You Have Our Faith with Our Bodies

Father, thank you for your revelation
    about death
    and illness
    and sorrow.

Thank you for speaking so plainly to us,
    for calling us all friends
    and hovering over us;
    for extending your arms out to us.

We cannot stand on our own;
    we fall into death without you.
    We fall from faith, left to our own.
    We are really friendless without you.

Your extended arms fill us with joy,
    expressing love,
    love caring and carrying,
    asking and receiving our trust.

You have our trust, Father,
    and our faith,
    with our bodies
    and all that we are and possess.

We fear nothing when with you,
    safe to stretch out and help others,
    those troubled in faith,
    those troubled in body.

Father, help us to do with our bodies what we proclaim,
    that our faith be known to you
    and to others,
    and be effective in all the world.

Masai, Tanzania
from An African Prayer Book by Archbishop Desmond Tutu, copyright 1995