move off the page

From tuesday night group's reflections comes this beauty of a prayer, read by Michael, who's becoming the font of inspiration of the moment. . .it's by walt b.*

for a week now we have been cast in the role of
readers,
students,
scholars,
doctors.

a week in the leisure class: air conditioning,
many books,
assured food,
free time,
with only a modicum of anxiety.

in our leisure we have watched you move from verse to verse,
noticed the force of your verbs,
pondered your elliptical textual pauses,
and now we dare to interrupt your anticipated sabbath
with one imperative, for a moment
not scholars but petitioners in urgency.

So listen up:
You, majestic sovereign...move off the page!
move off the page to the world,
move off the page to the trouble,
move out of your paged leisure to
the turmoil of your creatures.

move to the peace negotiations,
and cancer diagnoses,
and burning churches,
and lynched blacks,
and abused children.
listen to the groans and moans,
and see and hear and know and remember,
and come down!
Have no sabbath rest until your creatures rest well, all of us.
be your Friday self so that your world may be Eastered.
Move off the page!

Amen.

can't really follow that, other than to say last night it was all about john caputo. he deconstructed jesus, and then gave his reading of "the messianic" that left me wanting to be a Christian for the first time in a very long time.

pax.

x.

* walter brueggemann wrote and used this for his old testament theolgy D. Min class on 14 july, 2000. the layout is as is printed in

Awed to Heaven, Rooted in Earth - prayers of walter brueggemann. (Fortress Press, 2003)