WITNESS

Lord God, dear Father in heaven, sometimes we wonder why we keep coming to Thee. We come with so little expectation. We are so faltering in our faith--so formal in our greetings--so devoid of joy. We know how that man felt who wrote:
"In vain we tune our formal songs; in vain we try to rise;
Hosannas languish on our tongues, and our devotion dies."

Then we wonder:
"And shall we forever live at this poor dying rate?
Our love so faint, so cold to Thee, and thine to us so great!"

So help us to pray:
"Come, Holy Spirit, heavenly Dove, with all thy quickening powers,
Kindle a flame of sacred love in these cold hearts of ours;
Come, shed abroad a Saviour's love and that shall kindle ours."

When this happens, our Father, we shall know once more why we were born and for what cause we came into the world. Then we will wonder why all men do not turn to Thee for life. And we want to say to the unhappy, unfulfilled people, "Come with us to Christ--Christ is the answer to our problems day by day--Come with us to Christ!" O Lord, don't allow that desire to share Him with others die from our hearts until we have found someone to love for His sake and have brought them to Christ and the Church.

Give us, we pray, the message we need to hear. Deliver us from the notion that God spoke only in times past through the prophets and written words of the Bible. Show us how your word is spoken now and is alive and active--how it cuts more keenly than any two-edged sword--how it strikes through to the place where soul and spirit meet, to the innermost intimacies of a man's being--how it exposes the very thoughts and motives of our hearts. Remind us that no creature has any cover from the sight of God--that all of us lie naked and exposed to Thee. And help us to believe that what we need most in mind or spirit or body--what we need most in our relationships with other people in our families, our community, in the world at large--what we need most Thy Word can meet and heal and make alive again.

We ask it all in the name of Him who is still the Word made flesh and who still dwells among us full of grace and truth. Amen.