Almighty God, and most merciful father, who didst command the children of Israel to offer a daily sacrifice to thee, that thereby they might glorify and praise thee for thy protection both night and day, receive, O Lord, my morning sacrifice which I now offer up to thee; I yield thee humble and hearty thanks that thou has preserved me from the danger of the night past, and brought me to the light of the day, and the comforts thereof, a day which is consecrated to thine own service and for thine own honor.
George Washington
I found this prayer a while ago on Beliefnet. I love the fact that GW prayed this prayer -- that our founding fathers (blech on the non-gender inclusiveness of that phrase) -- that our founders were people who could and would pray. I know GW had some real problems, but he knew the land. I think we are slipping away from people who know the land -- we loose something by it. I don't think we can understand the Israelites fully because we are people who have lost that connection to the land.
I was raised on a working farm for the first few years of my life. I have a deep abiding connection to the land. It grieves me when I can't have a patch to live on -- to grow things and to connect. As I contemplate becoming an itinerate minister, I realized that I will not be owning any piece of land -- of all the things to rub, this has been the one to blister. To not have connection to the land, except in a parsonage that is owned by the church. Wow.
And maybe it will be freeing. Sacrifice can be the willing offering of that we hold most precious to God. Maybe this indeed will be the big sacrifice.
More prayer, more thinking.
Peace.
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