Borderless Sea of Substance

Hospitality of Mercy

The following prayer was used as part of the Prayers of the People Service at St. Andrew’s Scots Memorial Church on March 3. It was followed by “Mother, Father God, Creator and Sustainer, borderless sea of substance, hear our prayers.  I love the water images here, images not often found in prayers created for worship services---"waterfalls of tenderness," "bathe them in the river of your healing," "shower upon them the light of hope,"  and finally the wonderful "borderless sea of substance." 

One of the unique challenges of serving a church like St. Andrews is that every sunday we get a completely different group of people because we get pilgrims coming to the holy land. We have a core group of worshipers but every sunday there is a different congregation. This makes Prayers of the People an interesting moment because people don't really know each other in the way a congregation gets to know each other therefore there is not usually a sharing aloud but more of a quiet contemplative reflection. 

This prayer, I was told, touched people in deep ways.  I think the ending asking for peace especially hits people as they become aware of the desperate need for peace here. This is true for both those who live here and those who are passing through.

Prayer

Maya Angelou

Father, Mother God

thank you for your presence

during the hard and mean days

for when we have you to lean upon.

Thank you for your presence

during the bright and sunny days

for when we can share that which we have

with those who have less.

And thank you for your presence

during the holy days, for when we are able

to celebrate you and our families

and our friends.

For those who have no voice,

we ask you to speak.

For those who feel unworthy,

we ask you to pour your love out

in waterfalls of tenderness.

For those who live in pain

we ask you to bathe them

in the river of your healing.

For those who are lonely, we ask

you to keep them company.

For those who are depressed

we ask you to shower upon them

the light of hope.

Dear Creator, You, the borderless

sea of substance, we ask you to give all the

world what we need most------peace.



" Hospitality of Mercy" was painted by Jan L. Richardson

Prayers of the People

February 17, 2013

St. Andrew's  Scots Memorial Church

Jerusalem

The following is a prayer I created for our worship service at St. Andrew’s Scots memorial Church in Jerusalem. St. Andrews uses a hymn as a response inside the call to prayers for the people. I tried to create a prayer that was contemplative and inviting that honored the different practices people have for Lent as well as to go with the lectionary text about Jesus being tempted in the desert. I was told not to expect anyone to speak aloud their prayers but much to the worship team’s surprise a number of people spoke out. I have included the verses from the hymn because the prayer and the hymn worked together to draw people into a quiet place of stillness from which to pray.  This was a new way for me to think about prayers for the people as it includes both a centering experience as well as a space to offer prayers for others and the world.

Lent is a time of conversion, a time with the Spirit’s help we open ourselves up to change. It is a time to step away from the preoccupations of our own self interests.  It is a time for getting lost in the wilderness of God.  It is a time for giving up those things we thought were essential or precious so that we might enter that liminal space of the holy where the veil is thin enough to catch a glimpse of our true selves, a glimpse of the God who calls us Beloved. It is a time for walking the way of the cross, for accompanying the crucified One and those who are still being crucified today.

Sing verses 1 & 2

1      Loving spirit, loving Spirit

You have chosen me to be,

You have drawn me in your wonder,

You have set your sign on me.

2      Like a mother you enfold me,

Hold my life within your own,

Feed me with your very body,

Form me of your flesh and bone.

I invite you in this time of prayer to contemplate what you need for your journey not just as pilgrims in the holy land but as sojourners in life. Those of you who are traveling have already left behind the familiar, habitual, the known routines and rhythms that both shape and bend your life. You are ready.

Sing verses 1 & 3

Loving Spirit, loving Spirit

You have chosen me to be,

You have drawn me in  your wonder

You have set your sign on me.

3      Like a father, you protect me,

     teach me the discerning eye,

     hoist me up upon your shoulder

     let me see the world from on high

I invite you to enter into the wilderness and receive what comes. I invite you to ascend the mount of Temptations not on a cable car but on the gift of grace and prayer. I invite you to dialogue with those things that tempt you. So whether you are fasting or not, unloose the chains that bind you. Unloose the chains of injustice that bind others.

Sing verses 4  & 5

 Friend and lover, in your closeness

I am known and held and blest,

In your promise is my comfort

In your presence I may rest.

Loving Spirit, loving Spirit

You have chosen me to be,

You have drawn me to be your wonder,

You have set your wonder on me.

In the stillness of your heart I invite you to name aloud or in silence those people or places you wish to lift up today in prayer. Lift up your temptations, burdens, worries, and concerns.  Lift up your joys, loves, thanksgivings.  God in your mercy here these prayers expressed aloud or silently.

Hymn Loving Spirit is #597 in Church Hymnary

Communion for Epiphany Sunday

Arise, beloved ones

and come to the feast

where all are welcome

and all is ready.

God’s light has become manifest----

the light shines in and around you

but also within you.

Let it shine.

Let the transforming power of love

shed light into your chaotic places,

your tragic places, and your hopeful places.

Let it fill you.

You cannot see the path ahead,

you cannot divine the way.

You will make the road by walking it.

You will go home a different way.

Do not be afraid.

God knows that our deepest fear

is not that we are inadequate:

Our deepest fear is that we are powerful

beyond measure.

“It is our light; not our darkness

that most frightens us.

We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant,

gorgeous, talented, and fabulous?

Actually, who are you not to be?

Come, gorgeous ones

to the table of life

and share this meal

for all is prepared,  

all is ready for you.

(People come forward and place their gifts around the table)

 The Holy One is here in our minds and in our hearts.

 Let us open our spirits to God.

We come open and ready. We give thanks and praise!

O God, our mother and father, bread baker and wine maker, we give you thanks and praise. You worked the world into being, instilled all creation with life, and shaped us as your people.

In Jesus Christ, the bread of life and the true vine,

You feed us with the Word and quench our thirst for justice.

At table with a circle of his friends,

Jesus took bread and blessed and broke it, and gave it to them saying:  “Take. Eat. This is my body given for you.

Remember me, each time you do this.”

After supper he took a cup, gave God thanks for the wine,

and shared it with his friends saying: “Take. Drink. This is my blood, love poured out for you. Remember me, each time you drink it.”

Spirit of the Living God, help us recognize the risen Christ

in the breaking of the bread and the sharing of the cup.

Send your blessing on this bread;

Send your grace upon this cup.

This is the feast of love for the people of God.

 (holding up the bread) "May the living God be reborn in you."  

 (holding up the cup of wine)   “Love born and poured out for you.”

Give Birth

What good is it to me if this birth

 of the divine Son takes place unceasingly

 but does not take place in myself? 

What good is it to me if Mary

 is full of grace but I am not?

 What good is it for me

 for the creator to give birth 

if I do not also give birth to him

 in my time and my culture? 

This is the fullness of time, 

when the son of God is begotten in us.

Meister Eckhart (15^th century mystic)

If You Want

If you want,

the virgin will come walking down the road

pregnant with the holy, and say,

 “I need shelter for the night, please take me inside your heart,

my time is close.”

Then, under the roof of your soul,

you will witness the sublime

intimacy, the divine Christ

taking birth forever, as she grabs your hand for help,

for each of us is the midwife of God, each of us.

Yes, there under the dome of your being does creation comes into existence

Eternally through your womb,

Dear pilgrim---

the sacred womb in your soul, as God grabs our arms for help;

for each of us is his beloved servant never far.

                           St. John of the Cross

The Risk of Birth, Christmas, 1973

This is no time for a child to be born,

With the earth betrayed by war & hate

And a comet slashing the sky to warn

That time runs out & the sun burns late

That was no time for a child to be born,

In a land in the crushing grip of Rome;

Honor & truth were trampled by scorn –

Yet here did the Saviour make his home.

When is the time for love to be born?

The inn is full on planet earth,

And by a comet the sky is torn –

Yet Love still takes the risk of birth.

Madeleine L’Engle

Hope starts small as a seed in the womb. All God needs is a willing womb, a place of safety, nourishment and love. Miryam offered all of these ---space, love, and belief. God requires only a small space, a womb or a lowly manger to be born. What are you offering this season of Epiphany? How can creation come into existence through your womb, dear pilgrim? What new birth, what new way of being is seeking to be born in your soul this new year? Is this not the fullness of time for us all because the world can't wait, because God needs us--- is grabbing our hand? Are you willing to risk?

Prayer

From God’s fullness

we all receive room.

Life and light---

divine access and grace filled flesh

belong to us all.

We give thanks for the Word

who assures us that the light

will never be overcome by darkness.

May this light

widen our vision.

May we become

welcoming fires

in empire’s shadows.

May we see how

the story of God

with-us

invites our participation.

May we live Christmas all year long.

family gathered around a fire
 in their bombed out home in Gaza, 2012

An Arabic Christmas Carol (Byzantine Hymn of the Nativity)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MvjiVam2HO