Inspirations

Caregiving God 12/10/2019
Caregiving God,
providing for our needs,
as you long to fill the hungry with food,
so also fill our imagination
with people and things that are just true,
excellent, noble, and worthy of praise,
that by dwelling on the beauty of goodness,
we may grow into it day by day
as students of Christ
in whose name we pray, Amen.

~ Brian Wren

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Second Sunday in Advent 12/9/2019
Our God, who sends your most valuable gifts as tiny children,
And teaches us to love each other by first loving us,
Remind us again that two candles always give twice as much light,
And that only in community can we receive and share your gifts.
As we lovingly shop,
Help us remember that our gifts are symbols of your incredible life.
Help us remember people who may receive no gifts,
And sometimes even may receive no love that they can recognize.
Teach us to see that no child of yours is unlovable.
Come, Lord Jesus!
~ Kit Kuperstock

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SAPENTIA – WISDOM 12/6/2019
Prayer
O Wisdom, breath of God’s power,
Your glory fills the streets and skies,
Your order all things sweetly and justly:
Come, blow us clean
And teach us wonder and truth.
~ Ruth Burgess

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Midwinter prayer 12/5/2019
God of all creation
of bare forest and low northern skies
of paths unknown and never to be taken
of bramble, sparrow and damp, dark earth

we thank you for loss, for the breaking of the dimming year
we thank you for light, even in its seeming midwinter falling
we thank you for life, for its hope and resistance
like a seed dying and living.

~Rachel Mann

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Night is drawing nigh –
“How long the road is. But, for all the time the journey has already taken, how you have needed every second of it in order to learn what the road passes-by.
~ Dag Hammarskjold  12/4/2019

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Giver of Hope 12/3/2019
Spirit of God,
you open doors that are locked,
break the shackles of slavery,
erode the pyramids of domination,
and tumble tyrants from their thrones.

You give us life
and whisper in our hearts,
“You are God’s beloved child,
and always will be.”

Deep in every human heart
you plant a seed of promise,
a glimmer of expectation,
and a spark of hope.

~ Brian Wren

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First Sunday in Advent 12/2/2019

Creator of infinite stretches of icy universe,

Now is the time we need to address you as Father, as Mother.

Daylight has shrunk. Out in the darkness, people are cold.

You have promised that your word will become flesh and dwell among us,

Bringing your peace and love and joy.

In the cold and the dark,

give us the courage to light one candle,

And share your light with all those around us.  Come, Lord Jesus!

~ Kit Kuperstock

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An Ashanti (West African) Prayer 11/28/2019
O God, creator of our land,
our earth, the trees, the animals and humans, all is for your honor.

The drums beat it out, and people sing about it,
and they dance with noisy joy that you are the Lord.

Blessing 11/27/2019

​”May you never feel alone in the struggle for justice and peace. ​

May you know the support of family and friends

and people who feel as passionately about the world as you do.​

May you feel a part of the great cloud of witnesses who, through the ages, did God’s work and prayed for the coming of the Kingdom. ​

May you never feel alone.  And if you do, may you carry in your heart the words of Jesus, who told his friends: ‘I am with you always.'”​

~Neil Paynter

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Your life is living me 11/26/2019

Beloved God:

Remind me that your life is living me. Your love is holding me.

Your presence is surrounding me. Your being is blessing me.

Your wisdom is guiding me. Your light is leading me.

Your creation is nurturing me. Your power is protecting me.

Your will is shaping me. Your name is claiming me.

Your Son is healing me. Your Spirit is transforming me.

How could I ever feel alone?

Amen.

~Peter Traben Haas

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 Showing Up 11/25/2019

You

Are holy

And sacred

And utterly unique.

There are gifts you were born to give.

Songs you were born to sing

Stories you were born to tell.

And if you do not give it,

The world will simply lose it.

It is yours alone to offer,

No one can give it for you.

And dearest,

Listen, because this is important,

This wounded world

Needs all the songs we can pull from the air,
Every story that helps us to remember.

It needs every single gift,

Large and small.

And yes,

Dearest,

This grateful world does rejoice

Every courageous time

We are true to ourselves and to our gifts.

And so it is,

Dear heart,

We embrace the song

And the story

And all our gifts

Because the world has such great need

And because the world exceedingly rejoices

And because there is no sadder thing

Than to leave this world

Having never really shown up.

~ Carrie Newcomer

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Prayer for Friendship 11/22/2019

You have blessed us, O God,

with the gift of friendship,

the bonding of persons

in a circle of love.

We thank you for such a blessing:

for friends who love us,

who share our sorrows,

who laugh with us in celebration,

who bear our pain,

who need us as we need them,

who weep as we weep,

who hold us when words fail,

and who give us the freedom

to be ourselves.

Bless our friends with health,

wholeness, life, and love;

in Christ’s name we pray.

Amen.

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Source of Time and Space 11/21/2019

Avinu Malkeyinu!

From infinity draw down to us

The great renewal

And attune us to Your intent

So that Wisdom, Your daughter

Flow into our awareness

To awaken us to see ahead

So we help instead of hard.

May all the devices we make use of

Be sparing and protecting Your creation.

Help us

To set right what we have debased

To heal what we have made ill

To care for and to restore what we have injured.

Bless our Earth, our home

And show us all how to care for her

So that we might live Your promise given to our forebears,

To live heavenly days

Right here on this Earth

May all beings

Whom You have fashioned

Become aware that it is You

Who has given them being.

May we realize that

You shaped our lives

And may each one who breathes

Join with others who breathe

In the delight of shared knowing

That You are the Source of all breath.

Assist us in learning how to partner

With family, neighbors, and friends.

Aid us is dissolving old enmities.

May we come to honor,

Even in those whom we fear,

Your image and form, Your light

Dwelling in their hearts.

May we soon see the day when

Your House will be indeed

The House of prayer for all peoples,

Named and celebrated

In every tongue and speech.

On that day You will be one

And one with all cosmic Life.

Amen!

Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi

World Wisdom Chair, The Naropa Institute, Colorado

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A blessing 11/20/2019

May the blessing of light be on you,

light without and light within.

May the blessed sunlight shine upon you

and warm your heart

till it glows like a great fire

and strangers may warm themselves

as well as friends.

 

And may the light shine out of the eyes of you,

like a candle set

in the window of a house,

bidding the wanderer to come in

out of the storm.

 

May the blessing of rain be on you,

the soft sweet rain.

May it fall upon your spirit

so that little flowers may spring up

and shed their sweetness on the air.

 

And may the blessing of the great rains be on you,

to beat upon your spirit

and wash it fair and clean;

and leave there many a shining pool

where the blue of heaven shines,

and sometimes a star.

 

May the blessing of the earth be on you,

the great round earth.

May you ever have a kindly greeting for people

as you’re going along the roads.

 

And now may the Lord bless you,

and bless you kindly. Amen.

Irish Traditional

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Spirit of InterBeing 11/19/19

There is no separation from you,

No disconnection or apartness.

There is no place where you are not,

No inner sanctum without your life.

When the breath of creation fills us,

You move on as an intricate part of our being.

Every sacrament of life invites a reminder

Of how deeply wedded we are to you,

Each situation contains an opportunity

To engage with this profound oneness.

Today: I reflect on my unity with Spirit of InterBeing

~ Joyce Rupp

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Racism 11/15/2019

Why this strong tempation to shy at creation

and boil down every person to inferior parts?

We’re all different

special

valued

far from perfect, but with impact

for we’re fashioned in the image of a bright imagination!

Resist the chance to hurl abuse and praise instead the God who gives

us huge variety to broadcast thanks!

~ Peter Comaish

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God of Hope 11/14/19

God of hope we ask you

To clothe us in compassion

And enfold us in your love.

Send us out with the joy of Christ

To feed the hungry with good things.

Send us out in the peace of Christ

To prepare a banquet for all peoples.

For you will lift the pall of death

And banish our sorrow.

You will wipe away our tears

And we will dance with joy.

Send us out

There will be no more mourning

Send us out

There will be no more pain.

God of hope, we hear you

God of life, we will answer your call.

~ Linda Jones

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Peace to the World 11/13/19

Peace to the world

Peace to the city

Peace to the village

Peace to the desert

Peace to Mother Earth

Peace to cosmos

Peace to you

Peace to me

Peace to my neighbor

Peace to my enemy

Peace to whom it may concern

Peace, Peace, Peace!

~ Elizabeth Tapia

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ALLOTMENTS 11/12/2019

Past the pool table lawns, the paved paths and graveled drives

At the end of the alleyway

Are sagging wire fences,

Erect leeks and onions in military rows,

Home-made compost bins,

Hedges of runner beans,

Cloches made from discarded window glass

And pumpkins like rocs’ eggs in straw and manure nests.

Here the growing of crops still needs sweaty brows:

Stewards and Creator rub along together.

Brian Ford

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A Prayer for the Church 11/8/2019

Bless you, Wise and Holy One, for your call to be your Word-made-flesh in the world.  
Enable us to be a church that dares to seek justice where others fear to tread; a church that cares not just for its own kind but for animal, plant, and planet, too; a church that has the grace to admit its mistakes – and the wisdom to learn from them.  

Inspire us to be not a church that blindly follows in the footsteps of Jesus but one that seeks when he sough – how to seek justice without sacrificing mercy; how to keep the peace without sacrificing the truth; how to be loving without counting the cost to ourselves.

Bless you, Wise and Holy One, for your high calling to be your church in your world.  Amen 

~ Norm S.D. Edson

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11/7/2019

God of my intregrity,

In whom knowledge of truth

And passion for justice are one;

My heart was sentimental and you cleansed it

With your rigorous mercy;

My thoughts were rigid and you engaged them

With your compassionate mind.

Heal my fragmented soul;

Teach my naivety;

Confront my laziness;

And infame my longing

To know your loving discernment

And live out our active love;

Through Jesus Christ, Amen.

~ Janet Morley

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 Autumn Leaf 11/6/2019
This autumn
shall be for me
the most glorious
of them all
for I shall no longer
struggle possessively
to clutch life
but instead
like a leaf
let myself
be blown
by God’s spirit
and whenever
I touch the earth
sing the song of the universe
dance in the power of God’s grace
and with tenderness
offer myself
to all.
~ William L. Wallace

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THE CLOSENESS OF GOD 11/5/2019

In the glow of candlelight

amidst the shadows

God folds us

in the soft cloak of eventide

Jesus bids us

to the warm hearth of welcome

The Spirit settles us

with the safe dream of sleep

May the anxieties of the day

leave us

May the fears of the night

leave us

May the closeness of God

leave us feeling beloved

~ Elizabeth Baxter

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Encourager of the Morning 11/4/2019

The yawns, groans, and stretches
That come with first awakening
Reflect the mornings of my spirit.
There, too, I slowly become alert
To what requires my attentiveness.
You gently approach my drowsy self
Like a mother stirring her child awake,
Calling me from my sleep of indifference,
Insisting on my rising to your presence
And attentively greeting my inner light.
Today: I awaken to what sleeps in me.

~ Macrina Wiederkehr

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11/1/2019

Love is heaven revealed in the soul; it is light and truth; it is infallible; it has no errors, for all errors are the want of love.

Love has no more of pride than light has of darkness; it stands and bears all its fruit from a depth and root of humility.

Love is of no sect of party; it neither makes nor admits of any bounds; you may as easily enclose the light or shut up the air of the worlds in one place, as confine love to a sect or party.  It lives in the liberty, the universality, the impartiality of heaven.

~ William Law

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Universal Prayer for Peace 10/30/2019

Lead us from death to life,
from falsehood to truth.
Lead us from despair to hope,
from fear to trust.
Lead us from hate to love,
from war to peace.
Let peace fill our hearts,
our world, our universe.
Let us dream together,
pray together
work together,
to build one world
of peace and justice for all.  

~ Kathy Keay

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10/29/2019

Lord make us instruments of your peace.

Where there is hatred, let us sow love.

Where there is injury, pardon.

Where there is doubt, faith.

Where there is despair, hope.

Where there is sadness, joy.

O divine Master,

Grant that we may not so much seek

To be consoled as to console.

To be understood as to understand.

To be loved as to love.

For it is in giving that we receive,

It is in pardoning that we are pardoned,

It is in dying that we are born again

To everlasting life. Amen.

By John Smith

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 Messenger​ 10/28/2019

My work is loving the word. 

Here the sunflowers, there the hummingbird–

     equal seekers of sweetness.

Here the quickening yeast; there the blue plums.

Here the clam deep in the speckled sand.​

Are my boots old? Is my coat torn?

Am I no longer young, and still not half-perfect? 

Let me keep my mind on what matters, 

which is my work. ​

which is mostly standing still and learning to be

     astonished. 

The phoebe, the delphinium, 

The sheep in the pasture, and the pasture.

Which is mostly rejoicing, since all the ingredients are here.​

which is gratitude to be given a mind and a heart

     and these body-clothes, 

a mount with which to give shouts of joy

     to the moth and the wren, to the sleepy dug-up clam, 

telling them all, over and over, how it is 

     that we live forever.” ​

                      ~Mary Oliver

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God, Thanks for Welcoming Me Again 10/25/2019

God, thanks for welcoming me again.

I look into my heart, and I am not proud of what I see there. I look into my mind, and it is cluttered with worries and concerns and important business. I look at my hands, and they are full of the things I think I need for my comfort and security. 

God, you welcome me before I am ready, but while I am still in a mess. But you don’t care about the mess.

You can see deeper into my heart, to the beauty and potential you have made there. You know what my mind will be like when I have learned how to stop being so serious and worried about life and work.  You know what my hands will hold when I have learned how to empty them for you to fill.

You love me and you love each one of us with the same enthusiasm and hope.  You know what we can be.  Help us to empty our hearts and minds and hands of all that is unnecessary and teach us how to care for and welcome one another every day, with the same affection and generosity with which you welcome us.

From the Iona Community Worship Book

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Not to do justice, no matter how slow it is in coming, is to risk the entire human enterprise. Carrie Chapman Cart put it this way: “When a just cause reaches its flood tide…whatever stands in the way must fall before its overwhelming power.”

What age is there that has not known the truth of that?

~ Joan Chittister 10/24/2019

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You meet me in gentleness.
You come close.
You take my coldness
and warm me from the inside.
As my cold heart melts, Lord,
let your streams flow through me
that I may play my part
in the renewing of the earth.

Based on words by Ulrich Schaffer 10/23/2019

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Mighty Unspeakable 10/22/2019 by Alice Smith

Astonishing
how little we know
of what there is
to know
but how eager we are
to reach
beyond our grasp.
We see images
and hear words,
then feel unknowable space
around images,
around words.
We sense unknowable silence
taking us to a deeper place
beyond images,
beyond words
and marvel at the mystery
that fills in all the gaps
in a mighty unspeakable way.

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Be Children of God 10/21/2019

Do Justice
Be strong
Be generous
Don’t ignore those who need you
Don’t damage the earth
Love mercy
Be kind
Be forgiving
Don’t bear grudges
Don’t withhold love
Walk humbly with your God
Be attentive
Be obedient
Don’t run away from wisdom
Don’t wander off the road
Love God with all that you have—
Your mind, your heart, your soul
Your dreams, your tears and laughter
And love your neighbor as you love yourself
Let your children play together;
Share your stories and your food
Be salt
Be light
Be leaven
Be happy
Be who you are
Be children of God.​

~Ruth Burgess

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The Earth is Our Mother 10/18/2019

Teach your children what we have taught our children;
that the earth is our mother.
This we know;
the earth does not belong to humanity;
humanity belongs to the earth.
This we know.
All things are connected like the blood
that unites one family.
Whatever befalls the earth befalls
the sons and daughters of the earth.
Men and women did not weave the web of life:
they are merely a strand in it.
Whatever they do to the web,
they do to themselves.
~ Chief Seattle to President of the U.S. 1854

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Pawnee Hako Ceremony 10/17/2019

Behold! Our Mother Earth is lying here.
Behold! She gives of her fruitfulness.
Truly, her power she gives us.
Give thanks to Mother Earth who lies here.
Behold! On Mother Earth the growing fields!
Behold the promise of her fruitfulness!
Truly, her power she gives us.
Give thanks to Mother Earth who lies here.
Behold on Mother Earth the spreading trees!
Behold the promise of her fruitfulness!
Truly, her power she gives us.
Give thanks to Mother Earth who lies here.
Behold on Mother Earth the running streams,
We see the promise of her fruitfulness.
Truly, her power she gives us.
Give thanks to Mother Earth who lies here.
~ Pawnee Hako Ceremony

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Native American Prayer 10/16/2019

Now Talking God
With your feet I walk
I walk with your limbs
I carry forth your body
For me your mind thinks
Your voice speaks for me
Beauty is before me
And beauty is behind me
Above and below me hovers the beautiful
I am surrounded by it
I am immersed in it
In my youth I am aware of it
And in old age I shall walk quietly
The beautiful trail.Your voice speaks for me

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Poem For Life 10/10/2019

(A Unison Reading)

Make peace with your parents before it is too late, for then you will realize you missed out on the best friends you could have had for life.

Make peace with your siblings, for they are a part of you and share the deepest feelings of the heart.

Make peace with yourself, for in this world all you have is you. Learn to love yourself, no matter your color, age, or sex, for everyone is beautiful in God’s eyes.

Make peace with each other. In a world so filled with turmoil and destruction we need not more aggravation to add to the burning fire. We are all brothers and sisters.

Make peace with God. For if you can accomplish a relationship with God, you can accomplish all.

~ Lisa Dawn Halden, age 15

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Encountering Difference 10/11/2019

You, Lord, are always ready to lift us up
whether we are short or tall,
black or white, rich or poor.
You know how stubborn we can be,
often too proud to change,
and to walk your way.
And as church too, Lord,
we are often reluctant to take risks
and embrace new things.
Into our messy lives
you sent your son
to show us how to step out boldly,
walking your way.
Lord,
cause us to be intentional
about embracing difference,
and courageous about encountering you.

~ Tessa Henry-Robinson

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Storm and Tide 10/10/2019

The tide is running high,
waves tumultuously fretting and crashing,
crashing and roaring,
white spume swirling,
powerfully withdrawing,
rushing back in muddy insidious swirls.
So the tide of humanity:
refugees desperately running, noisy warmongers proclaiming
in accents harsh and clipped,
the power of money greed and lust,
defrauding
abusing
grabbing.
As you stilled the storm
so long ago, O Christ,
calm our hateful hearts,
stem the tide of our wanton desires,
halt the march of invading might.
Bring healing, bring peace.

~ Kate McIIhagga

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Celtic Style Prayer of Confession 10/9/2019

O Christ of the endless mercies
we cry to you,
O Christ, unfailing fountian of goodness,
we cry to you,
O Christ the Savior of the lost,
we cry to you.
Lost on the dark moor
because we ignored Your Word with its warnings.
Have mercy on us,
restore us to the right path for Your Name’s sake.
Unclean because we sought pleasure and power in the wrong ways,
have mercy on us,
fill us with Your Joy as we walk Your Way.
Overwhelmed by the storms of life, adn near to shipwreck,
have mercy on us,
come to us walking upon the very waves which make us fear,
and give us Your Peace.
Swiftly come the Word of your Peace to all who cry in sincerity,
surely comes Your Salvation to all who reach out in penitence,
certain are Your Promises of Forgiveness and New Life
to all who know their need.
‘I came to seek and to save those who are lost,’
Glory be to the Christ who has found us.
‘Now you are clean by the Word which I speak to you.’
Glory be to the Christ who washes us clean.
‘O you of little faith, why did you doubt? Peace to you.’
Glory be to the Christ who stills the storm and gives us peace.
Glory be to the Father of All Mercies,
Glory be to Jesus, Friend of Sinners,
Glory be to the Holy Spirit making us new,
to the One God be glory in the Church now and for ever, Amen.

~ Ian Cowie

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Stewardship of Self 10/8/2019

O Holy One – we lose ourselves
in worlds of our own making
Help us to find ourselves
in your creation – in a cleft of the rock
where stone and wave and heaven meet
where body, mind and spirit knit
where your Word made flesh again in us
restores in us your bread and wine
of the Christ’s self-giving love
Open a cleft in our self-made worlds
where your healing presence
can give us pause – give us rest
where our rendering unto Caesar
become an offering unto God
Blessed are you, O Holy One –
in each body, mind and spirit
you raise again your temple of the Christ’s self-giving love.

~ Norm S.D. Edson

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Count the Stars 10/7/19

“He brought him outside and said, “Look toward heaven and count the stars, if you are able to count them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your descendants be.” And he believed the Lord; and the Lord reckoned it to him as righteousness.” (Gen. 15:5-6)

Abraham’s countless stars hover over our troubled heads
Sarah’s skylights enlighten our skittish steps
our ancestors fill the night sky with testimony
this is not all there is, there is more to come
more than the terra and the ocean
the sky painted who flicks your future on midnight canvas
is making space for your story and song
making and guarding promises still unspoken
opening wormholes to times and places
ureachable by your linear, downward searching mind
so let that muscle in your forehead go and feel your brow drop
your heart slow and your brain relax and the flow flowing
and rocket on through fear until faith is your Milky Way

~ Michael Coffey

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Ground Me in Your Grace 10/4/2019

Eternal One, silence from whom my words come;
Questioner from whom my questions arise;
Lover of whom all my loves are hints;
Disturber in whom alone I find my rest;
Mystery in whose depts I find healing and myself;
enfold me now in your presence;
restore to me your peace;
renew me through your power;
and ground me in your grace.

~ Ted Loder, in Guerrillas of Grace: Prayers for the Battle

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The Words and Wondering of Being Alive 10/3/2019

I am thankful for:
Insights that show me straight lines are overrated,
logic and reason don’t solve everything,
the table is round
and there’s music in the air;quiet moments, noisy moments, inspiring moments;
voices that echo in my mind
and become friends;
all-sorted conversations;
seeds that don’t stay
where they are put;
my friend’s shoes that encourage walking on air
which is not an element for walking on;
earth-supported, water-washed, air-blessed, fire-inspired
bread and poetry;
people who in all their extraordinary ordinariness
turn up on the doorstep like parcels
of wonderful surprises;
connections and process;
being and becoming;
today and tomorrow, which are different
and always will be.

~ Joy Mead

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With Threads of Love 10/2/2019

New voices
new stories
fresh ideas
fresh perspectives
startling songs –
awesome adventures!

Each day is a sea to be surfed,
a mountain to be biked,
a rock to be scaled,
an injustice to be challenged.
Our deepest longing for all young people
is that their life is interwoven with the thread of love,
of joy,
of creativity
and of justice.

And that those who have lived longer
see God in these threads
and listen and learn
and give thanks.

~ Prayer from Iona Abbey

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Sounds of Silence 10/01/2019

In the ‘long boring kind’ of silence

We say ‘Be there, God’

In the ‘angry and frustrating kinds’ of silence

We say ‘Help us, God’

In the ‘quiet thinking kind’ of silence

We say ‘Think with us, God’

In the ‘don’t know how or what to say’ kind of silence

We say ‘Open us, God’

In the ‘humming bees and singing birds’ kind of silence

We say ‘Thank you, God’.

~ Hannah Warwicker and Janet Lees

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Needing Support Along the Way 9/30/2019

The ears of our God are tuned to all of us,
never missing the fragile voices or whispers of desperation,
hearing the messages within our messages,
listening for the silent sounds of the longing,
choosing the crying voices from with the louder sounds,
lifting up the voices of humanness,
the voices of caring,
the voices of the little and the least.

~ Dorothy McRae-McMahon

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The Blessing 9/27/2019

May the God who dances in creation,

who embraces us with human love,

who shakes our lives like thunder,

bless us and drive us out with power

to fill the world with her justice,

Amen.

~ Anne Ashworth

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Commitment to Learning the Ways of Jesus 9/26/2019

We are united in believing that our faith calls us to act justly in the world. And so we are a community committed to learning: learning what it means to follow the invitation of Jesus to abundant life.

• We are learning to ignore the noisy graffiti of scarcity and fear.
• We are learning to see sufficiency as the end, not the beginning.
• We are learning to give thanks for all that we have and to share it with whoever needs it.
• We are learning to each contribute what we can, aware of our place in the world.
• We are learning to uplift the many who are left out of the earth’s uneven abundance.
• We are learning to undo the hoarding of those with wrongful power and privlege.
• We are learning to resist militarism and its corrupting of our national culture.
• We are learning to find joy in savoring rather than consuming
• We will support one another in mutual prayer and diaog as we individually and collectively try to learn these ways.

~ Jack Nelson-Pallmeyer and Bret Hesla

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Returning to you in surrender 9/25/19

Beloved One:

Bless all students returning to school.

Bless all teachers returning to teach.

Bless all leaders returning to lead.

Bless all workers returning to labor.

Bless all beggars returning for more.

Bless all hearts returning to you in surrender.

Remind us all that your gift of grace takes us all the way home.  Amen

~ Peter Traben Haas

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You Who are in the Wind 9/24/2019

Almighty God,
you who are in the wind
that breathes on the sea,
and the waves of the ocean;
the seal on the rocks;
the lark in the heavens;
the rays of the sun;
and the glittering rock in the valley;
you who are in the whole of creation
and in your loved ones,
we give you thanks and offer praise.

~ The Society of the Lady of the Isles

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Allowing God to Play 9/23/19

Playful God who makes and builds
and takes delight,
shake us, tickle us, pull the rug
from underneath our heavy, leaden boots.
When we are too intent on
dotting “I’s” and crossing “T’s”
to hear the music of your Word,
playful God,
shake us, tickle us, pull the rug
from underneath our heavy, leaden boots.
When we confuse complexity with wisdom
and consign simplicity to the bin,
playful God,
shake us, tickle us, pull the rug
from underneath our heavy, leaden boots.
When we stifle quick wit & banter
and accommodate speech that’s dreary and dull,
playful God,
shake us, tickle us, pull the rug
from underneath our heavy, leaden boots.
Playful God, your Spirit beckons us to play.
Help us to join in!

~ Ian Fosten

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International Day of Prayer for Peace 9/20/19

Lord, teach us to see your world
as your love would make it;
a world where peace
is built with justice
and justice is guided by love.

Let our wrestling
with your truth
bear fruit in this world
and bring your kingdom closer.

Amen

~ Common Daily Prayer of Dominican Peace Action

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Needing Support Along the Way 9/19/19

The ears of our God are tuned to all of us, never missing the fragile voices or whispers of desperation, hearing the messages within our messages, listening for the silent sounds of longing, choosing the crying voices from within the louder sounds, lifting up the voices of humanness, the voices of caring, the voices of the little and the least.

~ Dorothy McRae-McMahon

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Terce 9/22/19

How wonderful is the human voice! It is indeed the organ of the soul!  The intellect of man sits enthroned visibly upon the forehead & in his eye; and the heart of man is written upon his countenance.  But the soul reveals itself in the voice only, as God revealed himself to the prophet of old, in “the still, small voice,” and in a voice from the burning bush.  The soul of man is audible, not visible.  A sound alone betrays the flowing of the eternal fountain, invisible to man!

~ Henry David Longfellow

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Rainbow World 9/17/19

Red, Orange, Yellow and Green,
Indigo, Violet and Blue –
all together reflecting
your great love
of diversity.

Not just White and Black
for your great vision.
Rather,
you shade in your world
with all the colours
of the rainbow.

I can picture you now,
at the dawn
of creation:
your artist’s brush and palette
and painting in every
shade and hue.

Creator God,
fill us with that same sense
of excitement
and wonder
and delight
as you,
at such richness
of diversity.

~ Susan Hardwick, England

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Intercessions 9/16/19

Peace between nations
Peace between neighbors
Peace between lovers
In love of the God of life.
Peace between man and woman
Peace between parent and child
Peace between brother and sister
The peace of Christ above all peace.
Bless O Christ my face
Let my face bless everything.
Bless O Christ my eyes
Let my eyes bless all they see.

Recall the events of the day
And pray for justice and peace.