Mark 10:50-51

"The blind man said to him, 'My teacher, let me see again.' Jesus said to him, 'Go; your faith has made you well.' Immediately he regained his sight and followed him on the way."

Reflection by Donna Schaper

During the Holy Season that is upon us, it would be great to learn to see what has long been held in denial about the economic crisis in which we dwell.  Offered here is a prayer for conversations around holy tables that deny denial.

A Prayer for the Seder Horseradish, a hope for the Easter Ham: Conversation Starters for those at Holy Holiday Tables

At tables, during holy days, occupy our hearts with something new: Let us risk a conversation in which debt is not considered shameful.

Grant us mutual release from any embarrassment that we aren't rich yet.  Release us from the nasty shame that says debt is our fault.

Remind us to keep our resumés at home.  Keep us from reporting only accomplishments to each other.

Help us forgive all our intimates for not winning the lottery. Help us redefine what it means to win.

Grant us forgiveness for not being wildly successful and limit our bragging to one self-referential story per hour.

Move us beyond shame for being "poor" and to understanding how you can have a lot of food and still feel poor.  Remove internalized poverty from our table, where it sits next to the egg, the root, the parsley, the shank.

Grant us an Exodus from the narrow way to a wider path.

Liberate us from the illusion that we are powerless, and let our feet be our prayer, let our prayers move to our feet, let us be Occupied with Occupy and its fertile power to allow us to hope again.

May we leave Seder, different.  May we leave Easter, Risen. May we forgive the systems less than we forgive each other.  Amuse us with how inept we are at not knowing how to go along to get along.  Bring us out of denial about the economic systems to which we give passive assent.  Remind us of the great activity in passivity.  Refuse the clichés if people say, "It's all about the money," and don't fight what it is all about.

Resist the illusion that we are powerless.  Join up, table by table, family by family, friend by friend, into a walk out of Pharaoh's long reach.   Let us live large in the narrow place. Amen.

About the Author Donna Schaper is the Senior Minister of Judson Memorial Church in New York City. Her latest work is 20 Ways to Keep Sabbath, from The Pilgrim Press. Check out her work at www.judson.org.

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