Liturgy 41: Strike All My Enemies on the Jaw

Aug 07, 2024

Arise, Lord!
Deliver me, my God!
Strike all my enemies on the jaw;
break the teeth of the wicked.
— Psalm 3v5-8

We must lay before Him what is in us,
not what ought to be in us.
— CS Lewis

🙏 Prayer

LORD

I am trying
to catch
my breath

The heat
in my chest
and the back
of my neck
tell a story

Where does
my anger
and your
presence
meet?

How often have I
prayed falsified platitudes
bathed in religious garb?

I did not believe
my own words
my own heart
my own belief
downsized
to a construct
to a convention
for disingenuous
niceness.

Can I even say these words?

Strike my enemies on the jaw

Is that really a prayer I can pray?
Because I will.

God
strike
all
my
enemies
on the jaw.

What is this strange world of scripture and prayer?

Can such dark and hostile, stone covered thoughts come before a holy God who teaches us to love our enemies?

God
strike
all
my
enemies
on the jaw.

May the full voice of my prayers
come before you unabated
until the fantasy of vengeance
is weakened

and I find myself at last in the
embrace of One who
searches and knows
my inmost me

You deliver me
from my enemies
not by way of denial
not by way of plastic cordiality

but an honest holiness.

Until I can pray
Father forgive them
as Jesus did
I will pray what the Psalmist said

Come Holy Spirit

May you lay before God what is in you,
not what ought to be in you

May you feel in your body
the joy of being
wholly known
by God

May your lifelong journey
of becoming One with Christ
go through the darkest
shades of who you are

In the Name of the One
Who is Familiar with Our Humanity

Amen