Not the God we would have chosen

The following prayer is from Walter Brueggemann's "Awed to Heaven, Rooted in Earth" (Augsburg Fortress 2003). Since hearing that this collection of Brueggemann's prayers was published, I have wanted to read them. At the Upstate New York Synod (ELCA) assembly I attended earlier this week, I found the book while wandering in Augsburg's display after I left yet another denomination's discussions about sinking finances. (By the way, who out there can I talk with about the wealth of information and experience I'm collecting by having feet in two denominations?) Several prayers jumped at me, but this one in particular addresses the awe I frequently feel when considering the freedom and opportunity God has given me to work in this unique environment.

Not the God we would have chosen

We would as soon you were stable and reliable.

We would as soon you were predictable
and always the same toward us.

We would like to take the hammer of doctrine
and the nails of piety
and nail your feet to the floor
and have you stay in one place.

And then we find you moving,
always surprising us,
always coming at us from new directions.

Always planting us
and uprooting us
and tearing all things down
and making all things new.

You are not the God we would have chosen
had we done the choosing,
but we are your people
and you have chosen us in freedom.

We pray for the great gift of freedom
that we may be free toward you
as you are in your world.

Give us that gift of freedom
that we may move in new places
in obedience and in gratitude.

Thank you for Jesus
who embodied your freedom for all of us. Amen.