Prayer Poem

Prayer

by Julia Esquivel

You illuminate our darkness
And fill our sadness
With hope.

Because you are stronger than I,
I have let myself be a captive,
And your love burns in my heart.

The thirst for your truth
Has made me a pilgrim
From city to city
Until the day your Word
Is fulfilled,
And we are reborn
In your image and likeness

Captivate me, Lord
Till the last of my days,
Wring out my heart
With your hands,
Of a wise old Indian,
So that I will not forget
Your Justice
Nor cease proclaiming
The urgent need
For humankind
To live in harmony.

Go here to find out more about the poet, Julia Esquivel.

Wednesday Prayer: This morning

Listen, Lord: A Prayer by James Weldon Johnson

O Lord, we come this morning
Knee-bowed and body-bent
Before Thy throne of grace.
O Lord--this morning--
Bow our hearts beneath our knees,
And our knees in some lonesome valley.
We come this morning--
Like empty pitchers to a full fountain,
With no merits of our own.
O Lord--open up a window of heaven,
And lean out far over the battlements of glory,
And listen this morning.

Lord, have mercy on proud and dying sinners--
Sinners hanging over the mouth of hell,
Who seem to love their distance well.
Lord--ride by this morning--
Mount Your milk-white horse,
And ride-a this morning--
And in Your ride, ride by old hell,
Ride by the dingy gates of hell,
And stop poor sinners in their headlong plunge.

And now, O Lord, this man of God,
Who breaks the bread of life this morning--
Shadow him in the hollow of Thy hand,
And keep him out of the gunshot of the devil.
Take him, Lord--this morning--
Wash him with hyssop inside and out,
Hang him up and drain him dry of sin.
Pin his ear to the wisdom-post,
And make his words sledge hammers of truth--
Beating on the iron heart of sin.
Lord God, this morning--
Put his eye to the telescope of eternity,
And let him look upon the paper walls of time.
Lord, turpentine his imagination,
Put perpetual motion in his arms,
Fill him full of the dynamite of Thy power,
Anoint him all over with the oil of Thy salvation,
And set his tongue on fire.

And now, O Lord--
When I've done drunk my last cup of sorrow--
When I've been called everything but a child of God--
When I'm done traveling up the rough side of the mountain--
O--Mary's Baby--
When I start down the steep and slippery steps of death--
When this old world begins to rock beneath my feet--
Lower me to my dusty grave in peace
To wait for that great gittin'-up morning--Amen.

Tuesday Prayer

In the 80's, someone taught me to pray using the acronym, ACTS (adoration, confession, thanksgiving, supplication). 

 So, using that formula, let us pray..... 

Dear One,
I love pink grapefruit, strong coffee,
snow on tree-branches, purring cats, and dogs that smell like Fritos.
How wondrous is your world, how wondrous are you.

I must confess, Holy One, that I do not have a Lenten practice.
At all. I don't know why.
I have friends writing beautiful daily prayers, and posting thematic photos about the Lenten journey.
I have nothing.
I confess that this year, I don't care.
I confess that I am a little removed from my practice,
and I confess that I don't even feel sorry about that.

I am grateful that you love unrepentant people as much as anyone or anything.

My prayers today are for this gorgeous broken world,
for children struggling with mental illness,
for parents longing to love them and fix them;

for innocents living in abuse,
O God, hear my prayer, hear our prayer, have mercy, may Mercy find them....
I pray for those who are sad, lonely, for those who wait.
Indeed, for those who wait, of which I am one.

This whole fragmented and unfinished prayer is prayed in the name of Jesus, because he gets it.
What a gift.
Amen.

Monday Prayer: Strength to Persevere

Give us grace and strength
to forbear and persevere. 
Give us courage and gaiety
and the quiet mind. 
Spare us to our friends, 
Soften us to our enemies.
Bless us if it may be 
in all our endeavours, 
if it may not, give us strength
to encounter that which is to come, 
that we may be brave in peril, 
constant in tribulation, temperate in wrath. 
And in all changes of fortune
And down to the gates of death
Loyal and loving 
to one another. 


- Robert Louis Stevenson

Prayer for Lent 2C

Lord,

you are the giver of light,
Come into the dark places of our lives and light our way.
Lord we are afraid,
We feel insecure and fear what lies before us.
Keep us safe, be our strong deliverer, protect us,
So that we are not overcome by these fears.

And Lord we will trust you.

We ask Lord that we get to live in your house
To see how wonderful you are and to spend time talking daily with you.
Lord we need your sanctuary, we need the quiet,
the place we can go to slow down and to take a deep breath.
Lord we all need the peace we can find there with you.
And we thank you for that peace and time we spend with you.

Lord,

Please listen to us when we pray
Hear our cry for those in need of prayer,
those who are downtrodden—lift them up
Those who are ill—bring your healing touch.
Those who have lost a loved one---comfort for their sorrow.
Those who have felt rejected—acceptance and support.
Those who have become homebound, disabled, chronically ill, terminally ill, or
Gone into nursing care—send them your loving presence.
Be gracious to all Lord and answer our prayers.

Lord,

It is often hard to know which way to go in this world,
And so we ask that you teach us your ways.
Light the path well for Lord so we may see our way.
We may stumble and we may fall,
But pick us up, brush off the dirt,
bandage our wounds and send us back on your path.
And encourage us along our way as your believers.
Amen

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

based on Psalm 27

Thursday Prayer

Found at St. Laika's website

Water

 Photo: Holly Smith

Praised be You, my Lord,
through Sister Water
who is so useful,
humble,
precious,
and pure.

Francis of Assisi

an evening prayer

I am spending the next few days in a retreat center overlooking the Puget Sound in Washington. The room I am staying in is dedicated to Genevieve, who cared about social justice. Holy One, Tonight I am travel weary, actually, weary in many ways, and can think of a billion other things I could be doing than sitting in this quiet room, alone except for the spiritual presence of Genevieve, without whom this room wouldn't exist in this way that it does now. I am grateful for Genevieve, for all the unknown Genevieves in our lives who touch us, even though we have no clue. I don't really WANT to be here tonight, dear God. But I am. So, I pray to be astonished these next few days. Astonished. I don't know what that really means, so it's a little scary to pray, but the preacher preached it on Sunday evening, and it sounds like a good idea. Astonish me Lord, astonish me... and help me to stop whining. Maybe Genevieve will help me with that. Amen.

Monday Prayer: Presidents Day

God of history and of right now-

We thank for our leaders of days past. We praise you for the times they heeded the direction of your Spirit. We are comforted by knowing that you forgive their flaws (and ours). We give thanks that you remain with those who lead us today.

Be with our president, Barack Obama. Guide his thoughts and his feet. Surround with your Spirit of grace and protection. Open his eyes that he may see you reflected in those in need, those with plenty, those who disagree with him, and those who are his friends. Comfort him in times of struggle and pour out the wisdom and discernment of the ages upon him.

Keep his family safe. Guard their joy and innocence. Fill all those who reside in his home- family or not- with love and hope.


Amen.

Prayer for Lent 1C

Lord,

You are our fortress, our place of safety;
you are our God, and we trust you.”

We seek to live in your presence,

and stay in the shadow of the Almighty

Lord spread your wings over us like a mothering hen,

Protecting her babies.

We have nothing to fear living in your faithfulness.

Though circumstances become tough, illness strike us,

Death comes our way, whatever befalls us we have nothing to fear.

 We know this because you God, are our refuge.
and our sanctuary.

Though temptations come to lure us from small

Ones to big ones, though evil one looks like he is winning the day;

We can trust in you.

No matter what happens in life we can hold on to you Lord,

Because we know you are with us, caring for us, loving us, and delivering us.

Lord, we can call on you anytime and anywhere

And we can believe and trust that you will answer.

You alone are our refuge, our place of safety;
you are our God, and we trust you

Based on Psalm 91
cross posted at revgalblogpals

Ash Wednesday

A hymn, a call to prayer for the season of Lent.Why do we make these observances? Who are we, that we need and desire them? and who is our Lord, ready to take us into God's arms? 


Come, ye sinners, poor and needy,
Weak and wounded, sick and sore;
Jesus ready stands to save you,
Full of pity, love and pow’r.

Refrain:
I will arise and go to Jesus,
He will embrace me in His arms;
In the arms of my dear Savior,
Oh, there are ten thousand charms.

Come, ye thirsty, come, and welcome,
God’s free bounty glorify;
True belief and true repentance,
Every grace that brings you nigh.

Come, ye weary, heavy-laden,
Lost and ruined by the fall;
If you tarry till you’re better,
You will never come at all.

Lyric: Joseph Hart, 1759

Tuesday Prayer

Today's prayer is going to require that you be still and listen for 4 plus minutes. This is a great song...however, if you just need 4 plus moments of sheer silence, then do that. Just give yourself a little mini-retreat! This is from Rev. Vince Anderson and the Love Choir, entitled "don't think Jesus".... Don't think Jesus

Monday Prayer: To Be Who You Made Me

For me to be a saint means to be myself. Therefore the problem of sanctity and salvation is in fact the problem of finding out who I am and of discovering my true self. -Thomas Merton, New Seeds of Contemplation



Dear God,

Today help me to be myself. The self you have made. The self you continue to bring forward. The self that you have saved and are saving.

Bring me more fully into who you have made me to be. And help me to see this self as loved, as worthy, and as a gift.

Amen.

Prayer for Transfiguration Sunday

Lord,


You have put your wonderful hope in us born of the spirit of Jesus.

This hope empowers us to be your servants in this world

bringing light into darkness.

Hope into despair.

Warmth into coldness.

Friendship into loneliness.

Food into hunger.

Care into trouble.


We are out in the open, not hidden away with shame for our beliefs and love of you.

We practically shine brightly with your spirit in us as we bring a healing touch, a shoulder to lean on, an arm around a person who is hurting, a hand to lift someone up, a ride to the grocery story or the Doctor’s office, or ourselves being present.

Lord Jesus let us remember that after you were transfigured and you were blessed by God as his chosen son, you came down off the mountain. You didn’t stay up there, you came down among your people. And the first thing you did was to heal someone. Lord, you are still in our midst. You are still healing. You are still touching lives. And so we pray that you will do so today in our midst.

Lord we pray for those who are overwhelmed with the snow, cold and no electricity in the North East. We pray for those who live in places of drought. We pray for those who live in areas of flooding. And we pray for those who don’t have clean water for drinking.

We pray for the violence in our world to end. We pray for the countries that are torn by civil war. We pray for the children who are taken into slave trade and trafficking. We pray that your light would shine and transform our world.

Amen.

Thursday Prayer

"O God, when I have food,
help me to remember the hungry;
When I have work,
help me to remember the jobless;
When I have a home,
help me to remember those who have no home at all;
When I am without pain,
help me to remember those who suffer,
And remembering,
help me to destroy my complacency;
bestir my compassion,
and be concerned enough to help;
By word and deed,
those who cry out for what we take for granted.
Amen." 

(Samuel F Pugh)

Six Words of Prayers and Silence

At BE 6, Rachel Hackenberg had us write stories, sermons, and thoughts in six words.  No more, no less.  I found this exercise to be incredibly efficient and interesting, so much so I am starting to think in blocks of six words.  

So, today, a few six  word prayers....

Absent
Present Mystery,
I need you.

What richness!
What desert!
Confused.
Help.

For street sounds
And purring...
Thanks.

Hold them.
Guide them.
Love them.

Monday Prayer: Shield Your Joyous Ones

God of celebration and rejoicing-

In the words of Augustine, "shield your joyous ones". Today, be with all those who are happy, who are celebrating, who are rejoicing.

Continue the joy of vocation and companionship, new life and life well-lived, having enough and being able to share.

Surround those whose hearts are light with the shield of your Holy Spirit. Prolong their gladness and let your light shine on them with warmth and grace.

May they know your Presence in their time of happiness.

Amen.