Time for prayer and preparation for our weekend Self-Care and Sabbath Rest Retreat Time

Good Evening Dear Family!


Happy Being Thoughtful and Thankful Thursday! Wow it is actually Thursday and you know that we are heading towards our Self-Care and Sabbath Rest Retreat Weekend!  This coming weekend we will be spending time preparing our individual Rules of Life. Each one of you get a chance to formulate your own plan to suit your weekend. Don't forget we still have to abide by our routines that help us keep ourselves on an even keel. Weekends are not designed to be times when we catch up on all the things we have left undone. We need to make and take time for adding the sacred into our lives and hearts. Tonight we are really going to keep it simple so that we can get our necessary rest and renewal for the upcoming weekend.  Choose no more than four items and areas to de-clutter this weekend. 


Let us begin once again with our mindfulness time:
5- 10 minute sit.
Use a timer, mindfulness app, or musical selection. 
Today's mindfulness musical selection are these:
Byzantine Chants
Chants de Taize

Be still and know that I am God!
Be still and know that I am.
Be still and know.
Be still.
Be. 

Inhale Slowly
Hold
Exhale Gently
Pause
Repeat.

Jesus said: “If any of you would come after me, deny yourself and
take up your cross and follow me.” Mark 8:34

You are no longer strangers and sojourners, but citizens together
with the saints and members of the household of God.
Ephesians 2:19

God is Spirit, and those who worship must worship in spirit and
in truth. John 4:24 

"Let all guests who arrive, be received as Christ." Benedict of Nursia 

Light and peace, in Jesus Christ our Lord.
 Thanks be to God.

O Gracious Light Phos hilaron

O gracious Light,
pure brightness of the everliving Father in heaven,
O Jesus Christ, holy and blessed!
Now as we come to the setting of the sun,
and our eyes behold the vesper light,
we sing your praises, O God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
You are worthy at all times to be praised by happy voices,
O Son of God, O Giver of life,
and to be glorified through all the worlds.

Gracious and merciful God we come tot you in the quietness of our beings seeking to be in communion and relationship with you and each other more fully. We light our candles together as a symbol of unity, so we may walk in your light and on your holy pathway. We set our hearts, minds, and souls on you O God. We pray this night for all who are tired, tear-stained, and emotionally spent. We pray this night that we may seek to be filled with your CALM (Compassion, Acceptance, Love, and Mercy) We place our lives into your loving and embracing arms this night as we prepare to take our rest. We give whatever is causing us pain, heartache, anxiety, and fear to you God so that we may open our heart homes to you and be renewed by your Love Energy. We come to you God asking your guidance and empowering spirit to help you make this a better place in which to live, love, and be at peace. Take away from us all anger,division, hatred, bullying, abuse, violence, and terror and anything that infects the world, the hearts and minds of all humanity in a negative and non life giving way. We pray and remember tonight all who have been affected by violence of any kind. Let us shine your light as beacons of hope,joy, justice, mercy, peace, and love to each other. "The light of Christ in me, Recognizes the light of Christ in you!'  We light our candles and pray in the name of your son Jesus the Christ. Amen. 


Psalm122 Lætatus sum

1 I was glad when they said to me, *
"Let us go to the house of the Lord."

2 Now our feet are standing *
within your gates, O Jerusalem.

3 Jerusalem is built as a city *
that is at unity with itself;
4 To which the tribes go up,
the tribes of the Lord, *
the assembly of Israel,
to praise the Name of the Lord.

5 For there are the thrones of judgment, *
the thrones of the house of David.

6 Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: *
"May they prosper who love you.

7 Peace be within your walls *
and quietness within your towers.

8 For my brethren and companions' sake, *
I pray for your prosperity.

9 Because of the house of the Lord our God, *
I will seek to do you good."

I was Glad ( With Vivats)

Job 5:8-9,20-27

⁸ ‘As for me, I would seek God,
   and to God I would commit my cause. 
⁹ He does great things and unsearchable,
   marvellous things without number. 
²⁰ In famine he will redeem you from death,
   and in war from the power of the sword. 
²¹ You shall be hidden from the scourge of the tongue,
   and shall not fear destruction when it comes. 
²² At destruction and famine you shall laugh,
   and shall not fear the wild animals of the earth. 
²³ For you shall be in league with the stones of the field,
   and the wild animals shall be at peace with you. 
²⁴ You shall know that your tent is safe,
   you shall inspect your fold and miss nothing. 
²⁵ You shall know that your descendants will be many,
   and your offspring like the grass of the earth. 
²⁶ You shall come to your grave in ripe old age,
   as a shock of grain comes up to the threshing-floor in its season. 
²⁷ See, we have searched this out; it is true.
   Hear, and know it for yourself.’ 

A Song of Judith

Judith 16:13-16

I will sing a new song to my God, *

for you are great and glorious, wonderful in strength, invincible.

Let the whole creation serve you, *

for you spoke and all things came into being.

You sent your breath and it formed them, *

no one is able to resist your voice.

Mountains and seas are stirred to their depths, *

rocks melt like wax at your presence.

But to those who fear you, *

you continue to show mercy.

No sacrifice, however fragrant, can please you, *

but whoever fears the Lord shall stand in your sight for ever.

2 Corinthians 5:16-20

16 From now on, therefore, we regard no one from a human point of view;^* even though we once knew Christ from a human point of view,^*we know him no longer in that way. ¹⁷So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new! ¹⁸All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation; ¹⁹that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself,^* not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting the message of reconciliation to us. ²⁰So we are ambassadors for Christ, since God is making his appeal through us; we entreat you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.

A Song of Our True Nature

Julian of Norwich

Christ revealed our frailty and our falling, *

our trespasses and our humiliations.

Christ also revealed his blessed power, *

his blessed wisdom and love.

He protects us as tenderly and as sweetly when we are in greatest need; *he raises us in spirit

and turns everything to glory and joy without ending.

God is the ground and the substance, the very essence of nature; *

God is the true father and mother of natures.

We are all bound to God by nature, *

and we are all bound to God by grace.

And this grace is for all the world, *

because it is our precious mother, Christ.

For this fair nature was prepared by Christ

for the honor and nobility of all, *

and for the joy and bliss of salvation

John 16:33-17:5

33 I have said this to you, so that in me you may have peace. In the world you face persecution. But take courage; I have conquered the world!’

17 After Jesus had spoken these words, he looked up to heaven and said, ‘Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son so that the Son may glorify you, 2 since you have given him authority over all people,* to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. 3 And this is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. 4 I glorified you on earth by finishing the work that you gave me to do. 5 So now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had in your presence before the world existed.

The Song of Mary Magnificat

My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord,

my spirit rejoices in you, O God my Savior, *

for you have looked with favor on your lowly servant.

From this day all generations will call me blessed: *

you, the Almighty, have done great things for me,

and holy is your name.

You have mercy on those who fear you *

from generation to generation.

You have shown strength with your arm *

and scattered the proud in their conceit,

Casting down the mighty from their thrones *

and lifting up the lowly.

You have filled the hungry with good things *

and sent the rich away empty.

You have come to the help of your servant Israel, *

for you have remembered your promise of mercy,

The promise made to our forebears, *

to Abraham and his children for ever.

Almighty God, of your grace you gave Conrad Weiser the gift of diplomacy, the insight to understand two different cultures and interpret each to the other with clarity and honesty: As we strive to be faithful to our vocation to commend your kingdom, help us to proclaim the Gospel to the many cultures around us, that by your Holy Spirit we may be effective ambassadors for our Savior Jesus Christ; who with you and the same Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

Let us pray for all God's Children this night an always. Remember as we pray for All God's Children that means all of us. 

We pray for all of our family members this night and always.

We pray for all children that they may be loved and gently cared for and treated with dignity and respect.

We pray for all caregivers that they may be afforded love, respect, and respite care.

We pray for our enemies that we may learn to love and find ways to become united/

We pray for our animal kingdom family members and especially those who have crossed the Rainbow Bridge.

We pray for all refugees, political prisoners, victims of violence, abuse, and terror.

We pray for all of our family members who are vulnerable and feel invisible. 

We pray for all of our LGBTQ family members who are continuing to seek for inclusion and loving acceptance. We pray that we who are in the process of coming out may find it a safe place and a place of springs. We pray that we may be afforded love and dignified treatment.

We pray for all of our family members who practice other religions not our own may be given the same love, respect, dignity, and  freedom to practice their and our faiths without fear or retribution.


We pray for all of our family members who have different political leanings as ours that we may come to a mutual understanding of dignity and respect and find common ground.

We pray for all of our family members who are in need of food, clothing, and shelter that we may rise and lovingly respond to their needs.

We pray for all our family members who are grieving, lonely, lost, and afraid. We pray that we may lovingly respond and be compassionate with empathetic and sympathetic hearts.

We pray for _______________

We give thanks for_______________

We celebrate_________________

We lift up these our prayers to our Brother, Redeemer, Friend, Jesus who teaches us daily how to be one with each other in love.  Amen.

 A Prayer attributed to St. Francis
Lord, make us instruments of your peace. Where there is
hatred, let us sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where
there is discord, union; where there is doubt, faith; where
there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; where
there is sadness, joy. Grant that we may not so much seek to
be consoled as to console; to be understood as to understand;
to be loved as to love. For it is in giving that we receive; it is
in pardoning that we are pardoned; and it is in dying that we
are born to eternal life. Amen.

Matthew 5:1-12 New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)

The Beatitudes
5 When Jesus[a] saw the crowds, he went up the mountain; and after he sat down, his disciples came to him. 2 Then he began to speak, and taught them, saying:

3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

4 “Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.

5 “Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.

6 “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.

7 “Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy.

8 “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.

9 “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.

10 “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

11 “Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely[b] on my account. 12 Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

Glory to God whose power, working in us, can do infinitely more
than we can ask or imagine: Glory to God from generation to
generation in the Church, and in Christ Jesus for ever and ever.

Amen. Ephesians 3:20,21

Live without fear: your Creator has made you holy, has always
protected you, and loves you as a mother. Go in peace to follow
the good road and may God’s blessing be with you always. Amen.

(source: from Saint Clare

Good Night Dear Ones! I love you all!  Many thanks to you for all that you do for God, yourselves, and others. 

Peace, love, prayers, and God's Blessings!

Sara

Resources:

Satucket for lectionary readings and information on today's Saint of the Day : Conrad Weiser

Enriching Our Worship

Book of Common Prayer

Walk With Me On Our Journey

YouTube for music