Nov 14 2019 Collect for Renewal of Life

Drive far from us all wrong desires,
incline our hearts to keep your law,
and guide our feet into the way of peace

In addition to the daily appointed Scripture, Morning Prayer includes a variety of prayers, some of which are related to the readings, some related to the morning, and some related to the day. This one feels fitting for the morning, hence its inclusion in Morning Prayer. 

This morning, I’m thinking about the verbs in this prayer – drive, incline, and guide.



Drive far from us. It’s as if our wrong desires are circling wolves. They’re not really part of us, but ever-circling. All it takes is another someone to drive those wrong desires away. And once they’re driven away, we can be more at peace, until they return – which they will. Once again, we ask that they be driven away. It’s helpful to me to realize the wrong desires are both not inherently part of me, and persistently approaching. It warrants equally persistent petition that they be driven away.

Incline our hearts. God’s law isn’t a set of rules, unless you’re talking about the big two. Love God. Love your neighbor. We’re not talking about laws like not trimming your beard, or sexual purity laws. Love God. Love your neighbor. These laws are simple, but not easy. This is about what is inside us – our intentions and our thoughts and our feelings. Daily, we need help to tip our preferences towards that law. We need help to reach that tipping point, where Loving God and Loving our neighbor is what we intend, what we think, and how we feel.

Guide our feet. Once we’ve set our intention, and right-thinking, we need to seek God’s grace to help us act that way, to direct our actions and our steps. We pray for God to guide us as we move, and act, and walk in peace.

Sometimes the repetitiveness of the prayers that accompany the varied Scripture readings feels. . . repetitive. But when that happens it’s probably because I’m rushing through, reading quickly, skimming, and not actually praying. When I actually pray the words – especially the prayers that repeat, they sink in, or I find something especially meaningful, like today’s focus on the verbs. Who knew verbs could be so interesting?