More than 1200 years ago, the Islamic saint Rabia of Basra wrote:
In my soul there is a temple, a shrine, a mosque, a church where I kneel.
Prayer should bring us to an altar where no walls or names exist…
(from “Love Poems from God”, trans. Daniel Ladinsky)
Rabia was a female Sufi saint who suffered a life of physical and sexual abuse and yet managed to leave us a legacy of amazing poetry. She looked beyond the specifics of her circumstances and wrote of timeless truths. Prayer can do that.
May the sounds of every city in every land–
the rush of traffic, the din of piledrivers
the hum of power lines, the roar of furnaces
Gladly we address our burdens
Through the mystery of prayer,
Lovingly support each other
In the privilege of care.
Leader. O God, You created us and gave us life, but for what purpose? We live
and work, but to what end? Like children bringing their broken toys,
we lay here before You our lives in need of mending.
