FEBRUARY 2015 | Poetry.

The Lord's Prayer

ROCKHARBOR Seek Week 2011/2012
Nick Benoit 

Our Father

Who art in heaven
Hallowed be thy name.
That name,
The name we cannot tame,
And would not aim to try.

For your name’s above all names,
Relentlessly shows its fame,
And effortlessly holds its claim.

Your name it is holy.
Your name is the only
One that can
Be known as the I Am.
And so we stay
In that presence,

And we pray
Here in deference
And we ask 

May Thy kingdom come
Thy will be done.
It can be done;
It will be done;
The work’s begun
On earth
As it is in heaven

In you and me,
Friends, can you see
The we that we would be
If he’d not set us free
To be the we
That he
Can make us be?

Our lives are exchanged.
Our hearts have been changed.
Our passions rearranged.

And he has beseeched us,
Unleashed us,
Bequeathed us

The keys to his kingdom,
The work that must be done.
Here and now
We can plant and plow
He will show us how.

So don’t wait.
Don’t hesitate.
Don’t let it percolate,
Or let time confiscate
The power
We have in this day and hour.
We aren’t meant to cower,
For he has empowered.

My brothers and sisters,
We cannot resist this;
It is our existence
To become his assistants,
To make exchange,
To enact change,
To rearrange,
All in his name.

So that when we say,
“Give us this day
Our daily bread,”
We mean instead:

Please, God, give un-to us
The things that you have for us
That will make us vic-tor-i-ous.

For our old lives are gone,
And we sing a new song;
Our hearts burn with fires
That do turn our desires
To you
To do
That which you
Would have us do.

But first we must attend
To the things we must amend,
And the ways we still pretend
To be something other
Than the life you’ve uncovered.

So search our hearts and know us,
And show us
The brokenness in us.

Bring to mind our lapses,
And forgive us our trespasses.
Let the light of your face
Erase
My disgrace.
Replace
The trappings of this place
By the power of your grace.

For it’s by you we live
And give
As we forgive.
And choose not to pass judgments
On those who affront us
Who trespass against us.

Perfection forgave us
And gives us
The means for forgiveness
Of others.

So that we might gain
The claim to your name
Remove all our stains,
And precede us,
And lead us
not into temptation
But towards your redemption
And exemption
By your preemption of death.

Father, please deliver us
From evil that may hinder us.

For we find ourselves connected
To the power that resurrected.
That power
It has seized us,
It frees us,
Sin flees us
Because we have seen Jesus.

My mind cannot fathom
The wonder that can come,
That has come
For thine is the kingdom,
And the power,
And the glory.
Forever.
And we will endeavor
To praise you wherever
For ever and ever
Amen.