When we consider

Psalm 8 : Prayers of confession & assurance of grace




can be used in gathered worship as a responsive prayer

when we consider the works of your creation,
considering ourselves masters of this dominion,
seek to master through domination –
forgive us, please

when we regard the moon and stars and the universe,
see our smallness as unworthiness, or your
regard as crowning glory and stretch our boots –
forgive us, please

when we receive your care, perceive protection
as just deserving, kick those boots into the least
in the heat of our desertion, lose our way –
forgive us, please

when we paste your holy name on placards of our hate,
to vindicate our vain assumptions of our rightness,
soil our rightness bringing blood into the banquet hall –
forgive us, please

and God says in reply,
consider my creation, dancing
dolphins in the ocean, diving
swallows between the clouds, and delight
in my creation: live; be free, and live!

and God says in response,
regard the universe, its planets,
stars and comets, see its vast
and endless beauty and delight
in your place within it: live; be free, and live!

and God says in reply,
receive the care I offer, rest
within my sure embrace, beloved,
made holy under cover of my
holiness: delight, and live; be free, and live!

and God says in response,
I heal your wounds from hatred’s
pasty, fearful, ramparts, clean
the blood away with love, my love;
delight, and live. Be free – and live!


Amen