A prayer for our athletes and our world

O God of all nations,
Korea, Japan,
of Romania, Greece and the rest,
we ask you to bless
the Olympics begun.
Help each who competes do their best.

Protect them from sickness
(from injury, too).
Unite all our countries through game.
With fun competition,
infuse us with joy
as we make global “fitness” our aim.

The flags that are flying
bespeak of our world
that longs for true peace. Thus, this prayer.
O God of all nations,
please break down all walls.
Remind us that You’re everywhere.

And so as we’re praying
wherever we be,
we bow in Your presence to pray
amazed of Your glory,
convinced of Your grace
and grateful to You for this day.

Lessons from the State of the Union

Our Union’s state is stained with guile
and all because that dreaded aisle
keeps those apart who lead our land
like feuding cats and dogs.

The Democrats were just plain rude.
I didn’t like their attitude.
A less-than-perfect President
deserves how grownups act.

Respect is what we really need.
That’s how our nation will succeed.
By treating others with regard
and seeking to be kind.

God, bless America with grace
that we might take time to retrace
the way we used to get along
with those we think are wrong.

An ode to joy for less than joyful times

Pour Your Spirit on Your people.
Fill Your Church, O God, we pray.
Help us navigate the culture
lest (confused) we lose our way.
Guide us with a holy passion
to pursue Your righteousness.
Keep us focused on Your precepts
grounded in Your holiness.

Help Your people love like Jesus.
Motivate us to be kind
as we stand for timeless virtues
lost amid the daily grind.
Teach us Christlike perseverance
as we earn the right to speak
to the ones You long to pardon.
Make us merciful and meek.

Breathe, O breathe, Your breath upon us.
Animate our focused will.
Fuel our mission to be mindful
of Your Word that guides us still.
Keep us anchored in Your Scriptures.
Hold our feet to purging fire
so to help us stand unflinching
known by love and Your desire.

• the above poem can be sung to the tune “Ode to Joy”

Anticipating the day it won’t be a false alarm

When a missile warning is legit
and not a false alarm
where will you go? What will you do someday?
That blunder in Hawaii was a scare,
but so much more.
It was a wake up call and call to pray.

Have you stores of bottled water?
Is your faith in God secure?
Have you written out instructions for your clan?
Why not leave them a reminder
to be ready when they die
so you’ll see them one day in God’s Promised Land?

Are there tensions in your family?
Are there schisms to be healed?
Can rifts of hate be bridged while there’s still time?
Could an errant missile warning
prompt us to put down our arms?
That is what I hoped to trigger in this rhyme.

Honoring MLK Day with a new hymn text

May Your prophets find the courage
to heed Your call
as they strive to climb the mountain
burdened for all.
Help them dream a King-size vision
of a land without division
focused on a holy mission
where tyrants fall.

May Your prophets speak out boldly
hearing Your voice.
Help them stand up for those victims
denied a choice.
Much like Moses and like Martin,
use Your prophets as they pardon
those enslaved and thus disheartened
so they’ll rejoice.

May Your prophets stand on prophets’
shoulders of old,
high above reproach or scandal
grasping for gold.
Help them to make plain Your passion
even when it seems old-fashioned
for the poor who lack for rations
out in the cold.

*This poem can be sung to the Welsh tune often associated with the hymn “Go, My Children, with My Blessing” commonly called “All Through the Night.”