Wander and Wonder

Hosea 11:1-11
Old Testament Reading for the Eleventh Sunday after Pentecost (Year C) 

God, we today are not Hosea's Israel
We were not in Egypt
We do not have Baals
But we feel the sting in the prophet's words
You call and we wander

It can be easy sometimes
To look around and think
We are not in the wrong
We are fine by comparison and yet
You call and we wander

We play tricks on ourselves
Like the Pharisee in the temple
We pray, "I thank You, God,
That I am not like one of these."
Neglecting the fact that we wander

The truth is we have not loved You
With our whole heart
We have not loved our neighbor
As we love ourselves
And in that we wander

God, we have sinned against You
In what we have done and
In what we have failed to do
We realize we are lost
And so we call and You wonder

You wonder why
Why You keep giving us the chance
Why grace redeems the undeserving
And yet You love us still
And we are filled with wonder

Oh Love that will not let us go
Forgive us the ways we hurt You
And hurt one another
Bring us home from where we strayed
Fill us with Your love and wonder