Monday Prayer: Such Love

How can I tell of such love to me? You made me in your image

and hold me in the 

palm of your hand, your cords of love, strong and fragile as silk

bind me and hold me. 

Rich cords, to family and friends, 

music and laughter echoing in memories, 

light dancing on the water, hills rejoicing. 

Cords that found me hiding behind carefully built walls and let me out, 

love that heard my heartbreak and despair and rescued me, 

love that overcame my fears and doubts and released me. 

The questions and burdens I carry you take, 

to leave my hands free- to hold yours and others, 

free to follow your cords as they move and swirl in the breeze, 

free to be caught up in the dance of your love, 

finding myself in surrendering to you. 

How can I tell of such love? How can I give to such love? 

I am, here am I. 

- Catherine Hooper

Monday Prayer: For those who struggle to speak

October 22 is International Stuttering Awareness Day.


God of speech and silence,

On this day, we pray for our brothers and sisters around the world whose speech is slowed, whose stream of thought struggles to pour forth, who are silent for fear of humiliation, frustration, and exhaustion.

We pray for the voices we do not hear because we do not wait for thoughts, sentences, words of wisdom to be finished, but instead plow forward.

We pray for those who have undergone painful treatments and long therapies. We give you thanks for those people who have the skills to work with those who stutter, those whose speech is halting, those whose sentences waver in the wind.

On this day, may the memory of your servant Moses fill our hearts and minds. May we remember that when it mattered, he spoke bravely, not through Aaron, not to Pharaoh, but directly to You.

Grant the peace of being heard by You to all those who seek it on this day and every day.

Amen.

Monday Prayer: Resting

Lord,
teach me to rest in you.
Teach me to see the sky
and to think of nothing else
but the joy of it.
Teach me to look
at field and flower
and be soothed
by colors and seasons.
Teach me to close my eyes
and to rest
in the Love that has supported me
all my days.
Teach me, Lord,
to rest in you.


- Frank Topping

Monday Prayer: Love Divine

Love divine, all loves excelling,
joy of heaven, to earth come down,
fix in us thy humble dwelling,
all thy faithful mercies crown.
Jesus, thou art all compassion,
pure, unbounded love thou art;
visit us with thy salvation,
enter every trembling heart.

Come, almighty to deliver,
let us all thy life receive;
suddenly return, and never,
nevermore thy temples leave.
Thee we would be always blessing,
serve thee as thy hosts above,
pray, and praise thee without ceasing,
glory in thy perfect love.

Finish then thy new creation;
pure and spotless let us be;
let us see thy great salvation
perfectly restored in thee:
changed from glory into glory,
till in heaven we take our place,
till we cast our crowns before thee,
lost in wonder, love, and praise.


- Charles Wesley

Monday Prayer: To Do

Dear Lord,

Here's what I need to do today.
Please help me

1. Do the laundry Be more grateful.

2. Pay the bills Remember those who are struggling.

3. Vent to a friend Speak words of peace and kindness.

4. Clean up the house  See opportunities for sharing.

5. Try to remember everything Remember that I am not You.

6. Allow myself to rest in You.


Amen.

Monday Prayer: The King of Love

Monday Prayer: For World Suicide Prevention Day

God of all space and time,
There is darkness that exists which feels impenetrable.
Darkness that seems to overcome all light.
Darkness which swallows the will to live,
The desire to go on,
The possibility of grace,
The existence of hope.
There is darkness in this world, in some hearts, in some minds...
Darkness which makes a person feel separated from You and from Love.

You have created a light which no darkness can overcome,


But sometimes the darkness seems too great.


On this day, be with those who feel surrounded by darkness...
Who are afraid to speak of their plans,
Who are pondering in their hearts what seems the only end to their pain.

Be with those who have reached out, but not been believed.

Be with people who are left behind, who have questions, who blame themselves.

Send your Spirit of consolation and hope into the world on this day,

Turn up the Light of Love- burnish and banish the darkness,

Strengthen all to speak, to listen, to hold, and to share.

Holy God, we ask for the kind of peace- in hearts, minds, and all creation- that can only come from you.


Gracious God, hear our prayer.
And in your mercy, answer us.

Monday Prayer: Possibility

God who knows and loves us...

Grace that is our nourishment and our inheritance...

Love that surrounds and gifts us...

Bring us today more fully into the possible...

Into the potential...

Into the people you have made us to be.

Monday Prayer: Make Me an Instrument

Monday Prayer: God's Grandeur

The world is charged with the grandeur of God.

It will flame out, like shining from shook foil;

It gathers to a greatness, like the ooze of oil

Crushed. Why do men then now not reck his rod?

Generations have trod, have trod, have trod;

And all is seared with trade; bleared, smeared with toil;

And wears man's smudge and shares man's smell: the soil

Is bare now, nor can foot feel, being shod.

And for all this, nature is never spent;

There lives the dearest freshness deep down things;

And though the last lights off the black West went

Oh, morning, at the brown brink eastward, springs --

Because the Holy Ghost over the bent

World broods with warm breast and with ah! bright wings.

Gerard Manley Hopkins

Monday Prayer: Feeling Torn

God of all space and time,

You are able to be in all places and at all times.

Sometimes, I think You forget that I am not.

I feel the tug of the work to which You have called me.

I yearn for more time in the relationships in which You have involved me.

I crave rest. I long for You.

Help me to be at peace with where I am from moment to moment.

Guide me through the Spirit to see the "extra" time in my day.

Slow my feet and speed my comprehension... that I might be more aware of the ways You are moving.

Help me to become receptive to the gift of Your peace.

I know, dear God, that is a horribly passive prayer.

But passivity is my prayer to You.

You are the actor, the First Mover, the Giver, and the Invitation.

Help me to respond, even with stillness.

Amen.

Monday Prayer: Love that Will Not Let Us Go

O Love that wilt not let me go
I rest my weary soul in thee:
I give thee back the live I owe,
That in thine ocean depths its flow
May richer, fuller be.

O light that followest all my way,
I yield my flickering torch to to thee:
My heart restores its borrowed ray,
that in thy sunshine's blaze its day
May brighter, fairer be.

O joy that seekest me through pain,
I cannot close my heart to thee:
I trace the rainbow through the rain,
And feel the promise is not vain,
That morn shall tearless be.

O cross that liftest up my head,
I dare not ask to fly from thee:
I lay in dust life's glory dead,
And from the ground there blossoms red
Life that shall endless be.



- George Matheson








1000 World Prayers, John Hunt Publishing Inc, 2003. p. 68f

Monday Prayer: A Prayer of Faith, for Faith

We are not alone, we live in God's world.

We believe in God: who has created and is creating,    
   who has come in Jesus, the Word made flesh,
       to reconcile and make new,
    who works in us and others by the Spirit.

We trust in God.

We are called to be the Church:
    to celebrate God's presence,
    to live with respect in Creation,
    to love and serve others,
    to seek justice and resist evil,
    to proclaim Jesus, crucified and risen,
       our judge and our hope.

In life, in death, in life beyond death,
    God is with us.
We are not alone.

    Thanks be to God. Amen.









A Statement of Faith of the United Church of Canada.

Monday Prayer: Stay with us, Lord

You, Lord, are in the midst of us, and we are called by your name. Leave us not. 


                                                                                          Jeremiah 14:9b

Monday Prayer: Draw Us Together

At this stage, O God,
It seems almost too much to ask that
All people could work together in unity.
Unity of purpose
Unity of spirit
Unity in hope, in community, in love.

Yet, with you all things are possible.

Grant us continued faith in Your work in the world
And help us to see the small places
where your creation works together in unexpected ways.

O God of surprises, help us to hear your melody and
To understand your signals for our harmony.

Amen.

Monday Prayer: Breathe on Me

Breathe on me, o Breath of Life

On your inhale, receive my fears.
On your exhale, I receive hope.

On your inhale, receive unrest;
On your exhale, I receive peace.

On your inhale, receive pain;
On your exhale, I receive joy.

May I slow my breathing to match yours,
       parent and child rhythm,
               Creator and created rhythm,
                        Beloved and belonging rhythm.


I exhale...

and release...

Anger... stress... attempts at control... perfectionism... procrastination... insecurity.


Away they go... through the power of the Spirit...



I inhale...

and receive...

Consolation... advocacy... openness... healing... blessing... courage... grace...


May Your goodness and mercy that follows me all the days of my life catch me today.


Amen.

Prayer for a Summer Day

O God, giver and sustainer of all life, we thank you for this new day- this new summer day. Be with those who will have no place of respite in the summer heat. Help us to care for those who long for a sheltering cool place.

Bless those in need of rain with cool showers so that they may have a rich harvest. Guide us to be good stewards of the resources that you provide us.

For those who are enjoying the pleasures of vacation, may their travels be safe. May their hours be truly recreating. And for each of us Lord, grant a measure of your mercy and a fervent sense of your call to care for your world and each other. Amen

Refreshment and Relaxation

God of Wonder-

With summer comes so many things. A chance to be renewed. Time to be refreshed. And yet we also see our summer days filled to the brim with things to do. Bless our sunny days with an increased awareness of your presence. Guide us so that we might really take the time needed to relax. Help us quiet ourselves so that we might better hear your voice.

We also ask your blessings on those who face difficult challenges in these summer days. Those who have no cool sheltering place to dwell. The many who face the dangers of summer fires and summer storms. We pray for their respite and comfort as well. Guide us to be active signs of your love in their lives.