Prayer 11
Worship
Prayers for the Age of Technology
Object:
Dear Watchful And Caring Mother-Father God:
Like children maturing beyond the illusions of Santa Claus, we are growing away from perceptions of heaven and hell as literal places of reward and punishment. The realization makes us feel disoriented and insecure. How, now, should we think of the heavenly and hellish prospects of human life?
Since the dawn of value awareness, we have known that a process of judgment is at work in the universe. This fact seems to us one of the surest signs of your unwavering presence and concern. We are beginning to understand the concepts of heaven and hell as symbolic representations. They were adaptations to the level of limited human comprehension and maturity. As we become capable of looking beyond the symbols, however, to try to grasp the meaning of that which they represent, help us not to trivialize the concepts or minimize their significance.
Make and keep us ever more sharply aware that there are spiritual joys and rewards far more significant than gold and leisurely existence, and pain and suffering far greater than
flames of fire can inflict.
Give us guidance for thinking and functioning more sensitively at the level of the spirit. Above all, keep us from wandering blindly or perversely into the "outer darkness" of alienation from you. Amen.
Like children maturing beyond the illusions of Santa Claus, we are growing away from perceptions of heaven and hell as literal places of reward and punishment. The realization makes us feel disoriented and insecure. How, now, should we think of the heavenly and hellish prospects of human life?
Since the dawn of value awareness, we have known that a process of judgment is at work in the universe. This fact seems to us one of the surest signs of your unwavering presence and concern. We are beginning to understand the concepts of heaven and hell as symbolic representations. They were adaptations to the level of limited human comprehension and maturity. As we become capable of looking beyond the symbols, however, to try to grasp the meaning of that which they represent, help us not to trivialize the concepts or minimize their significance.
Make and keep us ever more sharply aware that there are spiritual joys and rewards far more significant than gold and leisurely existence, and pain and suffering far greater than
flames of fire can inflict.
Give us guidance for thinking and functioning more sensitively at the level of the spirit. Above all, keep us from wandering blindly or perversely into the "outer darkness" of alienation from you. Amen.
