We know how we should be,
and then we go back to the way things were.
We know ourselves.
We know what our weaknesses are,
know our own excuses far too well.
O Lord our God, it's always the same song with us.
We call ourselves Christians,
but when it comes down to it,
we are like everybody else,
including those who make no pretense of believing.
We are easily overlooked.
Our way of living creates no curiosity in others.
Yet we want to be different—we want to be like Christ,
whose life created a stir, whose words meant something,
whose actions changed things.
Teach us a new song.
Help us experience who we were created to be.
Give us grace to live as though we mean it
when we pray, “Your will be done.” Amen.
—adapted from Gebete für den Gottesdienst, by Gerhard Engelsberger (Stuttgart: Kreuz 2002)
