Deliver Us

From ghoulies and ghosties
And long-leggedy beasties
And things that go bump in the night,
Good Lord, deliver us!

(traditional Scottish prayer;
photo via publicdomainpictures.net)

Spring of All My Blessings

My Maker and my King, 
To Thee my all I owe; 
Thy constant goodness is the spring 
Whence all my blessings flow. 

The creature of Thy hand, 
On Thee alone I live; 
Thy countless benefits demand 
More praise than I can give. 

O let Thy grace inspire 
My soul with strength divine! 
Let all my powers to Thee aspire, 
And all my days be Thine.

(a hymn by Anne Steele)

Like Jeremiah

Lord God Adonai, by your great grace 

make me, like Jeremiah, 

"a fortified city, an iron pillar, bronze walls," 

in Jesus' name, amen.

(based on Jeremiah 1:18)

As for Me

 

Oh How I Need You

Another Day

What? Another day
of life,
health,
thought,
work,
struggle,
uncertainty,
discovery,
pleasure,
pain,
purpose,
trial,
disappointment,
surprise,
blessing,
and trust?
Yes, please.

 

Senryu

Here I am alone

But not alone; you are here.

Speak in the silence. 

For Things I Don't Possess

Thank you, good God,
for the things I don't possess:
fancy cars,
expensive clothes,
a boat,
a plane,
a jet ski,
a second mortgage,
a divorce settlement,
an alimony payment,
a bodyguard,
a fence around my property.

Thank you also, Lord,
for the things that don't possess ME:
drugs or alcohol,
guilt or shame,
a need to maintain a certain lifestyle
or a desire to keep up appearances.
Thank you that I am not afflicted
with wealth,
fame,
or beauty,
in Jesus' name, amen.

(photo by Jim Winstead via everystockphoto.com)

Where I Have Put My Trust

 

In a Hard and Beautiful World

 

In You, Only in You

Lord, I am helpless without you.
I am powerless without you.
I am wholly, thoroughly inadequate without you.
I am empty, weak, ineffectual without you.

But in you, abiding in you, only in you
I am more than a conqueror. 

In you, I can move mountains.
In you, I can scale a wall,
overthrow kingdoms,
shut the mouths of lions,
rout armies...
in you, abiding in you and walking in your Spirit,
I can face all things through Christ, who is my strength. Amen.

When I Look into Your Holiness

Pierce Our Souls with Your Love

O God and Lord of the Powers,

and Maker of all creation,

Who, because of your clemency

and incomparable mercy,

sent your Only-Begotten Son

and our Lord Jesus Christ

for the salvation of mankind,

and with His venerable Cross

tore asunder the record of our sins,

and thereby conquered the rulers and powers of darkness;

receive from us sinful people, O merciful Master,

these prayers of gratitude and supplication,

and deliver us from every destructive and gloomy transgression,

and from all visible and invisible enemies who seek to injure us.

Nail down our flesh with reverential fear of you,

and let not our hearts be inclined to words or thoughts of evil,

but pierce our souls with your love,

that ever contemplating you,

being enlightened by you,

and discerning you,

the unapproachable and everlasting Light,

we may unceasingly render confession and gratitude to you:

The eternal Father, with your Only-Begotten Son,

and with your All-Holy, Gracious, and Life-Giving Spirit, 

now and ever, and unto ages of ages. Amen.

(a prayer of St. Basil, slightly modernized; photo by Jacob Bentzinger via Unsplash.com)

Refuge

 

May I So Know What I Desire

 

Witness to Your Kindness

I give thanks to you, Lord God Almighty, the One who is and who was, because you have taken your great power and have begun to reign. I give praise and thanks to you for the privilege that is mine to witness to your kindness, to your beauty, to your great salvation. I confess that it is both privilege and pain to me—-sweet and bitter. I ask you, please, to make me faithful to speak at your urging and to refrain at your prompting. Light my lamp, and keep it burning. Make my witness bold and unconquerable, reminding me that by your grace and in your strength I can have a greater impact than that of earthquakes and armies. Amen.

(a prayer from the upcoming book, How to Survive the End of the World)

In You

 

Aubrey

It's my favorite daughter's birthday, Lord, 

and I still can't fathom, 

can't even process, 

that she is all she is. 

I'm still and always amazed 

at how kindly, fully, and generously 

you've answered my prayers 

and her mother's prayers 

for her. 

You have made her faithful like Ruth and regal like Esther, 

fierce like Deborah and brilliant like Abigail,

industrious like Lydia and a leader like Junia.

I give you so much praise and thanks

for my only daughter, 

my firstborn, my Blossom; 

for the child you gave me, 

the woman she is, 

the love we share, 

the pride and joy I feel in her, 

the blessings you've given her, 

and the blessings you've given me through her.

Please bless her abundantly today 

and in all the days to come. 

Keep her safe and well. 

Keep her marriage strong and beautiful. 

Prosper her and her husband, 

answer their prayers, 

supply their needs,

fulfill their dreams.

Let her children continue to grow in happiness, health, and holiness.

Reward Aubrey's love and faithfulness and diligence as a mom

with beauty and grace, 

charm and wisdom,

health and wholeness, 

integrity and strength in each of her children 

as you have done for me in mine.

Show her every kindness, 

grant her your favor, 

use her,

bless her,

hold her,

in Jesus' name, amen.

For Loved Ones Who Are Hurting

Lord God, God of all comfort, strength, hope, and help, please draw near to our loved ones who are enduring an unfathomable grief right now. Be there. Please send comfort and strength. Please hear and heed the rage and pain and anguish, and send ministering angels to surround and hold them. Save from hurtful "helpers," from their own regrets and recriminations. Lift them up in your everlasting arms and carry them through these awful days and weeks and months ahead. Supply wisdom and stamina. Help them sleep. Help them when they wake. Walk with them in their grief, and bring healing and blessing in your great love and wisdom, in your perfect timing. Meet their need. Meet them in their need. And be there. Be there. Be there, in Jesus' name, amen. 

Psalm 77

Strong and Courageous

My prayer today for my kids and my grandkids, from the "31 Ways to Pray for Your Kids" app for iPhone and iPad:

On Yom Kippur

On this day our Christian thoughts are turned
to Jewish possibilities of forgiveness and reconciliation.
On this day we stand with them in covenant,
before you,
before your Torah,
amid a world torn asunder.

Our thoughts are of death and destruction,
of fragility and life under threat.
We ponder cities mired in mud and
mountains wrecked in quake;
we notice melting ice and rising water;
we name places of violence
far away and close to home.

We tremble in our insecurity,
afraid to be victim,
but now and then noticing that we are perpetrators;
we finance and applaud faraway violence,
usually not naming the torn bodies or
raped mothers or forgotten children.
We feel uneasy but not frontally guilty,
not until we face your thoughts
that are remote from our thoughts;
we imagine that you think in grief and disappointment
over the mess we have made;
we imagine that you shudder in dismay and anger
over the violation of your good dream;
we imagine that you are ready to abandon us.

But we also imagine that your thoughts are interrupted
by your own poets and prophets,
who line out newness...
new exodus,
new covenant,
new forgiveness,
new life.

While we watch in our dis-ease,
we hear Easter news again,
and your resolve of new beginning.

And so we begin to move
from sadness to joy,
from hurt to dance,
from enslavement to freedom.

And then we wait again for your wonder to become visible
in the world of empires and colonies,
of mudslides and torrents.

We wait. Come fully, come soon.


(a prayer by Walter Brueggemann, from his book, Prayers for a Privileged People)

Christ, Whose Glory Fills the Skies

Christ, Whose glory fills the skies,
Christ, the true, the only Light,
Sun of Righteousness, arise,
Triumph o’er the shades of night;
Dayspring from on high be near;
Day-star, in my heart appear.

Visit now this soul of mine,
Pierce the gloom of sin and grief;
Fill me, Radiancy divine,
Scatter all my unbelief;
More and more Yourself display,
Shining to the perfect day.

(from a hymn by Charles Wesley; photo via everystockphoto.com)

Come and Dwell

Sovereign Lord, I come to you with my will, my affection, my very self, and ask you to cleanse me from every evil temper, from every selfish wish, from every secret doubt, and to come and dwell in my heart and keep me pure, and use me for your own glory, in Jesus' name, amen.

(suggested by lines from Helps to Holiness by Samuel Logan Brengle, chapter 19; now revised and updated for modern readers)

Your Regret

 

On October 7

Lord God Adonai, 

who brought your people Israel out of Egypt

and gave them a land and a future, 

have mercy on the remaining hostages 

from the October 7, 2023, massacres, 

who now have suffered a year of captivity, 

on all who await their return in fear and uncertainty, 

on all who grieve the victims of that massacre, 

and their countrymen and women whose lives 

continue to be upended by violence and hatred. 

Please defend all who seek to eradicate terrorism 

and prevent such horrors in the future. 

Plant brotherhood, peace and friendship in the hearts of all,

remove envy and baseless hatred

and spread over your people the Sukkah of Your peace,

for the sake of your great name, amen.  

Promise/Great is Thy Faithfulness

Refuge

To Walk in the Day

Grant, Lord, that I may walk in the day,
and not stumble,
because I see the Light of this world (John 11:9),
in Jesus' name, amen.

(image by blanca_rovira via pixabay.com)

On Rosh Hashanah

Let us now relate the power of this day's holiness, for it is awesome and frightening. On it Your Kingship will be exalted; Your throne will be firmed with kindness and You will sit upon it in truth. It is true that You alone are the One Who judges, proves, knows, and bears witness; Who writes and seats, (counts and calculates); Who remembers all that was forgotten. You will open the Book of Chronicles - it will read itself, and everyone's signature is in it. The great shofar will be sounded and a still, thin sound will be heard. Angels will hasten, a trembling and terror will seize them - and they will say, 'Behold, it is the Day of Judgment, to muster the heavenly host for judgment!'- for they cannot be vindicated in Your eyes in judgment.

All mankind will pass before You like members of the flock. Like a shepherd pasturing his flock, making sheep pass under his staff, so shall You cause to pass, count, calculate, and consider the soul of all the living; and You shall apportion the fixed needs of all Your creatures and inscribe their verdict.

On Rosh Hashanah will be inscribed and on Yom Kippur will be sealed how many will pass from the earth and how many will be created; who will live and who will die; who will die at his predestined time and who before his time; who by water and who by fire, who by sword, who by beast, who by famine, who by thirst, who by storm, who by plague, who by strangulation, and who by stoning. Who will rest and who will wander, who will live in harmony and who will be harried, who will enjoy tranquillity and who will suffer, who will be impoverished and who will be enriched, who will be degraded and who will be exalted.

But repentance, prayer, and charity avert the severity of the decree.

(photo via everystockphoto.com)

Harvest Home

Almighty God, who holdest the yellow moon like a cherry bowl on the tips of thy fingers, is not our newly cleaned and covered corncrib an altar to thee?

As the silk retreats into the browning shuck, as the sap recedes and the day grows shorter, as the dahlias dance and the fringed gentians put on blue veils, as the apple seed darkens and the milkweed blows fairy cotton all over the place, as the blackbirds hold county convention and the patriarch swallow calls his family together, as the ewe weans her lambs and the calves let their hair grow, we know, Good Landlord, that another Harvest Home is come.

We thank thee for all this plenty that we are now too ingather.

And we pray thee for peace.

For enduring peace, based on this plenty, around the world.

Amen.

(from the book, The Farmer Gives Thanks; photo by 6151189 via pixabay.com)

Before My Eyes