May

A prayer from Isaiah 35 for my neighborhood, friends, and you. Read the original passage here.

1 Lord, may the wilderness and the dry land, the rejected, crime-ridden, lonely neighborhood of mine, may it be glad!!!

May the desert, the God-forsaken areas of my neighborhood, rejoice and blossom like the crocus;

2 may our neighbors blossom abundantly, new life in you, blessing and shalom, and rejoice with joy and singing.

May the glory of Lebanon, of spiritual blessings of hope, power, strength, riches of grace and mercy from your good hand, flowing from faith in you, shall be given to my neighbors,

the majesty of Carmel and Sharon.

O Lord, you who call, may my neighbors see, spiritually, and physically see your glory in the blessing and wholeness, the now-this-worldly-shalom, the glory of the Lord, the majesty of our God—our God, shared! They and I!

3 God of strength, strengthen the weak hands, and make firm the feeble knees. Those who are beaten down by poverty, under addiction’s yoke, oppressed under name calling and violence, Lord, grant strength!

4 Say, you, Lord who speak directly to them but also through us your church, say to those who have an anxious heart, “Be strong; fear not!

Behold, your God, our God, may they name you as their own, will come with vengeance,

with the recompense of God. He will come and save you.” Save, Lord! Take vengeance on the death-wreaking drugs, the powers of power and oppression, the principalities of addiction and poverty, take vengeance for your name!

5 Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped; Lord, open spiritual eyes and physical eyes; open spiritual ears and physical ears. Bring spiritual and physical healing by your might and Spirit, in new ways, so they see you are alive, living, active, a God who is bigger than get-out-of-hell free card! But a living God who responds.

6 Lord, then, when you pour forth, shall the lame man leap like a deer, and the tongue of the mute sing for joy.

For waters break forth in the wilderness, and streams in the desert; Lord, according to your abundance! Your grace! Your Spirit that springs forth like living water in our soul!

7 May the burning sand shall become a pool, and the thirsty ground springs of water;

in the haunt of jackals, where they lie down, the grass shall become reeds and rushes;

the drug-death basement holes become areas of light and gathering; the empty bank accounts become pools of generosity to others, the threatening knives become forks to share meals.

8 And a highway shall be there, and it shall be called the Way of Holiness;

the unclean shall not pass over it. Lord, shine forth your holiness, let us respond in fruit keeping with your beauty and holiness! Open this highway!

It shall belong to those who walk on the way; even if they are fools, they shall not go astray. Lord, keep us! Save us from ourselves! Your effectual call by your convincing Spirit!

9 No lion shall be there, nor shall any ravenous beast come up on it; the Satan lion that roars and preys and destroys and feasts on the dark-death-drugs and ravenous-power-of-violence no longer there! Let the darkness flee! They shall not be found there,

but the redeemed shall walk there. Let us run! Let us triumph!

10 And the ransomed of the Lord shall return and come to Zion with singing; let us come to you in your church, in your presence, on every corner. Multiply your church, Lord!

May everlasting joy shall be upon their heads; may my neighbors obtain gladness and joy; may their particular sorrow and sighing flee away.