Category: prayer

Open time for pause and restoration


 

On the seventh day — with the canvas of the cosmos completed — God paused from His labor and rested. Thus God blessed day seven and made it special — an open time for pause and restoration, a sacred zone of Sabbath-keeping, because God rested from all the work He had done in creation that day.

 

Morning prayer

Lord God, the source of all good things,
we pause in your presence and hold our day before you.
Still us, calm us, guide us as we enter this day.

~ posted on Third Space.
 

From the blog
More to come
Open ending
3 Prayers while waiting
 

Pause/Pray


 

Let me tell you about …

“Express” prayers to fit into your day

My friends at engageworship.org have this great resource, a podcast they call Pause/Pray. The latest season (Season Three) contains thoughtful reflections around 3 minutes long you can fit into your day.

Currently available from Pause/Pray season Three:
Pause before meal
Daily transition moments
Prayer during stressful moments
Short breather
As I begin to work
Short anxiety prayer
Short morning prayer
 
Also check out Pause/Pray seasons One and Two, and the many other resources Engage Worship has on offer, including a free video series for worship teams in local churches, entitled How Would Jesus Lead Worship.

From the blog
In quietness and trust is your strength
Time together
Quiet near a little stream
 

A pregnant pause


 
 

Take time this week to pause and savour these words, inspired by Paul’s teaching on the fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 3:22-23.

 

A litany

 
Lord, may we bear the fruits of your Spirit:
give us love,
that boundless, healing energy that transforms the world;  (pause)
give us joy,
because no darkness or evil can overcome you;  (pause)
give us peace,
to quiet our hearts, and to free us from bitterness;  (pause)
give us patience,
to go on following you even when it is hard;  (pause)
give us kindness,
to reach out to our neighbour and to the person who needs to be loved;  (pause)
give us goodness,
to give with a generous heart and without ulterior motive;  (pause)
give us faithfulness,
to stay at your side, come what may;  (pause)
give us gentleness,
to respect the freedom and integrity of others;  (pause)
give us self-control,
to see our weaknesses and overcome them in your strength.  (pause)
Lord, may we bear the fruits of your Spirit.

 
written by Angela Ashwin, from The Book of a Thousand Prayers by Angela Ashwin, #857

From the blog
Summer-friendly spiritual practices (gardening, swimming, journaling)
 

Lord, teach me your way

A prayer

Lord,
teach me your way of treating others –
sinners, children, Pharisees, Pilates and Herods,
and also John the Baptists.

Teach me your way of eating and drinking,
and how to act when I’m tired from work and need rest.

Teach me compassion for the suffering, the poor, the blind, and the lame.
You who shed tears, show me how to live my deepest emotions.
Above all, I want to learn how you endured your Cross.

Teach me your way of looking at people:
the way you glanced at Peter after his denial,
the way you touched the heart of the rich young man
and the hearts of your disciples.

I would like to meet you as you really are,
since you change those who really know you.
If only I could hear you speak
as when you spoke in the synagogue of Capernaum
or on the Mount of Beatitudes!

Give me grace to live my life, within and without,
the way you lived your life, O Lord. Amen.

 
— written by Pedro Arrupe, SJ, posted on re:worship

From the blog
On Writing Prayer-Poems
3 Prayers for summer
The wells of salvation
 

My way to you


 

A prayer

based on ‘Suscipe me’,
a prayer made by a novice on entering a Benedictine Community

 
Accept me, O Lord,
just as I am,
in my frailty,
my inadequacy,
my contradictions
     and my confusions.

Accept me,
with all those discordant currents
     that pull me in so many directions.

Accept all of this,
and help me so to live with what I am,
that what I am
     may become my way to you.

 
from The Book of a Thousand Prayers by Angela Ashwin, #935

Restless / restore
Weep with those who weep
Up to us
 

In the Jesus Way we pray


 

The Lord’s Prayer (a paraphrase)

based on Matthew 6:9-13, Luke 11:2-4

O God, you love us like a good parent,
      and are present in every aspect of our existence.
May your nature become known and respected by all.
May your joy, peace, wholeness and justice
      be the reality for everyone
            as we live by the Jesus Way.
Give us all that we really need to live every day for you.
And forgive us our failures as we forgive others for their failures.
Keep us from doing those things which are not of you,
      and cause us always to be centred on your love.
For you are the true reality in this our now,
      and in all our future.
In the Jesus Way we pray.
 
~ by D. Sorril, posted on re:worship

From the blog
People of the way
3 Prayers to our Father
Theme: Change my heart, O God  [prayer sheet]
 

Gift to give


 

A prayer

Lord, take as your right,
and receive as my gift,
all my freedom, my memory,
my understanding and my will.
Whatever I am and whatever I possess,
you have given to me;
I restore it all to you again,
to be at your disposal,
according to your will.
Give me only a love for you,
and the gift of your grace;
then I am rich enough,
and ask for nothing more.
 

~ St Ingatius Loyola (1491-1556)
from The Book of a Thousand Prayers by Angela Ashwin, #27
 

From the blog
In the school of prayer with Ignatius of Loyola
On the threshold of tomorrow
In the quiet of God’s smile
 

Great gift

Pentecost prayer

based on Acts 2:1-13

Holy Spirit of God,
great gift of our exalted Lord,
on the day of Pentecost you came to the Church
as he promised, to abide with us for ever.

Come to us in your grace and power today,
to make Jesus real to us,
to teach us more about him,
and to deepen our trust in him;
that we may be changed into his likeness
and be his witnesses in the world,
to the glory of God the Father. Amen.

 
~ author unknown, posted on re:worship

FROM THE BLOG

The Gift booklet
a 12-part series of readings and prayer poems on the Holy Spirit

Thy Kingdom Come: join in and join us
 

Love planting

 
A sixth-century Jewish rabbi wrote, “God, from the very beginning of creation, was occupied before all else with planting, as it is written, ‘And first of all, the Eternal God planted a Garden in Eden.’ Therefore occupy yourselves first and foremost with planting.”

Lord, give us humility to remember that we are made from dirt so that we might till the dirt and love it as we love ourselves. Amen.

 
from Common Prayer: A Liturgy for Ordinary Radicals by Shane Claiborne, Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove and Enuma Okoro, p. 249

From the blog
3 Prayers for refugees
Grace notes
A new nature
 

Plant us, root us, grow us

 

As we approach another Pentecost, I commend to you The Gift booklet, a resource that grew out of a 12-part series on the ministry of the Holy Spirit that I posted in 2017.

 

A prayer

You who led Israel through the waters,
plant us by streams of living water.

Root us in your love
and grow us up to bear the fruit of your Spirit:

    love, joy, peace,
    patience, kindness, goodness,
    faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.

Amen
 

from Common Prayer: A Liturgy for Ordinary Radicals by Shane Claiborne, Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove and Enuma Okoro, p. 222
 

From the blog
Bloom where you’re planted
Thank you. For fruit-bearing trees
Flowers fall, but …