11.04.2007

Sir Francis Drake's Prayer (1577)

This morning, I had the privilege of singing with my friend Bill Tennyson at his family's church, Holy Trinity Episcopal Church. It was their 23rd Annual Women's Celebration Sunday... the leader of their national women's organization spoke and a prayer she read spoke to me. So, I thought I'd share it with you as well. It was written by Sir Francis Drake, an explorer who was one of the first to circumvent the world by sea.

Disturb us, Lord, when
We are too pleased with ourselves,
When our dreams have come true
Because we dreamed too little,
When we arrived safely
Because we sailed too close to the shore.

Disturb us, Lord, when
with the abundance of things we possess
We have lost our thirst
For the waters of life;
Having fallen in love with life,
We have ceased to dream of eternity
And in our efforts to build a new earth,
We have allowed our vision
Of the new Heaven to dim.

Disturb us, Lord, to dare more boldly,
To venture on wilder seas
Where storms will show Your mastery;
Where losing sight of land,
We shall find the stars.

We ask you to push back
The horizons of our hopes;
And to push back the future
In strength, courage, hope, and love.

This we ask in the name of our Captain,
Who is Jesus Christ.

1 comment:

The Lees said...

Yeanne-o! This is great. Another great reminder for our lives here on earth. We are definitely being "disturbed" here at the Lee house as we wait ... and wait ... and wait ... for news of Nils' sibling. So your post is a great reminder and source of strength. Thanks for sharing! I sure so miss you, pally.