Happy Self Care Saturday and Happy Birthday Archbishop Desmond Tutu!

Good Evening Brothers and Sisters!

I hope that all is well on this the first Self-Care Saturday of October. We are celebrating my favorite saints birthdays instead of using the regular saints rota. Today we give thanks to God and wish former Archbishop Desmond Tutu a very happy birthday. Today I hope you have started working on your plan for balancing  service and prayer or social justice and prayer, as we go forward in the days and week's to come.  Remember we are using the CALM principles as our guide:

Let us remember the CALM principles:

Let us Sow Seeds of:

C= Compassion
A= Acceptance
L= Love
M = Mercy

Let us speak in words that are:

C= Comforting
A= Appreciative
L= Living and Loving
M= Mindful and Matter

Let our deeds be:
C= Caring and Compassionate
A= Admirable
L= Life giving
M= Mannerly

Let us be engaged in our:

Community

Actively

Loving one another

Ministering to everyone's needs

Let us engage in the "Be Stills"

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

Peace be still.
Peace be.
Peace.

Pause
Inhale Gently.
Exhale Gently.

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

Peace be still.
Peace be.
Peace.

Pause
Inhale Gently.
Exhale Gently.

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

Peace be still.
Peace be.
Peace.

Pause
Inhale Gently.
Exhale Gently.

The God who existed before any religion counts on you to make the oneness of the human family known and celebrated.

Desmond Tutu

To treat anyone as if they were less than human, less than a brother or a sister, no matter what they have done, is to contravene the very laws of our humanity.

Desmond Tutu

When people were hungry, Jesus didn't say, "Now is that political, or social?" He said, "I feed you." Because the good news to a hungry person is bread.

Desmond Tutu

True peace must be anchored in justice and an unwavering commitment to universal rights for all humans, regardless of ethnicity, religion, gender, national origin or any other identity attribute.

Desmond Tutu

Let us come together in this healing circle of love to pray, meditate, hold sacred space in this cyber sanctuary together.  May we practice the CALM Principles:

The Light of Christ in me Recognizes the Light of Christ in you!"
I hold holy space for you in love and peace this day and always!

Light of the World Phos hilaron

Light of the world, in grace and beauty,
Mirror of God’s eternal face,
Transparent flame of love’s free duty,
You bring salvation to our race.
Now, as we see the lights of evening,
We raise our voice in hymns of praise;
Worthy are you of endless blessing,
Sun of our night, lamp of our days.

IN LAK’ECH

Tú eres mi otro yo.
You are my other me.
Si te hago daño a ti,
If I do harm to you,
Me hago daño a mi mismo.
I do harm to myself.
Si te amo y respeto,
If I love and respect you,
Me amo y respeto yo.
I love and respect myself.

Luis Valdez

One of the sayings in our country is Ubuntu - the essence of being human. Ubuntu speaks particularly about the fact that you can't exist as a human being in isolation. It speaks about our interconnectedness. You can't be human all by yourself, and when you have this quality - Ubuntu - you are known for your generosity. We think of ourselves far too frequently as just individuals, separated from one another, whereas you are connected and what you do affects the whole World. When you do well, it spreads out; it is for the whole of humanity.

Desmond Tutu

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.

Let us join together in our healing circle of prayer of love and make vigil and hold sacred space and sanctuary!

Goodness is stronger than evil.
Love is stronger than hate.
Light is stronger than darkness.
Life is stronger than death.
Victory is ours through Him who loved us.

Desmond Tutu

God when you called us into being, you made us in your image and likeness and that we were and are to be the Lights of the World help us we pray as we light these our candles tonight to shine our love lights into places where there is darkness. Give us strength we pray that we may have courage to shine those lights where we normally wouldn't see ourselves going. We pray for all of our family members who are in dangerous and terrifying places. We pray for an end to violence, terror, bullying, abuse, and degradation and division. We pray for a world renewed by peace, love, mercy, and clean water and a healthy environment. We pray for all of us who are brokenhearted and who need to have our wounds dressed and tenderly cared for. We pray that we may be the shoulders to lean upon and cry and the soft place in which to fall and feel safe. Give us the courage to be this place even to the least of these, our enemies, and those who hate us. God of all Compassion, Acceptance, Love and Mercy we offer our additional prayers and thanksgivings remembering_________________. God we lay these our prayers, and thanksgivings at the feet and arms of your Son Jesus. We also remember that The light and love of Christ in me recognizes the Light and love of Christ in You. Amen.

Almighty God, whose prophets taught us righteousness in the care of your poor: By the guidance of your Holy Spirit, grant that we may do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly in your sight; through Jesus Christ, our Judge and Redeemer, who lives and reigns with you and the same Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

Today’s prayer is attributed to Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu adapted from an original prayer by Sir Francis Drake.

Disturb us, O Lord

when we are too well-pleased with ourselves 
when our dreams have come true because we dreamed too little, 
because we sailed too close to the shore.

Disturb us, O Lord

when with the abundance of things we possess, 
we have lost our thirst for the water of life 
when, having fallen in love with time, 
we have ceased to dream of eternity 
and in our efforts to build a new earth, 
we have allowed our vision of Heaven to grow dim.

Stir us, O Lord

to dare more boldly, to venture into wider seas 
where storms show Thy mastery, 
where losing sight of land, we shall find the stars.

In the name of Him who pushed back the horizons of our hopes 
and invited the brave to follow.

Amen

113 Laudate, pueri

1 Hallelujah!
Give praise, you servants of the Lord; *
praise the Name of the Lord.

2 Let the Name of the Lord be blessed, *
from this time forth for evermore.

3 From the rising of the sun to its going down *
let the Name of the Lord be praised.

4 The Lord is high above all nations, *
and his glory above the heavens.

5 Who is like the Lord our God, who sits enthroned on high, *
but stoops to behold the heavens and the earth?

6 He takes up the weak out of the dust *
and lifts up the poor from the ashes.

7 He sets them with the princes, *
with the princes of his people.

8 He makes the woman of a childless house *
to be a joyful mother of children.

We are each made for goodness, love and compassion. Our lives are transformed as much as the world is when we live with these truths.

Desmond Tutu

Exodus 22:21–27

21 You shall not wrong or oppress a resident alien, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt. ²²You shall not abuse any widow or orphan. ²³If you do abuse them, when they cry out to me, I will surely heed their cry; ²⁴my wrath will burn, and I will kill you with the sword, and your wives shall become widows and your children orphans.

25 If you lend money to my people, to the poor among you, you shall not deal with them as a creditor; you shall not exact interest from them. ²⁶If you take your neighbour’s cloak in pawn, you shall restore it before the sun goes down; ²⁷for it may be your neighbour’s only clothing to use as cover; in what else shall that person sleep? And if your neighbour cries out to me, I will listen, for I am compassionate

We are made for goodness. We are made for love. We are made for friendliness. We are made for togetherness. We are made for all of the beautiful things that you and I know. We are made to tell the world that there are no outsiders. All are welcome: black, white, red, yellow, rich, poor, educated, not educated, male, female, gay, straight, all, all, all. We all belong to this family, this human family, God's family.

Desmond Tutu

1 Corinthians 13:1–13

13If I speak in the tongues of mortals and of angels, but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 3If I give away all my possessions, and if I hand over my body so that I may boast,* but do not have love, I gain nothing.

4 Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant 5or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; 6it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. 7It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

8 Love never ends. But as for prophecies, they will come to an end; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will come to an end. 9 For we know only in part, and we prophesy only in part; 10 but when the complete comes, the partial will come to an end. 11 When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; when I became an adult, I put an end to childish ways. 12 For now we see in a mirror, dimly,* but then we will see face to face. Now I know only in part; then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known. 13 And now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; and the greatest of these is love.

My humanity is bound up in yours, for we can only be human together.

Desmond Tutu

We need to be accountable to God's family. Once we start living in a way that is people-friendly to all of God's family, we will also be environment-friendly.

Desmond Tutu

I am human because I belong, I participate, I share.

Desmond Tutu

Matthew 10:40–42

40 ‘Whoever welcomes you welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me. 41 Whoever welcomes a prophet in the name of a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward; and whoever welcomes a righteous person in the name of a righteous person will receive the reward of the righteous; 42 and whoever gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones in the name of a disciple—truly I tell you, none of these will lose their reward.’ 

God is patient with us to become the God's children he wants us to be but you really can see him weeping.

Desmond Tutu

We are made by God, we are made like God, we are made for God.

Desmond Tutu

'The Beatitudes

Matthew 5 The Voice (VOICE) 

People talk about this Jesus, this Preacher and Healer. Word spreads of His charisma and wisdom and power and love. People who are too sick to walk persuade their friends and relatives to carry them to Jesus. These cripples and demonized and ill and paralytics come to Jesus, and He heals them, and they follow Him.

5 Now when He saw the crowds, He went up on a mountain (as Moses had done before Him) and He sat down (as Jewish teachers of His day usually did). His disciples gathered around Him.

There on the mountain Jesus teaches them all. And as He is teaching, crowds gather around and overhear His teachings, listen in, and are captivated. This, the Sermon on the Mount, is the first of the five Mosaic-like sermons in Matthew.

2 And He began to teach them.

3 Jesus: Blessed are the spiritually poor—the kingdom of heaven is theirs.

4     Blessed are those who mourn—they will be comforted.

5     Blessed are the meek and gentle—they will inherit the earth.

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

7     Blessed are the merciful—they will be shown mercy.

8     Blessed are those who are pure in heart—they will see God.

9     Blessed are the peacemakers—they will be called children of God.

10     Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness—the kingdom of heaven is theirs.

11 And blessed are you, blessed are all of you, when people persecute you or denigrate you or despise you or tell lies about you on My account. 12 But when this happens, rejoice. Be glad. Remember that God’s prophets have been persecuted in the past. And know that in heaven, you have a great reward.

“Christ has no body now but yours. No hands, no feet on earth but yours. Yours are the eyes through which he looks compassion on this world. Yours are the feet with which he walks to do good. Yours are the hands through which he blesses all the world. Yours are the hands, yours are the feet, yours are the eyes, you are his body. Christ has no body now on earth but yours.”

― Teresa of Ávila

A Prayer Attributed to St. Francis!

Lord, make me an instrument of thy peace. Where there is hatred, let me sow love, Where there is injury, pardon; Where there is doubt, faith; Where there is despair, hope; Where there is darkness, light; And where there is sadness, joy. O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console, to be understood as to understand, to be loved, as to love.

Francis of Assisi

The Light of Christ in me Recognizes the Light of Christ in you!" 

I hold holy space for you during this time of prayer, vigil, and meditaion. 

Respond if you like:  God help us to bind up the brokenhearted and love and care for the least of these.


God we come to you in prayer with spirits that are hungry for a deeper relationship with you and all of our family members.

We pray for our family members who are hungry for nourishing and life giving food. May their bodies be filled. We pray for all soup kitchens feeding programs food banks, and pantries.

 We pray for our family members who are in need of clothing. May we take time to give our old and usable clothing away for those that need it.

 We pray for our family members who are in need of shelter this evening and if they need to be out in the cold that they may be safely protected.

 We pray for our family members who are in need of affection we pray that our prayers may encircle them with a virtual prayer quilt of love and compassion. May they feel our prayers as a holy hug and embrace.

 We pray for our family members who are seeking  relationships and that they may come to know that the most important relationships are with God and themselves.

 We pray for our family members who are  hungering for knowledge that education may be made affordable and that everyone will have places in which to learn and grow.

We pray for our family members who are hungering and thirsting after righteousness.

 We pray for our family members who are hungering for justice,equality human rights, dignity, and respect.

 We pray for our family members who are hungering for CALM (Compassion Acceptance Love and Mercy)

We pray for our family members who are hungering for peace and Peace of Mind.

We pray for our family members who have come to us with their prayer requests remembering especially__________________.

“Let nothing disturb you,

Let nothing frighten you,

All things are passing away:

God never changes.

Patience obtains all things.

Whoever has God lacks nothing;

God alone suffices.” 

― Teresa of Ávila

The Song of Simeon Nunc dimittis

Luke 2:29-32

Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, *

according to thy word;

For mine eyes have seen thy salvation, *

which thou hast prepared before the face of all people,

To be a light to lighten the Gentiles, *

and to be the glory of thy people Israel.

Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit: *

as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be for ever. Amen.

The Wisdom of God

the Love of God

and the Grace of God

strengthen you

to be Christ’s hands and heart in this world,

in the name of the Holy Trinity. Amen.

(source: Celtic)

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)

The Light of Christ in me Recognizes the Light of Christ in you!" 

I hold holy space for you during this time of prayer, vigil, and meditation. 

Optional meditation:

Let's do a refresher course on finding soulace* and solace for our bodies, mind, spirits, and  souls. We all need to do this every day as part of celebrating our lives every day. Let us go deeper and  and find peace , solace, and soulace*. Here is our meditation and listening music  * Soulace is my word for healing of our souls.

David Lanz- Variations on a theme From Pachelbel's Canon in D Major

Be still and hear the whisper of God in the Wind, in the waves, and in our hearts
Be still and hear the whisper of God in the Wind,in  the waves.
Be still and hear the whisper of God in the Wind.
Be still and hear the whisper of God.
Be still and hear the whisper.
Be still and hear.
Be still.
Be.

God may we see you and find you as we pray

God may we see you  and find you in times of rest and renewal.

God may we  see you and find you in times when we feel down and discouraged. May we feel your loving and abiding presence.

God may we see you and find you in the eyes of all  of our family members . God let us sew seeds of love, hope, joy, and peace.

God may we see you and find you in our heart homes and be warmed by your love. May we shine the light of  your love with the love that comes from our heart homes.

God may we see you and find you in all your living creatures and in your Cathedral of Love and Life.

God may we see you and find you in  your still small voice of calm.

God may we see you and find you in the faces of all of our most vulnerable and fragile family members who are crying out for help and  seeking universal human rights, justice, equality, and acceptance.

God may we see you and find you in all those who practice medicine and the arts of healing. We pray for those who are ill and in need of healing of their bodies, minds, and spirits.

God may we see you and find you in the light of all children's eyes and that they may be protected and loved.

God may we see you and find you in times of peace and quiet.

God may we see you and find you in places of memories  and family history.

God may we see you and find you in all of our loved ones who now reside in the Thin Places as we  remember them and hold them in our heart homes.

God may we see you and find your presence in our heart homes as we grieve any kind of loss.

God may we see you and find you as we pray for ourselves and  our family members who have requested prayers on our behalf remembering especially____________________

God may we see you and find you in the daily celebration of our lives and in celebration of____________

God we pray these our prayers and may we see you and find you answering them in the Name of your only Son Jesus the Christ who knocks at the doors of our heart homes. Amen.

Good night dear ones! I love you and give thanks to God for our familyhood. I believe we have been practicing Ubuntu all along Remember this:

Ubuntu: “I am what I am because of who we all are”, or “I am because we are”

Good Night Beloved Ones! I love you and I am grateful to God for you this day and always may we share Ubuntu time and feel the warmth of this sacred healing circle of love and sanctuary. 

Sara

F.Y.I. here is the Link to Saint of the Day :Desmond Tutu

Resources:

 Book of Common Prayer

Satucket Lectionary Page

Enriching our Worship.

YouTube

Quote Sites for Desmond Tutu Quotes, Prayers

Metis Aboriginal Ministries

In Lak' Ech Luis Valdez

Ubuntu- Wikipedia

Ubuntu : “I am what I am because of who we all are”, or “I am because we are”

P.S. Walk Wish Me On Our Journey Celebrates

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I give thanks to God for this, on this day and you my faithful circle of love and light