Monday Prayer: Disturb Us

Disturb us, Lord, when
We are too well pleased with ourselves,
When our dreams have come true
Because we have dreamed too little,
When we arrived safely
Because we sailed too close to the shore.
Disturb us, Lord, when
With the abundance of things we possess
We have lost our thirst
For the waters of life;
Having fallen in love with life,
We have ceased to dream of eternity
And in our efforts to build a new earth,
We have allowed our vision
Of the new Heaven to dim.
Disturb us, Lord, to dare more boldly,
To venture on wider seas
Where storms will show Your mastery;
Where losing sight of land,
We shall find the stars.
We ask You to push back
The horizons of our hopes;
And push us into the future
In strength, courage, hope, and love.


- Attributed to Sir Francis Drake

Monday Prayer: Jesus as a Mother

Jesus, as a mother you gather your people to you:
You are gentle with us as a mother with her children;
Often you weep over our sins and our pride:
tenderly you draw us from hatred and judgement.
You comfort us in sorrow and bind up our wounds:
in sickness you nurse us,
and with pure milk you feed us.
Jesus, by your dying we are born to new life:
By your anguish and labour we come forth in joy.
Despair turns to hope through your sweet goodness:
through your gentleness we find comfort in fear.
Your warmth gives life to the dead:
your touch makes sinners righteous.
Lord Jesus, in your mercy heal us:
in your love and tenderness remake us.
In your compassion bring grace and forgiveness:
for the beauty of heaven may your love prepare us.


- St. Anselm

A Prayer for a Hot Summer's Day

One Hot Summer Day

Look outside
It's a gorgeous day,
I think all the children
Should go out and play.

The sun is shining
It's so hot outside,
The metal monkey bars are burning
And so is the enormous slide.

From that stroll we just went on
I'm exhausted, I must go rest,
For those very tired feet of mine
I am sure that will be the best.

Now that the day is over the children still ask,
"Can we play with just one more toy?"
"Tomorrow is another day", I tell them
"Another day to enjoy."

Author: Unknown

Gracious God, on this hot summer day (at least it's hot and summer where I am in the northern hemisphere,  the United States) - bless us with wisdom to use the resources of this earth with care and integrity. May we be mindful of our carbon footprint, the waste we leave behind. May we be mindful of our actions, and strive for clean water, clean earth, clean air, that all the children of the earth can live safely, and in good health. May we rejoice at, and with, the beauty of this earth, our island home, this earth - your body, where you God have made manifest your most wild dreams and creativity. Amen.  

In Blackwater Woods

In Blackwater Woods

Look, the trees

are turning

their own bodies

into pillars

of light,

are giving off the rich

fragrance of cinnamon

and fulfillment,

the long tapers

of cattails

are bursting and floating away over

the blue shoulders

of the ponds,

and every pond,

no matter what its

name is, is

nameless now.

Every year

everything

I have ever learned

in my lifetime

leads back to this: the fires

and the black river of loss

whose other side

is salvation,

whose meaning

none of us will ever know.

To live in this world

you must be able

to do three things:

to love what is mortal;

to hold it

against your bones knowing

your own life depends on it;

and, when the time comes to let it go,

to let it go.

~ Mary Oliver ~

(American Primative)

Wake Up

Do not say that I'll depart tomorrow
because even today I still arrive.

Look deeply: I arrive in every second
to be a bud on a spring branch,
to be a tiny bird, with wings still fragile,
learning to sing in my new nest,
to be a caterpillar in the heart of a flower,
to be a jewel hiding itself in a stone.

I still arrive, in order to laugh and to cry,
in order to fear and to hope,
the rhythm of my heart is the birth and
death of all that are alive.

I am the mayfly metamorphosing in the
surface of the river,
and I am the bird which, when spring comes,
arrives in time to eat the mayfly.

I am the frog swimming happily in the
clear water of a pond,
and I am also the grass-snake who,
approaching in silence,
feeds itself on the frog.

I am the child in Uganda, all skin and bones,
my legs as thin as bamboo sticks,
and I am the arms merchant, selling deadly
weapons in Uganda.

I am the 12-year-old girl, refugee
on a small boat,
who throws herself into the ocean after
being raped by a sea pirate,
and I am the pirate, my heart not yet capable
of seeing and loving.

I am a member of the politburo, with
plenty of power in my hand,
and I am the man who has to pay his
"debt of blood" to my people,
dying slowly in a forced labor camp.

My joy is like spring, so warm it makes
flowers bloom in all walks of life.
My pain is a river full of tears, so full it
fills up the four oceans.

Please call me by my true names,
so I can hear my cries and my laughs
at once,
so I can see that my joy and pain are one.

Please call me by my true names,
so I can wake up,
and so the door of my heart can be left open,
the door of compassion.


(Thich Nhat Hanh, "Earth Prayers from Around the World" Edt by Elizabeth Roberts and Elias Amidon Harper Collins, 1991)

Prayer

It doesn't have to be
the blue iris, it could be
weeds in a vacant lot, or a few
small stones; just
pay attention, then patch

a few words together and don't try
to make them elaborate, this isn't
a contest but the doorway

into thanks, and a silence in which
another voice may speak.


Mary Oliver

Friday Prayer

The instant, the moment, the second
he was baptized, touched by the spirit,
he began, using the gifts, he had all along…
~Raymond A. Foss

Loving God, help us to liberate and manifest the gifts you have given us, the characteristics you have known in us, the love you have named for us, and to bring them to the world. In the name of the baptized Jesus we pray. Amen.

Thursday Prayer

Loving Spirit of God, have mercy on the dying

• Those dying in pain and suffering
• Those dying in fear and loneliness
• Those dying from hunger and a lack of physical resources
• Those dying violent deaths
• Those dying without any knowledge of your infinite tenderness and compassion.

Bring to all a sense of your presence.Guard them as the apple of your eye. Shelter them in the shadow of your wings and enfold them in your presence. This we ask through Christ our Lord, Amen.

(Prayers for the dying)

With Thoughts of Hagar

God of the Desert Times,
We turn to you this day trusting that no matter the concerns we carry, you care and are present for us.
If we are thirsty, you are the source of water.
If we are ill, you are the source of healing.
If we are discouraged, you are the source of hope.
Open our eyes, O God, as you opened Hagar's in the desert so long ago. Open our hearts to your refreshing grace, to the water that will quench us always, to the water that is more than H2O, to the water that is your constant presence in our lives.
With that water in our spiritual canteens, we can go forward, no matter what we may face. Amen.

(This is an adaptation of my pastoral prayer yesterday. The image is Marc Chagall's painting of Hagar in the Desert.)

Sunday Prayer

God, I have so much to be thankful for tonight. For good food shared with friends at LCotC as we prepared the sanctuary for the Advent season. Tonight as storms approach many parts of North America, I pray for safety on our roads and highways. And on this World AIDS Day, I pray for a cure for this horrible disease, and a vaccine so that future generations can be protected.

Loving and Gracious God, in this first week of Advent, help me to slow down. All around me, the world is caught in the traditional vortex of pre-Christmas frenzy. The baking marathons, the over-spending on gifts that never seem to be enough, the parties and visiting that bring both joy and exhaustion...sometimes it overwhelms even the heartiest celebrants of the holiday season.

God, I really want this year to be different. I want to set my sights on the light in the distance – a light that guides us toward Bethlehem and the birth of Christ. That light is gift enough. As the weeks of Advent progress and the church joins in the busy-ness of the season, help to keep us all focused on the greatest gift of all – the One who was born to show us the way of hope, love, peace and joy. The One who taught us to pray together saying…

Seasons of Fruit: prayer for Saturday

SEASON of mists and mellow fruitfulness, Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun; Conspiring with him how to load and bless With fruit ...
Keats' Ode to Autumn

Father God;

We thank you for the seasons in our life. You say that there is a season for everything - a time to mourn and a time to rejoice, a time to plant and a time to harvest, a time to laugh and a time to cry. Help us to live in that truth!

Each of us are in a specific season right now - for some it's a time of great and abundant blessing - of fruitfulness and harvest - for others it's as if we are out of sync with the natural seasons and we are in a time of drought and barreness - but still - in all circumstances- we want to praise You.

Help us to turn to You today -not only with requests - but also with hearts that are over brimming with thankfulness for Your presence in our lives.

Thank You that Your hand is forever on us; and Your plans are always good.

Amen

"I'm Going Up There?"

From Isaiah 11:

⁶The wolf shall live with the lamb,
the leopard shall lie down with the kid,
the calf and the lion and the fatling together,
and a little child shall lead them.
⁷The cow and the bear shall graze,
their young shall lie down together;
and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.
⁸The nursing child shall play over the hole of the asp,
and the weaned child shall put its hand on the adder’s den.
⁹They will not hurt or destroy
on all my holy mountain;
for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord
as the waters cover the sea.

Some years ago, I took a hike up Mount Chocorua with the man who would become my husband. When we reached the Jim Liberty Cabin (pictured), I got my first clear view of the summit. I exclaimed, "I'M going up THERE?!?" The unprotected treeless summit frightened me, and I clung to the rocks when we reached the top.

A year later we climbed that mountain again, to be married. It was a slightly overcast day, and the surrounding peaks were wreathed in mist, appearing as islands in the midst of a holy sea.

Truly, we are vulnerable when we stand at the top of a mountain, when we stand in any of God's holy places.

Gracious God,
Grant us courage this day to seek you, to learn of your peace, to make the earth a holy mountain in your name. Amen.

John Wesley on Prayer

God's command to "pray without ceasing" is founded on the necessity we have of his grace to preserve the life of God in the soul, which can no more subsist one moment without it, than the body can without air.

Whether we think of; or speak to, God, whether we act or suffer for him, all is prayer, when we have no other object than his love, and the desire of pleasing him.

All that a Christian does, even in eating and sleeping, is prayer, when it is done in simplicity, according to the order of God, without either adding to or diminishing from it by his own choice.

Prayer continues in the desire of the heart, though the understanding be employed on outward things.

In souls filled with love, the desire to please God is a continual prayer.

As the furious hate which the devil bears us is termed the roaring of a lion, so our vehement love may be termed crying after God.

God only requires of his adult children, that their hearts be truly purified, and that they offer him continually the wishes and vows that naturally spring from perfect love. For these desires, being the genuine fruits of love, are the most perfect prayers that can spring from it.

From "A Plain Account of Christian Perfection", as believed and taught by the Reverend Mr. John Wesley, from the year 1725, to the year 1777.

And, of course, the Wesleyan Covenant Prayer:

I am no longer my own but yours,
Put me to what you will
Put me to doing, put me to suffering.
Let me be employed for you or laid aside for you.
Let me be full, let me be empty.
Let me have all things, let me have nothing.
I freely and wholeheartedly yield all things to Your pleasure and disposal
And now glorious and blessed God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit,
You are mine and I am yours. So be it.
And this covenant now made on earth, let it be satisfied in heaven.

Amen

Busy, Troubled, Faithful

Gracious God,

On a day of many responsibilities,
a day of niggling details,
a day of blessed encounters,
remind us of Jesus, who sat at the table.

On a day of rushing here and there,
or sitting too long at a desk,
or juggling home and church,
remind us of Jesus, who sat at the table.

On a day that lasts too long,
with work stretching beyond sunset,
with always one more chore to perform,
remind us of Jesus, who sat at the table.

On a day ending sooner than seems possible,
with dinner to prepare or papers to write,
homework to complete or check or grade,
remind us of Jesus, who sat at the table.

Bless our work and our prayers,
our hearts and our minds,
our bodies and our souls, we pray. Amen.

prayer of thanksgiving

i thank You God for most this amazing day:

for the leaping greenly spirits of trees

and a blue true dream of sky;

and for everything which is natural

which is infinite

which is yes

(i who have died am alive again today,

and this is the sun's birthday; this is the birth

day of life and love and wings: and of the gay

great happening illimitably earth)

how should tasting touching hearing seeing breathing any-

lifted from the no of all nothing-

human merely being

doubt unimaginable You?

(now the ears of my ears awake and

now the eyes of my eyes are opened)

e e cummings

Have you asked to be invited?

Prayer Pals, at the moment this blog is still open to all readers, but beginning Tuesday, February 6th, around 8 p.m. EST, it will go "quiet," which is to say it will be available to read by invitation only.
The thought behind making it a private blog is to allow for greater privacy for prayer requests or difficult situations.
If you would like to be part of the prayer blog, you need first to be a member of the RevGalBlogPals webring, and then you need to send an e-mail to Songbird asking to be invited. It's as simple as that!
Meanwhile, scroll down to get a sense of the kind of daily postings you will see here, inviting you to prayer. Specific concerns and requests for support may be left in the comments. Many thanks to the ring members who have volunteered to post on the blog. We're all set for the moment, but I will let you know if we need further help in the future.

Come Away ... and rest a while.

Saturday 3rd February, 2007
Saints for the day: St Blaise; St Ansgar.
Scripture Readings for today: Hebrews 13:15-17, 20-21., Ps (23). Mark 6:30-34.

From Mark 6

The Apostles gathered together with Jesus
and reported all they had done and taught.
He said to them,
“Come away by yourselves to a deserted place and rest a while.”

Lord, you invite us to come away and rest with you for a while. For some, today is a day of rest called Sabbath. For some, tomorrow is a day of rest called Sabbath also. For some of us neither day is day of rest, and in some cases it feels like there is not a day of rest. We confess that we have become so used to not having that day of rest that we just neglect to take it. We think we can get along without it. Lord help us to RSVP to your invitation to come away with you to rest with you. Help us to put it in our PDA's, claendars, whatever we use to mark or note our days and times. And God then empower us to take that day away with you. Lord help us to remember that many of our members don't get time away with you like they need either. Help us to remember that many of them are going helter skelter also, and that it has become a pattern for living. God helps us to remind them that you invite us away with you for rest. Lord let us be models for them in seeking to live the life you give us and time for sabbath. Perhaps to provide opportunities for them and for us to take that sabbath time with you.

In the name of the one who called Himself "The Lord of the Sabbath"

Blessings

Jesus we ask you blessings on this place of prayer.

We ask that we Rev Gals and Pals can bring these intercessions to you in faith, and see Your hand on our lives as You continue to heal us, challenge us and bless us.

Help us create a safe place to bring prayers to - and may there be much rejoicing at the way You answer our needs.

Amen