Generously providing God
your table groans with goodness and abundance
a table you invite us to sit at
we praise you for including us at the feast for all nations
we thank you for filling our stomachs with good things
we pray for your world where there is more than enough for all to taste and be satisfied
but food never reaches tables, due to cost or drought or the greed of the few
so children’s stomachs swell, not through being filled, but through malnutrition
so fathers pick unripe fruit to stave off the hunger pains of them and their loved ones
so farmers cannot sell their produce as it’s not the right shape or size
how can this happen in your world, Lord God?
We struggle to understand, and to know what to do to change these situations
so guide our prayers, our thoughts, our actions towards a more sustaining way
Fertilising Christ
patiently you tend us, water us, feed us, with your word
that we may bear fruit for all the nations
thank you for trusting us with that task
so much in your world seems to need chopped down
those who use their power and authority for personal gain and bullying point scoring, rather than to help and support the weak and the vulnerable
those who fail to listen when people tell them to stop doing what they are doing, as it is causing them pain and distress, physically, emotionally, spiritually
those who value status and position above self giving love, viewing the latter as weakness
but, as you are patient with us, Christ Jesus, may we be patient with all people who do not live
as you would wish all the peoples to live
to in our lives, in our actions, to offer the loving manure of your care at the very roots of their beings that they, too, may be fruitful for you
our Lord and saviour
Amen