It has become my post-Easter tradition to share the following prayer in this column. The prayer was written by Sir Francis Drake who was an English explorer in the 1500s (Elizabethan era) and led the second expedition to successfully circumnavigate the globe. The exact date of the prayer is unknown.

“Disturb us, Lord, when we are too well pleased with ourselves,
When our dreams have come true because we have dreamed too little,
When we arrive safely because we sailed too close to the shore.

Disturb us, Lord, when with the abundance of things we possess,
We have lost our thirst for the waters of life,
When, having fallen in love with life,
We have ceased to dream of eternity,
And in our efforts to build a new earth,
We have allowed our vision of a new heaven to dim.

Disturb us, Lord, to dare more boldly,
To venture on wider seas,
Where storms will show your mastery,
And where, losing sight of land,
We shall find the stars.

We ask you to push back the horizons of our hopes,
And to push us into the future with strength, courage, hope and love.

This we ask in the name of our Captain, who is Jesus Christ.
Amen.”

See you in church,