For When Shame Says You Don't Belong
A Centering Prayer Inspired by Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32,2 Cor. 5:16-21, Joshua 5:9-12, Psalm 32
Shame has a way of telling us we don't belong anywhere—that we're too broken, too wounded, too far gone to deserve a place at the table. I know that voice. I've felt that weight, carried that stone, lived in that tomb. Some days shame whispers that grace is for everyone else, that home is for other people, that I've wandered too far to find my way back.
But this week’s scriptures keep telling me something different. They speak of a God who rolls away stones of shame, who runs to meet prodigals, who transforms disgrace into grace. A God who doesn't just tolerate our return but celebrates it, who doesn't just make space at the table but saves us a seat of honor. This prayer emerges from that tension—between shame's lies and love's truth, between hiding and coming home, between disgrace and amazing grace.
For When Shame Says You Don't Belong
A Centering Prayer Inspired by Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32,
2 Cor. 5:16-21, Joshua 5:9-12, Psalm 32
Sacred Welcomer of Wanderers,
Roll away my tomb of shame,
Make space for resurrection,
Where disgrace longs for grace.
I am the wanderer tasting hope,
The prodigal finding home,
The hidden one stepping into light—
You're transforming my story,
Trading my shame for mercy,
My dead ends for fresh starts,
My exile for celebration.
Help me trust your feast of grace,
Where my woundedness is welcomed,
Where healing begins to bloom,
Where this lost child
Finally finds their way to Love.
Amen.
