You Have Made Us Your Friends!

We lift our eyes to you, O God:
it’s what seems natural to worship the great Creator,
the faraway God of our beginnings
and so that is true, but it is not all of you.

This tendency to look up searching for you
means that we miss a lot of who you are.
What would happen if we just looked a little sideways,
or perhaps down—would you become more real then?

Have mercy on us, God, we cry as your servants,
and so we are, but that is not all of us either;
and it is certainly not all that you would have us be.

In Jesus, you have called us friends.
In Jesus, you have made us look sideways to our neighbours
and to our enemies.
In Jesus, you have made us see you in humility
and even squalor.
Nothing is too depraved; no-one is too despised
to be your dwelling-place.

And when we look up, because of Jesus, we see,
not an arrogant god on a ridiculously majestic throne,
but a life given for our sake,
and the healing of your whole Creation.

Forgive us when we fail to speak truth to power
and miss out on authentic relationship with you.

Forgive us when we bemoan our own predicaments
while neglecting the plight of the oppressed.

Forgive us when we spend so much time congratulating ourselves that we are your servants,
that we completely miss your invitation to companionship.

When arrogance masks itself as humility,
Lord, have mercy.
Lord, have mercy.

When self-pity blinds us to real poverty,
Christ, have mercy.
Christ, have mercy.

When fear pretends to be prudence,
Lord, have mercy.
Lord, have mercy.

Expand our vision of you to a 360⁰ view
that we might find ourselves in the sort of relationship with you
that you envisaged at our creation, right there in the beginning,
when you dared to make creatures who would speak with you.
Through the influence of your Spirit,
help us to be friends and partners, not slaves or crazed fans.
Work through us as your colleagues in creativity and compassion
for you have gifted us with your image,
and in Jesus, you have made us your friends. Amen.