“God of new heavens and a new earth,
Before we call, You answer;
While we are still speaking, You hear.”
Thank You for being here before us,
In this city and on these streets,
Long before we arrived.
“You promised Your city
Would be a delight and her people a joy.”
Teach us to slow down
And see our neighborhood with delight.
Help us learn our neighbors’ names,
And share their tables.
Make us people who stay.
“You promised Your people
Would build houses and live in them,
Plant vineyards and eat their fruit.”
Let what we build be good and true,
Serving those who come after us.
Grant us patience to plant trees
Whose shade we may never enjoy.
“Like the days of a tree shall the days of my people be.”
Root us deeply here.
Where we are restless, give us steadiness;
Where we are hurried, give us long faithfulness.
Grow in us the character
That only time and Your grace can form.
“Hasten the day
When the wolf and the lamb feed together
And no one labors in vain.”
Let our small faithfulness
Become part of the legacy our children inherit:
A city more just, more beautiful,
And more full of Your peace.
Until then, make us signs of that coming world right here.
In the name of Jesus,
The One who makes all things new.
Amen.
Jill Gilley is a 5th-generation Denverite with college-aged children and lives with her husband in the Cherry Knolls neighborhood. She is a part of the team at Denver Institute for Faith & Work, and cares deeply about gathering a diversity of people at her farm table to share meals and conversation.
