O start anew!
You are the One who has brought our Lord Jesus Christ
again to life from the dead;
You are the One who by your summoning imperative
has caused the worlds to be;
You are the One who by your faithfulness
has given a son to our vexed mother Hannah;
You are the One who has the will and power to begin again,
to start anew.
You are the only self-starter whose name we know.
And so we bid you, start again,
start here, start now,
start with us and with our school (church, city, country. . . .),
start with your mercy,
and with your justice,
and with your compassion,
and with your peace.
Make the world new again,
and young again, and innocent again. . .Start. . . before it is too late.
Amen.
On reading I Samuel 1 on Feb. 4, 1999
Brueggemann, Walter. Awed to Heaven, Rooted in Earth: Prayers of Walter Brueggemann. Ed. Edwin Searcy. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2003. 111.