“Tourist Eyes”

Something I regularly do is look around our church facilities and ask myself what people visiting for the first time would notice or miss. What is welcoming? What is confusing? I try to see things again for the first time, so to speak.

A prayer in Frederick Ohler’s book, Better than Nice and Other Unconventional Prayers (a resource from my colleague Mark, who just started blogging!), shows me how I can apply this to my relationships with God and other people. This prayer invites me to look at things and people with “Tourist Eyes.”

Lord,
we’re at home
amid old familiar places
faces
lives
somewhat at ease in Zion
lulled
by the illusion
of familiar forever.

Tip us off balance.
Etch in our souls
the absolute truth
that we are all
pilgrims
sojourners
tourists.

We take it all for granted
overlook what is right before our jaded eyes.
How many of our friends have we ever seen
not with eyes that look over – past – beyond
but with the eyes of a photographer
an artist
a lover
You.

When familiarity evokes a yawn
and we settle down to blindness
give us the chance
and the will
to see anew with tourist eyes
the sheer beauty of a patch of yellow
in a field of green lespedeza
bowing
bending unashamed
all the wonderful sights
all the lovely people
the saint beside
the sinner within
and as much of the glory as we can take

amen.
–