<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?><oembed><version><![CDATA[1.0]]></version><provider_name><![CDATA[Irresistibly Fish]]></provider_name><provider_url><![CDATA[https://brettfish.wordpress.com]]></provider_url><author_name><![CDATA[brettfish]]></author_name><author_url><![CDATA[https://brettfish.wordpress.com/author/brettfish/]]></author_url><title><![CDATA[a prayer for Oscar&nbsp;Romero&#8230;]]></title><type><![CDATA[link]]></type><html><![CDATA[<p style="text-align:left;">i shared this the other day as part of a CCDA post, but it is so powerful and deserves its own space&#8230; i hope you make time to really read it and meditate on the words.</p>
<p style="text-align:left;">This is a prayer that was prayed to remember Oscar Romero:</p>
<p style="text-align:center;"><strong>It helps, now and then, to step back and take a long view.<br />
The kingdom is not only beyond our efforts,<br />
it is even beyond our vision.<br />
We accomplish in our lifetime only a tiny fraction<br />
of the magnificent enterprise that is God’s work.<br />
Nothing we do is complete, which is a way of saying<br />
that the kingdom always lies beyond us.<br />
No statement says all that could be said.<br />
No prayer fully expresses our faith.<br />
No confession brings perfection.<br />
No pastoral visit brings wholeness.<br />
No program accomplishes the church’s mission.<br />
No set of goals and objectives includes everything.<br />
It may be incomplete, but it is a beginning, a step along the way, an opportunity for the Lord’s grace to enter and do the rest.<br />
We may never see the end results, but that is the difference between the master builder and the worker.<br />
We are workers, not master builders; ministers, not messiahs.<br />
We are prophets of a future not our own.<br />
This is what we are about.<br />
We plant the seeds that one day will grow.<br />
We water seeds already planted, knowing that they hold future promise.<br />
We lay foundations that will need further development.<br />
We provide yeast that produces far beyond our capabilities.<br />
We cannot do everything, and there is a sense of liberation in realizing that.<br />
This enables us to do something,<br />
and to do it very well.<br />
Amen.</strong></p>
<p style="text-align:left;">i especially like both the encouragement and challenge wrapped up in that last line:</p>
<p style="text-align:center;"><strong>We cannot do everything, and there is a sense of liberation in realizing that.<br />
This enables us to do something,<br />
and to do it very well.</strong></p>
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