The Drops of My Life

Last night, Lord,
I didn't turn off the kitchen tap properly.
The drop of water doesn't matter,
the little drop,
so tiny,
which dripped continuously into the sink.
What can one do with a little drop of water?

But this morning I found the sink full,
it had been overflowing all night.

You know, Lord, that I'm often driven to despair
by the things repeated a thousand times in my daily life.
So many little things to do,
in the house,
at work,
in my commitments,
little things that seem unimportant,
useless,
compared with all the needs to be done,
compared with what is done by important people
who are written about in the newspapers
and shown on television
because they do great things.

Since you invite me, Lord,
through the experiences of every day,
just to live a quiet life,
where I am,
help me to be faithful,
like Mary your mother, who did great things
by doing very small things
very well every day.
And I'll fill my life
with thousands of drops of water,
full to the brim.

My life will be fertile,
because it will flow even during the night--
in the night of my days,
as in the nights of my nights.
It will overflow
from a heart which doesn't want to hold back.
And the dry lands
around me will bloom again,
and my thirsty neighbors
will drink from my cup,
because through you, Lord,
the drops of my life
will become a river of living water.
Amen.

~~Michel Quoist
New Prayers. NY: Crossroad Publishing Company, 1999. 82-83.

Wednesday Prayer

The Call to Prayer

Cast your burden upon the LORD, and the Lord will sustain you;* the Lord will never let the righteous stumble. (Psalm 55:24)

The Request for Presence

O LORD, I am your servant;* I am your servant and the child of your handmaid; you have freed me from my bonds. I will offer you the sacrifice of thanksgiving* and call upon the Name of the LORD. I will fulfill my vows to the LORD* in the presence of all the Lord's people. (Psalm 116:14–16)

The Greeting

I will offer you a freewill sacrifice* and praise your Name, O LORD, for it is good. For you have rescued me from every trouble,* and my eye has seen the ruin of my foes.(Psalm 54:6–7)

The Refrain for the Morning Lessons

The LORD is near to those who call upon the Lord,* to all who call upon God faithfully. (Psalm 145:19)

A Reading

Jesus taught his disciples, saying: “You foolish men! So slow to believe all that the prophets have said! Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer before entering into his glory?” Then, starting with Moses and going through all the prophets, he explained to them all the passages throughout the scriptures that were about himself. (Luke 24:25–27)

The Refrain

The LORD is near to those who call upon the Lord,* to all who call upon God faithfully.

The Morning Psalm

Teach Me Your Way, O LORD

Teach me your way, O LORD, and I will walk in your truth;* knit my heart to you that I may fear your Name. I will thank you, O LORD my God, with all my heart,* and glorify your Name for evermore. For great is your love toward me;* you have delivered me from the nethermost Pit. The arrogant rise up against me, O God, and a band of violent men seeks my life;* they have not set you before their eyes. But you, O LORD, are gracious and full of compassion,* slow to anger, and full of kindness and truth. Turn to me and have mercy upon me;* give your strength to your servant; and save the child of your handmaid. Show me a sign of your favor, so that those who hate me may see it and be ashamed;* because you, O LORD, have helped me and comforted me. (Psalm 86:11–17)

The Refrain

The LORD is near to those who call upon the Lord,* to all who call upon God faithfully.

The Cry of the Church

O Lord, hear my prayer and let my cry come unto you. Thanks be to God. (THE SHORT BREVIARY)

The Lord’s Prayer

Our Father and Mother, who art in heaven, hallowed be your Name. May your kingdom come, and your will be done, on earth as in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us. Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil; for yours are the kingdom and the power and the glory forever and ever. Amen.

The Prayer Appointed for the Week

I thank you, heavenly One, that you have delivered me from the dominion of sin and death and brought me into the kingdom of your Son; and I pray that, as by his death he has recalled me to life, so by his love he may raise me to eternal joys; who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen. †

The Concluding Prayer of the Church

Lord God, almighty and everlasting One, you have brought me in safety to this new day: Preserve me with your mighty power, that I may not fall into sin, nor be overcome by adversity; and in all I do direct me to the fulfilling of your purpose; through Jesus Christ my Lord. Amen.

Adapted Morning Office

Tuesday Prayer

Good Shepherd,

Help us not wander off the path of faithfulness with you.

Good Shepherd,

Show us what faithful living looks like in our time, and grant us the intelligence, spiritual strength and determination necessary to follow in your footsteps.

Amen



text From The Minister's Annual Manual
Pastoral Prayer for May 3, 2009

image

Servant Song

Sunday Prayer

God of the night,
where are you
in the darkness of
this hour?

God of the light
surround us
illuminate us
this hour.

God of all love
pour into
suffering and pain
this hour.

God of all hope
embrace our
breathless sorrowing
this hour.

God of peace
enfold us
in your mystery
now, always.

Wounded God
heal us
with your open wounds
and arms.

God of flesh
join us
eat and drink with us
now, always.

Mystery
open us
to your mystery
of love.

Open us
as you
were opened for us
in love.

God of all
being
Reaching out your hand
to love

May we take
the hand
extended, open
for us.

And may we
offer
the same extended
love, all.

Amen.

Pray for today

I ran across a thought from Gregory of Nyssa.
He said when Jesus taught us what we call the Lord’s prayer,
He said Jesus was teaching us to pray for today.
Just today.

God of Creation,
I pray for today in all its glory.
That I have enough.
That my sins be forgiven
That I learn to focus on this day,
This path,
These steps.
For it is enough.
Amen

Steven Masters, Adventures of a Dedicated Soul

O start anew!

You are the One who has brought our Lord Jesus Christ
again to life from the dead;
You are the One who by your summoning imperative
has caused the worlds to be;
You are the One who by your faithfulness
has given a son to our vexed mother Hannah;
You are the One who has the will and power to begin again,
to start anew.

You are the only self-starter whose name we know.
And so we bid you, start again,
start here, start now,
start with us and with our school (church, city, country. . . .),
start with your mercy,
and with your justice,
and with your compassion,
and with your peace.
Make the world new again, and young again, and innocent again. . .
Start. . . before it is too late.
Amen.

On reading I Samuel 1 on Feb. 4, 1999

Brueggemann, Walter. Awed to Heaven, Rooted in Earth: Prayers of Walter Brueggemann. Ed. Edwin Searcy. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2003. 111.

Wednesday Prayer

Prayer at Night: a Thanksgiving


The night's knife is sharp, whittling endurance.
Paring pain into prayer -
Prayer beyond pain; prayer beyond prayer almost,
Apprenticed to poverty
Pinioned in peace.

Captive, I live the night slowly,
Pray the night slowly, sleepless.
Wanting pours into waiting: a kind of awe
Stirred by winds of Spirit's Searching,
Stilled by hidden flame.

The night is dark, alive in its own black brilliance, kingfisher clear,
And in the darkness my little love, world wounded, is grown into
A greatness not its own
Into a passion and purpose beyond my knowing,
Welded into oneness with Christ's constant interceding.
Heart of Spirit's pleading.
Seared by the hidden flame.

That love reaches out
Beyond the known loves of family and friends,
Beyond the confines of cherished causes,
Beyond cost and comfort,
To enfold a world's weight in the holding of a name
In the power of the hidden flame
Sharing the darkness.
Night streams softly into silence, the colour of praying,
Filled with Word of Creator's saying,
Filled with wind and flame.

~ Gail Ballinger
Here

Tuesday Prayer

Let the rain come and wash away the ancient grudges, the bitter hatreds held and nurtured over generations. Let the rain wash away the memory of the hurt, the neglect. Then let the sun come out and fill the sky with rainbows. Let the warmth of the sun heal us wherever we are broken. Let it burn away the fog so that we can see each other clearly. So that we can see beyond labels, beyond accents, gender or skin color. Let the warmth and brightness of the sun melt our selfishness. So that we can share the joys and feel the sorrows of our neighbors. And let the light of the sun be so strong that we will see all people as our neighbors. Let the earth, nourished by rain, bring forth flowers to surround us with beauty. And let the mountains teach our hearts to reach upward to heaven. Amen.

a prayer for the world - rabbi harold kushner - 2003

Debbie Friedman: Lechi Lach

Sunday Prayer

Last week I posted one of my favorite poems as our Easter Prayer. This week, as we ponder the readings of doubt and our fear that resurrection is impossible I offer this poem/prayer from The Odes of Solomon, written in the 1st or 2nd century.(again, from The Enlightened Heart, an anthology of sacred poetry edited by Stephen Mitchell

My heart was split, and a flower
appeared; and grace sprang up;
and it bore fruit for my God.
You split me, tore my heart
open, filled me with love.
You poured your spirit into me;
I knew you as I know myself.
Speaking waters touched me
from your fountain, the source of life.
I swallowed them and was drunk
with the water that never dies.
And my drunkeness was insight,
intimacy with your spirit.
And you have made all things new;
you have showed me all things shining.
You have granted me perfect ease;
I have become like Paradise,
a garden whose fruit is joy;
and you are the sun upon me.
My eyes are radiant with your spirit;
my nostrils fill with your fragrance.
My ears delight in your music,
my face is covered with your dew.
Blessed are the men and women
who are planted on your earth, in your garden,
who grow as your trees and flowers grow,
who transform their darkness to light.
Their roots plunge into darkness;
their faces turn toward the light.
All those who love you are beautiful;
they overflow with your presence
so that they cando nothing but good.
There is infinite space in your garden;
all men, all women are welcome here;
all they need do is enter.

We pray for the courage, the stamina, the grace, to enter the room of our doubts. We pray for the love of God to work in us and produce the fruits of God's love. We pray that we can be the eyes through which others see God. The hands through which others know the love of Christ, and heart of the Holy Spirit, bringing reconciliation to this broken world. Amen.

Prayer of St. Clare

Place your mind before the mirror of eternity!
Place your soul in the brilliance of glory!
Place your heart in the figure of divine substance!
And transform your entire being into the image of the
Godhead itself through contemplation.
Most high, glorious God,
enlighten the darkness of my heart, and give me Lord,
a correct faith,
a certain hope,
a perfect charity, sense and knowledge,
so that I may carry out
Your holy and true desires.

- from The Casa Franciscan Renewal Center website

Friday Prayer on Friday!

A prayer from the Church of England that certainly resonates with many in our faith communities these days:

"Redundant" – the word says it all - "useless, unnecessary, without purpose, surplus to requirements." Thank you, o God, that in the middle of the sadness, the anger, the uncertainty, the pain, I can talk to you. Hear me as I cry out in confusion, help me to think clearly, and calm my soul. As life carries on, may I know your presence with me each and every day. And as I look to the future, help me to look for fresh opportunities, for new directions. Guide me by your Spirit, and show me your path, through Jesus, the way, the truth and the life. Amen.

Thursday Prayer on Friday!

Let us bless the God of Mary and Elizabeth, Ruth and Naomi, the God who rejoices in our bonds of friendship.

Holy is God, the river of life who brought us together, who refreshes us and gives us joy in one another.

Blessed is the God who holds us fast when pain and conflict stretch to the breaking point the cords that join us.

May this God keep us caring for one another in the sweetness and bitterness of life, steadfast in fullness and emptiness, faithful in our living and dying.

Amen.

Fischer, Kathleen. Autumn Gospel: Women in the Second Half of Life. NY: Integration Books (Paulist Press), 1995. 85.

Wednesday Prayer

From the depths of slumber,
As I ascend the spiral stairway of wakefulness,
I whisper:
God! God! God!

Thou art the food, and when I break my fast
Of nightly separation from Thee,
I taste Thee, and mentally say:
God! God! God!

No matter where I go, the spotlight of my mind
Ever keeps turning on Thee,
And in the battle dim of activity my silent war-cry is ever:
God! God! God!

When boisterous storms of trials shriek
And worries howl at me,
I drown their noises, loudly chanting:
God! God! God!

When my mind weaves dreams
With threads of memories,
On that magic cloth I do emboss:
God! God! God!

Every night, in time of deepest sleep,
My peace dreams and calls: Joy! Joy! Joy!
And my joy comes from singing evermore:
God! God! God!

In waking, eating, working ,dreaming, sleeping,
Serving, meditating, chanting, divinely loving,
My soul constantly hums, unheard by any:
God! God! God!

- Paramahansa Yogananda

Here

Tuesday Prayer

In the Lord I'll be ever thankful
In the Lord, I will rejoice
Look to God, do not be afraid
Lift up your voices, the Lord is near
Lift up your voices, the Lord is near



chant learned from dear Sarah
(dont know where it came from before that)

EASTER MONDAY

God of terror and joy, you arise to shake the earth.

Open our graves and give us back the past; so that all that has been buried may be freed and forgiven, and our lives may return to you through the risen Christ.

Janet Morley (b.1941)

Sunday Prayer

On this glorious day, as we celebrate the resurrection and our new life in Christ I offer this poem by Symeon the New Theologian (919-1022)

We awaken in Christ's body
as Christ awakens our bodies,
and my poor hand is Christ, He enters
my foot, and is infinitely me.

I move my hand, and wonderfully
my hand becomes CHrist, becomes all of Him
(for God is indivisibly
whole, seamles in His Godhood).

I move my foot, and at once
He appears like a flash of lightning.
Do my words seem blasphemous? -Then
open your heart to Him

and let yourself receive the one
who is opening to you so deeply.
For if we genuinely love Him,
we wake up inside Christ's body

where all our body, all over
every most hidden part of it,
is realized in joy as Him,
and He makes us, utterly real,

and everything that is hurt, everything
that seemed to us dark, harsh, shameful,
maimed, ugly, irreparably
damaged, is in Him transformed

and recognized as whole, as lovely,
and radiant in His light
we awaken as the Beloved
in every last part of our body.

(The Enlightened Heart: An Anthology of Sacred Poetry, edited by Stephen Mitchell)

May we, the whole creation, on this day, this Easter awaken as Christ's body, made whole again. Amen.

My Morning Prayer

Dear God,

Thank you for loving me and being my friend.
Thank you for helping me.
Help me to be your person in the world today.

Amen.

When Jesus' Heart Broke

When Jesus' Heart Broke




Artwork: Peter Sembowski

O Lord

O Lord,
The house of my soul is narrow;
enlarge it that you may enter in.
It is ruinous, O repair it!
It displeases Your sight.
I confess it, I know.
But who shall cleanse it,
to whom shall I cry but to you?
Cleanse me from my secret faults, O Lord,
and spare Your servant from strange sins.

~~St. Augustine of Hippo (AD 354-430)

Wednesday Prayer

God, giver of life,
You alone know
how our life can truly succeed.
Teach us in the silence of your presence
to reverence this mystery:
How in the encounter with you
how under your gaze and in your word
we recognize ourselves
as your image and likeness.
Show us how to let go
of whatever hinders us
from meeting you
from letting ourselves be touched by your word.
Help us to welcome and accept
whatever in us yearns to come alive
in the image and likeness you have dreamed for us
today and every day
forever and ever.



Found in
The God Who Won't Let Go
Peter Van Breeman , S.J.

Tuesday Prayer

OK.

Do this now.


Breathe in...


Breathe out...


Breath in...


Breathe out...


Breathe in...


Breathe out...


You are alive.
And though you cannot yet say
Alleluia
You can still give thanks for each breath.

This is My Body

God, this is MY BODY.
She is an expression of Genius.

This is MY BODY.
She is more than fatigue, infirmity, soreness, cellulite, estrogen loss, and drooping breasts.

Lord, I want to LIVE in my Body.
Cleanse me of every thought that makes me
shame of my body.
Help me to experience LIFE
in my heart,
fingers and toes,
bosom and legs
arms and thighs
buttocks and uterus
lungs and belly
ignite a quickening fire in every cell of my body.

For I am
a woman in a Body.
My body.

I am the bird of Paradise.
I am consort of the Lion of Judah.
I am a 12 winged accolade to African women who died while trying; cried beyond tears; and loved when it hurt

There is Life in my Body.
Holy
Free
Creative
Beautiful
Life

May I never again be ashamed
For this is My Body which is

A Gift of God
A Sanctuary of my Divine Purpose, and
an Expression of the mystery of God.

This is My Body.

Renita Weems, http://www.somethingwithin.com/blog/

Sunday Prayer

Lamb of God
Hear us when we pray
Wipe our tears

anoint us
with fragrant oil
calm our hearts

Lamb of God
Hear us when we pray
hold the pain

anoint us
love beyond measure
deep mercy

Lamb of God
broken open heart
love pours out

walk with us
journey to the cross
grace for all

darkest of days
holiest of weeks
God with us

amen.

The Raising of Lazarus

- The Raising of Lazarus, Caravaggio

In some calendars, this event is commemorated today, the Saturday before Palm Sunday.

Lord, help us to prepare for death and new life.

A Prayer For Courage

O gracious God,
Source of all excellent things,
grant us strength and hope in these days of uncertainty,
finding courage through your Holy Spirit;
and give us grace so to live, not in our own weakness,
but in your unceasing steadfastness,
ever encouraged by the company of heaven;
through Jesus Christ, your Son our Lord,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and forever. Amen

Salvation

By what are you saved? And how?
Saved like a bit of string,
tucked away in a drawer?
Saved like a child rushed from
a burning building, already
singed and coughing smoke?
Or are you salvaged
like a car part -- the one good door
when the rest is wrecked?

Do you believe me when I say
you are neither salvaged nor saved,
but salved, anointed by gentle hands
where you are most tender?
Haven't you seen
the way snow curls down
like a fresh sheet, how it
covers everything,
makes everything
beautiful, without exception?

by Lynn Ungar

Wednesday Prayer

Holy One,
Shock us and save us with the terrible goodness of this season,
And drive us deep into our longing for your kingdom,
Until we seek it first -- yet not for ourselves,
But for the hungry,
And the sick,
And the poor of your childen.

from Ted Yoder, Guerillas of Grace