For Today, We Pray...

For today,
We pray...
For the million little and large things that put those we know into distress and harm and hopelessness. We pray for a million shimmers of your grace to touch them and hold them.

In this day,
We pray...
For the million things that face us...
Paying the bills, appointments, taking our kids to soccer or our aging mothers to the doctors office, running to the store for apples and cereal and whatever we can find that is quick and easy and healthy to put on the table...in addition to the million things we do as your people, oh God...
Like listening to a co-worker, or planning for worship on Sunday and the bible study on Thursday, or getting that report done by 5:00.

This day will be full with millions of things...
And in them all,
Help us remember that you are God, and we are not,
And you love us and call us Beloved.
Amen.

Sunday Prayer: Easter 6, To Love, Be Love, For Love

Oh God
Seriously,
How much more can we take?
Wave after wave of violent storms,
nature-made,
or
human made,
enough, already. Honestly
do your thing, God
and love as only you can.

Love us back to wholeness.
Love us back to wellness
Love us back to fullness
Love us. Love us. Love.

Your love, O God, is not
like human love. It's not
really about emotions, rather
it's about action. Love as a verb
doing what You do, love is.

Love heals. Love restores. Love
mends. Love reaches out to strangers
love enables one to help another
be, become, more who each is meant
to be. Love God, love others, as self.

Gracious God, there is more
destruction and devestation
around us, more than we could
imagine. Dig your hand into
this muck, this chaos,
the broken lives,
and through love,
with love,
guide us.
Help us to be
Love.

Help us to be your love.
Bless our lives that we
may be a blessing, too.
Amen.

crossposted on RevGalBlogPals

for a cloudy day--inner sunshine

I'm the secret Fire in everything, and everything smells like Me.

The living breathe in My sweet perfume,

and they breathe out praise of Me.

They never die

because I am their Life.

I flame out--intense, godly Life--over the shining fields of corn,

I glow in the shimmer of the fire's embers,

I burn in the sun and the moon and the stars.

The secret Life of Me breathes in the wind

and holds all things together soulfully.

This is God's voice.

~Hildegard of Bingen, "Hymn"~

What should you do?

What should you do?

Do good by doing compassion

to everyone

you know needs it.

Expect adversity.

Bear adversity with love.

~~Mechtild of Madgeburg

a prayer for those in devastation and grief and overwhelming loss

just pray.
for those who are nameless.
for those whose homes and cars and cities
have been destroyed...
by water and wind
and so much more.

you see the flattened store,
comet and batteries and canned fruit
strewn on the floor.
pray, pray, pray
for that mother,
that contractor,
the child in the shopping cart...
terrorized,
or worse,
missing,
or killed.

just pray
for the elderly couple
who are homeless,
you see their home-just the roof--
the rest is surrounded by water.
oh pray.            
and cry, too, with them, if you wish.

oh, the wildlife, too...
remember them, this spring season of
baby rabbits,
and chicks in nests,
and the domestic animals too,
the calves and the cattle,
the farm dog,
bewildered and lost....

so much devastation.
pray for strength, and hope against hope.

oh dear God in your mercy.
Hear these prayers...
hear these prayers...
and carry them as tiny slivers of light
to those who are engulfed and trapped
in devastation
in grief
in overwhelming loss.

In your mercy,
in your mercy,
hear our prayers.
amen.

Sunday Prayer: Easter 5A

Holy God, we give you thanks
for the gift of life,
especially for the gift
Your Son, the Christ,
the Word, the way,
the truth,
who expands our
limited understanding
with outstreteched arms
of love.

Holy God, we pray that you
be present with those the suffering
from storms or floods, from
draught, wind, or any of the
tides of creation that seek to
break down your creation
and destroy the work of
your hand.

Holy God, we pray that you
be comfort those afflicted,
the sick, and those who have died.
Embrace them in your hand, hold them
tender, like a mother her child,
like a father his infant, like
a friend cares for
another.

Holy God, we ask that you so fill
our hearts, our minds, our spirits,
with your love and compassion that
we can be your hand, your heart
in the world.
Amen.

Crossposted on RevGalBlogPals

An Orthodox Prayer: To Greet the Day

O Lord, grant me to greet the coming day in peace.

Help me in all things to rely upon Your holy will.

In every hour of the day reveal Your will to me.

Bless my dealings with all who surround me.

Teach me to treat all that comes to me with peace of soul

and with firm conviction that Your will governs all.

Grant me strength in unforeseen events.

Let me not forget that all are sent by You.
Teach me to act lovingly, firmly, and wisely,

without embittering or embarrassing others.

Grant me strength to bear the fatigues of the coming day with all that it shall bring.

Direct my will. Teach me to pray.    Amen

Mueller Lake is across the road from my daughter's home.  The beauty of the springtime sky  over the water was just breathtaking.  Praying for each of you to be blessed by this new day, whatever it brings. 

Thursday Thought

Love Ourselves Properly

Thomas Merton

We do not exist for ourselves alone, and it is only when we are fully convinced of this fact that we begin to love ourselves properly and thus also love others. What do I mean by loving ourselves properly? I mean, first of all, desiring to live, accepting life as a very great gift and a great good, not because of what it gives us, but because of what it enables us to give to others.

Source: No Man Is an Island

Wednesday: Scars

Scars are not a sign that you are dead, it shows that you have survived.

Gracious God,
The scars that show are like medals that I have received.
From the world that is not always fair.
From persons who mean to cut me, for reasons I do not understand.
As for today, there is healing, now I am whole in a new way.
With scars that show, and scars that are inside.
I am here today to say that I did not do it alone.
The healing happened because of faith and trust.
Believing that I will survive.
For your grace and mercy, I am thankful.
Amen


Life is a blessing
Steven Masters
Fiat Lux

Sunday Prayer: Easter 4A

Holy and Gracious God,
you call us by name,
Beloved One,
and beckon us to follow you.
May we do so through your grace.

In your Name we pray,
Hear our prayer.

Like a shepherd tending the flock
you tend to our needs.
Be present with those who
struggle, suffer, are in pain
or sorrow. Guide those who are
lost, or filled with worry and fear.
Protect those who are in harms way
heal those who are ill,
mend those who are broken,
as only your love can.

God of peace, watch over those who
lead us in our various governments
and churches, fill our leaders with
wisdom, patience, insight, and mercy.
Help them to lead with kindness and strength.

God of love, fill our hearts with
the knowledge of You that we can turn
from the distractions of life and be
more like You. May we be agents of
your compassion offering kindness
to those we meet this day.

God of all blessings, we thank you for
all the gifts of life. For your Son,
our savior, our great Good Shepherd,
the one who stands at the gate of
all life's challenges and joys,
calling out to us in love. Naming
us, Beloved.

For all this, and more we pray.
Amen.

Thursday Prayer

May the light of our souls guide us.
May the light of our souls bless the work that we do
with the secret love and warmth of our hearts.
May we see in what we do the beauty of our own souls.
May the sacredness of our work bring healing, light
and renewal to those who work with us
and to those who see and receive our work.
May our work never weary us.
May it release within us wellsprings of
refreshment, inspiration and excitement.
May we be present in what we do.
May we never become lost in bland absences.
May the day never burden.
May dawn find us awake and alert,
Approaching our new day with dreams, possibilities and promises.
May evening find us gracious and fulfilled.
May we go into the night blessed, sheltered and protected.
May our souls calm, console and renew us.

"Celtic Blessing" in Anam Cara: Spiritual Wisdom from a Celtic World by John O'Donohue

a hike and a prayer

So, this morning, I am skipping an association meeting in favor of taking some reflection time (since I will be tied up with association stuff both Saturday and Sunday...)

I have been going down rabbit holes of blogs, and went on a hike in Alaska which felt like prayer.
But if you don't have time for a hike,  here is another prayer.

Ah,
Love of Life,
Creator of  leaves and tulips and bugs and rocks,
Windy, turbulent strong Spirit...
Help me...
Help me be with you and in you and aware of you all around me this day.

There is work to do, people to meet, things to administrate, plans to be made...
And it is all important, but help me live in You as the work is done.

Awareness.
I pray for awareness.  
And a moment or two, to take a walk.

Amen.

Sunday Prayer: Easter 3A

Gracious One
be with those who
need you this day

Those who are suffering
from the storms
flooding,
tornados and tsunami's
or drought
and wild fires
for suffering
in every way.

Gracious One
be with those who
seek you this day


Those who cry
from depths
of heart
soul longing

Gracious One
be with those who
do not know You

The who are lost
or, reject your love
or doubt you
or cannot feel your
ever present spirit.

Gracious One
who love us as
mother
father
sister
brother
friend

Startle us 
beckon, guide
push
awaken us

Gentle One
gift us
with love
like a mother
the one we had,
the one we wish we had
the one we hope to be
the one we find
like the women
at the foot of the cross
a love that never ends

Gracious One
reveal yourself
to us
be with us
live in us.
Amen.

Crossposted on RevGalBlogPals and SeekingAuthenticVoice

For Victims and Perpetrators of Injustice

For all those who have fallen victim to hatred and inhumanity, for those loved ones who are left behind to mourn, for the souls of those whose hearts are cold, Lord, hear our prayer.

For the children who are being born into this world of conflict and violence, for women and mothers who suffer needlessly, Lord, hear our prayer.

For all those who have been forced into unemployment, who long to return to work, for all those who struggle to support their families, Lord, hear our prayer.

For the children who cry in their beds at night and wonder 'what have I done?', for the mothers and fathers who must try to explain the unexplainable, Lord, hear our prayer.

For all the children who have died before their time, for the soldiers who allow their uniform to strip them of their humanity, for the healers who are denied the opportunity to use their gifts, Lord, hear our prayer.

For the redemption of souls of both victim and perpetrator, for those who commit themselves to the forgiveness of sins, Lord, hear our prayer.

O God,
Open our eyes that we may see the needs of others;
Open our ears that we may hear their cries;
Open our hearts that we may feel their anguish and their joy.
Let us not be afraid to defend the oppressed, the poor, the powerless, because of the anger and might of the powerful.
Show us where love and hope and faith are needed, and use us to bring them to those places.
Open our ears and eyes, our hearts and lives, that we may in these coming days be able to do some work of justice and peace for you. Amen.

Source: Sabeel Center

Thursday Prayer Thought

From Prayer by Abhishiktananda (Henri Le Saux):

"To pray is an act of faith. This does not mean that, in order to pray, we must first confess our faith in more or less abstract terms. No indeed; true prayer is based on the faith, the conviction that God is here, that he is everywhere, that he is in everything, that he is the source from which everything comes and the end (at once immanent and transcendent) to which everything is on the move.

"To pray is to take for granted that we live in the mystery of God, that we are immersed in it, and that this mystery envelops us and at the same time extends beyond us on every side--'In him we live and move and have our being' (Acts 17:28)."

Abhishiktananda. Prayer. Norwich: Canterbury Press, 2006. 12.

A Hymn to Wisdom

Through silver veils of morning mist
break rays of golden sun.
In amethyst and ruby skies,
a new day has begun.

More treasured yet than silver, gold,
or any precious gem,
God's Wisdom breaks upon the earth
and wakes our morning hymn.

A radiant and unfading light
now shines before our eyes,
with insigh for all minds that seek
and truth to make us wise.

Sophia calls us to the feast
of wine and living bread,
where fruits of grace and peace abound
and hungry hearts are fed.

With Huldah, Hannah, Miriam,
and women folk unnamed,
we cherish our inheritance
of prophecy proclaimed:

The needy shall be lifted up.
The weak shall be made strong.
And Wisdom's flow'ring tree of life
shall blossom in our song.

CM (86.86)
by Mary Louise Bringle,  from "A Prayer Book for Remembering Women" by J. Frank Henderson.

Sunday Prayer: Easter 2A

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.

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!

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, with us,
God who wipes away our tears.

Loving God, we offer up these prayers of concern this day -
for those struggling to rebuild lives
from natural disasters, especially those
recovering from the recent tornado's -
and for those recovering from human disasters
from failed economies -
also for those struggling with illness
and, from_______________ .

Hear us when we pray. Incline
your ear to our words,
silent
shouting
cries,
mournful
whispers
stunned
wordless.

Be gentle with our suffering
with our sorrows and losses,
and especially when our hard
hearts close us off to you.
Be gentle.
Be gentle.
O God, be God!

Anoint us with your touch
so that the softness of your love
can break into our hardness
and open us anew.

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.

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

Celebrate and rejoice -
The old has passed away
In you, in your resurrection,
In your life and love,
Everything becomes new!
Amen.


Crossposted on RevGalBlogPals and SeekingAuthenticVoice