Not the God we would have chosen

We would as soon you were stable and reliable.
We would as soon you were predictable
     and always the same toward us.
We would like to take the hammer of doctrine
     and take the nails of piety
     and nail your feet to the floor
     and have you stay in one place.
And then we find you moving,
     always surprising us,
     always coming at us from new directions.
Always planting us
          and uprooting us
          and tearing all things down
          and making all things new.
You are not the God we would have chosen
     had we done the choosing,
     but we are your people
     and you have chosen us in freedom.
We pray for the great gift of freedom
     that we may be free towrd you
     as you are in your world.
Give us that gift of freedom
     that we may move in new places
     in obedience and in gratitude.
Thank you for Jesus
     who embodied your freedom for all of us.  Amen.

Awed to Heaven, Rooted in Earth: Prayers of Walter Brueggemann, (c) 2003, pg 87.