Filed under: Richard Rohr, prayers | Tags: christian spirituality, Christianity, contemplative prayer, Emerging Church, Evangelicalism, God, Mysticism, prayer, Religion, Richard Rohr, spiritual formation, spirituality, Trinity Prayer
God For Us, we call You Father,
God Alongside Us, we call You Jesus,
God Within Us, we call You Holy Spirit.
You are the Eternal Mystery
That enables, enfolds, and enlivens all things,
Even us, and even me.
Every name falls short of your
Goodness and Greatness.
We can only see who You are in what is.
We ask for such perfect seeing.
As it was in the begining, is now,
and ever shall be. Amen.
Filed under: Thomas Merton, prayers | Tags: Celtic Christianity, christian spirituality, Christianity, contemplative prayer, Discipleship, Emergent Church, Evangelicalism, God, Jesus, Mysticism, prayer, Religion, spiritual discipline, spiritual disciplines, spirituality, Thomas Merton
One of our great problems is to see clearly what we have to resist. I would say that at the moment we have to understand better than we do the war mentality. If we do not understand it, we will run the risk of contributing to its confusions and thereby helping the enemies of man and of peace. The great danger is that under the pressures of anxiety and fear, the alternation of crisis and relaxation and new crisis, the people of the world will come to accept gradually the idea of war, the idea of submission to total power, and the abdication of reason, spirit and individual conscience. The great peril is the deadening of conscience.
Thomas Merton, The Book of Hours (Notre Dame: Sorin Books) 124.
Filed under: My prayers, Politic, prayers | Tags: christian spirituality, Christianity, contemplative prayer, Democratic National Convention, Discipleship, Mysticism, Nonviolence, Nonviolent Activism, Peace, Politics, Religion, Republican National Convention, spiritual formation, spirituality, Theology
Oh God, there’s a glorious and powerful political convention coming to town.
Many think these people will protect us and keep us safe from evil.
Have mercy on us.
Many have given them their hope.
Have mercy on us.
Many have sworn to them their allegiance.
Have mercy on us.
Many have raised the flag above the cross.
Have mercy on us.
Help all of us, oh God, to be reminded of the difference between your kingdom and man’s kingdom.
Your order is full of peace, justice, compassion, and love.
Peace that ends war.
Justice that cares for the poor.
Compassion that understands an enemy’s story.
Love that sacrifices itself for a neighbor.
Man’s kingdom is full of sin: twisted politics, empty promises, gaudy rhetoric, corruption, and military violence.
Help us, oh God, to see the difference.
Be with the police this week, oh God.
As they are armed with tear gas, clubs, and guns; may such things stay holstered.
Have mercy on them and protect them from any harm.
Help them to maintain order in a humane way.
Let them look into the eyes of the protestors and see your divine creation.
Be with those who are protesting this week, oh God.
Have mercy on them and may their activism be nonviolent and non-passive.
Let them look into the eyes of the delegates and policemen and see your divine creation.
Let their marching beat like a drum for justice.
Let their chanting sound like a trumpet for peace.
Let their presence send a message of truth.
If there is violence, may it expose the wickedness of the perpetrator; may it stir empathy for the victim and the oppressed.
At the end of this convention, at the end of this election, you are the everlasting God.
Some day, this earthly kingdom will find its end, as all do.
Your mustard seed kingdom has no end and is unstoppable.
Yours is the power and the glory forever and ever.
In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Amen.
Filed under: Christianity, prayers | Tags: Christianity, contemplation, Methodist Covenant Prayer, prayer, spirituality
I am no longer my own, but Thine.
Put me to what Thou wilt,
rank me with whom Thou wilt;
put me to doing, put me to suffering;
let me be employed for Thee
or laid aside for Thee;
let me be exalted for Thee,
or brought low for Thee;
let me be full, let me be empty;
let me have all things,
let me have nothing;
I freely and heartily yield all things
to Thy pleasure and disposal.And now, O glorious and blessed God,
Father, Son and Holy Spirit,
Thou art mine, and I am Thine.
So be it.
And the covenant
which I have made on earth,
let it be ratified in heaven.Amen.
From daily meditations at the North Umbria Community.
Filed under: Peace and Justice, Saint Francis of Assisi, prayers | Tags: Christianity, contemplation, Instrument of Peace, Peace, prayer, Saint Francis, spirituality
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
Where there is injury, pardon;
Where there is doubt, faith;
Where there is despair, hope;
Where there is darkness, light;
And where there is sadness, joy.
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;
And it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.
Filed under: Christianity, Poetry, Wendell Berry, prayers | Tags: Christianity, Faith, Holy Spirit, Mysticism, Religion, spirituality, The Selected Poems of Wendell Berry, Wendell Berry
O Thou far off and near, whole and broken,
Who in necessity and bounty wait,
Whose truth is light and dark, mute though spoken,
By Thy wide grace show me Thy narrow gate
Wendell Berry, The Selected Poems of Wendell Berry (New York: Counterpoint Publishing, 1998), 107.
For each new morning with its light,
For rest and shelter of the night,
For health and food,
For love and friends,
For everything Thy goodness sends.
- Ralph Waldo Emerson
A friend shared this prayer with me today. Thought it was pretty inspiring so I’ll pass it on as well…..
May God bless you with discomfort at easy answers, half truths, and superficial relationships, so that you may live deep within your heart.
May God bless you with anger at injustice, oppression, and exploitation of people, so that you may work for justice, freedom, and peace.
May God bless you with tears to shed for those who suffer from pain, rejection, starvation, and war, so that you may reach out your hand to comfort them and to turn their pain into joy.
And may God bless you with enough foolishness to believe that you can make a difference in this world, so that you can do what others claim cannot be done.
It helps, now and then, to step back and take a long view.
The kingdom is not only beyond our efforts,it is even beyond our vision.
We accomplish in our lifetime only a tiny fractionof the magnificent enterprise that is God’s work.
Nothing we do is complete, which is a way of sayingthat the kingdom always lies beyond us.
No statement says all that could be said.
No prayer fully expresses our faith.
No confession brings perfection.
No pastoral visit brings wholeness.
No program accomplishes the church’s mission.
No set of goals and objectives includes everything.
This is what we are about.We plant the seeds that one day will grow.
We water seeds already planted,knowing that they hold future promise.
We lay foundations that will need further development.
We provide yeast that produces far beyond our capabilities.
We cannot do everything, and there is a sense of liberationin realizing that.
This enables us to do something,and to do it very well.
It may be incomplete,but it is a beginning, a step along the way,an opportunity for the Lord’s grace to enter and do the rest.
We may never see the end results, but that is the differencebetween the master builder and the worker.
We are workers, not master builders; ministers, not messiahs.We are prophets of a future not our own.
Amen.
