Open Our Eyes

Suppose there are brothers or sisters who need clothes and don't have enough to eat. What good is there in your saying to them, “God bless you! Keep warm and eat well!”—if you don't give them the necessities of life?(James 2:15-16)

Note: My continuing education class in Pittsburgh, PA, was told to walk around the surrounding neighborhood and "read the context" to help discern ways for a church to minister to its own community. This prayer comes out of that experience.

Open Our Eyes

Open our eyes, Lord.
As we come to church on Sunday morning,
as we leave church that same day,
as we drive through the neighborhood
  during the week,
as we walk the streets -- 
Open our eyes.

Open our eyes to the strangers in our midst:
  the school children waiting for the bus,
  the men sitting at the bus stop,
  the woman paying for groceries with food stamps,
  the clusters of teenagers hanging around
    in the parking lots,
  "those people" of different race,
  the man with the "will work for food, God bless"
    sign made of old cardboard,
  the fast-food worker walking to her job,
    with another mile yet to go.
Open our eyes. Open our hearts.

Open our eyes to the signs that cry out for hope:
  empty storefronts downtown,
  dilapidated houses just around the corner,
  closed-down factory outside of town,
  drug paraphernalia scattered along the alleyways,
  payday and title loan shops on every corner.
Open our eyes. Open our hearts.

Open our eyes,
for when we see the lonely,
  the sick,
  the drunk,
  the single teenage mother,
  the poor and the homeless,
  the drug addict,
  the foreigner,
  the black, and the "white trash" -- 
when we see any that might qualify as
  "The Least of These"
we see you.

Open our eyes. Open our hearts.
Help us to see you. And to love you.
Help us to love you through our neighbor.