Our Dispairing Hope, a prayer by Walter Bruegemann

Among us are shrivelled women
who in despair do not eat,
who in powerlessness weep downcast,
whose lips tremble, and
who barely dare ask otherwise.

We in our compassion and sensitivity
stand alongside those shrivelled women,
who in despair do not eat,
who in powerlessness weep downcast,
whose lips tremble, and
who barely dare ask otherwise.

Down deep in the all candor we ourselves
are among those shrivelled women;
we also in despair do not eat,
we also in powerlessness weep downcast,
we also have lips that tremble, and
we also barely dare ask otherwise.

They wait...
We wait alongside them...
We wait.

And you...sometimes...speak shalom and the world is made new.

This day in our despairing hope,
grant that we, along with all shrivelled women,
may - before sundown - eat and praise and depart in peace.

For now, we wait. Amen