December 2, 2014
Candle Litany for Advent
God our life and our breath.
We witness your coming
In the humility of service,
The poor and marginalized,
The new born child,
In the heart of each person we meet,
And in the beauty of all creation.
We watch, wait and witness the mystery of your conception in us,
(The candle is lit)
We are waiting
We are watching
We are witnessing
Taken from:
http://re-worship.blogspot.com.ar/2014/11/advent-candle-litany.html
Originally posted by James Hawes, on Sunday Papers. http://www.sundaypapers.org.uk/
December 28, 2013
New Year’s Prayer
And so we take the ragged fragments,
the patches of darkness
that give shape to the light;
the scraps of desires
unslaked or realized;
the memories of spaces
of blessing, of pain.
And so we gather the scattered pieces
the hopes we carry
fractured or whole;
the struggles of birthing
exhausted, elated;
the places of welcome
that bring healing and life.
And so we lay them at the threshold, God;
bid you hold them, bless them, use them;
ask you tend them, mend them,
transform them
to keep us warm,
make us whole, and send us forth.
Prayer by Jan L. Richardson (Through the Advent Door: Entering a Contemplative Christmas)
(Originally published in Night Visions: Searching the Shadows of Advent and Christmas by Jan L. Richrdson)
December 27, 2013
A Sonnet & Prayer for the New Year
Prologue: Sounding the Seasons
Tangled in time, we go by hints and guesses,
Turning the wheel of each returning year.
But in the midst of failures and successes
We sometimes glimpse the Love that casts out fear.
Sometimes the heart remembers its own reasons
And beats a Sanctus as we sing our story,
Tracing the threads of grace, sounding the seasons
That lead at last through time to timeless glory.
From the first yearning for a Saviour’s birth
To the full joy of knowing sins forgiven
We start our journey here on God’s good earth
To catch an echo of the choirs of heaven.
I send these out, returning what was lent,
Turning to praise each ‘moment’s monument’.
~ Malcolm Guite
Sounding the Seasons: Seventy Sonnets for the Christian Year by Malcom Guite
(https://malcolmguite.wordpress.com/)
December 25, 2013
A Christmas Day Prayer Litany
When the Time Had Come
A Unison Christmas Confession
We were heavy with sorrow, but joy interrupted.
We were deep in the night, but a star appeared.
We were silent with sadness, but the heavens rang.
And the splendor shone around them
When the time had fully come.
We were hardened by conflict, but love intervened.
We were frightened by shadows, but light took them away.
We were haunted by fears, but a child brought us hope.
And she laid him in a manger
When the time had fully come.
We were dismal and defeated, but faith set us on fire.
We were weary and complaining, but our hearts discovered praise.
We were doubtful and confused, but a door to life was opened.
And the guiding star went before them
When the time had fully come.
We were arrogant and angry, but his innocence disarmed us.
We were cruel, crude, and clumsy, but his grace made all things new.
We were selfish, narrow, greedy, but his joy we had to share.
And they offered him their treasured gifts
When the time had fully come.
We were sheep who had lost their way, but the shepherd knew our names.
We were strangers without a country, but our kingdom came to us.
We were children far from home, but God sent his Son to guide.
And the Word was flesh among us
When the time had fully come.
~ By Kenneth I. Morse, from “In Straw and Story,” p.80, Brethren Press, 1977.
Posted on: http://re-worship.blogspot.com
December 24, 2013
Nativity Reflection :: First Coming by Madeleine L’Engle
He did not wait till the world was ready,
till men and nations were at peace.
He came when the Heavens were unsteady,
and prisoners cried out for release.
He did not wait for the perfect time.
He came when the need was deep and great.
He dined with sinners in all their grime,
turned water into wine.
He did not wait till hearts were pure.
In joy he came to a tarnished world of sin and doubt.
To a world like ours, of anguished shame
he came, and his Light would not go out.
He came to a world which did not mesh,
to heal its tangles, shield its scorn.
In the mystery of the Word made Flesh
the Maker of the stars was born.
We cannot wait till the world is sane
to raise our songs with joyful voice,
for to share our grief, to touch our pain,
He came with Love: Rejoice! Rejoice!
~ Madeleine L’Engle, in Cry Like a Bell, 57.
Taken from: http://re-worship.blogspot.com
A Prayer for Christmas Eve
Christmas Blessing
The story tells us
that it’s those who wait in the world’s shadows
who are the first to know of the Christ-child,
born into darkness
bringing great light.
So leave here today
to be carriers of the rumour of peace
and the truth of love
into a world longing for light.
Pray for the justice another is waiting for,
and speak of the hope another needs to breathe
And may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ
the love of God
and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit
be with us all
Amen.
By Cheryl Lawrie (http://holdthisspace.org.au/)
Taken from: http://re-worship.blogspot.com
December 23, 2013
O Antiphons :: O Come Emmanuel (O Emmanuel Sonnet)
O Emmanuel, our King and our Lawgiver,
The long-awaited hope of the nations,
Savior of all people;
O come, our Lord and God,
Set free the people whom you love.
~ Original O Antiphon for December 23
O Emmanuel Sonnet
By Malcolm Guite
O come, O come, and be our God-with-us
O long-sought With-ness for a world without,
O secret seed, O hidden spring of light.
Come to us Wisdom, come unspoken Name
Come Root, and Key, and King, and holy Flame,
O quickened little wick so tightly curled,
Be folded with us into time and place,
Unfold for us the mystery of grace
And make a womb of all this wounded world.
O heart of heaven beating in the earth,
O tiny hope within our hopelessness
Come to be born, to bear us to our birth,
To touch a dying world with new-made hands
And make these rags of time our swaddling bands.
~ Malcolm Guite (http://malcolmguite.wordpress.com)
Sounding the Seasons: Seventy Sonnets for the Christian Year by Malcolm Guite
December 21, 2013
Prayer for Fourth Sunday of Advent
Advent Bidding Prayer
Holy One, be the light in our darkness tonight.
As we have lit the candle of hope,
we pray for those who feel hopeless . . .
As we have lit the candle of peace,
we pray for all victims of violence . . .
As we have lit the candle of joy,
we pray for those whose hearts are weighed down by sorrow . . .
As we have lit the candle of love,
we pray for those who do not feel loved,
for those who struggle to love others . . .
Holy One, be the light in our darkness tonight,
that we might reflect your light into the dark corners of our world. Amen.
~ Written by Joanna Harader, and posted on her Spacious Faith blog.
http://spaciousfaith.com/
Taken from: re:Worship.blogspot.com
http://re-worship.blogspot.ca/2012/11/prayers-of-people-advent-4.html
December 20, 2013
O Antiphons :: O Key of David (O Clavis Sonnet)
O Key of David and sceptre of the House of Israel;
you open and no one can shut;
you shut and no one can open:
Come and lead the prisoners from the prison house,
those who dwell in darkness and the shadow of death
~ Original O Antiphon for December 20
O Adonai Sonnet
By Malcolm Guite
Even in the darkness where I sit
And huddle in the midst of misery
I can remember freedom, but forget
That every lock must answer to a key,
That each dark clasp, sharp and intricate,
Must find a counter-clasp to meet its guard,
Particular, exact and intimate,
The clutch and catch that meshes with its ward.
I cry out for the key I threw away
That turned and over turned with certain touch
And with the lovely lifting of a latch
Opened my darkness to the light of day.
O come again, come quickly, set me free
Cut to the quick to fit, the master key.
~ Malcolm Guite (http://malcolmguite.wordpress.com)
Sounding the Seasons: Seventy Sonnets for the Christian Year by Malcolm Guite
December 19, 2013
O Antiphons :: O Root of Jesse (O Radix Sonnet)
O Root of Jesse, standing
as a sign among the peoples;
before you kings will shut their mouths,
to you the nations will make their prayer:
Come and deliver us, and delay no longer
~ Original O Antiphon for December 19
O Radix Sonnet
By Malcolm Guite
All of us sprung from one deep-hidden seed,
Rose from a root invisible to all.
We knew the virtues once of every weed,
But, severed from the roots of ritual,
We surf the surface of a wide-screen world
And find no virtue in the virtual.
We shrivel on the edges of a wood
Whose heart we once inhabited in love,
Now we have need of you, forgotten Root
The stock and stem of every living thing
Whom once we worshiped in the sacred grove,
For now is winter, now is withering
Unless we let you root us deep within,
Under the ground of being, graft us in.
~ Malcolm Guite (http://malcolmguite.wordpress.com)
Sounding the Seasons: Seventy Sonnets for the Christian Year by Malcolm Guite
Prayers & Creeds 