From Mary DeJong http://waymarkers.wordpress.com/
The end of another busy week and it is time to post prayers from my facebook page Light for the Journey. The richness of contributions from the expanding team of contributors is amazing. As I mentioned last week, I have enlisted the help of Jamie Arpin Ricci author of The Cost of Community and founder of Litte Flowers community in Winnipeg Manitoba; Phileena Heuertz co-founder of Word Made Flesh and author ofPilgrimage of a Soul; Micha Jazz a contemplative activist in Chichester UK and a member of the Axiom Monastic Community; Bonnie Harr who posts prayers and reflections at In His Footsteps; John Birch who posts Celtic Prayers and Resources atFaith and Worship; Mary Plate DeJong who leads pilgrimages to Iona Scotland and is Forest Steward for one of Seattle’s urban forests and Mark Scandrette author ofPracticing the Way of Jesus and founding director of ReIMAGINE in San Francisco.
There are too many prayers for a single post, so I will post some today and some tomorrow. If you would like to access these prayers and reflections each day (and see all the beautiful images that accompany them) please “like” the Light for the Journey Facebook page.
God my creator,
Draw me closer.
Christ my redeemer,
Draw me closer.
Spirit my advocate,
Draw me closer.
Let the eyes of my heart rest on you.
———————
God may I give myself only
to that which satisfies my heart,
May I give myself only
to that which strengthens my soul,
May I give myself only
to that which draws me closer to you.
———————
God you are love,
All you are expresses love,
All you do flows from love.
Lord wipe the scales from our eyes,
That we might see what love is doing.
———————–
Eternal God, Creator of all that is,
all that was, all that will ever be.
You who made the sun and moon,
Who brought night and day into being,
Transform our darkness into light,
Renew us, restore us, redeem us,
Let your presence shine through us,
That all might see.
———————-
This is your world I step upon
the air I breathe
the food I eat
This is your world I step upon
the sounds I hear
the people I meet
This is your world I step upon
your footsteps
where I place my feet
————————
Lord Jesus Christ let your words flow into my soul,
Let them nourish me,
Let them grow within me,
Let their truths rise up within me,
Let them give me life.
————————
Let this moment settle in my heart,
Let all that it holds rest secure in the love of God,
Let the wonder of the holy One
radiate from the centre of my being,
Until the reality of Christ’s inner presence
Spills out into the world around me.
—————————-
Bonnie Harr – Aspen Praise
Halloween lantern
This morning I was reading through Green America and came across an interesting article on Halloween. Now, I am not an advocate for Halloween. It always seems weird to me that Christians celebrate it as much as non-Christians. But here in America it is such a part of the culture that this rarely seems to be questioned. And I certainly know it is coming because the number of horror movies on T.V. has increased astronomically. So instead I thought that I would turn my thoughts to preparations for the season.
First some thoughts from the Green America article and elsewhere you may want to consider:
- Face paint: A 2009 study by the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics found that 10 out of 10 children’s face paints tested contained at least trace levels of lead. This article provides some DIY alternatives.
- The Candy Problem: In 2017, 41 million kids in the U.S. went trick or treating. Last year Americans spent something like $2.6 billion on Halloween candy. No wonder one out of three children in America are overweight and many will develop diabetes. Consider making your own healthy treats, giving out non-food items like polished stones, temporary tattoos, or friendship bracelets.
- Swap costumes: Millions of costumes are purchased in the U.S. each year. Consider holding a pre-Halloween party to swap, mend, make or borrow costumes from your friends.
- Reverse Trick or Treating: I wrote about this a couple of years ago in this article. My growing concern for just working conditions for children makes me a strong advocate for this. I think it is a wonderful way to raise awareness of these issues and show consistency for our values.
- Hold an All Saints Party. Rather than celebrating Halloween celebrate All Saints Day November 1st. Have kids dress up as their favourite person or saint. Share stories, decorate pumpkins if you must but also consider some alternatives like decorating window panes with non toxic paints, making Christmas decorations and wreaths.
- Organize a Community or Neighbourhood Event. Green Halloween started in Seattle but grew into a national phenomenon with community events at more than 50 locations. You might want to join in the fun and get to know some of your neighbours.
- Make the most of you pumpkins: Kids and adults alike love carving and decorating pumpkins, but I hate to watch them slowly rotting on the porch. So here are some thoughts to use that pumpkin more effectively. Save the seeds and toast them in the oven with a little salt. Use the pumpkin flesh (discarding any melted wax) to make pumpkin pie, pumpkin soup and pumpkin bread.
Book of Kells
This morning in Desert Fathers and Mothers: Early Christian Wisdom Sayings I read that the early monks memorized a lot of scripture, especially the psalms. It was partly because books were extremely expensive and relatively unavailable, but it was also because learning texts “by heart” provided a reservoir of wisdom within their hearts which was always available to draw on.
How many of us memorize large portions of scripture today? How often do we draw from these inner reserves rather than running to a book or a website for the scriptures we want to reference? Memorizing scripture does lodge it in in our hearts in a way that reading the verses in a book or online never does. The scriptures resonate in our souls flowing out into our bodies and often into our daily thoughts and activities. Lectio divina often accomplishes this same increased intimacy with God through the revelation of God’s word.
So my challenge to you today is – What could you do to lodge the words of God more deeply in your heart? How could you develop a discipline of regular scripture memorization?
The following prayer was posted on the Light for the Journey Facebook page a couple of days ago – enjoy
“We cannot find God in noise and agitation.
Nature: trees, flowers, and grass grow in silence. The stars, the moon, and the sun move in silence.
What is essential is not what we say but what God tells us and what He tells others through us.
In silence He listens to us; in silence He speaks to our souls.
In silence we are granted the privilege of listening to His voice.
Silence of our eyes.
Silence of our ears.
Silence of our mouths.
Silence of our minds.
…in the silence of the heart
God will speak.”
Mother Teresa, from No Greater Love
Blessing the animals
October 4th is the Feast of St Francis St. Francis who founded the Franciscan Order. He is the patron saint for animals, the environment and Italy. Many churches around the world are getting ready to bless the animals either on that day or on the following Sunday. It is a fun experience. At our church last year our dog Bonnie was just one of the dogs and cats gathered around the labyrinth to be blessed.
This celebration is increasing in popularity as people reconnect to the earth and the animals it nourishes. This year the Diocese of Olympia will bless the animals at Woodland Park Zoo here in Seattle, as part of an emerging mission of “outdoor church” in the Diocese of Olympia which conducts ritual gatherings in public places. St. Andrew and St. Margaret of Scotland Church in Alexandria Virginia holds their blessing in conjunction with a petting zoo and opportunity for participants to adopt animals.
The blessing of the animals does far more then acknowledge that we are the stewards of creation, a viewpoint that can still consciously or unconsciously make us feel that we have control and power over the rest of God’s creation. Blessing of the animals reminds us that God created all life and infuses all life with a part of the divine essence. That doesn’t mean that all animals are made in the image of God – that language is reserved for humans. But think about it. Whenever you make something, part of your personality, your creativity, your passion goes into that creation. I am sure that is true for God’s creativity too. Anyone who has a dog and experiences their unconditional love will affirm this.
Last year I wrote this post about animal blessing, highlighting the work of Episcopal Relief and Development and their free resource from which the liturgy I posted was drawn. This morning I was thinking about the many other organizations I know that work to provide families with animals that sustain them and help to draw them out of poverty. Others work to preserve the world’s wild animals. Still others rescue animals that are abused and mistreated or abandoned. Still others train service dogs to work with the disabled. Here are a few that you might want to highlight in your prayers:
The Royal Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals
American Service Animal Society
Bonnie Harr prayer
Its the end of the week. Time to post prayers from my facebook page Light for the Journey. You will notice that there is a lot more to post this week. I am enlisting the help of others in posting on this page and am excited at the broadening richness of prayers and reflections this will make possible. New contributors to the page include Jamie Arpin Ricci author of The Cost of Community and founder of Litte Flowers community in Winnipeg Manitoba; Phileena Heuertz co-founder of Word Made Flesh and author of Pilgrimage of a Soul; Micha Jazz a contemplative activist in Chichester UK and a member of the Axiom Monastic Community; Bonnie Harr who posts prayers and reflections at In His Footsteps; John Birch who posts Celtic Prayers and Resources at Faith and Worship; Mary Plate DeJong who leads pilgrimages to Iona Scotland and is Forest Steward for one of Seattle’s urban forests and Mark Scandrette author of Practicing the Way of Jesus and founding director of ReIMAGINE in San Francisco.
If you would like to access these prayers and reflections each day please like the Light for the Journey Facebook page
Calm my wandering thoughts O Lord,
Quiet the turmoil of my soul.
Place your hand upon me,
Let me touch the deep abiding stillness,
In which your presence dwells.
————————–
God’s heartbeat pumps within us
and gives us life.
Gods Spirit dwells within us
and shows us truth.
God’s love grows within us
and brings us hope.
May God’s presence guide our feet
and keep us on the path of faithfulness.
——————————
It is for you we live O Christ,
Fulfill your faithful promises,
Answer our needs O Lord.
Fill us with joy and peace
And show us the light of your face.
——————————
O God your love is eternal,
It exceeds all we ever knew of you.
Your faithfulness strengthens my soul
It fills me with the goodness of life.
——————————
Bless this day
all that I might see
all that I might hear
all that I might say
Bless this day
all that I might comfort
all that I might help
all that I might guide
Bless this day
—————————-
I lay my head to rest
and in doing so
lay at your feet
the faces I have seen
the voices I have heard
the words I have spoken
the hands I have shaken
the service I have given
the joys I have shared
the sorrows revealed
I lay them at your feet
and in doing so
lay my head to rest
—————————-
Praying The Sermon On The Mount
Lord and Creator, let us embrace the costly blessings which you desire for us, blessings that confound the wisdom and strength of this world.
Teach us to be your agents of preservation in a world touched by death, and beacons of hope in a world shrouded in darkness.
Transform us into your image through the crucible of the cross, writing your mandates upon our hearts, made pure by you perfect love.
Embolden us to be your ambassadors,
Living as representatives of your holy kingdom, stirring in us your love for others, especially for those who would seek to destroy us because of you.
Make us decrease so that you might increase, as a watching world sees you, not us.
Daily we declare that your priorities are ours, even before our own needs and desires.
Every moment we live, we live for your glory—the glory of a loving Father and a just King.
Free us of any distraction, craving or anxiety that would keep us from fully following you.
For we acknowledge that everything we could possibly need is yours to give us. Remind us of our sinful brokenness and your gift of grace as we encounter brokenness in others.
You are the answer to our every question. you are the treasure that we desperately seek, and it is you who invite us into your salvation, as prodigals returning to the Father’s embrace.
Keep us upon your path of righteousness and justice, bearing the good fruit of your Spirit, for it is on you, Lord Jesus, that all hope is built,
For all of creation, now and forever more.
Amen
A prayer from The Cost of Community by Jamie Arpin Ricci
A meditation by Micha Jazz:
The prayers for my Morning office today opened with the splendid declaration ‘Let us give glory to God on high, who from His fullness have received grace upon grace’. This was a wonderful reflection and indeed provocation since I had been awake burning the midnight oil, with my head filled with cascading thoughts. Yet to be reminded and remind myself that ours, mine, is a life forged from grace and sustained by grace is indeed timely. I feel acutely my inability to find my way back into the workplace following Katey’s death four years ago – the mediation service I work with for two days a week isn’t growing and after 13 years is much as it ever as. Holding onto grace when all I want to do is implode is indeed a discipline and a constructive practice. lord in your mercy, hear my prayer. MJ
Return to Our Senses cover
A couple of years ago on this blog I asked my readers: What makes you feel close to God? Dozens of people responded with concrete illustrations about how they connect to God. They talked about playing with kids, turning the compost pile, washing the dishes and writing on their blogs. Two things surprised me. First no one mentioned church or Bible study. Second most people come closest to God in tangible everyday activities yet rarely identify these as spiritual practices or forms of prayer.
That observation started me on a journey in which I began to rediscover the richness of a life in which prayer permeates all my daily activities. My journey has opened windows into the loving nature of God far beyond my imaginings. It has exposed me to prayer traditions I never knew existed and it has brought me together with others who also hunger for a deeper, more life encompassing relationship with God. Much of what I have learned has been shared as blog posts over the years, but I have constantly been encouraged to bring these thoughts together in a more cohesive form. The result is a new book entitled Return to Our Senses: Re-imagining How We Pray.
The intent of this book is to deepen intimacy with our loving, caring God by exploring new approaches to prayer that connect our spiritual practices to our everyday lives. Some have existed for centuries and only require us to tap into the rich knowledge and practices of ancient followers of Christ to access them. Others will be newly created springing fresh from our imaginations and creativity, specially designed for intimacy with God in our present culture. Our God is a God of endless creativity and imagination which has been passed on to us. Each moment is, I believe, pregnant with new possibilities, new concrete expressions of prayer waiting to be born.
I am really excited by this book and have already had such good feedback that I know others are too. Brian McLaren told me “This book really touched my heart”. Jamie Arpin Ricci commented “This is a very timely book.” Michael Frost calls it “a handbook on the development of a habit of prayer and spiritual practices that directs us and others to God’s just and peaceable future.”
The book will be published through MSA publications and should be available mid November but I wanted to give you all the opportunity to pre-order a copy now at a discounted price of $15 including U.S. postage.
You’ll probably get sick of me talking about the book in the next few weeks as I continue to share stories and ideas from it. However if you wanted to be at the top of the line when we start mailing copies you can find out more information and order your copy now.
As an Amazon Associate, I receive a small amount for purchases made through appropriate links.
Thank you for supporting Godspace in this way.
When referencing or quoting Godspace Light, please be sure to include the Author (Christine Sine unless otherwise noted), the Title of the article or resource, the Source link where appropriate, and ©Godspacelight.com. Thank you!