Prayer for Epiphany 4A

Lord,

We come to you humbled by your greatness, your wonderful love, your holy wisdom.

We bring our praise of you, praise of your creation, praise of you tender mercies you bestow on us.

We come singing our love for you.

Lord , we pray for those who are poor in spirit that the may be made rich in you.

Lord we pray for comfort for those who mourn

We pray for those whose lives have been humbled by hardships that may be strengthened.

We pray for those who are hungry that their bellies be filled. But we also pray for those who hunger spiritually, may their souls be filled.

We pray for those who need mercy in their lives, may we show them your mercy in the way we treat them.

We pray for those who can’t see God that one day they may.

We pray for peace in our world especially for those places where there is great unrest and tension.

We pray for those all around the world who are martyred and persecuted that you will keep them safe and from harm.

We pray for those who are bullied, pushed around, made fun of and rejected; that others will stop the bullying, stand up for them, love them and accept them.

Lord we thank you for hearing our prayers. We thank you for being with us always.

We thank you for your son Jesus, Amen

cross posted at revgalblogpals and rev abi's long and winding road

A Prayer Song on a Friday Morning

A Blessing for Friends

Gracious God, I ask your blessing on all my friends who have given of their own heart and soul to deepen and strengthen my own. I pray especially for those who have walked alongside me when I have not been a faithful friend myself. When I feel alone, remind me that my friends are one your greatest gifts of grace to me. Let me be to them what they are to me. I ask this for the sake of your love. Amen.

From ExploreFaith.org

Return to God

If we were to let go of our fear and attachments,
we would be touched by God.

If we were touched by God,
we would seek union with God.

If we were to seek union with God,
we would will what God wills.

If we were to will what God wills,
we would be transformed.

If we were transformed,
the world would be transformed.

If the world were transformed,
all would return to God.

--from The Wisdom of the Enneagram, Riso and Hudson

A Tuesday Afternoon prayer

For being awakened to this day,
We give you thanks, o God.
For our hearts that beat, our eyes that see beauty and terror,
We give you thanks, o God.
For the hands that prepared our lunch today--the people who picked the lettuce and grew the beans to the hands that processed the beans and tossed the salad, and everyone in between,
We give you thanks, o God.
For the times that technology fails, and we have to actually sit back and make a phone call,
We give you thanks o God.
For the saints around us, oh! So many saints!
We give you thanks, o God.
For the many sinners around us (and within us)
We give you thanks, o God.
For the wisdom that reminds us that we are not in control--and the times we remember it,
We give you thanks, o God.
Ah!
For the gift of prayer and meditation and your Spirit with us now,
We give you thanks, o God!
Amen.

Prayer for Epiphany 3A

Lord,
We come to you in a time of coldness and darkness,
Looking for warmth and light.
There are those whose homes are physically freezing,
And there are those whose lives are spiritually chilly
We know that we can help warm people’s homes.
We also know you can warm people’s lives.

We pray that there will be no more gloom for those who were in anguish
We pray that you lift away people’s burdens.
We pray you remove the things that oppress from people’s lives.
We pray you give courage to those who fear.

Lord your light calls us forth to follow and serve you.
Your light still shines for all to see in this world.
May we continue to reflect your light in our lives,
in our service, in our words and in our deeds.

cross posted at revgalprayerpals

St. Ignatius' Prayer for Generosity

Lord, teach me to be generous.
Teach me to 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 labor and not to ask for reward,
save that of knowing that I do your will.

Amen

Gazing as Prayer

Gazing at icons and the created world, seeing others and being seen through the eyes of Christ are all forms of prayer. Praying by gaze can be practiced in community as in the Eastern Orthodox tradition where icons fill churches and are part of the liturgy. We can also pray alone in front of a painting or by gazing at the created world in the midst of our busy lives. Gazing helps us attend to the holy that surrounds us in art, nature, and other people. Like other methods of prayer, gazing brings us into a deeper and more intimate relationship with God and opens the possibility of union with our Maker, the ultimate goal of the Christian spiritual life.

-- Jane Vennard


Thanks to Ellie at the Anchorhold.

a prayer in scattered-ness

oh God.
the heater is broken in my car and it is snowing...
snd the retreat isn't planned except for the theme of blessing,
but the blessing bowl project isn't exactly working out so back to the drawing board on that,
besides all the big picture stuff that is really important,
my mind is racing...

from work,
to life,
to family,

and to friends,
dearest ones that I know are waiting for hope to materialize into something a little more tangible than waiting,
for others who grieve deeply at loss and lostness,
for other beloved,
in ministry, struggling with how to be a vessel of justice and courage
when a congregation gets caught in the details, of, oh....carpet color?

for all these thoughts that dart in and out of our minds in the midst of our doings and livings and prayings,
may they be transformed into meditations as they reach your Heart inside of our hearts...
may your love and Wisdom
bless those thoughts and scattered scraps of prayers,
and may we trust
that you hold them in your deepest Presence.

amen.

Prayer for Epiphany 2A

Lord we praise your name and thank you for your never ending love.
Lord, we wait on you believing that you will hear us and answer.

It is horrifying when we call to mind the shooting rampage this week in Tucson, Arizona.
We pray for those who were killed; six people -- including a federal judge, three senior citizens, a Giffords staff member, and a third grader.
We pray for the healing of the wounded; Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords in the hospital with a gunshot wound to the head, a number of others injured.
We pray for both justice and healing for the shooter Jared Loughner.
We pray a prayer of thanks for those who intervened and for the first responders.
We pray for healing for those who were there that day and traumatized by the shooting.
We pray for our elected leaders, politicians and media that there would be attitude of civility.

We pray for the people of Brazil, Sri Lanka and Australia where there have already been many people that have died in the floods..
We pray for safety for all others.
We pray hopefully for long term recovery for the people of Haiti who are still recovering a year later from an earthquake and also from a lifetime of problems.
We pray for restoration of order where there has been a breakdown of law and order in Somalia, where women are being forced into marriage or being beheaded; and in Tunisia, where riots, killings and curfews are a part of everyday life.
We pray for strengthening of the hope, faith and love of so many Christians under persecution whether in Iraq, Egypt, Pakistan, India, or Afghanistan.

We want to thank you for Martin Luther King who served you faithfully in a difficult time.
We thank you for his example in our own ministries to keep serving you faithfully.
We thank you for his work to bring justice, rights and peace to your people.
May we continue the work for justice, rights and peace for your people.


Lord, we pray that you will lift us up out of the ditches of our lives.
We pray you will pull us up out of the quagmire of our lives.
We pray you will set us down on the firm rock and keep us safe.
We thank you God for hearing our prayers and responding from your great faithfulness.

cross posted at revgalblogpals

Take Lord, and Receive

Growing up Southern Baptist, and now a minister in the Assemblies of God, contemplative prayer (sadly) was not exactly part of my life. A few years ago I attended my first silent retreat at a Roman Catholic Spirituality Center and learned a little about Ignatius and his spiritual disciplines. I'm finding myself drawn back to studying Ignatius and to practicing lectio devina and other kinds of contemplative prayer. Here is a short video adaptation of The Contemplatio, which is found at the the end of Ignatius' Spiritual Disciplines.

Deliver Us from Fear

O, Lord, we beseech thee to deliver us from the fear of the unknown future; from fear of failure; from fear of poverty; from fear of bereavement; from fear of loneliness; from fear of sickness and pain; from fear of age; and from fear of death. Help us, O Father, by thy grace to love and fear thee only, fill our hearts with cheerful courage and loving trust in thee; through our Lord and Master Jesus Christ.

~Akanu Ibaim, Nigeria

Ibaim, Akanu. "Deliver Us from Fear of the Unknown." An African Prayer Book. Ed. Desmond Tutu. NY: Doubleday, 1995. 104.

from Hildegard of Bingen

I have been thinking about the word "mystic"...and how to renew  "mystical" in my journey.  So, I have pulled Hildegard's "Book of Divine Works" and randomly picked this passage from one of her visions, where it seems that the Mystery of God is speaking to her:

And thus I remain hidden in every kind of reality as a fiery power.  Everything burns because of me in such a way as our breath constantly moves us, like the wind-tossed flame in a fire.  All of this lives in its essence, and there is no death in it.  For I am life.  I am also Reason, which beats within itself the breath of the resounding Word, through which the whole of creation is made.  I breathe life inot everything so that nothing is mortal in respect to its species.  For I am life.

Honestly, I don't really know what most of that means, but I love the taste and sound of the words strung together...mystical.

May the Mystery of God and your inner mystic surprise you with life today.
Amen.

Sunday Prayer for Baptism of Christ A

God who shows no partiality,
Show your favoritism on all your people.
Send forth your justice for all to see.
Save us your people.
Empower us to preach and testify to your great love and mercy.

God who makes and keeps covenant with your people,
You called us to be a light to the nations,
to open the eyes that are blind,
to set the prisoners free,
Help us to answer your call that these things come to pass.

God of grace and glory,
We pray for those who suffer from pains and sorrows.
We pray for those whose hearts are broken.
We pray for those whose families are fractured.
We pray for those whose lives are ravaged by war.
We pray for those who struggle with poverty, and starvation
We pray for our brother and sisters in Christ who are being martyred and tortured for their beliefs.

Thank you for hearing our prayers.
Thank you for pouring out your spirit on you son
And pouring your spirit out on us too.
May we too hear you say to us this day that "This is my son, my daughter the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased."
amen

Cross posted at revgalblogpals and rev abi's long and winding road

I Don't Want to Live A Small Life

(Photo taken by Terri C. Pilarski)

I don't want to live a small life. Open your eyes,

open your hands. I have just come

from the berry fields, the sun

kissing me with its golden mouth all the way

(open your hands) and the wind winged clouds

following along thinking perhaps I might

feed them, but no I carry these heart-shapes

only to you. Look how many how small

but so sweet and maybe the last gift

I will ever bring to anyone in this

world ofhope and risk,  so do.

Look at me. Open your life, open your hands.

(Mary Oliver: Red Bird; Beacon Press, 2008)

In this season after the Epiphany may we learn to live with open hands and even more open hearts. May the grace of God's peace flow in you and through you. Open your life, let God's love flow.

A CS Lewis thought on prayer

Something is weighing on my heart and mind today. It troubled me during the day yesterday, woke me up last night, and hovers just above my head (or thereabouts!) today. I've been struggling to articulate it enough to turn my concerns into a prayer. I was looking for a prayer to post that would minister to my heart and others hearts too--and what I found instead was a quote. Perhaps it will encourage you, as it did me.

“What seem our worst prayers may really be, in God's eyes, our best. Those, I mean, which are least supported by devotional feeling. For these may come from a deeper level than feeling. God sometimes seems to speak to us most intimately when he catches us, as it were, off our guard.”

Come

We ask for all
In trouble
Not knowing where to turn
We ask for a miracle
Come break through
Come dawn
Breath
Deep peace
Love diving
Grace unbound
Relieve your children's
Burden and pain
Come fill us
Center us in
Prayer
Silence
Companionship
Shared space

by
Annette Joseph
Strong, Maine

Joseph, Annette. "Come." Lifting Women's Voices: Prayers to Change the World. Ed. Margaret Rose, Jenny Te Paa, Jeanne Person, Abagail Nelson. NY: Morehouse Publishing, 2009. 264.

The Welcoming Prayer

...Gently become aware of your body and your interior state...

Welcome, welcome, welcome
I welcome everything that comes to me in this moment
because I know it is for my healing
I welcome all thoughts, feelings, emotions,
persons, situations, and conditions
I let go of my desire for security.
I let go of my desire for approval.
I let go of my desire for control.
I let go of my desire to change any situation, condition, person, or myself.
I open to the love and presence of God and the healing action and grace within.
- Mary Mrozowski

a Tuesday prayer...

First of all, my apologies for missing last Tuesday!   With the blizzard, and my beloved having to make alternative travel plans I lost all track of time.   Please forgive me!

Today, I am just getting back into the swing of the rhythmn of my work and ministry.  I don't even know the words to my prayers for you, for me, for those who are suffering...and so I want to offer this wordless prayer by Rabbi Schlomo..except on this version he actually sings words.  Oh well...this is the tune I am thinking of....

Peace and prayers to you, sisters and brothers.

Prayer for the 1st Sunday in the New year

We begin our new year with you,
Hoping that this year will be different and be better than last year.
Hoping we will be better persons ourselves.
Hoping our work will be improved.
Hoping our marriages will be better.
Hoping our families will be stronger.
Lord, we place our hope in you for you are the author of our lives.

We pray for our churches that your spirit will be alive for all to experience you.
We pray for our country’s leaders that they will use wisdom in their decision making.
We pray for country that as we continue to come out of this recession; jobs will continue to become available, foreclosures will continue to decline, and that debt will be paid down.
We pray for our world that relations among all your people will be better, that strife will cease, that those who hunger will be filled.

Holy Author,
We have no idea what this year holds for us, but we know who holds us.
And because it is you that holds us, we place our faith and trust in you.
Lord help us to have our eyes open to your light, your ways, and your presence as we go throughout this year.
Amen.

Cross posted at revabi's long and winding road and revgalblogpals