Invitatory

Eternal Spirit, living God,
in whom we live and move and have our being,
all that we are, have been, and shall be is known to you,
to the very secret of our hearts
and all that rises to trouble us.

Living flame, burn into us,
cleansing wind, blow through us,
fountain of water, well up within us,
that we may love and praise in deed and truth.

Eternal Spirit,
flow through our being and open our lips,
that our mouths may proclaim your praise.

Let us worship the God of love.

A New Zealand Prayer Book/He Karakia Mihinare Aeotearoa
Harper San Francisco, 1989, p. 168.

Loving and Wondrous God, in humility and faith we offer the prayers of our hearts and the needs of this day. We give thanks for the blessing of this day and for the gift of knowing that in all our joys and trials, we are not alone.

We thank you for one another, and for the courage of those who act as shepherds of faith, guiding us toward a deeper knowledge of you and your way of love, justice and peace.

We pray for all who have been named in this place today and for all whose needs are known only to you. God, bless and keep your beloved children – grant comfort and peace where it is needed and strength to face each new day with just a bit more faith, just a bit more light.

God, walk with us through whatever valleys we find ourselves navigating. Take us by the hand and lead us toward each new day, with the hope that is ours in Jesus Christ, who taught us to pray together saying…

Saturday's Prayer Belated

I am so sorry, with a funeral, a yard sale, two ball games, preparation for Sunday, I let this slip right on by me. But today, in putting together the thought for the day, I was looking for a certain scripture and came across one of our revgalblogpals post on The Pen of the Wayfarer for Saturday. All of sudden the light bulb went on, and well here I am. I like her picture and post so much I asked to borrow it and am posting it here. So here is Saturday's prayer posted on Monday.

Accustom yourself gradually to carry prayer
into all your daily occupations-- speak, act,
work in peace, as if you were in prayer, as
indeed you ought to be. -- Francis (Francois)
Fenelon

From the Pen of the Wayfarer

The Road Ahead

This is one of my favorite, "all-purpose" prayers.

MY LORD GOD, I have no idea where I am going.
I do not see the road ahead of me.
I cannot know for certain where it will end.
Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think that I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so.
But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you.
And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing.
I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire.
And I know that if I do this you will lead me by the right road though I may know nothing about it.
Therefore will I trust you always though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death.
I will not fear, for you are ever with me, and you will never leave me to face my perils alone. -- Thomas Merton

Help us to hear

The Spirit said to Philip,
"Go and join up with that chariot."
Philip ran up and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet and said,
"Do you understand what you are reading?"
He replied,
"How can I, unless someone instructs me?"
So he invited Philip to get in and sit with him.
—Acts 8: 29-31

Gracious and loving God, you entertain the torrent of petitions we present to you each day, even though we know you are aware of our needs even before we can put them in words. Help us to be just as attentive to what you are saying to us. You speak to us in so many ways, giving comfort but also guiding our lives toward those who need our attention, yet sometimes in our noisy lives we lose our connection to your voice. Lead us to your stillness and help us to hear and heed what you are telling us. Amen.

from Carl Sandburg's Prayers of Steel

Lay me on an anvil, O God.
Beat me and hammer me into a crowbar.
Let me pry loose old walls.
Let me lift and loosen old foundations.

Lay me on an anvil, O God.
Beat me and hammer me into a steel spike.
Drive me into the girders that hold a skyscraper together.
Take red-hot rivets and fasten me into the central girders.
Let me be the great nail holding a skyscraper through blue nights
into white stars.

found here

Rebirth

From you, O my crucified love, most dulcet Jesus, let me receive the sign of your holy cross on my forehead as in my heart so that I may live under your protection for eternity. Give me a living faith in your heavenly precepts so that I may run the way of your commandments with heart wide open. Through you let my conduct be such that I deserve to become the temple of God and the dwelling place of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Gertrud the Great of Helfta, Spiritual Exercises 1:54-60.
Tr. Gertrud Jaron Lewis and Jack Lewis. Cistercian Publications, 1989.

Sunday Prayer

Gracious and Loving God, when we hear the echo of Jesus’ three-fold question to Peter – “Do you love me?” – our souls respond on a deep and passionate level. You know our love for you and our yearning for relationship with the sacred, so we give thanks that our “yes” is heard and lovingly received.

Bless us God as we go forward in faith, challenged with the discernment of how we will follow the path you have set before us. Help us and send your Spirit to guide our way.

We ask your blessing upon all whom we know to be in need of your grace and healing this week. We pray for the people at Virginia Tech in the wake of unspeakable tragedy, and for the people of Daniel’s Harbour, Newfoundland whose homes have been taken into the sea because of land erosion.

We pray for the lonely, the lost and the grieving and for all who are searching for a deeper meaning in their lives. We pray for our church, our Moderator, and for ourselves. Fill us with your Spirit, O God, and take our hands as we walk in faith, in the name of the One who taught us to pray together saying…

Prayers for a Saturday

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 arrived 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;
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 the new Heaven to dim.

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

We ask You to push back
The horizons of our hopes;
And to push into the future
In strength, courage, hope, and love.

attributed - sir francis drake -1577

A Pause on the Journey...

God of pilgrims,
teach us to recognize your dwelling place
in the love, generosity, and support of those
with whom we share our journey,
and help us to worship you
in our response to those who need our care;



for all the world is your temple
and every human heart is a sign of your presence,
made known to us in Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
-- from today's Oremus

For those who suffer from injustice

O God, we pray for all those in our world
who are suffering from injustice:
For those who are discriminated against
because of their race, color or religion;
For those imprisoned
for working for the relief of oppression;
For those who are hounded

for speaking the inconvenient truth;
For those tempted to violence
as a cry against overwhelming hardship;
For those deprived of reasonable health and education;
For those suffering from hunger and famine;
For those too weak to help themselves
and who have no one else to help them;
For the unemployed who cry out
for work but do not find it.
We pray for anyone of our acquaintance
who is personally affected by injustice.
Forgive us, Lord, if we unwittingly share in the conditions
or in a system that perpetuates injustice.
Show us how we can serve your children
and make your love practical by washing their feet.

Mother Teresa

Hands of Jesus

Hands who touched the leper,

touch my wounded heart;

Hands who healed the blind man,

heal my aching soul;

Hands who cured the lame,

mend my disjointed life;

Hands who embraced all life,

enfold me in your peace.

Lord, merely touch and heal, cure and forgive
This is my prayer to thee, my Lord;

Give me strength lightly to bear my joys and sorrows;

Give me the strength to make my love fruitful in service;

Give me the strength never to disown the poor

or bend my knees before insolent might.

Give me the strength to raise my mind high above daily trifles.

And give me the strength to surrender my strength to thy will with love.

Rabindranath Tagore 1861 - 1941

Drawing by Thomas Brown (Charcoal)

Collect for Midday

Holy Mystery, your are the life force that courses through my soul. When my world is spinning like a top, cradle me in your arms like a newborn. When confusion abounds, be my compass. When I am caught up in a hurricane of activity, draw me into the eye, so I may find peace amidst the chaos. For I would so love to skip with you along life's byways. Amen.

Jane Richardson Jensen and Patricia Harris-Watkins, She Who Prays: A Woman's Interfaith Prayer Book (Morehouse, 2005).

Gracious God, we thank you for this glorious season of Easter and for the many blessings that we share as a community of faith. We thank you for the prayers and support that we offer one another and for the goodness of knowing that you hear our prayers and guide our journey together.

God, help us to find the still point deep within us, where we can know your presence and find within ourselves the great potential for making a difference in the world. You bless each of us with the capacity for peace-making, justice-bearing, and for loving. Guide us God as we discover the gifts we bear and be with us as we unlock
the doors of our fear and uncertainty to share those gifts with all of creation.
We pray this day for all we have named aloud and for those nestled in the safety of our souls. We pray for the lost and the lonely and those whose needs are known only to you.

God, strengthen us in our faith, equip us to serve you well, and take our hands as we set out upon this adventure of faith that we share in Jesus’ name. Let us pray now as Jesus taught us…

Amen.

Peace for Saturday

Peace, be still.

Steer the ship of my life, good Lord, to your quiet harbour,

where I can be safe from the storms of sin and conflict.

Show me the course I should take.

Renew in me the gift of discernment,

so that I can always see the right direction in which I should go.

And give me the strength and the courage to choose the right course,

even when the sea is rough and the waves are high,

knowing that through enduring hardship and danger in your name

we shall find comfort and peace.

Basil of Caesarea (c. 329-379)

God is Enough

Let nothing trouble you.

Let nothing frighten you.

Everything passes.

God never changes.

Patience obtains all.

Whoever has God wants for nothing.

God alone is enough. Amen.

-- from the breviary of St. Teresa of Avila

What is prayer?

What is prayer?

I make a list:

Praise Gratitude Begging/pleading/cutting deals Fruitless whining and puling Focus

There the list breaks off; I had found my word. Prayer only looks like an act of language; fundamentally it is a position, a placement of oneself. Focus. Get there, and all that's left to say is the words. They come: from ancient times (here, the round of Psalms, wheeling through the seasons endlessly in the Office), from the surprisingly eloquent heart (taciturn Thomas last night with his intercession, precise as a poet), from the gush and chatter of the day's detail longing to be rendered.

—Patricia Hampl, Virgin Time: In Search of the Contemplative Life

O God, or Father, in the life and death and resurrection of Jesus you have given us the remedy for sin. In Him you have opened to us the way to forgiveness for all our past sins, and you have given us the strength and the power to live in purity and in truth.

Help us to put away all evil things.
Silence the evil word;
Forbid the evil deed;
Break the evil habit;
Banish the evil thought;
Take away the evil desire and the evil ambition;
and make our lives to shine like lights
in this dark world.

Help us to live in purity.
Make our words so pure
that you may hear them;
Make our deeds so pure
that you may see them;
Make all our thoughts and desires so pure
that they may bear your scrutiny.
And so grant that we being pure in heart
may see you.

Help us to live in truth.
Grant
That we may never speak or act a lie;
That we may never be misled by false or mistaken beliefs;
That we may never evade the truth,
even when we don't want to see it.

Grant to us at all times
To seek and to find;
To know and to love;
To obey and to live
the truth.

This we ask for the sake of Him Who is the Way, the Truth and the Life, even for the sake of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

- Taken from Prayers for the Christian Year by William Barclay

Let Us Rejoice and Be Glad

"Here, then, is the grace conferred by these heavenly mysteries, the gift which Easter brings, the most longed-for feast of the year; here are the beginnings of creatures newly formed: children born from the life-giving font of holy Church....As they emerge from the grace-giving womb of the font, a blaze of candles burns brightly beneath the tree of faith. The Easter festival brings the grace of holiness from heaven to humankind....

Fostered at the very heart of holy Church, the fellowship of one community worships the one God, adoring the triple name of God's essential holiness, and together with the prophet sings the psalm which belongs to this yearly festival: This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad. And what is this day? It is the Lord Jesus Christ himself, the author of light, who brings the sunrise and the beginning of life, saying of himself: I am the light of day; whoever walks in daylight does not stumble."

From an Easter homily by an ancient author [Office of Readings, Wednesday within the Octave of Easter].

Jesus, we rejoice in your resurrection, and ours; may we dance through this day in the blazing light of your love.

He is Risen!

He is Risen Indeed!

God of the Resurrection, we give thanks and praise for the promise of this day. Today we rejoice for the gift of Jesus Christ and the new covenant proclaimed in and through him.

Loving God, the empty tomb reminds us that even in the shadow times of our lives, you are with us. Even when the world around us seems to have spun out of control and we are grieving and lost, you are with us.

Strengthened by the gospel, send us out to tell the others - all who need a word of peace, love and justice. May the Spirit guide us on our Easter journey.

Hallelujah! Amen!

Prayer for Holy Saturday

The women saw how his body was laid; and they prepared spices and ointments; and rested the sabbath day according to the commandment. Luke 23:55,56

Holy Saturday (in Latin, Sabbatum Sanctum ), the 'day of the entombed Christ,' is the Lord's day of rest, for on that day Christ's body lay in His tomb. Ideally, Holy Saturday should be the quietest day of the year (although this is not so easy in a busy household with children or for those of us preparing sermons.) It is a time for quietness and meditation. In our full day of preparations, may we find time for meditation and quietness. Perhaps our sermons, liturgy, children's sermon, songs and prayers are the spices and ointments we prepare for Jesus. What spices and ointments are you preparing? How will you rest today? How will you find time for quietness and meditation?

Heavenly Father, I am silenced at the grave of Your Son. In justice You called for Him, who knew no sin, to be made sin for us. Yet You permitted Your Son to die in innocence. In love He came to us but He was rejected by hate. He taught us obedience but men rebelled against Him.

I confess that a great mystery confronts me at this tomb of sin and death. He was buried behind the great seal of my sin and my death. By faith I know also that He who died is the One who unlocked the great secret of Your love. His tomb is my tomb. He carried with Him to the grave my sin and my death that He might break their hold on me.

Trusting in the Lord’s promise that He would rise again on the third day, I come not to mourn Him but to confess the sin that He would leave buried. Have mercy on me O God! Have mercy on me. Amen. Scot Kinnaman

Here are also three meditations on Holy Saturday written by the Pope while he was still a Cardinal.
Here is an ancient Homily for Holy Saturday
Here are some interesting thoughts on Holy Saturday, "Uncomfortably Numb", posted by an English Dominican Seminarian

The Day Jesus' Heart Broke




Artwork: "Father, Forgive Us," James Janknegt

In the courtyard of the high priest

Then seizing him, they led him away and took him into the house of the high priest. Peter followed at a distance. But when they had kindled a fire in the middle of the courtyard and had sat down together, Peter sat down with them. A servant girl saw him seated there in the firelight. She looked closely at him and said, "This man was with him."

But he denied it. "Woman, I don't know him," he said.

A little later someone else saw him and said, "You also are one of them."

"Man, I am not!" Peter replied.

About an hour later another asserted, "Certainly this fellow was with him, for he is a Galilean."

Peter replied, "Man, I don't know what you're talking about!" Just as he was speaking, the rooster crowed. The Lord turned and looked straight at Peter. Then Peter remembered the word the Lord had spoken to him: "Before the rooster crows today, you will disown me three times." And he went outside and wept bitterly.

Luke 22:54-62


I've always thought of this as a story about human frailty, about how even Peter, the best and the brightest of the apostles, had failed his Teacher.

This week, though, I’ve been thinking about what Peter was doing in that courtyard. I mean, where were the rest of them? What made Peter follow Jesus right into courtyard of the high priest when everyone else bailed? I can see him there trying to get as close to Jesus as possible. It got chilly after the sun went down and they’d built a fire to warm themselves. What courage Peter must have had, huddled near the fire, trying to keep warm as he worked on figuring out what was happening, trying not to be noticed. He must have been so frightened. I imagine that Jesus was frightened, too, and it must have been a comfort to look over and see his friend there, even though he already understood the weakness that would lead that friend to deny him.

Poor Peter, already forgiven by Jesus but unable to forgive himself for giving in to his fears. He went outside and wept bitterly.


Jesus, I want to follow you wherever you go. Help me find the courage to be like faithful Peter, who wasn’t perfect but never stopped trying.

Morning/Evening Prayer for Holy Wednesday

Reading: Matthew 26:1-5, 14-25

In the synoptic gospels Jesus is portrayed as being more human, more subject to the vicissitudes of human experience than the Jesus told by John's gospel. Yet his perception and anticipation of what is ahead of him seems to be strikingly keen in the synoptics.

He knows and tells the disciples that with the coming of Passover he will be crucified,
that the woman's act of anointing his feet is preparation for his burial, that a certain man will allow his house to be the dining room for Jesus and his disciples to eat the Passover meal,
that one of his disciples will betray him. He even knows somehow that it was the one who had just at the moment dipped his bread in the bowl of sop and that fickle as the rest were they would simply chicken out when the pressure was on.

Morning has come again, Teacher Jesus,
and it is Holy Wednesday,
the 39th day of Lent in our reckoning.

But what time is it really? That is the trick.

How did you know? How did you know so much?
Was it prescience?
Were you following a script written for you
that you simply played out in dogged obedience?
Was it a keen sense of the way things were lined up
and seeing the dots you connected them
like a gifted child who know her numbers in a something-to-do-book?

Who was the "certain man" in the city who would know the code words
"The Teacher says my time has come"?
Are we the certain man, the certain woman?
Are we the ones whose names are unknown but to you?
Are we the ones your emissaries approach this Holy Wednesday, saying,
"The Teacher says, My time is near...
I will keep the Passover at your house with my disciples."

Is that where we come into the story?

Just out of sight ... Not named ... Seemingly hidden,
but still essential to the drama unfolding?
Still stewards of a place,
an interior space
where the Passover Haggadah can again be passionately told?
Where food can be shared in the context of sacred story?
Where God's deliverance of an oppressed people
can again be rehearsed in the present moment?
Where the impending cross
will be interpreted not as a miscarriage of justice,
but as love's self-giving?
And bleeding out is named
as the making of a covenant of forgiveness and the promise of eating together again?

Where do we come into today's gospel drama, Teacher?
If we have something you need,
will we offer it when the stranger approaches?
If we have a space that can be turned to sacred use,
will we welcome the request
without signing papers to protect our interests?

If your time is near today, will we be able to be found
in the city,
in the workplace,
among the family,
in the crowd,
in the silence?

Will we be available to love you and welcome you
as your story is told anew this Holy Week?
Will we stand just out of view,
unnamed and unknown except to you,
and do our part today?

Who or what will get our attention?
The calendar that calls today Holy Wednesday?
A phone call or an email from someone hurting?
A news story about Red Lake or Darfur?
A prompting to just stop and enter the silence?What or who will get our attention today?

Keep a time of silence just to rest in attentiveness.

Copyright © 2005 The UMC General Board of Discipleship.
Written by Daniel Benedict, Worship Resources Director,
The Center for Worship Resourcing.

Shall we Gather at the River

Shall we Gather at the River....

The Summons

Will you come and follow me
If I but call your name?
Will you go where you don't know
And never be the same?
Will you let my love be shown,
Will you let my name be known,
Will you let my life be grown
In you and you in me?

Will you leave yourself behind
If I but call your name?
Will you care for cruel and kind
And never be the same?
Will you risk the hostile stare
Should your life attract or scare?
Will you let me answer pray'r
In you and you in me?

Will you let the blinded see
If I but call your name?
Will you set the pris'ners free
And never be the same?
Will you kiss the leper clean,
And do such as this unseen,
And admit to what I mean
In you and you in me?

Will you love the 'you' you hide
If I but call your name?
Will you quell the fear inside
And never be the same?
Will you use the faith you've found
To reshape the world around,
Through my sight and touch and sound
In you and you in me?

Lord, your summons echoes true
When you but call my name.
Let me turn and follow you
And never be the same.
In your company I'll go
Where your love and footsteps show.
Thus I'll live and move and grow
In you and you in me.

Text: John L. Bell, copyright 1987, The Iona Community
Tune: Kelvingrove, trad. Scottish melody

A Prayer to begin Holy Week

Lord Jesus Christ,
in this sacred and solemn week
when we see again
the depth and mystery of your redeeming love,
help us to follow where you go,
to stop where you stumble,
to listen when you cry,
to hurt as you suffer,
to bow our heads in sorrow as you die,
so that, when you are raised to life again,
we may share in your endless joy. Amen.

(from the United Church of Canada worship resource, "Celebrating God's Presence" UCPH, 2000)