The Noise of Politics

We watch as the jets fly in

      with the power people and 

      the money people, 

      the suits, the budgets, the billions.

We wonder about monetary policy

      because we are among the haves,

and about generosity, 

      because we care about the have-nots.

By slower modes we notice

      Lazarus and the poor arriving from Africa,

      and the beggars from Central Europe, and

      the throng of environmentalists

            with their vision of butterflies and oil

                       of flowers and tanks

                       of growing things and 

                               killing fields.

We wonder about peace and war, 

      about ecology and development, 

      about hope and entitlement.

We listen beyond jeering protestors and

      soaring jets and 

   faintly we hear the mumbling of the crucified one, 

   something about

       feeding the hungry

       and giving drink to the thirsty, 

       about clothing the naked, 

       and noticing the prisoners,

       more about the least and about holiness among them.

We are moved by the mumbles of the gospel,

      even while we are tenured in our privilege. 

We are half ready to join the choir of hope,

            half afraid things might change, 

                 and in a third half of our faith

                       turning to you, 

                 and your outpouring love

                 that works justice and 

                 that binds us each and all to one another.

So we pray amid jeering protestors

       and soaring jets.

   Come by here and make new, 

       even at some risk to our entitlements.

- Walter Brueggemann

Lately I've been finding a lot of wisdom in the prayers of Walter Brueggemann.  In this exciting, if not tense, political climate I thought I would share this one with you.