Wednesday of Holy Week

God of the swaying palms,

the stones of earth and the beasts of burden bear witness to your coming:

lead us from the violence of empire and the collusion of crowds

to a heart of flesh, a world remade, and a new song for all creation,

through Jesus Christ, the Crucified One. Amen.

If we have used your house for our purposes as if you did not mind or it did not matter,

Christ, forgive us.

If we have smothered your house in tradition rather than hallowed it by prayer,

Christ, forgive us.

If we have made of it a house for one nation, or for part of a nation, or for part of one church,

Christ, forgive us.

And if we can see clearly the misuse others make of your house

and are blind to our own malpractices,

Christ, forgive us.

Kindle in us and in all your people the desire to make all your sanctuaries

the shop windows of heaven rather that religious theme parks of earth.

We ask this in the name of +God, our Loving Mother and Father; Jesus Christ, our Saviour and Friend; and the Holy Spirit, our Comforter and Sanctifier. Amen.

(Edited by Cody E. Maynus from "Peace Meditation--Morning Prayer for Palm Sunday" by Canon Vicki Garvey of the Episcopal Peace Fellowship. Her source is drawn and adapted from: Steven Shakespeare, Prayers for an Inclusive Church (Church Publishing, 2009), 91; Iona Community, Stages on the Way (GIA, 2000), 88; Bruce Prewer, Uniting Church of Australia, his blog for Sunday.)

Gethsemane

Palm/Passion Sunday Prayer

God of all hopefulness, God of my life
On this holy day of Palms and Passions
and through this
the holiest of weeks,
when our Lenten journey
finds its completion
through pain
sorrow
despair
illness
losses of all kinds,
through fear
anger
hatred
vitriol
and finger pointing.

Through a self-examination of
all the ways we work against you -
against your hopes and dreams
for creation
against your love poured out
in flesh and blood -
we hang our heads and bow our hearts
seeking your forgiveness
yearning for your guidance
desiring your compassion.

Fill us we pray, with the ability to
turn to you, kneeling before your grace
open our spirit that we may take you in
let you in
receive you in
taking You in..

Into our hearts and minds and souls
Let you in
that we might turn to you,
return to you,
be transformed in you,
through you, by you,
for you.

Transformed
once more,
this day, this week,
into a new self,
me, you.

May we become a new people,
a gentle people,
a people of
love and compassion,
born anew from our
deepest sorrow
through the breadth of your
forgiveness
and love.

And then, may we do likewise.
Forgive.
And, love.
Amen.

Crossposted on RevGalBlogPals and SeekingAuthenticVoice

Saturday Prayer

Move our hearts with the calm, smooth flow of your grace. Let the river of your love run through our souls. May my soul be carried by the current of your love, towards the wide, infinite ocean of heaven.

Stretch out my heart with your strength, as you stretch out the sky above the earth. Smooth out any wrinkles of hatred or resentment. Enlarge my soul that it may know more fully your truth.

-Gilbert of Hoyland, died 1170

Taking the Long View

It helps, now and then, to step back and take a long view.


The kingdom is not only beyond our efforts,
it is even beyond our vision.
We accomplish in our lifetime only a tiny fraction
of the magnificent enterprise that is God's work.
Nothing we do is complete, which is a way of saying hat the kingdom always lies beyond us.

No statement says all that could be said.

No prayer fully expresses our faith.
No confession brings perfection.
No pastoral visit brings wholeness.
No program accomplishes the church's mission.
No set of goals and objectives includes everything.

This is what we are about.
We plant the seeds that one day will grow.
We water seeds already planted,
knowing that they hold future promise.
We lay foundations that will need further development.
We provide yeast that produces far beyond our capabilities.

We cannot do everything, and there is a sense of liberation
in realizing that. This enables us to do something,
and to do it very well. It may be incomplete,
but it is a beginning, a step along the way,
an opportunity for the Lord's grace to enter and do the rest.

We may never see the end results, but that is the difference
between the master builder and the worker.
We are workers, not master builders; ministers, not messiahs.
We are prophets of a future not our own.

Amen.

-- Oscar Romero

Thursday Prayer

Mother Teresa's prayer is one I love:

Lord Jesus, come into my heart, pray in me and with me, that I might learn from you how to pray.

Wednesday Prayer

No one can quench the life that Christ has resurrected. Neither death nor all the banners of death and hatred raised against him and against his church can prevail. He is the victorious one! Just as he will thrive in an unending Easter, so we must accompany him in a Lent and a Holy Week of cross, sacrifice, and martyrdom. As he said, blessed are they who are not scandalized by his cross.

Lent, thus, is a call to celebrate our redemption in that difficult combination of cross and victory. Our people are well prepared to do so these days: all that surrounds us proclaims the cross. But those who have Christian faith and hope know that behind this calvary of El Salvador lies our Easter, our resurrection. That is the Christian people's hope.

These words were spoken the week before Archbishop Romero's assassination in El Salvador 30 years ago today, March 24, 1980.

Source: Oscar Romero Faith and Solidarity Network in the Americas

(From today's Inward Outward.)

Blessed Are

Blessed Are

Blessed are those who are on the move,
Transforming exodus and flight in energy for a new search.
From the victims will come the protagonists of history.

Blessed are those who, forced to wander without direction
With wisdom learn and teach the lessons of the road.
They will be the architects of a new time.

Blessed are those who suffer pain, nostalgia, and loneliness,
Yet know how to make of every arrival a new beginning.
They shall act with faith, hope, and life.

Blessed are those who open borders
And mix the anthems, flags, races, and creeds.
Without discrimination, they make the world everyone’s home.

Blessed are the wayfarers of all roads
In the tears, sweat, and the work of their hands.
They prepare a tomorrow of justice and right.

Blessed are those who open the door to pilgrims,
Making solidarity the passport to our common homeland.
They are constructing a new citizenship.

Blessed are those who foment encounters and re-encounters,
Sowing peace.
They will harvest flowers and stars in the new heaven and the new earth.

Blessed are the excluded, without opportunities, and without voice.
They will be the first guests in the great banquet,
Where bread will not be lacking on anyone’s table.

-Fr. José Alfredo Goncalves, Brazil
(From Prayer Without Borders, Celebrating Global Wisdom. 2004, Catholic Relief Services. )

Lift High the Cross

A Prayer for Sunday, Lent 5C

(photo from flickrphotos)

God of all new things, God of
Spring, and fragrant flowers, and
unexpected snow. God of hope
and new life,
Bless us, we pray,
this day.

God of all things passing away, God
of old and yesterday, the One who is
with us in our despair and fear.
God who sighs and weeps, God
who wipes away
our tears.

Hear us when we pray. Incline
your ear to our words, silent
shouting cries, mournful whispers.
Be gentle with our hard
hearts. Be gentle. Be
gentle.

Anoint us with your touch
the softness of your love
breaks into our hardness
and opens us anew. A
new thing. A new life.
New sight.

Anoint us, Holy One and fill
us with you loving touch.
Fill us that we can touch
in your love and fill
others. Fill us gently.
Fill us.

In your name we pray. Amen.


Crossposted on RevGalBlogPals and SeekingAuthenticVoice

Be the First Thought

In our waking and arising
be the first thought that enters our head
In our eating and drinking
be the first thought that enters our head
In our walking and journeying
be the first thought that enters our head
In our working and serving
be the first thought that enters our head
In our sowing and harvesting
be the first thought that enters our head
In our rejoicing and sorrowing
be the first thought that enters our head
In our resting and sleeping
be the first thought that enters our head.
-- Celtic prayer

Thursday Prayer

From Cynthia:

An Irish Blessing

Sunday Prayer for the Fourth Sunday in Lent

(photo from the files of Mompriest, Grand Canyon Tree)

Creator God from whom
all life springs forth
We give You thanks
Come, one and all,
Celebrate and rejoice!

Celebrate and rejoice -
The old has passed away
Everything has become new!

Forgiving God with whom
We seek to reconcile
our brokenness and
the ways we break
into a new creation!

Celebrate and rejoice -
The old has passed away
Everything has become new!

Lving God, father, son,
mother, daughter
Family, friend, one, all
With, through, and by
Your Prodigal love
Reconciled.

Celebrate and rejoice -
The old has passed away
Everything has become new!


Cross posted on Seeking Authentic Voice and RevGals Prayer Pals

Prayer For Reconciliation

O God, you entered the pain of humankind in Christ Jesus, in whom you were reconciling the world to yourself: Help us to rely on your reconciling presence in the resentments and enmities we suffer in families, communities, churches and nations. Nourish our confidence that in your compassion all our wounds are vulnerable to healing. Build our courage to address broken relationships with those from whom we are alienated. Deepen our capacity to listen, repent and forgive. As we journey toward your wholeness, form us in the ministry of reconciliation you have entrusted to us, that others may hear your appeal to be reconciled with God and neighbor through the cross and resurrection of our friend and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen. -- Titus Presler

Thursday Prayer

O Lord Jesus,
you who came to us
to show the compassionate love of your Father,
make your people know this love
with their hearts, minds, and souls.

And to me, O Lord, your stumbling friend,
show your mercy.
Amen.
~~Henri Nouwen

Nouwen, Henri J. M. Show Me the Way: Readings for Each Day of Lent. NY: Crossroad Publishing, 1994. 45.

Wednesday Prayer

Teach us, dear Lord, to number our days
That we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.
Oh, satisfy us early with Thy mercy
That we may rejoice and be glad all of our days.
And let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us.
And establish Thou the work of our hands
And let the beauty of the Lord be upon us
And establish Thou the work of our hands dear Lord

From Celtic Daily Prayer - A Northumbrian Office

Serenity Prayer, Al-Anon verison

God/dess, grant me the serenity to accept the people I cannot change;
The courage to change the one I can;
And the wisdom to know the difference.

Sunday Prayer

Gracious God, we give you thanks for all the blessings of this life -
for family, friends,
for home and food, and work
for the coming Spring,
for warmer days ahead
for the gift of your son
who leads us in this life.

Loving God, we offer up these prayers of concern this day -
for those struggling to rebuild lives
from natural disasters
from human disasters
from failed economies
from illness
from_______________
may the power of your Holy Spirit
bring new life, new hope.

Creator God, fill us with nourishment
the kind that only you can offer.
Fill us with hope
fill us with kindness
fill us with gentleness
fill us with your love.
May we be your living love.

Amen.


crossposted on RevGalBlogPal and Seeking Authentic Voice

Centering Prayer

Be still and know that I am God...

Be still and know...

Be still...

Be.

Thursday Prayer

A Blessing for the Journey of Seeking God
When your soul whispers of its deepest longings,
may you quiet yourself to listen.
May you follow the path of yearning to the One alone who blends the uneven edges
into a life of meaning.
May you meet and be united with God
and give thanks for the whispers
that led you there.

From Lenten Blessings on ExploreFaith.org

Wednesday Prayer

Selective Prayer

Henri J. M. Nouwen

We tend to present to God only those parts of ourselves with which we feel relatively comfortable and which we think will evoke a positive response. Thus our prayer becomes very selective and narrow. And not just our prayer but also our self-knowledge, because by behaving as strangers before God we become strangers to ourselves.

Source: The Only Necessary Thing

(from inward/outward)

Morning Thanksgiving

O God, you are the source of all wisdom.
--Accept our morning thanks and praise.

We give you thanks for the wisdom
of the Torah, your law,
which invites us to love you with all our heart
and all our soul and all our might.
--Accept our morning thanks and praise.

We give you thanks for Jesus,
Wisdom herself made flesh to dwell among us,
who calls all alike to your table.
--Accept our morning thanks and praise.

We give you thanks for the Holy Spirit,
Wisdom creating and reviving,
in whom we live and move and have our being.
--Accept our morning thanks and praise.