C.S. Lewis once wrote, “I pray because I can’t help myself. I pray because I’m helpless. I pray because the need flows out of me all the time, waking and sleeping. It doesn’t change God. It changes me.”

Here’s a prayer inspired by the miracle story of Jesus’ encounter with the “Gerasene demoniac” in Luke 8:26-39 (Gospel Reading for Proper 7, Year C, Revised Common Lectionary).

Healing Lord,
in this world of disconnection and disrepair,
in which we often walk past each other’s pain,
you come among us as a calming presence.

At times our very identities are at risk
and we feel disoriented by waves of change.
Yet you do not remain at a distance.
You come near to reassure and remind us
that our lives are formed within your love
from which we can never be separated.

Each of us faces our own demons.
We are threatened by troubles within and trials without.
The loneliness of isolation continues to plague us.

Then your voice reaches through our restlessness,
your powerful presence casts out our fears –
rescuing us from our addictions,
releasing us from our anxieties,
reclaiming us from our wounds.

We are made whole again,
we are unbound and set free,
we are changed!

Words (c) 2013 Mark Lloyd Richardson