Our online presence in tender times. Our words, posts, and cyber boundaries matter!

Good Evening! 

Happy Being Thoughtful and Thankful Thursday! For those of you who have been following social media these past few days there has been a lot of raw emotions and uncertainty. Right now I think we all need to begin respecting our timelines, walls, and personal cyberspaces. I am suggesting that you all become followers of the blog and subscribe to it so that it doesn't clog up your wall. Please let me know if you want me to post it on your timeline or still want me to send you a Tweet with the link.  Here is what I posted on Facebook earlier. 

Welcome to my online living room! Please wipe your feet on the mat and take off your shoes! This is my sanctuary! I sometimes save articles and place them on my virtual coffee table. Don't feel you need to respond! Anger and negativity are to be avoided ! Our family comes here to feel safe and affirmed and loved! We agree to disagree and "Strive for justice and respect the dignity of every human being"! Please respect these mental health guidelines! These are times where loving kindness is needed. Due to our diverse family please Remember that we have guests who need to feel safe and know this is a safe place to fall and post!

P.S. Do you accept these terms and conditions. 

( You may copy and paste on to your Facebook Page)

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Here are some of my suggestions that I am beginning to follow tonight.

No more excessive posting to walls, pages, or timelines. Please let me know if you want to receive them on your wall.

Please ask permission to post and tag. 

Please be kind and respectful when you post and tweet. 

Be positive when you comment and if you have something to say that's negative take it off to a message. 

As seen on FACEBOOK

New blog rules beginning tonight! I am posting the blog to the following sites. Walk With Me On Our Journey page - please like the page to see all the goodies. California Episcopalians, For All Episcopalians, Episcopalians, and my Wall. If you still want to receive it please message me or post in the comment section below. I feel it is time to honor walls as part of respecting the dignity of every human being. Walls, timelines, and pages are personal yet public spaces that need to have the same rules as personal spaces. We need to respect boundaries now more than ever. We mustn't take anything we post on someone's wall as an automatic okay. 

More on this subject later. 

Let us enter our time of prayer and sanctuary!

Tonight we pray in the words of  the fruits of the spirit and light our candles as we vigil:

Galatians 5:22-23  New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)

The Fruit of the Spirit

22 By contrast, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against such things.

God we light our candles and pray to be lights to the world sowing the seeds of the Fruits of the Spirit to all. We light the world with your love and share it with all of our family members and even our enemies. We light the world with joy as we empower each of us with the love energy of joy. We light the dark places as we become peacemakers and pray for the peace of the world. We pray for the resolve to be patient and take time to breathe when we are anxious and tense. We pray that we may be kind in our words and deeds and see You Abba God face to face in all of our family members' faces. We pray that we may convey and practice a spirit of generosity and that we may become cheerful givers. We pray that we may engage in faithfulness that we may never lose heart when we are afraid and unsure. We pray that all our actions may be guided by self-control. We light our candles and pray that we may use the gifts of the fruits of the spirit wisely in God's service and in the service of all of our family members. We add our prayers for Louisiana, New York, and all other places where there was great violence and natural disasters this day. We lift up these our prayers to you O God, this night and always. Amen. 

Let us pray,

God help us to speak and write lovingly towards one another in all aspects of our lives.

God we pray and ask for forgiveness if any of the words we have said or written have harmed or wounded anyone in any way.

God we pray that we may use our words lovingly, for the benefit of others, and as voices for the voiceless.

God we pray that we may use our words to help soothe, comfort,and encourage our family members who are ill, alone, and marginalized.

God we pray that we may use or words gently as we say goodbye to our loved ones who are transitioning or are in comas.

God we pray that we may choose our words rightly when we are upset and angry.

God we pray that we may choose our words with grace with our family members who differ from us.

God we pray that we may choose our words not to hate but to heal.

God we pray that we may choose our words with eloquence when we need to speak and write to our elected and world officials.

God we pray that we may choose our words as we pray with love, mercy, hope, and peace.

God we add our prayers in words silently or aloud for ourselves and on behalf of others remembering especially____________________

God we add our thanksgivings in words silently or aloud___________________

God accept our prayers and thanksgivings in the Name of Jesus who is Word incarnate. Amen.

Or these

Hear, O Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord is One.

God may we resist the need to put labels, letters, brands, and such on your children.

May we be one.

God may we resist using these labels, letters, brands to harm, hurt, discriminate and hate.

May we be loving and united.

God may we resist the need to use labels, letters, brands in describing our family members.

May we see each family member as you see us.

God may we seek to see you in each of our enemies faces and do good to them by remembering they are part of our family too.  May we seek to follow the example Jesus set and look to Him as our role model in our family and in our faith.

God may we continue to widen the circle of our family by expanding and tenderizing our hearts and  loving each other fully without fear and suspicion. 

God we pray for all of our family members who are ill, need, danger, homeless, hungry, and especially these our family members we now name before you________________

God we pray for all our family members who are in nations where there is danger remembering South Sudan, Syria, The Ukraine, and all other parts of  the world where there is danger and especially those places that are on our hearts____________________

God we pray for rain and a gentle return to normal weather patterns throughout the world. and in our nation.

God we pray for those who have died today and this hour that they may feel your warm embrace as they begin a new chapter where they are truly one with you.  We pray for all who continue to grieve losses of  any kind regardless of time. We remember especially_____________________________

God we give you thanks for our family members and all our many blessings and especially all those many blessings _______________________

God we celebrate those special times , family members birthdays, and special saints and persons who are on our calendar and hearts today remembering especially_____________________________

God we wrap these our prayers into a Sabbath Box and know that you are already at work responding to these our prayers, receiving our thanksgivings, acknowledging those special celebrations and consoling us as we remember those who are near and dear to us who now reside with you.  All this we ask in Jesus' name. Amen. 

"Hear O, Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord is One". May we all be one!

Good Night Dearly loved ones! I love you and give thanks to God for you this night and always!

Love and Blessings,

Sara