Good Evening Dear Ones!
Happy Being Thoughtful and Thankful Thursday. We as a community are approaching 199,000 page views. I give thanks to go for you and our time today. Today we are going to make this a holy day in thanksgiving and remembrance for the least of these. We are the least of these. and our recent addition of Stories from the window tells us this. As we continue to pray for and stand in loving solidarity with a wide range of diverse family members we must love one another and the most important thing in loving one another is this, WE MUST STOP THE HATE AND DIVISION. Tonight I want us to spend time in prayer and vigil for the least of these as a kind of additional All Souls day. Our focus must never stray from the least of these and our solidarity must be solid and true.
Tonight I would like us to meditate upon this passage from the 44th Chapter of Sirach . Take your time and let this soak in.
44 Let us now praise famous men,
and our fathers in their generations.
2 The Lord apportioned to them[a] great glory,
his majesty from the beginning.
3 There were those who ruled in their kingdoms,
and were men renowned for their power,
giving counsel by their understanding,
and proclaiming prophecies;
4 leaders of the people in their deliberations
and in understanding of learning for the people,
wise in their words of instruction;
5 those who composed musical tunes,
and set forth verses in writing;
6 rich men furnished with resources,
living peaceably in their habitations—
7 all these were honored in their generations,
and were the glory of their times.
8 There are some of them who have left a name,
so that men declare their praise.
9 And there are some who have no memorial,
who have perished as though they had not lived;
they have become as though they had not been born,
and our fathers in their generations.
2 The Lord apportioned to them[a] great glory,
his majesty from the beginning.
3 There were those who ruled in their kingdoms,
and were men renowned for their power,
giving counsel by their understanding,
and proclaiming prophecies;
4 leaders of the people in their deliberations
and in understanding of learning for the people,
wise in their words of instruction;
5 those who composed musical tunes,
and set forth verses in writing;
6 rich men furnished with resources,
living peaceably in their habitations—
7 all these were honored in their generations,
and were the glory of their times.
8 There are some of them who have left a name,
so that men declare their praise.
9 And there are some who have no memorial,
who have perished as though they had not lived;
they have become as though they had not been born,
and so have their children after them.
10 But these were men of mercy,
whose righteous deeds have not been forgotten;
11 their prosperity will remain with their descendants,
and their inheritance to their children’s children.[b]
12 Their descendants stand by the covenants;
their children also, for their sake.
13 Their posterity will continue for ever,
and their glory will not be blotted out.
14 Their bodies were buried in peace,
and their name lives to all generations.
15 Peoples will declare their wisdom,
and the congregation proclaims their praise.
Let us light our candles, smudge, make vigil, and be at prayer!
A Smudging Prayer
Creator, our Father in heaven, we come to you as your children. We confess that we are weak and broken images of you. We pray for the forgiveness and healing you give in Jesus Christ. May his Spirit clean our spirits, minds, hearts, and bodies. We pray that your Holy Spirit will help us to worship in spirit and truth. We pray in the name of Jesus, so that his Spirit will carry our prayers to you. Amen.
Grandfather Great Spirit
All over the world the faces of living ones are alike.
With tenderness they have come up out of the ground
Look upon your children that they may face the winds
And walk the good road to the Day of Quiet.
Grandfather Great Spririt
Fill us with the Light.
Give us the strength to understand, and the eyes to see.
Teach us to walk the soft Earth as relatives to all that live.
- Sioux Prayer
God we pray this night that we may lovingly stand in solidarity with the least of these and have the courage to care for them even though others may look down upon us.
God we give thanks for the least of these who teach us many things and give us courage to live lives that we would otherwise not be able to.
God we pray this night that we may continue to pray and be in loving solidarity with the water protectors.
God we give thanks for all water protectors and those who proactively conserve the natural resources in God's Cathedral of Life.
God we pray for all of our family members who are facing violence of any kind may they be protected and that they may be steadfast models of right behavior.
God we give thanks for the courageous ones who meet and see violence every day and seek to speak truth to power and do not shrink back in to fear but forge ahead as social justice advocates.
God we pray for all who are ill that they may receive from you the healing that is in your plans.
God we give thanks for illnesses that teach us how to live, move, and just be.
God we pray for all who are striving to make a difference in this fragile and broken world. May we join them as servants in making peace, being a voice for the voiceless, and that we may help fight against hatred and injustice.
God we thank you for the peacemakers who are making this world a better place.
God we pray for all who have entered into the the Thin Places today and for their loved ones who have now begun to grieve their loss.
God we give thanks and remember the living, the dying, and the dead.
God we pray this night for peace in the words of this Native American Prayer.
A Native American Prayer for Peace
To your messengers the four winds,
and to Mother Earth who provides for your children.
Give us the wisdom to teach our children to love, to respect,
and to be kind to each other so that they may grow with peace in mind.
Let us learn to share all the good things you provide for us on this Earth.
- U.N. Day of Prayer for World Peace 2
God we pray that our words, deeds, and thoughts may be cleansed and that all that we do may be acceptable to you.
Words That Speak
The American Indian is of the soil, whether it be the region of
forests, plains, pueblos, or mesas. He fits into the landscape,
for the hand that fashioned the continent also fashioned the man
for his surroundings. He once grew as naturally as the wild
sunflowers, he belongs just as the buffalo belonged....
Out of the Indian approach to life there came a great freedom, an
intense and absorbing respect for life, enriching faith in a
Supreme Power, and principles of truth, honesty, generosity, equity,
and brotherhood as a guide to mundane relations.
You have noticed that everything an Indian does is in a circle,
and that is because the Power of the World always works in circles,
and everything tries to be round..... The Sky is round, and I have
heard that the earth is round like a ball, and so are all the stars.
The wind, in its greatest power, whirls. Birds make their nest in
circles, for theirs is the same religion as ours....
Even the seasons form a great circle in their changing, and always
come back again to where they were. The life of a man is a circle
from childhood to childhood, and so it is in everything where power
moves.
-Black Elk (Oglala) 1863-1950
Teach us love, compassion and honor ... that we may heal the Earth and heal each other." - Ojibwe
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Good night dear ones! I love you and give thanks to God for you this day and always.
With love and blessings,
Sara
PS. Here his the link to the compilation of the prayers, vigils, and blogs in solidarity with Standing Rock. A compilation of prayers and blogs in Solidarity with Standing Rock.
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