Prayer for the Day

by Revd Canon David White

19th January 2025 - 2nd Sunday of Epiphany

O God, whose beauty is beyond our imagining,
and whose power we cannot comprehend:
show us your glory as far as we can grasp it,
and shield us from knowing more than we can bear
until we may look upon you without fear,
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

This prayer acknowledges up-front three attributes of God that are elusive and difficult to fully understand. They are beauty, power and glory (all of which are present in today’s gospel reading of Jesus turning water into wine). These attributes are ones that human beings have considered to be part of God’s nature since earliest times (as the Bible testifies) yet their theological and philosophical meaning is invariably the subject of much debate. This prayer asks God to shield us from having to know ‘more than we can bear’ so that, in faith and trust, we do not need to be fearful and can accept God as he is, as the one who loves us and accepts us just as we are – with all our imperfections and faults and beauty.