Prayer for Blessing the Distance

Prayer for Blessing the Distance

This prayer was written for Ascension Sunday and is based on Luke 24:51. It can be found in the book “Circle of Grace” by Jan Richardson.

“Blessing the Distance”

It is a mystery to me
how as the distance
between us grows,
the larger this blessing
becomes,

as is the shape of it
depends on absence,
as if it finds its form
not by what
it can cling to
but by the space
that arcs
between us.

As this blessing
Makes its way,
first it will cease
to measure itself
by time.

Then it will release
how attached it has become
to this place
where we have lived,
where we have learned
to know one another
in proximity and
presence.

Next this blessing
will abandon
the patterns
in which it moved,
the habits that helped it
recognize itself,
the familiar pathways
it traced.

Finally this blessing
will touch its fingers
to your brow,
your eyes,
your mouth;|
it will hold your beloved face
in both its hands,

and then
it will let you go;
it will loose you
into your life;
it will leave each hindering thing

until all that breathes
between us
is blessing
and all that beats
between us
is grace.

—

Submitted by:
Rev. Kristen Koger, Pastor for Children and Families, First Baptist Decatur