Category: prayer

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]