My Favorite Prayer

My favorite color is orange. My favorite musician is Bob Dylan. My favorite junk foods are dark chocolate and any form of salty or greasy potato, and my favorite place on the planet is Harrisonburg.

This is my favorite prayer in the BCP*. It's called "The General Thanksgiving," and it's on the longish side, so if you're not really into this sort of thing, read it like you're Vincent Price.**

Almighty God, Father of all mercies,
we your unworthy servants give you humble thanks
for all your goodness and loving-kindness
to us and to all whom you have made.
We bless you for our creation, preservation,
and all the blessings of this life;
but above all for your immeasurable love
in the redemption of the world by our Lord Jesus Christ;
for the means of grace, and for the hope of glory.
And, we pray, give us such an awareness of your mercies,
that with truly thankful hearts we may show forth your praise,
not only with our lips, but in our lives,
by giving up our selves to your service,
and by walking before you
in holiness and righteousness all our days;
through Jesus Christ our Lord,
to whom, with you and the Holy Spirit,
be honor and glory throughout all ages. Amen.

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So on to the favorite within the favorite-- the part in bold. This has always been one of those shining bits that jumps out at me and does a little dance like that old animated paperclip from Microsoft Word.

Yoo-hoo! It looks like God's trying to speak to you in this line! Would you like to:
*listen
*take note
*or dismiss and return back to what you were doing?

There's been kind of a slow glow about it, burning bit by bit in little pieces over a number of years. Today, a couple of different phrases jumped out. (And since God meets us where we are, what I see is obviously influenced by my state of mind, but for me that's the beauty in revelatory moments like this one.)

First I realized that it's not "ourselves," as in you and me and the rest of the quiet, huddled masses, but our selves, two words.

Not some sad, shaky, uncertain shadow that is unsure about what others think of us, but our selves, individual and beautiful, fearfully and wonderfully made and as good as the rest of creation.

And it's not a heavy, saturated awareness of what we are not that we're asking God to reflect, but an awareness of God's mercies.

Hanging up the usual litany of failings and insecurities on a hook and going for a hefty awareness of God's mercy sounds like excellent medicine. More than just medicine-- an excellent alternative. A better choice. A choice that leaves us free to play, to fully experience joy, and to rest assured that we are ultimately in the care of Someone who is not trying to cram us into some kind of mold of perfection or make us more like someone else. Rather, He longs to reach us and shape us as we are, as we are already growing and blooming, as He (after all) made us.

I don't know about you, but to me, that is something to generally be thankful for. Generally, early, and often.

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*BCP= The Book of Common Prayer, online here.

**The Vincent Price thing works better with some things than others. For maximum impact, I suggest things like the second verse of "When in Our Music God is Glorified," or most of Eucharistic Prayer C. If you've got more for me, leave a comment (which it is entirely possible to do anonymously)-- I need to add to my list.