O God of the wonder of awakening,
you who give such life that we can hardly cope with its possibilities,
hear a prayer of thankfulness as we live on into the light of your Easter,
into the company of your pilgrim people,
into the delight of your kingdom’s incorrigibility.
For with you there is life,
and more life than we can possibly imagine.
You will not be trapped into the boxes of our desires,
you refuse adoption into our families and friendships,
you refuse drafting into our military,
you reject all our attempts to limit the boundless grace
with which you shower creation with newness and possibility.

Into this big world of wonder and reality you bid us awaken,
to discover delight in the life that dances fantastically across the stage you create.
You cascade love and unleash mercy across the folds and chasms of our lives,
beckoning and cajoling us into a bigger life,
a more open heart,
a gentler mind,
a firmer trust.
You judge all that undoes and obscures your purposes,
railing against the evil that warps relationships
and the hatreds that break down the doors and smash bones,
consuming in your fire the dross that pollutes and the selfishness that entraps.

In humility and longing, we turn again and again to you,
depending upon your forgiveness wrought through the sacrifice of your Son,
made present and palpable through the touch of your Spirit.
Hear our prayer, O Lord.
Hear our prayer when we are so aware of just how small we are,
so conscious of our limitations and our failings.
We can feel like flotsam,
washed in a mighty ocean of chaos,
hurled against the rocks of troubles,
caught in the slippery sands of despondency.
We can feel lost amidst a world of such deep need,
such great pain,
such true horror.
But, this resurrection-tide,
you flood our hearts and world with a different rhythm.
You bless us with the echoes of Easter which bid us dance with you into the morning,
when hurt is healed and life is restored.
You return to take our hands when we are afraid.
You rise to lift us up from the shadows that we might run with you into the dawn
that sweeps warm blessing across the face of creation.
You gift us with life!

Life!

Life filled with the deepest joy.
Life reframed by the script of your story and the reality of your presence.
Life enjoyed as gift and as shared delight.
Life opened up to the wonder of the lives of everyone else.
Life that knows the value of true community.
Life.
And it because of this gift,
this wonderful gift,
that we can turn again to the tasks of this day and the needs of your world.
For we take our responsibilities seriously because we know just how precious life is,
and how great is your commandment that we love you and our neighbours with all we have to offer.

You, who so refuse to hold back,
bid us live in obedience.
And, in the living,
to love.

This reflection and prayer has been written by the Rev Neil Thorogood, Director of Pastoral Studies at Westminster College, Cambridge.

Neil teaches pastoral theology on all the academic programmes and also has particular interests in the visual arts and theology. He is also a contributor to Christian Aid's daily readings.

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