A prayer for the one who would, if only
Generous Father, Living God, we pray for the one who would leap to his feet and follow you with the whole, simple heart of a child if only he heard but a rumor of you passing by in the street. Stop his ears to the words of those who would preach to him a gospel they themselves deny by twisting the words of the Holy One. Save him from those who would seek him as a convert and then turn him into twice as much a son of hell as themselves. Send workers into your harvest fields who will make known to men and women like him what you, O Lord, have willed from the beginning. What chance, Holy One, do they have if you yourself do not come down to declare your name? For nobody on earth knows you anymore; they have all turned aside to foreign gods. But you have come to us, God With Us, therefore we are saved. Purge your church, Lord, of those who imagine themselves the faithful remnant yet enthrone the evil one on the altar of your Son. May we be found faithful and dilligent when our master returns, and may the one who would follow you hear of your name.