Once again as the day rises to meet the sun.

Your statutes have been my songs
    in the house of my sojourning. Psalm 119:54

So every morning my Common Prayer liturgy includes a song. And I do a little search and listen and relisten to a YouTube in this odd internet world. I am not the best singer in the world, but I can mutter along with the best of them. These songs have a tendency to get stuck in my brain along the lines of “I’d like to teach the world to sing in perfect harmony,” or “The wheels on the bus go round and round,” and I drag them along with me throughout the day. And sometimes poor Laura gets stuck on my song too, as we fearlessly step into the traffic of Two Sides or weave our way across crumpled sidewalks.

The kingdom of God is justice and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.
Come, Lord, and open in us the gates of Your kingdom.

And this is a good thing.

Those busted up sidewalks remind me of the busted-upness of life, a scrolling history full of upheaval and brokenness, exemplified in this ancient city of passionate and bright-eyed souls. And yet Jesus declared that the Kingdom of God, the Kingdom that I pray each day will come, is within us.

Within me.

Come, Lord, and open in me the gates of Your kingdom.

Oh Lord hear my prayer.