Emily Kuhn

Beatitudes Society Fellow, Bread for the World, 2007

I sit at my desk, quietly, for most of the day. This is quite a change from the quick pace of my life as a seminary student and from my field work in a parish, and it takes me a little while to get used to it. One of my coworkers, expressing what I interpret as a possible concern for my work ethic, walks by my cubicle. “You prayin’?” she asks, with a nod of her head. I sort of chuckle. Later on, she walks by again and sighs. “Pray always.”

Initially, I want to protest her question. I want her to know that I am working, and not just sitting here, twiddling my thumbs, pretending to pray. But the more I sit here at my desk throughout the summer (doing my work, I might add!), the more I realize that I am indeed “praying always.” I am praying, and that is my work.

You see, my job, through the Beatitudes Society fellowship this summer at Bread for the World in Washington, DC, is to write worship resources—prayers, blessings, and litanies—for use in congregations. I spend all day sifting through the gray matter in my brain for creative ways to incorporate a concern for people who are poor and hungry into the worship life of congregations. Through my writing, I lift up countless prayers for an end to hunger. In particular, I am writing worship resources for Bread for the World Sunday, which will take place this year on October 21 (for more information, see www.bread.org).

The lectionary text for that Sunday comes from Luke 18 and the parable of the widow and the unjust judge. According to Luke, the parable addresses “the need to pray always and not to lose heart” (Luke 18:1). Time and time again, the widow comes to the king seeking justice. Time and time again, though, he refuses to give it to her. Eventually, he can hold out no longer. The widow’s persistent demand for justice gets her what she wants.

The actions of this widow serve as an example for those of us who seek justice. God calls us to keep asking for justice until it comes. The need to “pray always,” however, calls for an active form of prayer. It calls us to advocate for justice until the day when justice comes.

“You prayin’?” my coworker asks me again. “Yeah, I’m prayin,’” I tell her, in all honesty. My cubicle, though, begins to feel too confining for my prayers. I realize that my prayers need to take on a different form. Bread for the World is challenging me to live out my prayers in the form of advocacy and to encourage others, through the prayers I am writing, to do likewise. Pray always…pray always.

Come among us, O Christ.
Free us with your justice.
Lead us with your hope.
Comfort us with your peace.
Shelter us with your love.
Warm us with your light.
Feed us with your bread.
Come among us, O Christ.

Amen.

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