O LORD, greater than all gods, whose renown echoes through all generations:
Grant us a sharp wisdom to identify and name the idols* that this time of crisis and pause have revealed in us:
Frantic busyness – a hyper-activity that kept on the move and away from the silence and stillness where you speak loudest;
Individual expression – thinking I can do whatever, whenever, wherever, to whoever;
Success – that hitting some metric or goal is somehow our/my chief end;
Approval, security, power, and pleasure – the chief desires of our heart;
Traditions – that calcify and stifle the creativity and innovation needed now.
All who serve these become like them.
And the costs bleed out – life, health, family, friends, community, service, solidarity, and compassion.
Let us not gain the world and lose our very soul.
Show us our hearts – and show us your great goodness; that to sing your praise is a liberating and lightening reality blowing fresh wind and fire into us.
*idols: “ok/good” things become “ultimate” things that demand sacrifice and never deliver.
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