June 14th, 2012

Image by Soniei http://www.fineartregistry.com/featured_artist/soniei.php

Litany   
North Umbrian Daily Office                                   
My soul waits for the Lord
more than those
who watch for the morning,
more than those
who watch for the morning.

Call: Out of the depths I have cried to You.
Response: O Lord, hear my voice.
Call: With my whole heart I want to praise You.
Response: O Lord, hear my voice.
Call: If you, Lord, should mark iniquities:
Response: Who could stand? who could stand?

I will wait for the Lord.
My soul waits,
and in His word
do I hope.

Lord, You have always given
bread for the coming day;
and though I am poor,
today I believe.

Lord, You have always given
strength for the coming day;
and though I am weak,
today I believe.

Lord, You have always given
peace for the coming day;
and though of anxious heart,
today I believe.

Lord, You have always kept
me safe in trials;
and now, tried as I am,
today I believe.

Lord, You have always marked
the road for the coming day;
and though it may be hidden,
today I believe.

Lord, You have always lightened
this darkness of mine;
and though the night is here,
today I believe.

Lord, You have always spoken
when time was ripe;
and though you be silent now,
today I believe.


Meditation
Please use this time for a silent meditation. Possibly reflect on ways the Creator has provided for you in the past. Or simply be present to the moment you are in and let thoughts and words recede away.

Photo Kimberly J. Glick
 

Benediction

May the blessing of the rain be on you—
the soft sweet rain.
May it fall upon your spirit
so that all the little flowers may spring up,
and shed their sweetness on the air.
May the blessing of the great rains be on you,
may they 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.

December 20, 2011

Adam Fleming sculpts Orange Infinity

Welcome to Third Tuesdays Prayer.  Leader reads the plain text, group reads the bold, and all join in the bold, italicized text.  Litany found at www.catholicdoors.com.

 

 

ADVENT LITANY

Lord Jesus, you are the light of the world.
Come, Lord Jesus.

You are light in our darkness.

Orange Infinity

Come, Lord Jesus.

Son of God, save us from our sins.

Come, Lord Jesus.

Son of Mary, deepen our love.
Come, Lord Jesus.

Bring hope into the lives of all people.
Come, Lord Jesus.

Give your peace to all nations.
Come, Lord Jesus.

Be the joy of all who love you.
Come, Lord Jesus.

Bring unity among all who believe in you.
Come, Lord Jesus.

Bless us as we gather here in your name.
Come, Lord Jesus.

Lord Jesus, stay with us always.
Come, Lord Jesus.

Let us pray:

May Christ give us his peace and joy,
and let us share them with others.
All peace and glory are his forever.

Amen.

Meditation 

Daddy by Timmy

The Lord of Advent tells us to be watchful for his coming, keeping our lamps lighted, and our hearts clean. Therefore let us confess to the Lord.

Silence for reflection.

What is the Sculptor forming in you? 

How can you yield to the time 

and pressure that formation requires? 

Do you allow the shaving, the 

pruning, or do you balk? 

What vision has the Lord given of the final, 

polished, light-bearing result?

Prayer for others 

Benediction
God and Father of all:

We prepare our hearts for the coming of your Son, 

confessing our sins, 

confessing our attraction 

to a godless world 

that does not know Christ.  

Forgive our sins, cleanse our hearts, 

and keep us faithful 

for the promised coming of your Son, 

Jesus Christ our Lord.  

God sent his Son, the Babe of Bethlehem, 

to show his infinite love and forgiveness for all. 

Your sins are forgiven in the holy name of  

Christ who came and will come again.

Amen.

November 15, 2011

Supernova.jpg

wallpaperblack.com

 Welcome to Third Tuesdays Prayer.  Leader reads plain text, group responds in bold. 

Liturgy (Daily Prayers for November 15 modified; from http://commonprayer.net)

 Risen Lord, teach us to trust : the power of your cross. 

(Psalm 78:18-22)They tested God in their hearts : demanding food for their craving. 

They railed against God and said : “Can God set a table in the wilderness?

True, he struck the rock, the waters gushed out, and the gullies overflowed : but is he able to give bread or to provide meat for his people?”
When the Lord heard this, he was full of wrath : a fire was kindled against Jacob, and his anger mounted against Israel;
for they had no faith in God : nor did they put their trust in his saving power.
Risen Lord, teach us to trust : the power of your cross.

news.xinhuanet.com

 

Prayer of Thanksgiving

  Walter Rauschenbusch 

From Living God’s Justice: Reflections and Prayers, 

compiled by The Roundtable Association of Diocesan Social Action Directors

O God, we thank you for this earth, our home;
For the wide sky and the blessed sun,
For the salt sea and the running water,
For the everlasting hills
And the never-resting winds,
For trees and the common grass underfoot.
We thank you for our senses
By which we hear the songs of birds,
And see the splendor of the summer fields,
And taste of the autumn fruits,
And rejoice in the feel of the snow,
And smell the breath of the spring.
Grant us a heart wide open to all this beauty;
And save our souls from being so blind
That we pass unseeing
When even the common thornbush
Is aflame with your glory,
O God our creator,
Who lives and reigns for ever and ever.

Meditation

Please take the following moments to reflect on your personal thanksgivings to our Lord.

hypergurl.com

Prayer for Others

Benediction

May the peace of the Lord Christ go with you : wherever he may send you;
may he guide you through the wilderness : protect you through the storm;
may he bring you home rejoicing : at the wonders he has shown you;
may he bring you home rejoicing : once again into our doors.

October 18, 2011

painting by Mark Daniels

 Welcome to Third Tuesdays Prayer.

Litany: Leader reads plain text, group responds with bold. The following is an excerpt from A Place Apart  daily prayer cycle for Wednesday evening

Jesus
Emmanuel, God with us,
Keep us mindful that you are within all
Who come to our door.
We pray for the gift of hospitality.
We pray for a loving spirit,
For a teaching spirit.
May our life together be our primary teaching.

Help me to strive to be least among
My sisters and brothers,
To kneel at their feet with basin and towel,
As Christ washed the disciples feet,
And called us to do likewise.
Bless our humble cells,
Our dwelling places
For solitary retreat
For rest
For study
For prayer
For sleep.
As sister death comes to me
And I leave the earthly table,
My body returned to the clay
From which I was formed,
You, O ever living Christ
Welcome the essential
Eternal part of me
To your eternal table.

Holy God
Holy communion
Holy order
Holy hours
Holy days
Holy seasons
Bless my sisters
Bless my brothers
The rhythms of the day
The work of my hands
My study
My prayer
The stranger you send to my door
My wounds
The Lord’s Prayer
Holy God guide me
And those who are absent from me

Meditation 

Icon by:Rita Stynes Strow The Cosmic Christ

Prayer for others

 

Benediction

Now may the Lord lift up the light 

of His countenance upon you, 

and give you peace, 

in your going out and in your coming in; 

in your sitting down and your rising up; 

in your work and in your play; 

in your joy and in your sorrow, 

in your laughter and in your tears; 

until that day comes 

which is without dawn and without dark. Amen.

                    - Thomas Graham

Sept 20, 2011 Third Tuesday Prayer

http://dailyspiritualtools.blogspot.com

Litany
Leader reads plain text, group reads bold text.
The following prayer is adapted by Sherill Hostetter (EMM) from Praying Our Goodbyes by Joyce Rupp



These transition days, these passage ways,
are calling me to let go of old securities,
to give myself over into Your hands
for a new chapter in my life.

Like Jesus who struggled with the pain
I, too, fight the "let it all be done"
Loneliness, lostness, non-belonging,
All these strike out at me,
leaving me pained with this present goodbye.

I want to be more but I fight the growing.
I want to be new but I hang onto the old.
I want to live but I won't face the dying.
I want to be whole but I cannot bear 
to gather the pieces into one.

Is it that I refuse to be out of control,
to let the tears take their tumbling journey,
to allow my spirit to feel its depression,
to stay with the insecurity of "no home"?

Now is the time.  You call to me,
begging me to let you have my life,
inviting me to taste the darkness
so I can be filled with the light,
allowing me to lose my direction
so that I will find my way home to you.

Meditation

Keltic Designs by Jen Delyth http://www.kelticdesigns.com/

Prayer for others

Benediction

Fractal of the Day by Jim Muth 
http://www.nahee.com/FOTD/FotD_99-11-10.html

For the promise of harvest

contained within a seed
we thank you.
For the oak tree
within an acorn
The bread
within a grain
The apple
within a pip
The mystery of nature
gift wrapped
for us to sow
we thank you

Amen.

Read more at: http://www.faithandworship.com/Praying_through_the_Celtic_Year.htm#ixzz1YMJC5870
Under Creative Commons License: Attribution

August 16, 2011

Welcome to Third Tuesdays prayer. Leader reads plain text, group reads the bold text.
Taken from the book of common prayers http://commonprayer.net.

O 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 sing to the Lord : let us shout for joy to the Rock of our salvation.

Expose our broken systems, Lord : save us by the power of your cross.

Taken from Psalm 80:1 – 3

Hear, O Shepherd of Israel, leading Joseph like a flock : shine forth, you that are enthroned upon the cherubim.

In the presence of Ephraim, Benjamin, and Manasseh : stir up your strength and come to help us.

Restore us, O God of hosts : show the light of your countenance, and we shall be saved.

Expose our broken systems, Lord : save us by the power of your cross.

Meditation

A quote from Dietrich Bonhoeffer: “The church’s task is not simply to bind the wounds of the victim beneath the wheel, but also to put a spoke in the wheel itself.”

In 1989, a Solidarity-led government was elected in Poland, marking the beginning of a nonviolent victory over communism in Eastern Europe.

Prayers for Others

Benediction

Our Father which 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 debts as we forgive our debtors.

And lead us not into temptation

but deliver us from evil

For thine is the Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory Forever.

Amen.

July 19, 2011

Taken from the common book of prayer, http://commonprayer.net

Leader reads plain text, group reads the bold text.

O 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 sing to the Lord : let us shout for joy to the Rock of our salvation.

Sing and rejoice, O daughters of Zion : sing a new song of freedom.

(Psalm 98:6 – 10)

Sing to the Lord with the harp : with the harp and the voice of song.

With trumpets and the sound of the horn : shout with joy before the King, the Lord.

Let the sea make a noise and all that is in it : the lands and those who dwell therein.

Let the rivers clap their hands : and let the hills ring out with joy before the Lord, when he comes to judge the earth.

In righteousness shall he judge the world : and the peoples with equity.

Sing and rejoice, O daughters of Zion : sing a new song of freedom.

Judges 16:15 – 31 Acts 22:17 – 29

Sing and rejoice, O daughters of Zion : sing a new song of freedom.

Meditation

On July 19, 1848, the first Women’s Rights Convention was held in Seneca Falls, New York, sparking a women’s movement that challenged both the church and the world with the good news that in -Jesus Christ, there is neither male nor female.

African-American abolitionist and women’s rights advocate Sojourner Truth said, “I have plowed and planted and gathered into barns, and no man could head me — ​and ain’t I a woman? I have born’d five childrun and seen ’em mos’ all sold off into slavery, and when I cried out with mother’s grief, none but -Jesus heard — ​and ain’t I a woman? . . . Den dat little man is back dar, he say women can’t have as much rights as man, ’cause Christ warn’t a woman. Whar did your Christ come from? From God and a woman! Man had nothing to do with him!”

Prayers for Others

Prayer For ArtistsAttributed To: Rev. Karl Ryland

We praise Thee for all those, Thy servants, who have given their life in the service of the true, the pure, and the lovely; for all who work in form and color to increase the joy of life; for all who rejoice in their work and make things well. May life perpetual shine upon them.

Once more a new day lies before us, our Father. As we go out among others to do our work, touching the hands and lives of our fellows,

make us, we pray Thee, friends of all the world. Save us from blighting the fresh flower of any heart by the flare of the sudden anger or secret hate. May we not bruise the rightful self-respect of any by contempt or malice. Help us to cheer the suffering by our sympathy, to freshen the drooping by our hopefulness, and to strengthen in all the wholesome sense of worth and the joy of life. Save us from the deadly poison of class pride. Grant that we may look all in the face with the eyes of a sibling. If anyone needs us, make us ready to yield our help ungrudgingly, unless higher duties claim us, and may we rejoice that we have it in us to be helpful to our fellow travelers in this life.

Almighty God unto Whom all hearts are open, all desires known, and from Whom no secrets are hid, cleanse the thoughts of our hearts with the inspiration of Thy Holy Spirit, that we may perfectly love Thee, and worthily magnify Thy Holy Name.

Amen.

Benediction

May the peace of the Lord Christ go with you : wherever he may send you;

may he guide you through the wilderness : protect you through the storm;

may he bring you home rejoicing : at the wonders he has shown you;

may he bring you home rejoicing : once again into our doors.