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

Flower where you are

Opening Prayer

“Worship the Lord in the splendor of his holiness….” Psalm 29:2

O God,
whose holiness is not limited to
      grand cathedrals or saintly persons,
      spectacular mountains or mountain-moving leaders;
O God,
whose holiness is often discovered in simple everyday places
      and simple everyday folk,
plant Your holiness in this place,
      in us now.
Grow us this hour,
      that we might flower,
      right where we are,
      with the beauty of Your holiness.
Through Jesus we pray.
Amen.

~ posted on My Redeemer Lives website.

Note: Next month’s theme is “Response”. Week by week I will be posting a litany based on the lectionary psalm and a sung response I’ve written specially for services in my church in Rotterdam in the month of August. The psalms are Psalm 17, 105, 133 and 124.

Get in touch if you’d like to use the litanies too. I can provide recordings and basic notation (melody line and chords).

God is our help (Psalm 46)

For some years now I’ve taken part in various editions of the 12-song challenge, a songwriting initiative hosted by resoundworship.org. The challenges and the supportive songwriting community have kept me writing at least one song a month. even during busy and trying times like vacancies and the pandemic.

This month the assignment was to write Assembly Bangers:

assembly – gathered, collective worship in schools, supposed to be daily and of a broadly Christian character. Though not so common throughout the school experience as it once was, it remains a staple of many children’s experience in primary school (ages 4 to 11)

bangers – a British colloquial terms for great song that make you want to get up and dance

songs that:
– are repetitive and hooky
– have a simple structure
– are easy to play and lead on piano (or guitar)
– have an accessible vocal range
– have words that children can read/memorise/understand

To start with I revamped an existing song called “God is my refuge”, also based on Psalm 46. Slowly but surely the revamp evolved into a song in its own right, including a new verse that references war and peace and a bridge based on “Be still, and know that I am God” (v.10).

I don’t know if I hit the brief exactly. Perhaps the song is too confessional and belongs in the church, more than the school assembly. Time will tell.

GOD IS OUR HELP (PSALM 46)

CHORUS
God is our help in times of distress
God is our refuge and strength
God is with us always
No need feel afraid
for God will keep us safe.

VERSE 1
Even if the earth starts to tremble
and mountains start to slip and slide
even if the waves start to roar like lions
God is by our side

(Chorus)

VERSE 2
One day God will stop all the fighting
All weapons will be scrapped and burnt
One day God will reign over all the nations
Peace will come on earth

(Chorus)

BRIDGE
Be still and know God is on the throne
Be still and know, God is in control.

(Chorus)

From the blog
Big strong tree
Prayer poem: Not forsaken
Circle me, Lord

3 Prayers for Christian unity

IK IK (ME ME) Reflect

3 prayers on the theme of Christian unity to coincide with the 2023 Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, an annual prayer initiative that usually takes place from 18 to 25 January.

Let us pray …

#1

Lord, we pray for the unity of your Church.
Help us to see ourselves as rays from the one sun,
branches of a single tree,
and streams flowing from one river.
May we remain united to you and to each other,
because you are our common source of life;
and may we send out your light
and pour forth your flowing streams over all the earth,
drawing our inspiration and joy from you.

~ after St Cyprian of Carthage (c.200-258),
from The Book of a Thousand Prayers by Angela Ashwin, #527

#2

Lord Jesus Christ,
who prayed for your disciples that they might be one,
even as you are one with the Father;
draw us to yourself,
that in common love and obedience to you
we may be united to one another,
in the fellowship of the one Spirit,
that the world may believe that you are Lord,
to the glory of God the Father. Amen.

~ written by William Temple (1881-1944), from re:worship

#3

You made us, God,
in Your own image,
and then became one of us,
proud of those you have made.

Make us proud of being part of that worldwide family,
and eager to discover and celebrate Your image
in every person, every culture, every nation,
that we are privileged to encounter.

~ from the booklet for the 2023 Week of Prayer for Christian Unity

More
Racial justice at forefront of this year’s Week of Prayer for Christian Unity (Church of Scotland website).

King of hearts

A prayer

High King of Heaven,
You stretch out the skies like a curtain
And lower the canopy of gentle night
To cool the heat of the day.
May your peace, dark, velvety and starlit,
Descend
To calm the wild beating of my heart,
That I may be still.

~ by Pat Robson, from A Celtic Liturgy, p. 1-2

Podcast tip
If you like listening to podcasts, here’s one with a Christmas theme, entitled God is not nowhere in the world, featuring Jason Micheli, posted on the Mockingbird website.

The other talks from this year’s Mockingbird Tyler Conference are good too (see uploads dated 11.4.2022).

Another tip
Sing “Be thou my vision” reflectively, paying attention to the references to heart and “High King of Heaven”.

And enjoy this acoustic version of Jon and Valerie Guerra’s Christmas themed song, “Lord, remind me”.

Continually ever-present

Wishing you a blessed Holy Week and a joyous Easter.

Benediction

(inspired by Hebrews 10:19-22)

Go in peace, assured that God has heard,
      and will continue to hear your prayers.
Remember that no curtain separates us
      from the presence of the Lord.
Therefore, every table at which you will sit this week,
      be it a school desk,
            a work bench,
            a lunch counter,
            a meeting room table,
            an office desk,
            a board across sawhorses,
            your own kitchen or dining room table;
      every table is God’s altar.
So boldly pray,
      hold fast to hope,
            and encourage and provoke one another
                        to put love into action.
                        Amen.

~ from the Long Green Valley Church of the Brethren website.

Holy Week resources from the blog
Windows on Holy Week (2017)
He suffered series (2018)

Inspired by trees

A poem

Lost

Stand still. The trees ahead and bushes beside you
Are not lost. Wherever you are is called Here,
And you must treat it as a powerful stranger,
Must ask permission to know it and be known.
The forest breathes. Listen. It answers,
I have made this place around you.
If you leave it, you may come back again, saying Here.
No two trees are the same to Raven.
No two branches are the same to Wren.
If what a tree or a bush does is lost on you,
You are surely lost. Stand still. The forest knows
Where you are. You must let it find you.

by David Wagoner, from Traveling Light: Collected and New Poems

Also inspired by trees

The children’s book, The Boy Who Grew a Forest (based on a true story).

Youtube video on how to make paper growing trees (from illustrator of The Boy Who Grew a Forest)

Article from themarginalian.org about Ursula K. Le Guin’s Love Poem to Trees, also featuring some stunning artwork.

From the blog

Winter = long nights
Flowers fall, but …
Tree of life

Playful prayer

While I was trawling the internet for play-related prayer topics and resources I came across a website called PLAYFUL PRAYER with the tagline, ‘Exploring creative communication with God’.

The blogs posts are by Susanna from the UK. She writes,

This blog exists to inspire you and I to play and explore with different ways of communicating with God. There are many different ways to learn and express. I happen to be a visual and kinesthetic learner: Truth and beauty sink into my spirit when I see and do. Don’t get me wrong, I do love words: There’s great power in spoken and written word but sometimes I get a bit ‘word weary.’ So, recently I’ve been having lots of fun praying in creative ways.

Here are some ways it’s helped me:

Focus when I pray for others (I’m easily distracted!)
Going deeper into understanding the bible
Emotional healing, overcoming fears, breakthrough freedom and spiritual growth
I’ve found new ways to worship God, thank him & mediate on his character
Ways to express myself when I can’t find the words
By creating something physical and visual it helps to share the joy with others

The most recent blog post is dated January 23, 2018. Still, the site is a treasure trove of ideas to inspire playful prayer activities where you are – in your family, church and neighbourhood.

PLAYFUL PRAYER posts you might like:

Check it out. Creativity, playfulness and prayer are always in season.

Song in the night

at night you give me a song as my prayer to you, the living Lord God (Psalm 42:8, CEV)

What songs have you received from God at night to sing as your prayer to him?

For further study and reflection

Article:
Singing Songs In The Night (from bible.org)

Case study:
Acts 16:16-40 (Paul and Silas in prison)

From the blog
Singing creation’s song
Newness of life
Up to us

A holy kingdom

[from the Prayer Stations handout]

LET’S PRAY: THY KINGDOM COME

From Ascension Thursday to Pentecost (13 to 23 May 2021) Christians all over the world are once again invited to join the annual global prayer movement called Thy Kingdom Come.

During the 11 days of Thy Kingdom Come, the hope is that all who take part will:

deepen their own relationship with Jesus Christ
pray for 5 friends or family to come to faith in Jesus
pray for the Holy Spirit to empower Christians everywhere for witness, just as He did the early disciples at Pentecost

Prayer resources – catering for ages 5 to 105, suitable for churches, families and individuals – are available online.

A prayer

Jesus, we believe in your kingdom coming. Even amid pain and despair, we believe that with each brave prophet – with each unknown disciple who stretches her arm as a bridge between a broken world and a holy kingdom – you are laying another brick for the New Jerusalem.
Amen.

from Common Prayer: A Liturgy for Ordinary Radicals by Shane Claiborne, Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove and Enuma Okoro, p. 274