Burdens to carry


 
Paul writes, “Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.” (Gal 6:2). Then a few verses later he writes, “each one should carry their own load.” (Gal 6:5)

A paradox. Something to ponder, as we approach Pentecost and contemplate what a difference the Holy Spirit makes in carrying one another’s burdens and in carrying our own.
 


A prayer

God, our Heavenly Father, we draw near to thee with thankful hearts because of all thy great love for us. We thank thee most of all for the gift of thy dear Son, in whom alone we may be one. We are different one from another in race and language, in material things, in gifts, in opportunities, but each of us has a human heart, knowing joy and sorrow, pleasure and pain. We are one in our need of thy forgiveness, thy strength, thy love; make us one in our common response to thee, that bound by a common love and freed from selfish aims we may work for the good of all and the advancement of thy kingdom. Through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.

 
by Queen Salote of Tonga (1900-1965)
from 2000 Years of Prayer compiled by Michael Counsell, p. 456
 


 
From the blog
The Gift booklet
a 12-part series of readings and prayer poems on the Holy Spirit – originally created for Pentecost 2017.
 

Carry something beautiful


 

In difficult times carry something beautiful in your heart.

 

Blaise Pascal

 


Benediction

Go forth from this place refreshed and empowered
to do the ministry to which God calls you:
Travel lightly, for you carry within you all that you need.
Notice God’s presence in simple, everyday experiences.
Whenever opportunity arises, labor for the good of all.
And the blessing and joy of God,
our Creator, Healer, and Life-Giver
go with you today and always.
Amen.

 
~ by Rev. Heather A. Moody, posted on re:worship
 


From the blog
In the school of prayer with Anselm
Bright and beautiful
walk, run, soar
 

In the school of prayer with Tish Harrison Warren

 

The night time service of Compline from the Book of Common Prayer carried Tish Harrison Warren in a time of doubt and loss.

Here are some excerpts on prayer taken from her book, Prayer in the Night – including the prayer that gives shape and content to the book.

 

I

For most of my life, I didn’t know there were different kinds of prayer. Prayer meant one thing only: talking to God with words I came up with. Prayer was wordy, unscripted, self-expressive, spontaneous, and original. And I still pray this way, every day. “Free form” prayer is a good and indispensable way to pray.
      But I’ve come to believe that in order to sustain faith over a lifetime, we need to learn different ways of praying. Prayer is a vast territory, with room for silence and shouting, for creativity and repetition, for original and received prayers, for imagination and reason.  (p. 16)

II

I turned to Compline when I didn’t have anything else to say, when I was so bone-tired and soul-spent that I could only receive prayer as a gift. … I also leaned on other ancient ways of praying that rely less on cognitive and verbal ability.
      In particular I found refuge in prayers of silence.
      Theophan the Recluse, a nineteenth-century Russian Orthodox priest, describes the work of silent prayer: “You must descend from your head to your heart…. Whilst you are still in your head, thoughts will easily be subdued but will always be whirling about, like snow in winter or clouds of mosquitoes in the summer.”1  These clouds of mosquitoes – my anger and neurosis, my fears and doubts, my unanswerable questions and exhaustion – buzz around me. Sitting wordlessly before God allows space for the real work to begin in my heart.
      It’s not that “Help” or “Lord, I’m weary” aren’t good enough prayers. God hears and loves even prayers like these. We don’t need to experiment with the prayers of the church or ancient prayer practices to impress God. But when we are weary, it can help to throw ourselves onto what has come before us, the steady practices of prayer that the church has handed down for safe keeping, for this very moment when we come to the end of ourselves.  (p. 110)

III

Scripted prayers – the prayers of Compline, the Psalms, or any other received prayers – are not static.  As we pray them, we read our own lives back into the words we pray.  Our own biographies shape our understanding of these prayers as much as these prayers shape us and our own stories.  (p. 125)

IV

We pray to endure the mystery of suffering, and the mystery of suffering teaches us to pray. And the end of all of it is the love of God.  (p. 130)

V

God’s love and devotion to us, not ours to him, is the source of prayer. He is the first mover in prayer, the one who has been calling to us before we could ever call to him. And he will not stop calling, no matter how dark the night becomes. Light, not darkness, is the constant.  (p. 166)

 
1 quoted in Martin Laird, Into the Silent Land, 2006, p. 27
 


A prayer

Keep watch, dear Lord, with those who work, or watch, or weep this night, and give your angels charge over those who sleep. Tend the sick, Lord Christ; give rest to the weary, bless the dying, soothe the suffering, pity the afflicted, shield the joyous; and all for your love’s sake. Amen.

~ from BOOK OF COMMON PRAYER
 


More
Tish Harrison Warren interview (podcast)
An Order for Compline (liturgy)
Compline service (video)