Breath Prayers for When The Apocalypse Won’t Stop Apocalypsing
In the introduction to his book, Ultimate Things: An Introduction to Jewish and Christian Apocalyptic Literature, Greg Carey describes apocalypse as revelatory, a narrative framework, something that “is mediated by an otherworldly being to a human recipient, disclosing a transcendent reality which is both temporal…and spatial.…” Apocalypse is a story that reveals, something that holds tension between our physical and spiritual realities, an uncovering of powers that be and of “the human condition that requires decisive divine action for its resolution.”
I don’t know about you, but after the last decade and especially in the last week or two, it feels like the world’s darkest underbelly keeps getting revealed. In the words of an improv comic I love describing the weeks before her wedding, it feels, we all feel like “peeled grapes,” raw and exposed. I find myself waking up to imagined arguments I will likely never have with those I love. I find my shoulders tense up to my ears and my heart crying out for that decisive divine action. Frozen inside this week, I have found I need new breath prayers for a cold snap that keeps coming. Maybe you’ll find them helpful, too.
For When We’re Waking Up to Realities When Others Have Warned Us:
(Ecclesiastes 1:9)
Inhale: There is nothing new under the sun
Exhale: I will learn from those who have been burned
When it feels like the crushing will never stop (from Psalm 37:14-15)
Inhale: The wicked draw the sword
Exhale: Their swords will pierce their own hearts
Inhale: The wicked bend the bow
Exhale: Their bows will be broken
When Grief Over Unjust Laws and False Worship Overtakes Me
(from Psalm 119: 136-142)
Inhale: Streams of tears flow from my eyes,
Exhale: For your law is not obeyed
Inhale: My zeal wears me out
Exhale: My enemies ignore your words
Inhale: Though I’m lowly and despised
Exhale: I do not forget your precepts
Inhale: Your righteousness is everlasting
Exhale: Your law is true
For When A Friend or Family Member Parrots (or Posts) Something Awful:
From 2 Samuel 12
Inhale: Sometimes I’m Nathan
Exhale: Sometimes I’m David
Inhale: God have mercy
Exhale: God have mercy on us
When We Wish for Your Wrath:
From Luke 9 and Revelation 4
Inhale: They do not welcome you
Exhale: We want your fire here
Inhale: You rebuke our thunder
Exhale: It must come from your throne
When We Grow Weary of Finding Good:
From Psalm 126 and Matthew 9
Inhale: We go out weeping,
Exhale: We carry seeds to sow
Inhale: We will return with songs of joy
Exhale: We will carry sheaves one day
Inhale: You are the Lord of the harvest
Exhale: Send us out into your fields
