God of the Topsy-Turvy

Members of the Fourth Presbyterian Church of Chicago have been engaged in a program to read the Bible in a year.  As part of that they offer a twice-weekly Bible study on the current texts, and daily devotions which pick up on themes in the Scriptures the congregation is engaged in reading.A prayer by Executive Associate Pastor Calum MacLeod, inspired by the Book of Numbers, chapter 20:God of the topsy-turvyO God who brings good things to those who hunger and thirst;your care for us is shown in how the world is turned upside down for us;in the wilderness your children ate bread which came from the skies;your presence and care was shown by water which gushed forth from a rock.Bread from the sky, water from the ground.With five loaves and two fish, your Son filled the bellies of the hungry,and the reluctant, rational disciples had each a basket leftover.The hungry fed, the skeptical transformed.And you come to us today,we whose bounty leaves us empty, whose surplus decays and breeds the bacteria of sinyou come to us, saying ‘take, eat’ and ‘drink, see,’offering your very self that we might be made whole.God of the topsy-turvy,who has fed your people and promises us that the feeding does not end,indeed that what we know here is but a foretaste of the great banquet when all your people will sit together at table;O God our creator,hear us we seek solidarity with your people who cry out for the harvest of justice.God of the miraculous bread and life-giving water,hear us as we pray that those who sow in tears, may reap with shouts of joyand that the captives may know the liberation of your promise of jubilee freedom.Amen.