Let each of you look not to your own interests, but to the interests of others. Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus,
who, though he was in the form of God,
did not regard equality with God
as something to be exploited,
but emptied himself,
taking the form of a slave,
being born in human likeness.
And being found in human form,
he humbled himself
and became obedient to the point of death—
even death on a cross.
Empty Me
(Poem by Ted Loder)
Gracious and Holy One,
creator of all things and of emptiness
I come to you full of much that
clutters and distracts,
stifles and burdens me,
and makes me a burden to others
Empty me now of gnawing distractions,
of anxious imaginings, of fretful preoccupations,
of nagging prejudices, of old scores to settle, and
of the arrogance of being right.
Empty me of the ways I unthinkingly
think of myself as powerless, as a victim,
as determined by sex, age, race,
as being less than I am, or as other than yours.
Empty me of the disguises and lies
in which I hide myself from other people
and from my responsibility for my neighbors
and for the world.
Hollow out in me a space in which I will find myself,
find peace and a whole heart, a forgiving spirit and holiness,
the springs of laughter, and the will to reach boldly
for abundant life for myself and the whole human family.
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