A Place Apart Home www.apartvermont.org
March 15, 2011: Prayer Reading for Third Tuesdays Call
The following is based on several versions of the book of common prayer, and A Place Apart readings compiled and altered for Third Tuesdays Prayer.
Leaders read plain text, group reads response in bold.
Holy, Holy, Holy
Creator God
Beyond Comprehension,
Beyond mystery,
Present within every created thing,
Nurture the mystic within me.
Nurture the mystic within us.
Holy God,
Baptize me in your Holy Spirit
To speak in both human and angelic tongues.
Holy Spirit
Consume me in your holy fire.
Nurture the artist within me.
Nurture the artist within us.
May the work of my hands,
Impart the essence of my soul.
We offer our hands to you.
Allow me to enter into:
The song of the hermit thrush on the lower branches,
The beating heart of the winter wren on the stone wall,
The flight of the kittywake off the cliff’s ledge above the waves,
The eyes of the barred owl in the winter night.
Allow us to enter in and be changed.
Lord, let my soul rise up to meet you
as the day rises to meet the sun.
Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit,
as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forever. Amen.
Come, let us bow down and bend the knee : let us kneel before the Lord our Maker.
Cleanse our hearts, Lord, by your Spirit : that we might praise your holy name.
(Based on Psalm 78:34 – 39)
Let us remember that God is our rock : and the Most High God our redeemer.
But we flattered You with our mouths : and lied to You with our tongues.
Our hearts were not steadfast toward You : and we were not faithful to Your covenant.
But You are so merciful that You forgive our sins and do not destroy us : many times You held back Your anger and did not permit Your wrath to be roused.
For You remember that we are but flesh : a breath that goes forth and does not return.
Cleanse our hearts, Lord, by your Spirit : that we might praise your holy name.
Benediction:
Remove the stone from the entrance
To the cave that shelters my heart,
To see as you see,
To love as you love,
To embody in my life
The message of the gospel
Revealed and set free in Christ.
After drawing my last breath
My body will merge into the earth
To be taken by spring rains
Into the streams flowing into rivers
To the oceans that touch every shore,
As my soul O God
Flows into you.
Holy God unite me
To the heartbeat of God,
The glowing heartbeat of life.
In your Spirit’s presence
I am fully alive.
