Grace-full


 

A few grace-full verses to ponder.

John 1:14
The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.
 
John 1:16
Out of his fullness we have all received grace in place of grace already given.
 
Colossians 4:2-6
Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful. And pray for us, too, that God may open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ, for which I am in chains. Pray that I may proclaim it clearly, as I should. Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.

A prayer for Ordinary Time *

* the season between Pentecost and the beginning of Advent

Creator Redeemer Sustainer God,
How extraordinary is Your “ordinary time.”
How uncommon is the commonplace in Your Kingdom.
The mundane is made miraculous,
full of holy opportunities.
The smallest joy a jubilee!

Created anew may we grow tall and
“grace-full” in Your likeness.

Redeemed by Your sacrifice may we come
to know the depths of Your love.

Sustained by Your Spirit may we be steadfast
and shining in Your service.

We humbly ask that You continue to bless us
with all we need for
the living of these days—
these wondrous ordinary days—.
that our everyday lives may be gifted
to experience the vitality of Christian community,
to share Your message of hope,
reaching out to the poor and hurting,
and bringing glory and honor to You, our God. Amen.

 
~ written by Deborah Harris, posted on re:Worship

DAY OF PRAYER: 31 October 2026

Light in the darkness

On Saturday 31 October, congregations, presbyteries and small groups across the Church of Scotland are invited to come together for an hour of prayer, praying for the light of Jesus to transform our Church, our communities across Scotland, and the places around the world where the Church worships and serves.

See the Church of Scotland website for details and resources.
 

Full of meaning

 
 
From time to time I reread Penelope Wilcock’s books, The Hawk and the Dove, The Wounds of God and The Long Fall.

Here’s a scene I marked in my copy of The Long Fall to share with you. Take a moment to take it in – the setting, the poetry, the offering.

 
Two friends are outside in the “aromatic darkness of the physic garden” to see the stars. Peregrine, the former abbot of the monastery, is in a wheelchair, recovering from a stroke. Brother Tom reflects on his friend’s predicament and what this starry night offers him, by way of healing.

What a relief it must be, Tom reflected, to be away from the geometry of man-made things, feeling the wild, anarchic beauty of the night wind’s caress and seeing the random flung scattering of the stars, to a man who has lost the ability to interpret patterns, who has been baffled and defeated by codes and schemes these long dismal weeks. It must have been like putting down a great burden to come out here where there was no pattern, no code, only the wordless immediacy of life. Tom thought on the times in his life when everything had seemed to be disintegrating. There had been such a healing reassurance in the rhythm of natural things. Maybe, he pondered, maybe it was not that it had no pattern, but that human beings were part of the design, and couldn’t look at it because it didn’t exclude them, only restored them to themselves.

Day and night, the dance of the stars, the cool fingers of the breeze … it wove men into its purpose like single threads. Even the broken ones could be woven together with the others to make the whole thing beautiful. There had to be a pattern, surely, because it was not empty of meaning, all this. It made more sense than anything. It was just that the pattern was not so much of a code … more like a dear, familiar face.

 
~ from Chapter IV, The Long Fall by Penelope Wilcock
 

Call to worship

Only the hungry search for bread.
Only the thirsty look for water.
This is a place for those who are hungry and thirsty in spirit.

Only those who ache for meaning will pursue it.
Only those who yearn for a deeper life will seek it.
This is a place for those who ache and yearn for something more.

So let us come here today with our hunger and thirst,
our unsatisfied longings, our heart-felt yearnings,
and let the God of life satisfy our souls.

~ written by Ann Siddall, posted on re:Worship

From the blog
Restless / restore
Bloom where you’re planted
Unite my divided heart
 

To enter more fully

The invitation

“Is there something you are sensing an invitation to let go of in order to enter more fully into the life God desires for you? What help do you need in order for this to happen?”

 

Pastoral prayer

Lord God, we give you thanks for all your gifts to us —
for daily food, for health, for each breath we take,
for freedom to choose,
and for the gifts of your word, your power and your love.
Our hearts are truly overwhelmed, O God,
when we consider how you have entrusted so much to us.
May we be worthy of that trust —
may we be a people who are unafraid to live
as fully and as richly as you want us to live.

Help us, O God, as followers of Jesus,
to multiply all that you have given us,
to risk spreading your word and perhaps see it misunderstood,
to gamble by loving those whom others think worthy only of hate,
to take chances by doing good to those who have not done good to us.
Help us be faith filled and desire
to increase your glory and your goodness in this world.
Make us people who share in both word and deed
that which you have given to us.

We pray for the church gathered today,
both here and around the world,
that it may encourage all of its members
to discover, develop and use all their gifts,
those of nature and those of grace.
We pray for those who are poor in body or in spirit,
for those oppressed and heavy laden,
for those sick or in despair, especially _____.
Minister by your Spirit and by us,
to all those for whom we have prayed,
and help us walk faithfully in the path of our Lord Jesus Christ.

 
~ posted on Life in Liturgy

From the blog
A simple “Yes. Amen.”
United by love
In the school of prayer with Terry Hinks
 

Full and overflowing


Spotted on the sidewalk in Tilburg, NL  (Photo: Irene Bom)
 

A prayer

Mighty God
we rejoice in your reckless and extravagant love
scattered among us
and found in the mud and thorns of life.

We rejoice
that your will for us and for the world
is not one of carefully apportioned judgement
or neatly wrapped rewards.

Praise be!
Your aim and desire for all your creation
is a cup full and overflowing with good wine,
a banquet for all to share,
a harvest of full and ripe grains,
a growing tree in which all can make their nest.

Your gifts, freely offered,
are life in all its fullness,
hope in abundance,
peace that passes understanding,
love that none can measure
from which nothing can separate us.

~ written by Terry Hinks,
from The Book of a Thousand Prayers by Angela Ashwin, #187
 

From the blog
In the school of prayer with Terry Hinks
Thank you. For work
God loves stories
 

Lift up your voice

Call to Worship

(based on Psalm 130)

Lift up your voice and call out to God.
We cry out, believing that God hears us.
Come together and wait for God.
We come together, trusting that God is still speaking.
Surely God’s presence is here with us now.
We wait in hope, for God’s steadfast love lifts our hearts.
Come, worship the Lord.
We celebrate the power of God that restores us.

~ written by Rev Nancy J.,
posted on wonderings, writings & scribbles

From the blog
In the school of prayer with Brother Lawrence
Pause for breath …
walk, run, soar
 

Tune in to God’s voice

 

3 prayers by Angela Ashwin to tune your heart to God’s voice – in the day-to-day, in the Scriptures and in the stillness.

Prayer for guidance and discernment

Jesus my Teacher,
guide me along your way,
and help me to piece together
    the jigsaw of life in your kingdom.
When I make decisions,
lead me to the heart of the matter,
and when I face conflict,
do not let my own panic drown out
    the still, small voice of your wisdom.

by Angela Ashwin, from The Book of a Thousand Prayers, #143

 

Using the Bible/Jesus the Word

Thank you, Lord, for the gift of the Scriptures.
As I reflect on the Bible,
make me open to your wisdom,
receptive to your will
and courageous in my response;
in the love of Jesus,
Rabbi, Teacher, Friend.

by Angela Ashwin, The Book of a Thousand Prayers, #168

 

Prayer in quietness

Lord, make us people of stillness.
Help us to be empty before you,
that we may be filled with your peace;
teach us to be quiet in your presence,
that we may listen to your words;
and give us confidence to expose our whole being to you,
and meet you in the silence.

by Angela Ashwin, The Book of a Thousand Prayers, #627

From the blog
In the school of prayer with Michael Mayne
Before history and forever
To keep our hearts in tune
 

Voice training


 

Jan Richardson writes,

“There is ground that becomes holy only when we remain long enough to see the blessing that can emerge from struggle, that shimmers through only after the dust the struggle kicks up finally begins to settle.”

 

A prayer

Lord, train us to hear your voice. When it is time to grieve, help us to grieve. When it is time to rejoice, help us to rejoice. When we grow weary, be the strength in our weakness. May your most beautiful and perfect will, not ours, be done. Amen.

from Common Prayer: A Liturgy for Ordinary Radicals by Shane Claiborne, Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove and Enuma Okoro, p. 393

From the blog
Precious dust
Singing creation’s song
Quiet my heart
 

Sweet voice

 

“ … the best in us lies deeper than our words.”

(Pico Iyer)

 
from Silence, Solitude, and the Art of Surrender: Pico Iyer on Finding the World in a Benedictine Monastery  (www.themarginalian.org)

A prayer

after hearing or reading Scripture

Good Jesus, as you have graciously allowed me here to drink in the sweetness of your Word, so at the last, I pray, You will bring me into your presence, that I may listen to your voice which is the source of all wisdom, and watch your face forever.

 
~ written by The Venerable Bede (673/3 – 735),
from 2000 Years of Prayer compiled by Michael Counsell, p. 87
 

From the blog
Ever blooming
Open time for pause and restoration
Theme: Still small voice  [prayer sheet]
 

Safe circle


 

This week I feature a prayer poem inspired by Psalm 32:7, written by Christine Colliar as part of our Presbytery project, Prayer Poems for Lent 2026.

 

You Surround Me

by Christine Colliar

You are my hiding-place;
    you will protect me from trouble
    and surround me with songs of deliverance.
 
 
You are my escape room.
When I crawl into myself,
find a nook ready –
chair, hearth, book, tea –
you are there already.
I can wear myself,
    no pretence
    no brave face
    you see me
        know me.

I can sit
    on the floor if I want
and there you are
    to talk to
    or just sit with me,
door closed,
    until I’m ready
    to go back
    to the world
    emptied,
    filled.

And when I can cope
with more than silence,
you cover me with song
round and over and through me –
so I see,
    I feel,
        I taste
your music,
thrill
    and complete
        and mend.

Words that join – a daisy chain,
fragile and true,
    full
        and wide –
words that encompass,
    encircle
that hold together
    a fragility
    deep within,
and keep me
whole.

 
~ written as part of the Presbytery Project, Prayer Poems for Lent 2026

 

From the blog
In the school of prayer with Pádraig Ó Tuama
One body, different gifts
Change … like little children
 

The perfect circle

Blessing in the Round

For those who want to save their life will lose it,
and those who lose their life for my sake,
and for the sake of the gospel, will save it.   Mark 8:35

 
This blessing
cannot help it;
it’s the way
it was designed.

Lay it down
and it rises again.

Release it
and it returns.

Give it away
and it makes a path
back to you.

There is no explaining
how it delights
in reappearing
when you have ceased
to hold it,
no hiding the sly smile
it wears
when it shows up
at your door,
no mistaking the wonder
when it circles back around
just at the moment
you thought you had
spent it completely,
had poured it out
with abandon
where you saw
the deepest thirst for it,
had put it entirely
in the hands
of those desperate
in their hunger.

But here it is,
the perfect circle of it
pressing into your hand
that curls around it
and then lets go,
receiving
and releasing
and receiving again
like the breath
that does not belong to us
but sets us in motion.

 
~ written by Jan L. Richardson, and posted on The Painted Prayerbook.

Prayer

It is too easy, God,
for faith to become an escape
    — a way to avoid the pain of being human and alive;
or a path to success
    — a way to persuade the universe to give us the things we want;
or a system of control
    — a way to bend others to our will

But the faith you offer is different, Jesus,
    more dangerous and compelling;

It’s the faith that carries the cross,
    that embraces death
        and lays itself down for the sake of others;

It’s the only faith that can lead us to resurrection
    to life renewed and overflowing.

We praise you for this faith, God,
    and open our hearts to receive it.

Amen.

 
— written by John van de Laar, posted on Sacredise

From the blog
To Emmaus and back
May we know the hope – here, now
Theme: Change my heart, O God  [prayer sheet]