Why do you bother, Jesus,
when we are so certain
that we can create life for ourselves?
When we try to pretend
that we aren’t frightened of those different from us,
that we aren’t driven by our insecurities and greed,
that we aren’t overwhelmed by life and it’s challenges?
Why do you still come to us?
Why do you send us your messengers?
Why do you invite us into the water
to be refreshed, washed, changed?
Why do you embrace stables and crosses
to offer yourself as Shepherd to the lost sheep we are?
Somehow, it seems, in ways that we may never understand
you really are a God of infinite grace;
Somehow, your judgement and your grace are not opposites,
but expressions of the same surprising reality,
That you always seek to save, to restore, to renew;
that your forgiveness and your commandments together
offer us a way to be fully alive.
Thank you.
Amen.
