry? When a good name’s belittled or when the battered ask why?

In what shall we boast when power unravels, when dreams go awry? When friends desert and shame draws nigh?

Sufficient the grace of the One who complies with promise-filled future for earth and for sky, with Heaven’s rejoinder to all heartache and sigh.

With power’s demise, when dominion forsakes, comes the grace that suffices and shelters and breaks every fear-mongering threat, every murderous quake.

From the shadows of misery, from agony and ache, comes the Voice of Remembrance to rouse and awake the Memory of Mercy, sufficient of grace to adorn every creature with Beauty’s embrace.

Bet your life on this warrant—God’s grace is sufficient—though fig tree be barren and vineyard be bare. Though harvest be meager and herds be exhausted, boast of the Strong One whose bounty is trusted!

Sweet the surrender to grace ever tender. Power perfected in violence unveiled. May grace be sufficient when life proves deficient, whatever befall both harvest and stall.

©Ken Sehested @ prayerandpolitiks.org. Inspired by Habakkuk 3:17-19 & 2 Corinthians 12:9-10.

After the mad dash from Egypt’s sweatshops and migrant labor camps—and after the Prophet Miriam led the people in songs of liberation—the People of Exodus trudge through the wilderness of privation and discontent, where dreams of the Promised Land of Plenty grow distant and dim. Unrelenting thirst overtakes them. Cotton-mouthed complaints grow louder.

Is the Lord among us or not?

First at the pool at Marrah [bitterness] then the land of Massah [testing] and Meribah [quarrelling], the Beloved responds.

The staff of Moses that parted the drowning waters of the sea first sweetens the pool and now strikes water from the barren rock.

Strike the rock, Brother Moses! Put your back into it! Let the waters of refreshment bathe every sweltering soul.

Strike your tambourine, Sister Miriam. Resolve again the cries of fear into shouts of jubilation.

Strike the rock, Brother Moses, cheating death from its wilderness prey.

Strike your tambourine, Sister Miriam. Sing of water’s baptismal glory.

Strike the rock, Brother Moses. Let the desert run wet with Mercy’s minaret, slake every parched throat with delight.

Strike your tambourine, Sister Miriam. Let songs fill the air of banished despair and the thirst for righteousness incite!

©Ken Sehested @ prayerandpolitiks.org. Inspired by Exodus 15, 17 & Matthew 5:6.

Drenched by Jordan’s buoyant power, confirmed by dove’s anointing perch, conformed to Heaven’s sundering plow, bewildering days now beckon.

Spirit-led and Spirit-fed, off to the famishing wilds now tread.

To face the full force of the Tempter’s enticements: Can the river’s wet mark endure wilderness heat?

Spirit-led and Spirit-fed, pondering stones transformed into bread.

Ascending the mountain, its vistas of power, relentless domain and virulent reign.

Spirit-led and Spirit-fed, allured by the promise of royal-crowned head.

To piety’s palace, the temple’s high peak, fame could gotten by magical feat.

Spirit-led and Spirit-fed, with majesty, regency, glory now wed.

Yet the Tempter’s allure, the Confuser’s bright lie, failed to temper that wandering pilgrim’s reply.

Spirit-led and Spirit-fed, the wilderness welcomes us all.

©Ken Sehested @ prayerandpolitiks.org. Inspired by Luke 4:1-13.

Attention,
all you spiritual shoppers.
There are no discounts. No sale prices.
No fifty percent off summer specials, no bonus miles,
no pre-inventory clearance or back-to-school savings.

There are no shortcuts to faith, no money-back guarantees, no lifetime warranties or last-minute deals.

There are no wading pools. The depths are deep and
turbulence is standard. Every minute is your last.

If you want a God-soaked life, move to the margins.
Plant sequoias.* Find an eroded field and stake your
soul on its reclamation.

Synchronize your hope to an abandoned child’s heartbeat.
Set your sights on the interest from millennial investments.

Say o’er the clamor of all merchandizing madness:
           Life is not had
     by what is possessed,
                 but only by
     what has been promised.**

©Ken Sehested @ prayerandpolitiks.org. Inspired by Prov 29:18. *Line from Wendell Berry, “Manifesto: The Mad Farmer Liberation Front**Line from Walter Brueggemann, Living Toward a Vision.

In seasons of dark desire eyes strain for Eden’s refrain and flickered light ’mid the fright of earth’s travail. Oh, Beloved …

Unleash your Voice of Pardon from wrath’s consuming reign. Speak peace to the hungered of heart.

Spring from the ground, hope-soaked, heeding Glory’s approach and steadfast love’s embrace. Oh, Beloved . . .

Unleash your Voice of Pardon from wrath’s consuming reign. Speak peace to the hungered of heart.

Let every just and gentle lip pucker up for the wedded kiss of peace! Oh, Beloved . . .

Unleash your Voice of Pardon from wrath’s consuming reign. Speak peace to the hungered of heart.

Goodness is given, and righteousness granted, to guard and guide each wayfaring step. Oh, Beloved . . .

Unleash your Voice of Pardon from wrath’s consuming reign. Speak peace to the hungered of heart.

©Ken Sehested @ prayerandpolitiks.org. Inspired by Psalm 85.

As the nations rage, as the memory of bitter blood stains our hearts, we languish on the porticoes of pain, near to the healing water’s stir. But who dares carry us to the resurrection pool?

We remember today, fifty years since past, the buoyant life of Denise McNair, age 11, caught up in the deadly virtue of bomb-laden revenge.

The blind, the lamed, the halt and shamed assemble to ask: Who can take me to the water?

We remember today the buoyant life of Carol Robertson, age 14, caught up in the deadly virtue of bomb-laden revenge.

The cowered, the forlorn—yes, even we who cling to our paralyzing pallets—await the angels’ erupting presence.

We remember today the buoyant life of Cynthia Wesley, age 14, caught up in the deadly virtue of bomb-laden revenge.

By what authority dares anyone say, “Stand up. And walk.”

We remember today the buoyant life of Addie Mae Collins, age 14, caught up in the deadly virtue of bomb-laden revenge.

Gracious One, take us to that water that we may

Wade in the water that wears down the rock, walk in the power that can’t be stopped.

©Ken Sehested @ prayerandpolitiks.org. Inspired by John 5:1-9 on the 50th anniversary of the bombing of the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church, Birmingham, Alabama. The final verse adapts language from the refrain of Pat Wictor’s “Love is the Water.”

Come to the Mercy Seat, to hear
the Word of gracious entreaty:
Life is more than bartered goods;
more still than hedged funds
                 and market share.

Come to the Mercy Seat, to hear
the Word of gracious appeal:
Faith is more than philosophical posture;
          more still than fondling guarantee.

Come to the Mercy Seat, to hear
     the Word of gracious insistence:
Hope is more than risk aversion;
     more still than fingers crossed
           or fanciful dreaming.

Come to the Mercy Seat, to hear
the Word of gracious imperative:
Love is more than reciprocal affection;
     more still than curried favor
           or compounded interest.

Come to the Mercy Seat, to hear
the Word of gracious release:
You have been sired in Mercy
     and suckled in pardon;
           weaned on grace and
           restored by forgiveness.

Come to the Mercy Seat, for earth
has no sorrow that Heaven cannot heal.

©Ken Sehested @ prayerandpolitiks.org. Final phrase from the hymn “Come, Ye Disconsolate,” Thomas Moore, alt. by Thomas Hastings.

Revel in the Beloved’s presence, every day and every way. Organize every nerve in your body to help you stay in touch with God’s nearness.

Shower encouragement everywhere you go.

Fretfulness and anxiety are like monsters in the closet. Get up, go over and throw open the door, yelling “AM-SCRAY!” Get lost!

Shower encouragement everywhere you go.

Trust the deepest longings of your heart with the One who takes great delight in loving you. Make gratitude your point of orientation every day, and do everything you can to stay on its trail.

Shower encouragement everywhere you go.

If you practice these things, your life will experience the kind of buoyancy that will keep you afloat even in the worst storm. Indeed the greatest peace possible is the fearless confidence that nothing essential can be taken from you.

Shower encouragement everywhere you go.

In the grip of Serenity’s Presence you’ll be able to think clearly in the midst of turmoil; and your heart will guide you, even in the worst wilderness, to the place of refuge and nourishment.

Shower encouragement everywhere you go.

©Ken Sehested @ prayerandpolitiks.org. Inspired by Philippians 4:4-7.