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Merciful One, for You alone does my soul wait in silence. Our only hope comes from Your presence.

I believe. Help my unbelief.

You alone are my rock and my salvation and my fortress. I shall not be shaken. We shall not be moved.

I believe. Help my unbelief.

On You rests my deliverance and my honor. You are our mighty Rock and safe Refuge.

I believe. Help my unbelief.

Trust God at all times, O people. Pour out your heart before the One who hears; God is a refuge for us.

This is our tearful cry: We believe—help us in our unbelief.

©Ken Sehested @ prayerandpolitiks.org. Inspired by Psalm 62:5-8.

For what do we hope?

We hope for the Beloved’s Promise to overtake the world’s broken-hearted threat.

For what do we long?

We long for the moist goodness of God to outlast the parched climate of despair.

For what do we lack?

We lack for nothing—save the need for hearts enlarged by the assurance that every hostage will be freed.

For what do we strive?

We strive for lives marked by goodness, purified of deceit and malice, and hands made gentle by the tender caress of Wisdom’s approach.

For what do we struggle?

We struggle for the fate of every child whose sighs and cries are muffled by the market’s disdain.

In what do we rejoice?

We rejoice in rebellious acts of abundance in the face of every stingy arrangement.

For what prize do our eyes arise?

Our eyes arise for the Beloved Community’s embrace of earth’s abode and Heaven’s favor.

We stand forever on the edge of death’s brutal domain. Yet hope remains while the company is tue.*

May the company be true, indeed!

©Ken Sehested @ prayerandpolitiks.org. *Line from Galadriel in The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Rings.

There are, to be sure, moments of high drama in the
work of holy obedience:
     marches to be made,
     confrontations to be staged,
     dangers to be endured,
     corruption to be exposed,
     trips made to distant and unfamiliar places,
     maybe even jail cells to be filled.

On rare occasions, the whole world is watching.

Much more often, the storyline of faith is lived without
notoriety, is forged without fanfare:
     in familiar places,
     in small acts of courage against petty tyrants,
     with commonplace forbearance in the midst
           of garden-variety stress.

Much more often:
     with family and friends and neighbors,
in traffic lanes and grocery store lines,
with tired children and anxious partners.

Even—Can you believe this!—even in church.
Even more often:
                       with yourself.

To be sure, dragons need to be slain. Much more often,
                       though,
           gardens need to be groomed.

©Ken Sehested @ prayerandpolitiks.org. Inspired by Galatians 5:19-26.

Sisters and brothers, these are among the convictions that we harbor and herald:

Faith is not belief in spite of the evidence. Faith is life lived in scorn of the consequences.*

Faith isn’t a set of doctrines you agree to; or a set of religious habits you keep; or a particular emotion you feel.

Faith is trust that ushers us into a new way of living.

Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, and the conviction of things not seen.**

Faith is being joyful, though you’ve considered all the facts.***

Fear—not doubt—is the opposite of faith.

Faith is contagious. We catch it by surrounding ourselves with a cloud of witnesses, with the stories of faithful people, both from distant memory and direct experience.

Inoculate yourselves with stories of faith to ward off the fearmonger’s siege!

So let us persevere in the pace we have kept, laying aside every fear, looking to our Pioneer, who for the joy set before him disregarded all shame, that every lame and languishing name be ransomed and reclaimed from death’s grievous and groanful domain.

©Ken Sehested @ prayerandpolitiks.org. Inspired by **Hebrews 11:1-12:3, using lines from *Clarence Jordan and ***Wendell Berry.

Come, oh come, every supplicant soul, remember—how tender!—the story foretold.

The story—such splendor!—of love so astounding, of mercy resounding and pardon abounding.

Confounding the ransom of death’s dark dominion; restoring, imploring the earth’s fertile care.

Restoring, imploring, no heartache ignoring, all hands now adoring, each heart raised in prayer.

Take flight, oh my soul, when tempests besiege and temptations ensnare, and steal away home to Jesus.

Rejoice and be glad, though the path lies uncertain, when predators stalk and the night like a curtain eclipses direction and threatens affection.

The seedling now breaks through the barren one’s shame. Insurrection now gathers the shunned and the lame.

That story—sweet surrender!—of Heaven’s affair with all flesh-given creatures now standing as heirs to the Reign of God’s rapture and radiance and care.

©Ken Sehested @ prayerandpolitiks.org. Inspired by the Negro spiritual, “Steal Away.”

Arise, shine; for your Light has come, for heaven’s Glory rises to greet you!

But how can such frivolous claims be made? For blind rage covers the earth, and the nations are allied in enmity.

Open your eyes, oh People of Promise! Throw off fear’s blinding cover and see the Radiance that lights the Way Home.

Such Light will draw all to its splendor. Rulers from every corner will make their way by the light of this star.

Open every portal of sight, every pore of vivid sense, and take it all in! Look, your toddling sons stumble in your direction, arms aloft; your suckling daughters reach out for your breast.

This, now, is the moment of rejoicing. Hearts vibrate with the melody of joyful abundance!

Even the beasts of field and furrow are drawn to this luminous landscape, bearing extravagant gifts and songs of praise.

Arise, shine, for your light has come!

©Ken Sehested @ prayerandpolitiks.org. Inspired by Isaiah 60:1-6.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

By that Word were all things breathed to life from the breathless dark, knit into comely shape from nether and nil.

Even so was Wisdom present at the beginning, the great Sculptor of God’s delight, carving the depths of the seas and the heights of the mountains, assigning the waters their limit, the springs their origin and the soil its abundance.

By the Word’s brilliance and by Wisdom’s great might did Glory tame the void’s furied fright.

Enfleshed by the Word, by Wisdom sustained, all creatures rejoice with voice unrestrained.

By Wisdom’s road lies the path of justice. By the Word’s embrace doth Heaven entice.

So watch by the gate, to the portal attend, for the light’s bright disclosure and the earth’s full amend.

Happy now those with her Wisdom conferred; grace upon grace, fully formed in his Word.

©Ken Sehested @ prayerandpolitiks.org. Inspired by Proverbs 8 and John 1:1-18.

It is with careless ease that we say, “Bless God, for all life is good,” when the sun shines during our outings, when no strain threatens our budget.

It’s easy, when life is blessed with children and our ancient ones live long and die in peace.

It takes little faith to acknowledge God’s goodness when terror remains at a distance.

It’s easy, when health is secure and the future holds promise.

But life is not always and everywhere good. Storms and strains often surround us and those we love.

Children suffer, loved ones die too young, health crumbles and terror draws near.

Draw ever nearer, O God of Zarephath, divine place of Meeting in the midst of drought and destitution.

Bring us into the presence of widows whose faith is stronger than famine.

Send Elijah to accompany us to the place where hope outstrips horror.

Provide us with provisions that neither faint nor fail.

And teach us to say, along the risky journey of faith,

“Bless the Lord, O my soul, and bless God’s holy Name.”

©Ken Sehested @ prayerandpolitiks.org. Inspired by 1 Kings 17:8-16.

Oh LORD, you are my shepherd, I shall not want.

My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from helping me, from the words of my groaning?

You make me lie down in green pastures; You lead me beside still waters.

O my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer; and by night, but find no rest.

You restore my soul and lead me in right paths for the Heaven’s Holy Namesake.

In you our ancestors trusted, and you delivered them. To you they cried, and were saved; in you they trusted, and were not put to shame.

Even wending through the darkest valley, I fear no evil.

Do not be far from me, for trouble is near, and there is no one to intervene.

But the scent of Your Presence is there.

O LORD, do not be far away! O Help of the helpless, come quickly to my aid!

Your rod and Your staff — they comfort me.

On you I was cast from my birth, and since my mother bore me you have been my God.

You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.

I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint.

You anoint my head with oil. My cup overflows.

My mouth is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue sticks to my jaws.

Surely goodness and mercy track my steps all the days of my life.

For the Beloved One did not despise or abhor the affliction of the afflicted.

And I shall inhabit the house of the LORD my whole life long.

To the Ancient of Days, indeed, shall all who sleep in the earth bow down; before the Architect of Creation shall bow all who go down to the dust, and I shall live for this Advocate.

©Ken Sehested @ prayerandpolitiks.org. Inspired Psalms 22 & 23.

Sisters and brothers, heed the appeal of Heaven’s approach: The sinews of life grow from bodies adorned with the countenance of mercy.

Conform no more to the ruling arrangements. Don’t go cheap for the marketer’s bribe.

Let the eyes of your soul be refocused. Let the ears of your heart be retuned. Hold onto your birthright. Hold out for more: Don’t go cheap for pleasant lies.

Don’t go cheap, no, don’t go cheap.

Sort the news. Weigh the claims. Hawkers abound, shilling for those invested in the way things are. Hold out for more: Don’t go cheap for second-hand convictions.

Don’t go cheap, no, don’t go cheap.

If one of you has a special ability, what of it? Don’t be vain. It is not for you. Fear of its loss will poison your well. Hold out for more: Don’t go cheap for flattery’s promise.

Don’t go cheap, no, don’t go cheap.

If one of you says, “I have no gifts to give,” again I say, “Don’t be vain.” Fear of its lack will poison your well. Hold out for more: Don’t go cheap for scarcity’s threat.

Don’t go cheap, no don’t go cheap.

I, the Guarantor of the Harvest, have dug many wells in your terrain. They flow from one to the other in ways you cannot comprehend. And all draw from the same aquifer of life, freely given. Don’t go cheap for private access.

Don’t go cheap, no, don’t go cheap.

©Ken Sehested @ prayerandpolitiks.org. Inspired by Romans 12:1-8.