A Prayer Before the Lamp Goes Out

Lord, you called a boy in the dark before the lamp went out, and you kept calling until he knew your voice. We confess that we often serve in your house without knowing you, busy at the altar and deaf to the one it belongs to.

Speak, for your servants are listening. Give us that sentence and the honesty to mean it. Open your word to us this morning so that we do not merely read it but hear you in it. Where our eyes have grown dim, restore our sight. Where the word has become rare in our churches, break the silence, and do it however you please, through whoever you please.

Give courage to those who have been handed hard messages for people they love. Let them speak the truth in tenderness as Samuel did. And give us the grace of Eli's last words, to say that you are the Lord and that you may do what is good in your sight. In the name of Jesus, the Word made flesh. Amen.