prayer – Page 2 – Wandering and Wondering

More Lenten Prayers

Call to Worship: (based on Psalm 46)

Pastor: God is our refuge and strength

People: Our ever-present help in times of trouble

Pastor: When the mountains shake and waters roar,

People: we ground ourselves in the hope of our creator.

Pastor: When nations are in an uproar and kingdoms totter,

People: we receive our strength and courage from the one who created all.

Pastor: Come let us find our sacred center as we worship God together.

Invocation

Holy One, We’re gathered here a little unbalanced. The world feels askew. We’re gathered here a little imbalanced. We feel a little askew. Meet us here and give us insight so that we can navigate this world in a way pleasing to you and to the benefit of all. AMEN

Pastoral Prayer

Holy One,

As we tear down the walls of our heart and stretch the limits of our compassion,

we seek to hold in our prayer those who we often overlook or ignore.

We pray for those who we have never seen: our neighbors far away.

We pray for those who are most different from us by language, culture, or faith.

We pray for those who we walk by daily, but perhaps do not notice – – –

the person who serves us coffee,

the one who rings us out at the grocery store or packs our groceries.

We pray for the bank teller and the telemarketer.

We pray for the farmer who seeded our dinner into the ground

and the truck driver who brought it near to us.

We pray for those who line our roads and empty our garbage cans.

We pray for the librarian and news broadcaster on the radio.

We pray for those who often go unseen – – –

the 911 dispatcher,

the night clerk at the 24 hour convenience store,

the school custodian,

the cleaning people in our office.

God, there are so many that escape our notice,

but we know they do not go out of your vision or care.

May you continue to pour your love upon them

and may you help us to stop and see and listen to their trouble or tragedy.

Let us remember our connection to the whole.

We also, O God, have those who we do know that we wish to lift up. Hear now their names:

<have people speak names aloud popcorn style>

Be with them in their time of need. Embrace them in your constant grace. Grant them the peace of recognizing your presence.

We pray all of this in the name of your son, Jesus Christ, who taught us to pray together saying:

The Lord’s Prayer that is used in your setting.

Unison Prayer of Dedication

Generous God, Take these gifts that have been gathered. Bless them and return them into a wanting world. May these financial gifts be just one way that we seek to co-create with you. AMEN

Transfiguration Prayers

Invocation

Moutaintop God, Your glory astounds us. We are in awe of all that you have done. The child who came to us just weeks ago now takes his place between Moses and Elijah. Help us to bear the light and not look away. Help us to be the light. Let us take momentary refuge here so that we too are changed; and then push us back into the world and the work you set before us. AMEN

Prayer of Illumination

Pastor: God is Holy, God is beyond what we can know, beyond what we can see, beyond what we can understand; and yet, we look, we listen, we try to comprehend.

People: God, let us see you if only but a glimpse. Let us hear you if only but a whisper. Let us understand you, if only in our heart. AMEN

Impermanence

Today in our mid-week meditation group we made prayer bracelets.

The process was gift and the reminder I found in prepping for the class was worthy.

A while ago, I found this book “A String and A Prayer” on my bookshelf and began reading it in preparation for this class. I used some of the prayers in the back as our opening and shared some of its insights during our class:

-The word bead is an offshoot from its Old English origin “bede” which means prayer.

-In Sanskrit the name of a pray bead chain is called a mala.

-That the practice of putting together prayer beads can be a spiritually significant as the practice of praying with them.

-It is said the the Desert Mothers and Fathers would carry a specified number of beads in their pockets with they would drop to the earth throughout the course of their day as they prayed.

And then finally –

-All prayer bead jewelry will eventually fall apart.

This final one sounds depressing, but it is real. It perhaps struck me especially funny because at our our last confirmation meeting when we created the Protestant equivalent to prayer bead rosaries (which by the way are named such because the beads were apparently made out of crushed rose petals) we worked very hard at crimping and trying to secure our creations so that they would be indestructible. Impermanence is not something that we like to think about much. In Christianity, with the exception of Ash Wednesday and perhaps Good Friday, we have a tendency to focus on the eternal and ever-lasting, brushing aside the reality that life here is guaranteed to end. Perhaps though, the reality of our relatively short mortals lives and the reality of our impermanence might be a gift that might allow us to more fully stop and take in the world around us, celebrating the beauty and appreciating the relationships. Recognizing our impermanence may not be a morbid thought that freezes us in fear, but instead a freeing realization that allows us to better notice the many blessings that abound.

Whether or not you choose to create a prayer bracelet yourself, I hope that you might ponder their impermanence and yours as well. Your life may be all the richer having done so.

A Prayer of Gratitude for the Limitedness of our Lives

Holy One,

We are thankful for this time you have granted us on earth. Let us not waste it, nor take it for granted. Let us have clear view of its limits that we might be all the more thankful for the time we have. Grant us the insight that each breath we take is a blessing.

And when at last our time is short and we can feel the true fragility of life coming our way, let us be able to say that we were thankful for the opportunity, that we were thankful for the friends that we met, and that we were thankful for the time we had.

We give you thanks for each breath, each moment, and for our very life however long or short it might be. AMEN

Pastoral Prayer

Holy One,

The world is in need of prayers – not just our typical prayers for those who are physically ill or dying, but for an illness of the heart and a struggle of the soul.

There are too many who are grasping control and forgetting about compassion.

There are too many focused on greed and overlooking the simple rules about sharing that we learned even in the sandbox when we were young .

There are too many who are so focused on their own needs and desires that they are failing to see the suffering that exists, some of which they may have a hand in themselves.

God, today we pray for all people,

for all who need a softer heart,

a deeper conscience,

and wider understanding of your golden rules.

We pray for our own prejudices, frustrations, and anger.

We pray for others’ short sightedness, selfishness, and unwillingness to face the impact of their actions.

We pray that we all look to grow as individuals.

We pray that we are all willing to name our shortcomings.

We pray that we are all willing to grow.

We pray that we all are given strength to support the downtrodden,

voice to speak for the voiceless,

courage to stand up for their siblings.

We pray for changed hearts and transformed souls.

May your son’s teachings continue to teach us all,

and may he lead us into a world filled with deeper compassion and care

where we all look to each other’s care, even the stranger’s.

In this silence, let us lift up those who we know who need to be surrounded by and filled with God’s inexhaustible love and grace today:

Now let us pray in the words of your son –

Our Father / Mother / Creator*, who art in heaven,

hallowed be thy Name,

thy kingdom come,

thy will be done,

on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread.

And forgive us our trespasses,

as we forgive those

who trespass against us.

And lead us not into temptation,

but deliver us from evil.

For thine is the kingdom,

and the power, and the glory,

for ever and ever. Amen.

*Use the words you are most comfortable with or try something you haven’t before to see how that fits or pushes against your theology (understanding of God). Take some time to reflect on your experience.

Blessed to be a blessing

“I will make you into a great nation,
    and I will bless you;
I will make your name great,
    and you will be a blessing.
I will bless those who bless you,
    and whoever curses you I will curse;
and all peoples on earth
    will be blessed through you.” – Genesis 12:2-3

Can you imagine a world where we walked around consciously blessing one another and the world around us? Might this simple act deflate the tensions and anxiety that pervade our society. Could you imagine if we sought to find the holy chard (tikkun olam) that everyone and everything contained? or sought the holy fingerprint of the potter himself (Isaiah 64:8)?

What would it mean to begin to see the world as holy, to act as if it were, and to encourage it to be so? The act of blessings is an ancient practice that perhaps we should reinstitute. Doing so does not require an act of congress, nor a majority vote, it simply means that you and I make it so. Maybe, if we are lucky, the practice will grow.

Step one is simply to look with new eyes and see the beauty before us (Remember beauty is not always external; and beauty is not always what society names it to be.).

Step two is to name what you see or what you hope to see. If I were blessing my fireplace this morning, I might offer a blessing for the many days of warmth that it has brought to my house allowing me to be comfortable and to invite friends and family within. If I were blessing a person, I might offer a hope, “May this new year offer you opportunity and growth. May you find your footing, feel your strength, and be granted the courage to live fully into who you were meant to be.”

Step three is to share your blessing. You may say it quietly to God, say it aloud to the another person, or maybe take a moment to drop a note or a text to let them know that you are thinking about them. You might even post it on social media.

Blessings can also be done quietly within your heart as a prayer to God. I started to bless my feet in the morning after my mother passed away. She had thrown blood clots in her legs which subsequently caused an unhealing foot wound and caused the loss of several toes. My kids even were known to refer to her as Grandma Boo Boo Foot because, in their memory, she could never wear two shoes and usually need the assistance of a wheelchair. So now when my feet hit the floor I try to remember that even getting up in the morning and standing is not a blessing that everyone is afforded.

A Blessing for Feet

I wiggle them awake

and say, “Thank you!”

I touch them to the ground

and say, “Thank you!”

I press my weight upon them

and say, “Thank you!”

“Thank you little toes

and feet

and ankles.

Thank you phalanges

and metatarsals

and navicular bone.

Thank you to my muscles

and my tendons

and all the nerves

that go into each step I take.

Thank you God for my feet.

Bless them as they carry me through my day.

AMEN

NOTE: All rights are reserved for this blessing or anything published on this page. Permission is given for usage in religious or educational settings with citation.

If you would like to read some more blessings including two of my own, check out Ruth Burgess’ book from Wild Goose Publications, Blessed Be God:

Pastoral Prayer – God as the one who catches us

Pastoral Prayer –

Holy God who fishes for humanity,

We pray this day that you throw your net into the world.

There are so many who need to be caught by you:

There are those harboring resentments and anger,

Those lost in old storylines of who they could be or should be.

There are those who feel tossed and turned on the sea of life,

And those drowning in the murky waters of half-truths and made up tales.

There are those who feel abandoned out in the wide waters,

And those who are struggling trying to navigate their current conditions.

There are those who need someone to hear their cries for help and throw them a lifeline;

And those who have thrown themselves in the sea believing that no one would miss them if they were swallowed by the depths.

There are those who are afraid to sail into deep waters;

And those who hesitate to even leave port.

So many need your presence, Lord, be with them and meet them where they are.

Today, we also have specific people on our mind that need your care. Listen as we say their names:

Invite people to say names one atop the other trusting that God knows already who is in need and what they are in need of.

In your mercy, care for all who are in need; those we have named and those who we have left unnamed, and even those we do not know to name. We pray all of this in the name of your son, who taught us to pray together saying:

& Lord’s Prayer

Our Father / Mother / Creator*, who art in heaven,

hallowed be thy Name,

thy kingdom come,

thy will be done,

on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread.

And forgive us our trespasses,

as we forgive those

who trespass against us.

And lead us not into temptation,

but deliver us from evil.

For thine is the kingdom,

and the power, and the glory,

for ever and ever. Amen.

This was used along with our reading of Luke 5:1-11, which is a Lectionary reading for the 5th Sunday of Epiphany in Year C.

It takes a long time to create Bethlehem

This week’s mid-week meditation led to a powerful insight:

it takes a long time to create Bethlehem.

There is so much going on in the world, it came seem like a frivolous waste to gather and simply create art, but I have found this creative time to, in fact, be more important than ever. It is in these peaceful settings that we can take a moment to take stock of all that we have seen and heard and begin to try to understand our place and our calling within it all.

This week, when we gathered, our theme was mosaics. Given our time frame, we created our mosaics with paper, and I limited our paper to just solid colors. I offered the option of some pre-drawn blackline masters that I gathered from the internet and also had plain paper available. I tried to give people as little direction as possible because, like in each of our other weeks, the purpose is the reflection on our thoughts and the process more than the product that is produced.

People always find our time too short and these activities could easily be done on retreat in multi-hour blocks.

This was my creation based on Rublev’s picture of The Trinity. I was really caught by the idea that each of us have the capacity to be part of the trinity; thus the non-identification of the personalities. I also recognized how we need to be mindful of how we interact with one another. Even with our best intentions we sometimes press into each other’s space.

To help us be in the right mindset to create, we began our time together by putting our hands in the form of a bowl and filling our bowls with all the dread, frustration, anger, and worry that we brought in with us. After gathering it together in our own imaginary bowls, we placed the bowls below the cross in the center of the table and agreed that if stressful thoughts came our way we would give them over God through a symbolic gesture of hanging our worry on the cross. Once we released the troubles we came in with, we offered a prayer and lit our candle. Then I read a poem called Mosaic by Lily Whitelock (click here to read the whole poem) and offered a quote by Anita Krizzan. We were particularly enamored with the words of Lily’s third verse,

“Every word I know somebody else has told me.

Every smile I give someone else has shared.”

“We are mosaics. Pieces of light, love, history stars . . .Glued together with magic and music and words.

Anita Krizzan

We then created for half an hour, gathering back together to discuss and reflect on the process. There were many insights that individuals had about how they created, what they created, why they created; and there was one that took all our breath away. As one congregant shared this work:

She explained that she didn’t have enough time and would be taking this home to finish. She somewhat flippantly said,

“If you didn’t know, it takes a long time to create Bethlehem.” MC

When she said that, my heart stopped. It was a reminder to us all that within the struggle and frustration that we are all feeling these day, we need to remember that to create takes time, energy, perseverance, patience, and vision especially when your vision is as complicated and simplistic as love, justice, and compassion.

We closed with a simple prayer and all went out into the world with a little more hope and with clearer understandings of where we might fit into the larger picture and how our gifts and talents might be used.

If you decide to try to create, I’d love to see what you make. Please post in the comments.

Holy One, Sometimes challenge comes not in complexity but in simplicity. As your co-creators in life, help us to step back and take stock on that which is essential. Encourage us to release that which gets in the way of your vision of heaven on earth being made real in the world. Call us into partnership with you so that together we might together create a peaceful, loving, and just world. Remind us of the time when your son was born in a simple stable. Let us remember its simplicity and yet also his power to transform the world. May you use us to do the same way. AMEN

Psalm inspired liturgy

Sometimes it can be a challenge to write liturgy from week to week, so sometimes I need to look elsewhere for inspiration. Sometimes I find liturgy that others have written that I can use (I especially appreciate https://re-worship.blogspot.com/ ). Other times, I reach into the Biblical text, especially the Psalter. Because the Psalms were originally sung, the liturgy gathered from the Psalms practically writes itself. Here, for example, is the Call to Worship and Invocation that I am using this week, which is drawn from Psalm 18. One Psalm can often be the inspiration for a multitude of prayers, litanies, and the like. The Psalms are like a well that is fed by an unending aquafer.

Call to Worship

Pastor: In the Lord I take refuge.

People: God is my deliverer.

Pastor: God is my rock and my fortress.

People: God is my safe place.

Pastor: In the Lord, I put my hope and my trust.

People: God is my protector.

ALL: I will praise God forever more.

Invocation

O God, my protector, you are with me in all that I do: from my waking to my sleeping. You watch over me and seek to guide me. Today, in this time, wake me up so that I may witness your work and begin to see the world around me with more clarity. AMEN

An extra special resource as it pertains to Psalmody is Richard Bruxvoort Cooligan’s Psalm Immersion. His musical creations from the Psalms can be used as background for meditation, for musical prayer responses, or for deepening your perspective on a specific psalm. I encourage you to check his work out.

NOTE: You are welcome to use the liturgy in worship or educational settings. Please cite the origin sources.

Making Space in a Cluttered Brain

As a pastor, so much of what I do requires me to be focused. I generate an incredible amount of material each week for worship, special programing, workshops, and other activities. Sometimes my brain starts to feel like the pong game on the early Atari video games (Yes, I am dating myself, but I figure you can kind of tell that from the picture.). In order to help myself keep in the creative zone, I need to give my brain time to quiet down to think. Simple repetition allows my brain to make space to gather the thoughts that need a little time to percolate or go by too fast to gather. Recently, I have found that crocheting has become a way to offer my brain this time.

I used to crochet years ago, but haven’t in some 25 years or so. I decided to take it up again when I took my current call so that I could find a way to connect with our prayer shawl knitting team and meet some new friends at a local art shop in town.

This is actually the second of my creations. The first one already shipped out for a recent new arrival into the world, the child of one of former Girl Scouts. I extended the pattern of this prayer shawl so that someone could wrap themselves comfortably in it and feel the palpable presence of God’s love around them. I have yet to know exactly where I will send it, but I trust I will know where it should go when the time is right.

It is a good thing that this project found its logical conclusion because I have been feeling called to do another baby blanket for a new cousin who was set to be on his way. I picked up the yarn last week, and ironically as I started my first three rows on the blanket, I received a text that announced the arrival of little Theo into the world. They will really have to call this one a prayer blanket, because I will need to pray to complete it before this little one graduates from college.

Who knows how long this activity will continue offering the relaxation that I need. I know I can’t do anything too complicated and am not really looking to improve, but I am enjoying this venture into creative compassion and self-care. Who knows what projects are yet to come.

What do you do to clear the cobwebs and calm the neural pathways?

What does Tuesday mean to you?

For some, Tuesday brings to mind Tacos. For others, it may mean dance class or Pilates. Perhaps for some, it is payday or the day they regularly go visit their parents. For me and for members of my church community, Tuesday has meant prayer night.

Each Tuesday since the beginning of Covid (circa 2020), I have posted this or a similar post on my personal FaceBook page and that of the church I am serving. Each Tuesday evening I then open a Zoom room where several of us gather to have a moment of devotion and hold the prayers that we have gathered for that day.

Some people may find this an incredibly futile act given the enormity of the issues that people are dealing with, but I believe that our gathering and our regularity makes a big impact on the world. It may not be a “cure”, but simply our gathering and sharing of the prayers give the petitioners the comfort of knowing someone else cares. I think it also softens the heart of those who hold these prayers.

None of us knows exactly what prayers do. They surely do not always work as we expect them to, but that is not to say that they are ineffective or unneeded. In fact, Soren Kierkegaard, Danish theologian and philosopher, is reported to have said, “The function of prayer is not to influence God, but rather to change the nature of the one who prays.” To some degree, I have witnessed this first hand in the prayer time that we hold each Tuesday evening. The people in the group have even begun carrying around pads to jot down prayers as they come by them; so that they can be remembered and upheld in the group. We listen and remember those who have asked for prayers over time. Our hearts become more open and more supple to the issues of others and definitively to each other.

This little 1 hour gathering has become the consistent beat in my life for almost 5 years now. Occasionally now I even get a text or private message from people who are afraid that perhaps they may miss the time to get their prayers in and so they send a note to me privately rather than waiting for the “official” post. This makes me realize how much others have come to expect and to appreciate this rhythm..

Margaret Mead once said, “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.” She surely did not mean this within the context of a prayer group, but I do think it applies.

It is Tuesday, do you have a prayer that you would like held?

If you ever have a prayer that you would like held, I invite you to email me with it or post it below and you can trust that it will be held and lifted up each Tuesday evening.