Despite my years in the church, I have not grown up learning much about saints. It is certainly a more Orthodox or Catholic idea, which I don’t subscribe to. However, I came across this fantastic prayer the other day and knew that I had to share.

Religious or not, there is a lot to be learned from it, so I do hope that you would at least consider reading it before judging. Christianity has earned such a bad name over the years, which is equally sad and unsurprising, but the teachings of Jesus are timeless.

He was a force of nature in his time, causing headaches for every authority figure within a few dozen miles whenever he opened his mouth (or even showed up somewhere, to be honest, he was a menace just by appearing). Jesus’ famous Sermon on the Mount was full of counter-cultural teachings that had the people of the ancient Middle East scratching their heads. True enough, people all around the world are still scratching their heads about him today, but his teachings have shaped the world around us, and revolutionised history.

I mean, have a read of this:

He didn’t mince his words then and I don’t think he’d do it if he were here now. He would be furious to see how his supposed ‘followers’ have allowed such violence and hatred to grow around the world. He taught us to love our fellow humans, even our enemies! He told us not to judge those around us, but to remember that how we judge others is how we will be judged!

Anyway, all of this is to say that this prayer I found felt challenging but also like a call to action. It reads:

Dear Lord, make me a channel of disturbance.

Where there is apathy, let me provoke charity; where there is compliance, let me bring questioning and critical reflection; where there is silence, may I be a voice of mercy and accountability.

Where there is too much comfort and too little action, grant disruption and discomfort. Where there are doors closed and hearts locked, grant me the willingness to listen and the patience to hear.

When laws dictate and pain is overlooked, when “tradition” speaks louder than need; when ideas take priority before realities, and conflict before unity, grant that I may seek rather to do justice than to talk about it.

Disturb us, O Lord, to be with, as well as for the alienated; to love the unlovable as well as the lovely, Lord make me a channel of disturbance.

I have added some words to suit the gifts I believe God has called me to have and exercise in my own life, such as mercy and patience. This prayer feels like a call for me in my own life, but I hope it would be a call to so many others too.

For years I have prayed for a generation of people to rise up in unity to change the way this world works. The death, suffering, and destruction we are seeing is not normal, and cannot be the best we can do. If it is, then I fear the people currently in power are simply not good enough at their jobs. People who value human life, kindness, peace, and cooperation, should be the ones calling the shots. Not trigger-happy men and women who get a kick out of feeling powerful for power’s sake. There is more to life than power and profit. Let’s start acting like it.