“Are you really a jealous God and

Will you really put your ear to my mouth

And hear me in my struggles

And will I find in your words a home to rest my soul

And will you keep me from harm

Even when I want to give my soul to something else and

Seek my kinship among other gods

As violence and hatred and distress and lust and

If I really call out to you in this Lenten season

Will you turn my heart upside down and

Snap a whip into my conscience to place a new wisdom

From your mouth into my soul and

If I really discover that in your death and resurrection you will

Build up a temple in three days

Will I really be part of your plan

To renew the earth and your church

In all the silliness of my soul

And will you help me be part of the renewal

You desire for the world when we

Settle for less

Other than you

In our addictions to apathy and unkindness and

When we are stuck pointing guns to others

Rather than an open handed gesture of peace

And will you really remove

All the indecency within my heart

So that it will soar in the morning breeze

And come to know

That you want more than anything

For me and

For all of us

To rest in you lap and

Listen to your words and find you

In all the chaos of our lives

And will you really mend our divorces and

Carry with you our grief from our tired dreams and

What if you clean our hearts

As you did the Temple and

We finally make room for you to be our God

Will you at last cast mercy on us sinners and

Take us by the hands

So that we will follow you

to the cross and

To your empty grave

And be released in your love and tenderness at Easter

Again and again

Not apologizing for the past

But opening us to a new path

So that we will finally come to the conclusion

That you and

You alone

Are a jealous God

And that we are your beloved?”