October 26, 2022
“I Hear Voices”: A Prayer
O Lord, I hear voices, and no I’m not going crazy because I’ve
always heard voices
(always been crazy maybe?)
voices
in my head,
voices voicing
this, that, everything;
“Jeff, keep your big mouth shut!”
one voice tells me;
“Oh, just say it – everybody else does!”
another voice tells me;
except same voice,
my own voice,
yet somehow
not my voice,
strange;
one voice
encouraging,
another voice
discouraging,
“Keep pushing!”
“Keep pushing!”
“Keep pushing!”
"What’s the point?”
“What’s the point?”
“What’s the point?”
one voice
telling me
to stop
letting political chaos
get to me,
politics nasty,
always have been,
so get a grip,
stay connected, informed, aware anyway;
another voice
telling me
to forget it,
disconnect, unplug, switch off; don’t
listen to the news,
read the news,
watch the news;
only way to
stay sane;
voices of hope, voices of despair, voices of joy,
voices of sadness, so many voices,
thankfulness, regret, love,
guilt, shame, and
even more;
voices from the past
still speaking to me,
voices forgotten
suddenly remembered,
voices of the dead
alive within me;
voices in the night
haunting me,
helping me;
voices and visions
throughout the night;
visions strange,
like watching slide show,
each vision a slide,
coming one at a time,
click, click, click; or
like watching a film-strip in Sunday School years ago; or
like watching individual frames of a movie go jerkily by;
muffled voices accompanying,
my voice urging me to
let the frames keep going,
let the film strip continue,
let the slide show keep clicking on,
not stop them,
not sure why,
but do
what told;
and still
more voices,
all the day long.
O Lord, it’s not just the voices within but also the voices without,
voices on the TV,
voices in the air,
voices everywhere,
loud voices,
strident voices,
angry voices;
too many voices,
too many opinions,
too many talkers
talking, declaring, pontificating
(Anyone know of a cheap island I can buy?);
voices saying
think this,
think that,
believe this,
believe that,
do this,
do that,
confusion of voices
confusing;
and the thing is,
which voice is your voice,
where are you in the mess,
how can we know listening to right voice?
(Talk about going crazy!)
O Lord, that is my prayer, maybe the prayer of all of us,
that we would
know your voice,
listen for your voice,
trust your voice, and
obey; and
your voice
can be heard
in the mess,
for surely
your voice is
the voice of love
in the midst of hatred,
the voice of kindness
in the midst of cruelty,
the voice of beauty
in the midst of ugliness,
the voice of gentleness
in the midst of violence,
the voice of calm
in the midst of chaos,
the voice of peace
in the midst of war,
the voice of hope
in the midst of despair;
help us
to heed
these voices and
remain sane
in the midst of
the insanity
of our time;
remain faithful
in the midst of
the unfaithfulness
of these days;
remain truthful
in the midst of
the untruthfulness
of our age.
O Lord, help all who are ill or hospitalized or suffering,
and all who are dying or grieving or at their wit’s end,
and all who are homeless and hungry,
to hear the word you speak to them,
your word of healing, comfort, consolation, strength and
hope;
your word promising
that you will remain with them;
your word of love loving them unto life.
O Lord, I hear voices, always have, and while I don’t think
I’m crazy, it could be I’m
a titch loony, and have been
since day one;
but
I don’t mind
if it means
hearing your voice,
the voice that sees me through
from one day to the next;
and
I don’t mind
if it means
being a fool for your sake,
rather than just a plain fool;
I don’t mind
if it means
being loony in love
with you.
Amen.