A Prayer to be used on All Hallows' Eve

O God, the King of saints,
we praise and glorify your holy Name
for all your servants who have finished their course
in your faith and fear:
for the blessed Virgin Mary;
for the holy patriarchs, prophets, apostles, and martyrs;
and for all your other righteous servants,
known to us and unknown;
and we pray that,
encouraged by their examples,
aided by their prayers,
and strengthened by their fellowship,
we also may be partakers
of the inheritance of the saints in light;
through the merits of your Son Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.

--The Book of Common Prayer, p. 504.

Tuesday Prayer

God of the seasons, there is a time for everything; there is a time for dying and a time for rising. We need courage to enter into the transformation process.

God of autumn, the trees are saying goodbye to their green, letting go of what has been. We, too, have our moments of surrender, with all their insecurity and risk. Help us to let go when we need to do so.

God of fallen leaves lying in colored patterns on the ground, our lives have their own patterns. As we see the patterns of our own growth, may we learn from them.

God of misty days and harvest moon nights, there is always the dimension of mystery and wonder in our lives. We always need to recognize your power-filled presence. May we gain strength from this.

God of harvest wagons and fields of ripened grain, many gifts of growth lie within the season of our surrender. We must wait for harvest in faith and hope. Grant us patience when we do not see the blessings.

God of geese going south for another season, your wisdom enables us to know what needs to be left behind and what needs to be carried into the future. We yearn for insight and vision.

God of flowers touched with frost and windows wearing white designs, may your love keep our hearts from growing cold in the empty seasons.

God of life, you believe in us, you enrich us, you entrust us with the freedom to choose life. For all this, we are grateful.

Amen.

hat tip

Burning Love is the Outcry of the Heart

For the desire of your heart is itself your prayer. And if the desire is constant, so is your prayer. The Apostle Paul had a purpose in saying: Pray without ceasing. Are we then ceaselessly to bend our knees, to lie prostrate, or to lift up our hands?....Even if we admit that we pray in this fashion, I do not believe that we can do so all the time.

Yet there is another, interior kind of prayer without ceasing, namely, the desire of the heart. Whatever else you may be doing, if you but fix your desire on God's Sabbath rest, your prayer will be ceaseless. Therefore, if you wish to pray without ceasing, do not cease to desire.

The constancy of your desire will itself be the ceaseless voice of your prayer. And that voice of your prayer will be silent only when your love ceases....Burning love is the outcry of the heart.

St. Augustine of Hippo, on Psalm 37

Sunday Prayer

God of Creation, God of all Goodness, hear our prayers as we come together in prayer as a faith community. We thank you for the strength and inspiration we are blessed to share with one another as fellow travelers on this path.

God, we give you thanks for all the ways in which your best hopes for humanity are lived out around our world. We thank you for people in positions of power and influence who understand the urgency of creating peace in our time and saving our planet. We pray that they will find the courage to continue to speak out against injustice everywhere.

We thank you for non-governmental organizations who work tirelessly for causes relating to justice, hunger, oppression and peace. We thank you for mission churches who step in where bureaucracies fear to tread. We thank you for individuals who make a difference in so many small ways.

As we look ahead to this week, we pray for children everywhere. For those whose excitement will build for costume parties and trick or treating – we pray for their safety and find joy in their laughter and fun. Even so, God, we know that so many children will be hungry that night. God, help us to find hope in a world where children go hungry and wars rage.

God, help us to BE that glimmer of hope in the world. Help us to be leaders in our community – sharing a word of peace and justice wherever we go.

We pray for all who have need of your grace and your presence today. Bless each one of them, O God, and shower your love upon them, and bring them the miracle of your peace.

All this we ask in the name of the One who calls us forward and invites us to be the world’s cause for hope, Jesus Christ, who taught us to pray together singing…

Make us a praying people (Sat 28th Oct)

The Lord looked and was displeased
that there was no justice
He saw there was no-one to intervene
So His own arm worked
salvation for Him
and His own righteousness sustained Him

He put on righteousness as His breastplate
And the helmet of salvation on His head
(Isaiah 59:15-17)

Lord make us instruments of Your peace
Where there is injustice make us champion for right

Where there is silence let us speak up in Your name

May You never again find no-one to stand in the gap for the weak, opressed and those cast-aside

Lord, make us a praying people
Help us put on the armour of God and stand with you in battle.

Amen

A Collect For Harvest

Holy God, Creator, Sustainer and Renewer of Life, grant that, secure in your goodness in the past,and rejoicing that you meet our needs in the present,we may work and pray for the coming of your future kingdom,that kingdom which is peace and prosperity, justice and joy;through Jesus Christ, who lived and died and was raised to Life that all may share. AMEN

Leavetaking

Nearing the start of that mysterious last season
Which brings us to the close of the other four
I'm somewhat afraid and I don't know how to prepare,
So I will praise you
I will praise you for the glaze on the buttercups
And the pearly scent of wild fresh water
And the great cross-bow shapes of swans flying over
With that strong silken sound of wings
Which you gave them when you made them without voices
And I will praise you for crickets
On starry autumn nights
When the earth is cooling
Their misty diminutive music
Repeated over and over
In the very marrow of peace.
And I will praise you for crows calling from the tree-tops
Which was the speech of my first village,
And for the sparrow's flash of song
Flinging to me in an instant
The joy of a child who woke
Each morning to the freedom
Of her mother's unclouded love
And lived in it like a country.
And I praise you that from vacant lots
from only broken glass and candy wrappers
you raise up the blue chicory flowers.
Thank you for that secret praise
Which burns in every creature
And I ask you to bring us to life
Out of every sort of death
And teach us mercy.
--Anne Porter

Tuesday Prayer

God,
Be in our mouths and in our speaking
Be in our ears and in our listening
Be in our hands and in our working
Be in our hearts and in our loving.

Amen.

The Morning Stars Sing Your Praises

All thanks and praise
are yours at all times and in all places,
our true and loving God;
through Jesus Christ, your eternal Word,
the Wisdom from on high by whom you created all things.

You laid the foundations of the world
and enclosed the sea when it burst out from the womb;
You brought forth all creatures of the earth
and gave breath to humankind.

Wondrous are you, Holy One of Blessing,
all you create is a sign of hope for our journey;
And so as the morning stars sing your praises
we join the heavenly beings and all creation
as we shout with joy:

Holy, Holy, Holy....

From Eucharistic Prayer 3, Enriching Our Worship
(Church Pension Fund, 1998)

Sunday Prayer

God of all Goodness and Grace, we thank you for the joy and freedom of this time we have shared in worship. We recognize the blessing of coming together to share our faith in safety and without fear of oppression. We pray that people of faith all around this world will one day celebrate the same freedom. We pray especially for the people of Burma/Myanmar and their continued struggle.

God, we thank you for one another, and for the life and work of our congregation. We pray for the United Church of Canada and for our Moderator David Giuliano as he continues to heal from his recent radiation treatments.

We thank you for this planet we share and we ask that you guide us as we seek to be ever more faithful to its gifts and wonders. Help us God to be better stewards of the earth.

We pray for all in need of your love and strength this week. We pray for those named aloud in our space this morning, and for those whose pain is known only to you. May your Spirit’s breath bring courage, warmth, comfort and power to those who feel powerless.
God, we pray for peace, for freedom and food for all your children. For clean water to drink and for education for every child. For the First Nations people of our land. For all who are grieving or ill or enduring suffering in body, mind or spirit.

God, we turn our prayers to you in the hope that those prayers will transform our world and transform us. Send us out from here today as bearers of your love so that everyone we meet will know that it is your name etched upon our hearts – the name of love – the name of the One who taught his friends to pray when they gathered together, singing….

Saturday Prayer: My Small Sacrifice

My small sacrifice

Lord, as many human hands
transform many grains of wheat
into a loaf of bread,
so may our small sacrifices
help towards the building up
of our human family.
We ask this through Jesus,
who is our brother,
and who fed the hungry. Amen.
(NH)

For Everyone and Everything...

Merciful God, we praise you that you give strength for every weakness, forgiveness for our failures, and new beginnings in Jesus Christ. Especially we thank you for
the guidance of your Spirit through this day...
signs of new life and hope...
people who have helped us...
those who struggle for justice...
expressions of love unexpected or undeserved...

Almighty God, you know all needs before we speak our prayers, yet you welcome our concerns for others in Jesus Christ. Especially we pray for
those who keep watch over the sick and dying...
those who weep with the grieving...
those who are without faith and cannot accept your love...
those who grow old...
your people everywhere...
Righteous God, holy Redeemer,
renew your broken people with your Holy Spirit,
give them a vision of the coming dawn
and the courage to walk your narrow way,
that they may be a sign of hope to the needy
and proclaim the gracious name
of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

(adapted from today's Oremus )

Prayer for Guidance

Lord, show me clearly what you want me to do
with the gifts you have given me.

Grant me the strength that I need
to answer your call with courage and love.

Make me a generous person
so that others may experience your love through me.

Help me always to look to You
as the One who will show me the way to live my life.

(I have seen this in several places on the web. I don't know who wrote it.
I would give credit if I knew where credit was due ... )

Prayer for New Beginnings

God of new beginnings,
we are walking into mystery.
We face the future, not knowing
what the days and months will bring us
or how we will respond.
Be love in us as we journey.
May we welcome all who come our way.
Deepen our faith
to see all life through your eyes.
Fill us with hope and an abiding trust
that You dwell in us amidst all our joys and sorrows.
Thank You for the treasure of our faith life.
Thank You for the gift of being able
to rise each day with the assurance of
Your walking through the day with us.
God of our past and future,
May we always praise you.
Amen.

(source: unknown)

Tuesday Prayer

Jacob was left alone; and a man wrestled with him until daybreak. When the man saw that he did not prevail against Jacob, he struck him on the hip socket; and Jacob’s hip was put out of joint as he wrestled with him.
Then he said, “Let me go, for the day is breaking.” But Jacob said, “I will not let you go, unless you bless me.” So he said to him, “What is your name?” And he said, “Jacob.”
Then the man said, “You shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with God and with humans, and have prevailed.”
Then Jacob asked him, “Please tell me your name.”
But he said, “Why is it that you ask my name?” And there he blessed him.So Jacob called the place Peniel, saying, “For I have seen God face to face, and yet my life is preserved.”
The sun rose upon him as he passed Penuel,
limping because of his hip.

Genesis 32:24-31 NRSV

Artwork: Jacob and the Angel, Wayne Forte

Teresa of Avila

If Christ Jesus dwells in a person as friend and noble leader, that person can endure all things, for Christ helps and strengthens us and never abandons us. He is a true friend. And I clearly see that if we expect to please God and receive and abundance of graces, God desires that these graces must come to us from the hands of Christ, through his most sacred humanity, in which God takes delight....

What more do we desire from such a good friend at our side? Unlike our friends in the world, he will never abandon us when we are troubled or distressed. Blessed is the one who truly loves him and always keeps him near.

Teresa of Avila, The Book of Her Life, chapter 22

Loving God,
by your Spirit you raised up Saint Teresa of Avila
to show your Church the way to perfection.
May her inspired teaching awaken in us a longing for true holiness.

Grant this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Prayer for the liturgy of October 15,
feast of St. Teresa of Avila,
Virgin and Doctor of the Church

Sunday Prayer

God of Grace and Glory, we pause now in this place of worship to turn our hearts, minds and spirits toward you. Yes, we have places to go and busy days ahead of us. It would be easy to skip quickly to the closing hymn and get on with our day. God, we choose to turn to you and say thank you from the deepest part of our being. God, hear our prayers.

God, we have so very much to be thankful for. Even in the midst of our private struggles, and those needs we have heard in our prayer requests, there are blessings. There are friends who care and pray for us. There are faith communities like ours who encircle those in need and of course there is your ever-present Spirit to guide and comfort us along the way.

For these, and for all your many blessings, we do give thanks, O God.

God, bless all who have need of your grace and healing this day. Bless those who are able to reach out and ask for help, just as you bless those who suffer in solitude. Bring peace to the hearts of those who live in spiritual, emotional and personal turmoil. Bring strength to all who need it and comfort to those who simply need to feel your presence near them.

Wondrous God, in thanks and praise, we pray for peace in our time. Make us agents of your grace. Help us to be a part of the world’s transformation. Bless this path we share as the friends and followers of Jesus, and hear us now as we sing together the prayer that he taught his friends so long ago…


Amen.

Your Voice

The voice of the LORD is over the waters;
the God of glory thunders,
the LORD, over many waters.
The voice of the LORD is powerful;
the voice of the LORD is full of majesty.

(Ps 29)





Lord, let us hear Your Word - so that we might step out in obedience.

Let us hear your voice today so that we too may cry out "Glory!"

Amen

May I Have This Dance?

I cannot dance, o Lord, unless you lead me. If it is your will, I can leap with joy. But you must show me how to dance and sing by dancing and singing yourself! With you I will leap towards love, and from love I will leap to truth, and from truth I will leap to joy, and then I shall leap beyond all human senses. There I will remain and dance forevermore. -- Mechtild of Magdeburg

Photo hat tip to the University of Oregon

O God We Thank Thee

O God, we thank Thee for this universe, our great home; for its vastness and its riches, and for the manifoldness of the life which teems upon it and of which we are part.

We praise Thee for the arching sky and the blessed winds, for the driving clouds and the constellations on high.

We praise Thee for the salt sea and the running water, for the everlasting hills, for the trees, and for the grass under our feet.

We thank Thee for our senses by which we can see the splendor of the morning, and hear the jubilant songs of love, and smell the breath of the springtime.

Grant us, we pray Thee, a heart wide open to all this joy and beauty, and save our souls from being so steeped in care or so darkened by passion that we pass heedless and unseeing when even the thorn-bush by the wayside is aflame with the glory of God.

—Walter Rauschenbusch

Prayer of St. Ignatius

Dearest Jesus teach me to be generous

Teach me to love and serve you as you deserve,

To give and not to count the cost,

To fight and not to heed the wounds,

To toil and not to seek for rest

To labour and to look for no reward,

Except that of knowing that I do your Holy Will. Amen

-- Ignatius

Tuesday Prayer

There is nothing more astounding than life, just as it is, nothing more miraculous than growth and change and development, just as revealed to us. And as happens so often when we stop to regard God's work, there is nothing to do but wonder and thank God realizing how little we planned, how little we achieved, and yet how much has been done.

Mollie Rogers quoted in All Saints: Daily Reflections on Saints, Prophets and Witnesses for Our Time, October 9.

A Prayer of Thanksgiving

Though our mouths were full of song as the sea,

and our tongues of exultation as the multitude of its waves,

and our lips of praise as the wide-extended firmament;

though our eyes shone with light like the sun and the moon,

and our hands were spread forth like the eagles of heaven,

and our feet were swift as hinds,

we should still be unable to thank thee and bless thy name,

O Lord our God and God of our ancestors,

for one thousandth or one ten thousandth part of the bounties

which thou has bestowed upon our forbears and upon us.

- from the Hebrew Prayer Book

Sunday Prayer

Ursula LeGuin says, “Love doesn’t just sit there, like a stone, it has to be made, like bread; re-made all the time, made new.”

Today, on World Communion Sunday, we gather at the table with all the saints of every time and every place, to respond to the One who asks only this: Remember me. Let us pray,

Blessed One, Holy Source of Life, we give thanks for the Bread of Life, the true bread of the Spirit that sustains us through all of life's trials and triumphs. We thank you for harvests that were blessed with abundant growth and ask your mercy and provide for those whose harvests were insufficient for their needs.

Help us to slow down, O God, so that the seeds of our faith may take in the nourishment you offer and grow into the fullness of the grace you provide. Bless us on this special day and hover in our midst as we join hands with all your children in this place and around the world - to remember you, to break the bread, to share the cup, to give thanks.

May your Spirit be with us, this day and every day. Amen.

Seasons of Fruit: prayer for Saturday

SEASON of mists and mellow fruitfulness, Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun; Conspiring with him how to load and bless With fruit ...
Keats' Ode to Autumn

Father God;

We thank you for the seasons in our life. You say that there is a season for everything - a time to mourn and a time to rejoice, a time to plant and a time to harvest, a time to laugh and a time to cry. Help us to live in that truth!

Each of us are in a specific season right now - for some it's a time of great and abundant blessing - of fruitfulness and harvest - for others it's as if we are out of sync with the natural seasons and we are in a time of drought and barreness - but still - in all circumstances- we want to praise You.

Help us to turn to You today -not only with requests - but also with hearts that are over brimming with thankfulness for Your presence in our lives.

Thank You that Your hand is forever on us; and Your plans are always good.

Amen

Henri Nouwen on Prayer

To pray, I think, does not mean to think about God in contrast to thinking about other things, or to spend time with God instead of spending time with other people. Rather, it means to think and live in the presence of God. As soon as we begin to divide our thoughts about God and thoughts about people and events, we remove God from our daily life and put him into a pious little niche where we can think pious thoughts and experience pious feelings. ... Although it is important and even indispensable for the spiritual life to set apart time for God and God alone, prayer can only become unceasing prayer when all our thoughts -- beautiful or ugly, high or low, proud or shameful, sorrowful or joyful -- can be thought in the presence of God. ... Thus, converting our unceasing thinking into unceasing prayer moves us from a self-centred monologue to a God-centred dialogue. -- Henri Nouwen, Clowning in Rome

Thursday Prayer

This, then, is what I pray, kneeling before the Father, from whom every family, whether spiritual or natural, takes its name:

Out of his infinite glory, may he give you the power through his Spirit for your hidden self to grow strong, so that Christ may live in your hearts through faith, and then, planted in love and built on love, you will with all the saints have strength to grasp the breadth and the length, the height and the depth; until, knowing the love of Christ, which is beyond all knowledge, you are filled with the utter fullness of God.

Glory be to him whose power, working in us, can do infinitely more than we can ask or imagine; glory be to him from generation to generation in the Church and in Christ Jesus for ever and ever Amen.

—Ephesians 3:14-21

Awaken my Senses

Dear God,
Open my eyes to the beauty of this day.
The yellow of an egg yolk in a blue bowl.
The scent of bacon frying in the pan.
The soft caress of the morning breeze.
The sound of children at play.
Awaken my senses.
Let me see, hear, and feel the beauty around me.
And be aware of the presence of the Great Artist in my everyday world.
-- William Webber

Tuesday Prayer

He who brought water is with us

He who brought bread is with us

We shall find the water

We shall be the water

I am the water of life

You are the water of life

We are the water of life

We shall find the water

We shall be the water.

Dorothee Soelle, anthologized in God Has No Religion

Prayer of St. Bonaventure

Pierce, sweetest Lord Jesus, the marrow and heart of my soul with the most pleasant and wholesome wound of your love, with true, serene, and most holy apostolic charity, so that my soul may languish and melt with love for you alone, so that it may desire you and long for your courts, to long to be dissolved and be with you.

Make my soul hunger for you, the bread of Angels, the refreshment of holy souls; our daily bread, containing every sweetness and savor and delightful taste.

Let my heart hunger for you and feed on you, whom the Angels desire to look upon, and may your sweet savor fill the innermost part of my soul; may it ever thirst for you, the fountain of life, the fountain of wisdom and knowledge, the fountain of everlasting light, the torrent of pleasure, the riches of the house of God.

May it ever encompass you, seek you, find you, run to you, reach you, meditate on you, speak of you, and do all things to the praise and glory of your Name, with humility and discretion, with pleasure and delight, with ease and affection, with perseverance to the end; so that you alone may be my hope for ever, my whole assurance, my joy, my rest and tranquility, my peace, my pleasure, my fragrance, my sweetness, my food, my refreshment, my refuge, my help, my wisdom, my portion, my possession, and my treasure, in whom my mind and my heart may be firmly and steadfastly rooted for ever. Amen.

(translated by Rev. Christopher Tessone, AIHM)