A rebel prayer

July 10, 2026

Join in with this prayer I led during a worship service on July 5, 2026.

Lord of light, which is a way of saying truth, wisdom, goodness, guidance,
Lord of light, we marvel at you repeatedly.
Every single day you open your door to someone who is lost, crying, weary.
Every single day you forgive someone who doesn’t deserve it.
Every single day you remain unmoved from your pillars of justice and truth.
Lord of light, we thank you that you don’t keep that light to yourself.
When we think of the word ‘rebel,’
we usually think about some sort of criminal who doesn’t care about consequences,
or maybe we think about someone we know who doesn’t care what other people think.
‘What a rebel!’
But ‘rebel’ is a way that can often be used to describe… us.
You say: ‘Trust me,’ and we rebel.
You say: ‘Love,’ and we rebel.
You say: ‘This is truth,’ and we rebel.
Forgive us.
Purge from within us, and the aura of naïve independence around us—
purge rebellion that we throw up in the face
of a God who authors all that is good and true and beautiful.
Give us undivided hearts.
Open the door yet again to your lighthouse
where the light of Jesus exposes every secret,
and also where the light of Jesus showers our rebellion with mercy,
and our vulnerability with embrace;
where the light of Jesus makes something new—
replacing selfish rebellion with friendship with the Prince of peace.
All these things we pray in his name,
and together with the words he taught us to pray together, saying:
Our Father…