Teach us to look for you

This prayer was written to accompany the Advent hymn "People, Look East," #226 in Singing the Living Tradition.

Spirit of the Living God,
turn our faces to the East to look for your presence.
Turn our faces in any and every direction
from which you draw near to us.
Teach us to look for you in places
we would not expect to find you.
Teach us to find you in places so well known to us
that we now fail to see you there.
Help us to see you in every guest we entertain.
Let the beauty of a rose, of any bloom, reveal your presence to us.
Let every bird who wings across the sky above
remind us of the freedom that is ours.
Let every star in the heavens be a light
in the darkness of our lonely nights...
Never let us forget that you are love
and that those who abide in love abide in you...
Teach us to look east, Sweet Mystery,
and north and south and west
that we might find you in every place we look...
including within ourselves.
Amen.

A wind-driven cloud over the south rim of the Grand Canyon, with stars in the background
A small bird (pied wagtail) in someone's hand.
A close-up of a yellow rose blossom