King: I cannot come to You however I choose yet all I am is a bundle hurriedly put together, no sack cloth, no ashes, hair still mussed from slumber, limbs dragging, soul flat, feet not yet expecting to walk… Can I come to You as a stowaway, scarcely awake, found among cargo, hiding like JonahContinue reading “Burnt-out Prayer: For Ash Wednesday”
Tag Archives: prayer
Nazarene
“We can only silence the guns of hatred with the guns of love.” – Nigerian church leader, quoted in Open Doors prayer letter I am broken in my love: I cry, I steal, I hurt, I hate. My heart has guns which fire and kill and I am daily killed. I do not understand my friend;Continue reading “Nazarene”
Catechism 42
How is the Word of God to be read and heard? With diligence, preparation, and prayer; so that we may accept it with faith, store it in our hearts, and practice it in our lives. (New City Catechism) And teach. Let us be ready: the hands poised beneath the pages, holding open, as in prayer;Continue reading “Catechism 42”
Catechism 41
What is the Lord’s Prayer? Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we have also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver usContinue reading “Catechism 41”
OCD Prayer for the New Year
What lies behind corners can hurt or heal; What lurks in this heart can wound or bless. What triggers in mind can remind of the past; What future is clean is unknown. Whatever contaminates; whatever is sick; Whatever is broken, whatever will break; Whatever may lift and whatever may tarry: God give, God take, GodContinue reading “OCD Prayer for the New Year”
First Candle: Advent is Waiting
Advent is not simply Christmas extended: Calendar flaps decked with chocolate each day; Shops tinsel-lined as though God intended The season to dazzle our wallets away. Advent is not for the first-fruits of commerce, Nor is it for month-long pre-parties and drinks, And not for fluoro-lit reindeers dispersed In gardens, despite what the suburbs mayContinue reading “First Candle: Advent is Waiting”
Evening Collect: The Horn is Lifted (Cornucopia of Heaven)
Evening Collect: The Horn is Lifted After Hammock, “Tres Dominé” O God – the empty horn is lifted; the hollow shell is given voice; the broken branch is whittled out and sings. Three persons, my emptiness becomes Your fullness; my earthen jar becomes Your vessel; my bruised reed hums with Your song inContinue reading “Evening Collect: The Horn is Lifted (Cornucopia of Heaven)”
Expectation (The Cornucopia of Heaven)
Expectation After J.S. Bach, “Mass in B Minor: Et Expecto Resurrectionem” We begin small: a kernel dropping to soil a weak and fickle seed a broken passing moment dust expectantly, expectant… of what breaks forth in trumpet-shower, in polyphonic spring, Continue reading “Expectation (The Cornucopia of Heaven)”
Prayers of Intercession (Cornucopia of Heaven)
Prayers of Intercession After Felix Mendelssohn, “Veni Domine, Op.39” Veni Domine, et noli tardare. Come, Lord, and do not delay. (Traditional prayer) With empty horn and plaintive voice: Veni domine, we cry. Sunk in mire, sunk in self: Et noli tardare. Our earth is cracked, our reservoirs dry: Veni domine,Continue reading “Prayers of Intercession (Cornucopia of Heaven)”
The Lord’s Prayer (Cornucopia of Heaven)
The Lord’s Prayer After Otto Nicolai, “Pater noster, Op. 33” Our Father – the heavens are Your home, earth Your tent, and yet You are a Father. Teach our fickle hearts, our yelling hearts, to still, to stop to look upon Your glory, high and lifted up. Our Father who our FatherContinue reading “The Lord’s Prayer (Cornucopia of Heaven)”
The Consolations of Writing 