Our world overflows with stories, Jesus,

so many lives,

so many ways of being human.

So why are we satisfied with so few?

Why do we keep telling the same stories over and over,

of the wealthy and powerful and beautiful?

 

Why do we so carelessly pass by the rich and unpredictable stories

of the unseen

who in a million magical ways,

make a life out of nothing?

 

God, forgive our narrow interests,

and our lazy entertainments;

Make us biographers of the least,

who listen to the untold stories of the shadow people,

and bring them into the light.

 

Give us the curiosity and the restlessness

to search out the forgotten,

the neglected,

the unwanted,

the discarded,

and the worn out,

to learn their legends,

and to acknowledge their place

in the epic story of humanity.