"It does not come easy to us to imagine that you

closed the womb of mother Hannah

and thereby foreclosed the future for a time.

And yet, we can name in your presence

a myriad of shut-down places around us...

those shut down in poverty and despair,

those shut down in fear and in rage,

those shut down by abuse and violence,

too hurt to speak,

too frightened to appear,

t00 scarred to dance.

And closer, our own shut downs:

in anxiety, in resentment, in pretense,

too weary to care,

too greedy to share,

too much of us for neighbor.

These are not all your doing, we confess.

But you are the God who opens all shut downs:

by your power, you give futures,

by your goodness, you give hope,

by your mercy, you make new.

So we bid you this day come to our shut down places and give birth anew.

We pray through the Easter opening of the Friday shut downs.

Amen."

Walter Brueggemann//Awed to Heaven, Rooted in Earth