Pastoral Prayer (with Bluegrass Themes)
written by Rev. Earl Kim
O God of mountain hollows and river valleys,
God who hums the song of life across the ridges and fields,
we come before you with hearts wide open,
like banjos waiting for a song,
like fiddles yearning for a bow’s touch.
You are the Composer of all creation,
the steady rhythm beneath our wandering steps,
the melody that carries us when our spirits falter,
the harmony that binds us one to another.
When life’s road grows rocky and steep,
when our feet stumble and our hands grow tired,
remind us that your grace is the sure, steady beat beneath it all—
keeping time when we cannot,
lifting us when our own songs fall silent.
Teach us, O Master Musician,
to walk with a rhythm of grace
to listen for the songs carried by the lonely and the lost,
to sing alongside the poor, the weary, the wandering.
Teach us to join the chorus of all who seek justice, mercy, and love,
strumming hope into every broken place.
Tune our hearts, O God like a well-worn instrument—
with peace, with love, with the promise of new music yet to come.
And when the night falls,
when shadows stretch across the fields and hills,
may we still hear you—
a whisper of a harmonica,
a song rising up from deep within and singing us home.
We pray this in the name of Jesus,
the Song that no darkness can silence,
the Joy that no sorrow can fade.
The Life that no death can overcome.
Amen.
