Coming together as the beloved community as we grapple with grief, sadness and a whole realm of emotions

Good Evening Dear Ones!

Happy Monday! I am praying for you all as I write this. I have been seeing and hearing much sadness in the social media realm these past 24 hours.Today we must make vigil and pray and come together as one. If you haven't lit your candle or turned on your porch light please do it now as a sign of unity and love.

Now let us engage in the "Peace be stills"

Peace be still.
Peace be.
Peace.

Peace be still.
Peace be.
Peace.

Peace be still.
Peace be.
Peace.

Let us ponder these quotes from Henri Nouwen:

"When I trust deeply that today God is truly with me and holds me safe in a divine embrace, guiding every one of my steps I can let go of my anxious need to know how tomorrow will look, or what will happen next month or next year. I can be fully where I am and pay attention to the many signs of God's love within me and around me." ~ Henri Nouwen

"Compassion asks us to go where it hurts, to enter into the places of pain, to share in brokenness, fear, confusion, and anguish. Compassion challenges us to cry out with those in misery, to mourn with those who are lonely, to weep with those in tears. Compassion requires us to be weak with the weak, vulnerable with the vulnerable, and powerless with the powerless. Compassion means full immersion in the condition of being human." ~ Henri Nouwen

"Nobody escapes being wounded. We are all wounded people, whether physically, emotionally, mentally, or spiritually. The main question is not, 'How can we hide our wounds?' so we don't have to be embarrassed, but 'How can we put our woundedness in the service of others?' When our wounds cease to be a source of shame, and become a source of healing, we have become wounded healers." ~ Henri Nouwen

"When we honestly ask ourselves which person in our lives mean the most to us, we often find that it is those who, instead of giving advice, solutions, or cures, have chosen rather to share our pain and touch our wounds with a warm and tender hand. The friend who can be silent with us in a moment of despair or confusion, who can stay with us in an hour of grief and bereavement, who can tolerate not knowing, not curing, not healing and face with us the reality of our powerlessness, that is a friend who cares." ~ Henri Nouwen

"Joy does not simply happen to us. We have to choose joy and keep choosing it every day. It is a choice based on the knowledge that we belong to God and have found in God our refuge and our safety and that nothing, not even death, can take God away from us." ~ Henri Nouwen

"This is what life is about. It is being sent on a trip by a loving God, who is waiting at home for our return and is eager to watch the slides we took and hear about the friends we made. When we travel with the eyes and ears of the God who sent us, we will see wonderful sights, hear wonderful sounds, meet wonderful people ... and be happy to return home." ~ Henri Nouwen

"Hope is willing to leave unanswered questions unanswered and unknown futures unknown. Hope makes you see God's guiding hand not only in the gentle and pleasant moments but also in the shadows of disappointment and darkness." ~ Henri Nouwen

"Friendship is one of the greatest gifts a human being can receive. It is a bond beyond common goals, common interests, or common histories. It is a bond stronger than sexual union can create, deeper than a shared fate can solidify, and even more intimate than the bonds of marriage or community. Friendship is being with the other in joy and sorrow, even when we cannot increase the joy or decrease the sorrow. It is a unity of souls that gives nobility and sincerity to love. Friendship makes all of life shine brightly." ~ Henri Nouwen


"For Jesus, there are no countries to be conquered, no ideologies to be imposed, no people to be dominated. There are only children, women and men to be loved." ~ Henri Nouwen

"Our life is full of brokenness - broken relationships, broken promises, broken expectations. How can we live with that brokenness without becoming bitter and resentful except by returning again and again to God's faithful presence in our lives." ~ Henri Nouwen

"Compassion- which means, literally, "to suffer with"- is the way to the truth that we are most ourselves, not when we differ from others, but when we are the same. Indeed the main spiritual question is not, "What difference do you make?" but "What do you have in common?" It is not "excelling" but "serving" that makes us most human. It is not proving ourselves to be better than others but confessing to be just like others that is the way to healing and reconciliation." ~ Henri Nouwen

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Come let us worship:

Joseph Barth: A Grace

We give thanks for Being;

We give thanks for being here;

We give thanks for being here together.

‘I am the resurrection and the life,’ says the Lord; ‘whoever lives and believes in me shall never die.’ John 1:25–26

The sacrifice acceptable to God is a broken spirit: a broken and contrite heart O God you will not despise. Psalm 51:17

Create in me a clean heart O God: and renew a right spirit within me. Psalm 51:10

Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you. Ephesians 4:32

Jesus said: ‘I am the living bread which came down from heaven; whoever eats of this bread, will live for ever; and the bread which I shall give for the life of the world is my flesh.’ John 6:51

We do not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God. Matthew 4:4

Unless a grain of wheat falls on the ground and dies, it remains a single grain; but, if it dies, it yields a rich harvest. John 12:24

Far be it from me to glory except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me and I to the world. Galatians 6:14

If we claim to be sinless, we are self-deceived, and strangers to the truth. If we confess our sins God is just, and may be trusted to forgive our sins, and cleanse us from every kind of wrong. 1 John 1:8, 9


The Venerable Thich Nhat Hanh: A Litany for Peace

As we are together praying for Peace, let us be truly with each other.
Silence
Let us pay attention to our breathing.
Silence
Let us be relaxed in our bodies and our minds.
Silence
Let us return to ourselves and become wholly ourselves.
Silence
Let us be aware of the Source of Being common to us all and to all that is.
Silence
Evoking the presence of the Great Companion, let us fill our hearts with our own compassion—towards ourselves and toward all living beings.
Silence
Let us pray that all living beings realize that they are all nourished from the same Source of Life.
Silence
Let us pray that we ourselves cease to be the cause of needless suffering.
Silence
Let us pray that we may live in a way which will not needlessly deprive other living beings of air, water, food, shelter, or the chance to live in health.
Silence
With reverence for Life and with awareness of the sufferings that are going on around us, let us pray for the establishment of peace in our hearts and on earth.

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.

Psalm 134 Ecce nunc
Behold now, bless the LORD, all you servants of the LORD, *
you that stand by night in the house of the LORD.
Lift up your hands in the holy place and bless the LORD; *
the LORD who made heaven and earth bless you out of Zion.

Psalm 141:1-3,8ab Domine, clamavi

O LORD, I call to you; come to me quickly; *
hear my voice when I cry to you.
Let my prayer be set forth in your sight as incense, *
the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice.
Set a watch before my mouth, O LORD,
and guard the door of my lips; *
let not my heart incline to any evil thing.
My eyes are turned to you, Lord GOD; *
in you I take refuge.

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

"The fire has its flame and praises God.

The wind blows the flame and praises God.

In the voice we hear the word which praises God.

And the word, when heard, praises God.

So all of creation is a song of praise to God." ~ Hildegard of Bingen

"We must dissent from the indifference. We must dissent from the apathy. We must dissent from the fear, the hatred and the mistrust. We must dissent from a nation that has buried its head in the sand, waiting in vain for the needs of its poor, its elderly, and its sick to disappear and just blow away. We must dissent from a government that has left its young without jobs, education or hope. We must dissent from the poverty of vision and the absence of moral leadership. We must dissent because America can do better, because America has no choice but to do better." ~ Thurgood Marshall

"Did I offer peace today? Did I bring a smile to someone's face? Did I say words of healing? Did I let go of my anger and resentment? Did I forgive? Did I love?' These are the real questions. I must trust that the little bit of love that I sow now will be many fruits, here in this world and the life to come." - Henri Nouwen

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.

Confession of Need

Let us confess our need for God’s healing grace.

Silence

Compassionate God,
we confess our weaknesses and our need for your
strengthening touch.
We confess that some illnesses stem from our own fault,
while others are beyond our control.
We turn to you, source of life,
and ask in the name of our Savior Jesus Christ
for the gifts of true healing and life in you. Amen.

May the God of love visit us in our times of trial and weakness,
and raise us to newness of life, through Jesus Christ, in the
power of the Holy Spirit. Amen.


From the Resistance Prays

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,

    because he has anointed me

        to bring good news to the poor.

He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives

    and recovery of sight to the blind,

        to let the oppressed go free,

to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

-Luke 4:18 (NSRV)

God of Justice, 

You have created us equal, yet we’ve built a society that thrives on inequality.

Even as fear overtakes us, let us not lose our prophetic voice.

Let us follow the words of Isaiah to set the captives free.

We pray for the safety and well being of all those in detention centers, and we pray for courage from our political leaders to return detainees to their families to find relief from this storm.

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The prudent sees danger and hides himself, but the simple go on and suffer for it. -Proverbs 27:12

Holy One, we struggle to find words in the midst of this pandemic. Meet us with your divine presence in this uncertainly, in this doubt, in this anger, in this frustration, in this grief, in this mourning, in this longing for a better world. Amen.

When there is moral rot within a nation, its government topples easily. But wise and knowledgeable leaders bring stability. - ‭‭Proverbs‬ ‭28:2‬

The king's officials in Zoan are foolish themselves and give stupid advice. How can they say to him, “We are very wise, and our families go back to kings of long ago?"...The royal officials in Zoan and in Memphis are foolish and deceived. The leaders in every state have given bad advice to the nation. - ‭‭Isaiah‬ ‭19:11,13

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To the One who created us for connection,

We pray for strong leadership in our state houses and in our nation’s capital. We pray that you prepare our leaders for the days ahead, surrounding them with wise counsel and the ears to hear sage advice.  

In the time after pandemic, help us to remember. Our memories are so short, God. Remind us how desperately we relied on strong leaders who prioritized the health of their people. Give us guidance as we then seek to support and elect leaders of strong character. Amen.

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"All the workers you’ve exploited and cheated cry out for judgment. The groans of the workers you used and abused are a roar in the ears of the Master Avenger. You’ve looted the earth and lived it up. But all you’ll have to show for it is a fatter than usual corpse. In fact, what you’ve done is condemn and murder perfectly good persons, who stand there and take it.” - James 5:4-6, The Message

Show me the suffering of the most miserable; 

So I will know my people’s plight. 

Free me to pray for others; 

For you are present in every person. 

Help me take responsibility for my own life;

So that I can be free at last. 

Grant me courage to serve others; 

For in service there is true life. 

Give me honesty and patience; 

So that I can work with other workers. 

Bring forth song and celebration; 

So that the Spirit will be alive among us.

Let the Spirit flourish and grow; 

So that we will never tire of the struggle. 

Let us remember those who have died for justice; 

For they have given us life. 

Help us love even those who hate us; 

So we can change the world. 

Amen.

(Cesar Chavez, Prayer of the Farm Workers’ Struggle)

A Song of Christ’s Goodness
Anselm of Canterbury
Jesus, as a mother you gather your people to you; *
you are gentle with us as a mother with her children.
Often you weep over our sins and our pride, *
tenderly you draw us from hatred and judgment.
You comfort us in sorrow and bind up our wounds, *
in sickness you nurse us and with pure milk you feed us.
Jesus, by your dying, we are born to new life; *
by your anguish and labor we come forth in joy.
Despair turns to hope through your sweet goodness; *
through your gentleness, we find comfort in fear.
Your warmth gives life to the dead, *
your touch makes sinners righteous.
Lord Jesus, in your mercy, heal us; *
in your love and tenderness, remake us.
In your compassion, bring grace and forgiveness, *
for the beauty of heaven, may your love prepare us.

Psalm 23

Dominus regit me

1 The Lord is my shepherd; *
I shall not be in want.
2 He makes me lie down in green pastures *
and leads me beside still waters.
3 He revives my soul *
and guides me along right pathways for his Name's sake.
4 Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I shall fear no evil; *
for you are with me;
your rod and your staff, they comfort me.
5 You spread a table before me in the presence of those who trouble me; *
you have anointed my head with oil,
and my cup is running over.
6 Surely your goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, *
and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.

Isaiah 41:17-20

17 When the poor and needy seek water,

   and there is none,

   and their tongue is parched with thirst,

I the Lord will answer them,

   I the God of Israel will not forsake them. 

18 I will open rivers on the bare heights,*

   and fountains in the midst of the valleys;

I will make the wilderness a pool of water,

   and the dry land springs of water. 

19 I will put in the wilderness the cedar,

   the acacia, the myrtle, and the olive;

I will set in the desert the cypress,

   the plane and the pine together, 

20 so that all may see and know,

   all may consider and understand,

that the hand of the Lord has done this,

   the Holy One of Israel has created it. 

A Song of Wisdom Sapientia liberavit

Wisdom 10:15-19,20b-21

Wisdom freed from a nation of oppressors *

a holy people and a blameless race.

She entered the soul of a servant of the Lord, *

withstood dread rulers with wonders and signs.

To the saints she gave the reward of their labors, *

and led them by a marvelous way;

She was their shelter by day *

and a blaze of stars by night.

She brought them across the Red Sea, *

she led them through mighty waters;

But their enemies she swallowed in the waves *

and spewed them out from the depths of the abyss.

And then, Lord, the righteous sang hymns to your Name, *

and praised with one voice your protecting hand;

For Wisdom opened the mouths of the mute, *

and gave speech to the tongues of a new-born people.

John 8:1–11

Early in the morning Jesus came again to the temple. All the people came to him and he sat down and began to teach them. The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery; and making her stand before all of them, they said to him, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the very act of committing adultery. Now in the law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?” They said this to test him, so that they might have some charge to bring against him. Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground. When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, “Let anyone among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” And once again he bent down and wrote on the ground. When they heard it, they went away, one by one, beginning with the elders; and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him. Jesus straightened up and said to her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” She said, “No one, sir.” And Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you. Go your way, and from now on do not sin again.”

Or 

John 8:12–20

Jesus spoke to the people, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life.” Then the Pharisees said to him, “You are testifying on your own behalf; your testimony is not valid.” Jesus answered, “Even if I testify on my own behalf, my testimony is valid because I know where I have come from and where I am going, but you do not know where I come from or where I am going. You judge by human standards; I judge no one. Yet even if I do judge, my judgment is valid; for it is not I alone who judge, but I and the Father who sent me. In your law it is written that the testimony of two witnesses is valid. I testify on my own behalf, and the Father who sent me testifies on my behalf.” Then they said to him, “Where is your Father?” Jesus answered, “You know neither me nor my Father. If you knew me, you would know my Father also.” He spoke these words while he was teaching in the treasury of the temple, but no one arrested him, because his hour had not yet come.

A Song of God’s Love
1 John 4:7-11
Beloved, let us love one another, *
for love is of God.
Whoever does not love does not know God, *
for God is Love.
In this the love of God was revealed among us, *
that God sent his only Son into the world,
so that we might live through Jesus Christ.
In this is love, not that we loved God but that God loved us *
and sent his Son that sins might be forgiven.
Beloved, since God loved us so much, *
we ought also to love one another.
For if we love one another, God abides in us, *
and God’s love will be perfected in us.

As our Saviour Christ has taught us, we pray (From A New Zealand Prayer Book)

Our Father in heaven,

hallowed be your name,

your kingdom come,

your will be done,

on earth as in heaven.

Give us today our daily bread.

Forgive us our sins

as we forgive those who sin against us.

Save us from the time of trial

and deliver us from evil.

For the kingdom, the power, and the glory are yours

now and for ever.   Amen.

or The Alternative may be said:

Eternal Spirit, 

Earth-maker, Pain-bearer, Life-giver, 

Source of all that is and that shall be, 

Father and Mother of us all, 

Loving God, in whom is heaven:

The hallowing of your name echo through the universe! 

The way of your justice be followed by the peoples

of the world! 

Your heavenly will be done by all created beings! 

Your commonwealth of peace and freedom 

sustain our hope and come on earth.

With the bread we need for today, feed us. 

In the hurts we absorb from one another, forgive us. 

In times of temptation and test, strengthen us. 

From trials too great to endure, spare us. 

From the grip of all that is evil, free us.

For you reign in the glory of the power that is love, 

now and for ever. Amen.

Be gracious to your people, we entreat you, O Lord, that they, repenting day by day of the things that displease you, may be more and more filled with love of you and of your commandments; and, being supported by your grace in this life, may come to the full enjoyment of eternal life in your everlasting kingdom; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

For Those Who Live Alone

Almighty God, whose Son had nowhere to lay his head:

Grant that those who live alone may not be lonely in their

solitude, but that, following in his steps, they may find

fulfillment in loving you and their neighbors; through Jesus

Christ our Lord. Amen.

This week's prayer Focus from Industrial Christian Fellowship.

Those who work in recycling, waste disposal and cleaning

Blessed Lord, we are stewards of your creation. May we strive to live in such a way as to enhance rather than to damage the environment we pass on to our children and grandchildren. Help us to respect what we use and to keep our world as clean and wholesome as we can. May we, in discarding what is no longer of use to us, ensure that valuable materials are re-used rather than destroyed. Help those of us who work in cleaning and recycling to know the value and importance of what we do and to work with dignity and self-respect in the certainty that we do it for you. AMEN

and this.

Those who work in the leisure industry

Lord of the Sabbath, on the seventh day the consummation of Your creative activity was rest, not as an escape from the work you had done, but to bask in its completion. Our desire to pursue leisure is part of what it means to be made in your image and can only find its true fulfilment in a sense of Your presence. We confess that too often leisure has simply become the means of self-gratification, and rather than drawing us to You is seen as something that tempts us away. Help us to use our leisure wisely, and as we recognise that one individual�s recreation is often the cause of toil for another, so we pray for all those who work in the leisure industry. May our pursuit of pleasure not leave them un-noticed or taken for granted, may we act in a way that makes their work easier and not more difficult. Help us all to see the pursuit of leisure as part of Your purpose for us, and so give to it the dignity it deserves. AMEN

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SLOW US DOWN…YET ALSO -Anonymous

Slow us down, O God. Ease the pounding of our hearts by the quieting of our minds;

Yet also, wake us up. Shake the complacency out of our souls by opening our minds to the cry of the wounded, the refugees wandering without homes, the homeless at home, and the children who starve.

Steady our hurried pace with a vision of the eternal reach of time;

Yet also, quicken our steps with a vision of the urgent action now required to cure the causes of stunted growth, premature death, battered women, and abused children.

Give us, amid the confusion of the day, the calmness of the everlast ing hills;

Yet also, alert our eyes not to the comforting illusion of constancy divorced from change, but rather to such sharp reality as deep poverty surrounding us at home and abroad.

Break the tensions of our nerves and muscles with the soothing mu sic of the singing streams;

Yet also, give us, amid the calm days of our years, souls which are prepared to cope with the confusion necessarily occurring amidst new creation in the cities, towns, and the countries of the earth.

Help us to know the magical, restoring power of sleep;

Yet also, break the chains of euphoria deluding us to think that we are acting responsibly when we do no more than listen to music which protects our feet from marching.

Remind us of the fable of the hare and the tortoise, that we may know that there is more to life than increasing its speed;

Yet also, remind us of the fable of the astrologer who fell plumb to the bottom of a well, not seeing his feet while reading the sky.

Slow us down, O God, and inspire us to send our roots deep into the soil of life’s enduring values, that we may grow more surely toward the stars;

Yet also, wake us up, so our eyes may see the people around us and our arms may be open to embrace the suffering who cry.

FOR PEOPLE CRITICALLY ILL,

OR FACING GREAT UNCERTAINTY

God of the present moment,

God who in Jesus stills the storm

and soothes the frantic heart;

bring hope and courage to all of us

as we

wait in uncertainty.

Bring hope that you will make us the equal

of whatever lies ahead.

Bring us courage to endure what cannot be avoided,

for your will is health and wholeness;

you are God, and we need you. (ANZPB)

Let us pray in the words attributed to St. Francis and Teresa of Avila.

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.

Teresa of Avila (1515–1582)

Christ Has No Body

“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 Avila

The Beatitudes Matthew 5:3–12

Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of Heaven. (5:3)

Blessed are those who mourn: for they will be comforted. (5:4)

Blessed are the meek: for they will inherit the earth. (5:5)

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness: for they will be filled. (5:6)

Blessed are the merciful: for they will be shown mercy. (5:7)

Blessed are the pure in heart: for they will see God. (5:8)

Blessed are the peacemakers: for they will be called children of God. (5:9)

Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. (5:10)

Now let us pray for peace and unity among all people and nations!

God who made us and makes us one we pray for unity among all people and nations
May we be one and love one another.


God who made us and makes us one lead us to put away all hindrances that divide us
May we be one and love one another

God who made us and makes us one give us  the courage to see you in the eyes of all who are our enemies and wish us harm.
May we be one and love one another.

God who made us and makes us one we pray for all who are ill in body, mind, and spirit. Heal them and make them whole and may we lovingly respond to their needs.
May we be one and love one another.

God who made us and makes us one we pray for the protection of those who are protesting using peaceful non-violence.
May we be one and love one another.

God who made us and makes us one we pray for the protection of all our most vulnerable family members. Help us to ourselves and you in their eyes and love them as you have taught us and to serve them as you have taught us to serve.
May we be one and love one another.

God who made us and makes us one. we give thanks for all those celebrating birthdays and anniversaries this day.

God who made us and makes us one may we be with those who are pre-grieving and mourning any loss.

God who made us and makes us one we pray for all who are dying and have died may they find loving, joy, and oneness with you in the Thin Places.

God who made us and makes us one we offer these our prayers and thanksgivings in the most Holy Name of your Son Jesus. May we be one and love one another. Amen.

Prayers from the 1928 Book of Common Prayer:

In Time of Calamity.

O GOD, merciful and compassionate, who art ever ready to hear the prayers of those who put their trust in thee; Graciously hearken to us who call upon thee, and grant us thy help in this our need; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

In Time of Great Sickness and Mortality.

O MOST mighty and merciful God, in this time of grievous sickness, we flee unto thee for succour. Deliver us, we beseech thee, from our peril; give strength and skill to all those who minister to the sick; prosper the means made use of for their cure; and grant that, perceiving how frail and uncertain our life is, we may apply our hearts unto that heavenly wisdom which leadeth to eternal life; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Stay here for awhile and pray for all our family members who have unspoken prayers and remember to pray for all the families of those who seek to do evil that they may find solace and help in time of need. Remember that everyone is not excluded from our prayers even our enemies and those who wish us harm. 

From The Arusha Call to Discipleship

Loving God, we thank you for the gift of life in all its diversity and beauty. Lord Jesus Christ, crucified and risen, we praise you that you came to find the lost, to free the oppressed, to heal the sick, and to convert the self-centred. Holy Spirit, we rejoice that you breathe in the life of the world and are poured out into our hearts. As we live in the Spirit, may we also walk in the Spirit. Grant us faith and courage to deny ourselves, take up our cross and follow Jesus: becoming pilgrims of justice and peace in our time. For the blessing of your people, the sustaining of the earth, and the glory of your name. Through Christ our Lord, Amen.

Lord, 

it is night.

The night is for stillness. 

Let us be still in the presence of God.

It is night after a long day. 

What has been done has been done; 

what has not been done has not been done; 

let it be.

The night is dark. 

Let our fears of the darkness of the world and of our own lives 

rest in you. 

The night is quiet. 

Let the quietness of your peace enfold us, 

all dear to us, 

and all who have no peace.

The night heralds the dawn. 

Let us look expectantly to a new day, 

new joys, 

new possibilities.

In your name we pray.

Amen. (ANZPB)

Diann Neu: Blessed Be Our Hands

Blessed be the work of our hands.

Blessed be these hands that touch life.

Blessed be these hands that nurture creativity.

Blessed be these hands that hold pain.

Blessed be these hands that embrace with passion.

Blessed be these hands that tend gardens.

Blessed bed these hands that close in anger.

Blessed be these hands that plant new seeds.

Blessed be these hands that harvest ripe fields.

Blessed be these hands that clean, wash, mop, scrub.

Blessed be these hands that become knotty with age.

Blessed be these hands that wrinkle and scar from doing justice.

Blessed are these hands that reach out and are received.

Blessed are these hands that hold the promise of the future.

Blessed be the works of our hands and hearts.

For the Human Family

O God, you made us in your own image and redeemed us

through Jesus your Son: Look with compassion on the whole

human family; take away the arrogance and hatred which

infect our hearts; break down the walls that separate us

unite us in bonds of love; and work through our struggle and

confusion to accomplish your purposes on earth; that, in

your good time, all nations and races may serve you in

harmony around your heavenly throne; through Jesus Christ

our Lord. Amen.(BCP)

You Lord are in the midst of us, and we are called by your name. Leave us not.Jeremiah 14:9

Christ be within us to keep us, 

beside us to guard, 

before us to lead, 

behind us to protect, 

beneath us to support, 

above us to bless.

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) 

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

++++

Good Night Beloved Ones! I love you! Let's come together as we vigil, pray, and in loving solidarity as the Beloved Community.

Peace, love, and prayers!

Sara

Resources

A to Z Quotes

The Resistance Prays.

Prayers of Power

Enriching Our Worship

Book of Common Prayer Online

Metis Aboriginal Ministries

In Lak 'Ech- Luis Valdez

Walk With Me On Our Journey

A New Zealand Prayer Book

Other Resources as Noted

Lectionary Page and Satucket Lectionary

Two Saints of the Day you should know about:

Innocent of Alaska


John Climacus