Abiding Night Prayers

It’s been a minute, folks, but today - Pentecost - seems like a good day to chime back in here. This Pentecost offering by Jan Richardson is powerful and needs to be shared!

For you, for all of us, for Pentecost Day.

THIS GRACE THAT SCORCHES US
A Blessing for Pentecost Day

Here’s one thing
you must understand
about this blessing:
it is not
for you alone.

It is stubborn
about this.
Do not even try
to lay hold of it
if you are by yourself,
thinking you can carry it
on your own.

To bear this blessing,
you must first take yourself
to a place where everyone
does not look like you
or think like you,
a place where they do not
believe precisely as you believe,
where their thoughts
and ideas and gestures
are not exact echoes
of your own.

Bring your sorrow.
Bring your grief.
Bring your fear.
Bring your weariness,
your pain,
your disgust at how broken
the world is,
how fractured,
how fragmented
by its fighting,
its wars,
its hungers,
its penchant for power,
its ceaseless repetition
of the history it refuses
to rise above.

I will not tell you
this blessing will fix all that.

But in the place
where you have gathered,
wait.
Watch.
Listen.
Lay aside your inability
to be surprised,
your resistance to what you
do not understand.

See then whether this blessing
turns to flame on your tongue,
sets you to speaking
what you cannot fathom

or opens your ear
to a language
beyond your imagining
that comes as a knowing
in your bones,
a clarity
in your heart
that tells you

this is the reason
we were made:
for this ache
that finally opens us,

for this struggle,
this grace
that scorches us
toward one another
and into
the blazing day.

—Jan Richardson
From Circle of Grace: A Book of Blessings for the Seasons

Image: “The Origin of Fire"
© Jan Richardson
janrichardsonimages.com

Inspired by Acts 2:1-21

Friends, My plan was to resume livestream Prayers during Lent. But, life has gotten busy fast, drinking from the fire hydrant at times it seems. For a season I will not be resuming regular Night Prayer offerings. I may extend them periodically. And I will post prayers, devotions and other offerings. Feel free to post similar offerings to share with our Abiding community. Blessings, peace and be well, beloved.

Friends,
Due to the busy-ness of life and falling back into habits of not taking time for myself… We will be on hiatus until Lent.

Friends, I’m taking a hiatus from Night Prayers. Too many balls in the air. I encourage you to say prayers. My prayers are with you.

No Abiding Prayers Tuesday.

No Night Prayers Tuesday…
Back on Thursday .
Be well, y’all!

No Abiding Night Prayers tonight due to a little bug. Be well, y’all.

A Blessed Epiphany to All:
“Arise, shine, for your light has come, your glory is upon us…”
Instead of livestream, I share these prayers for your quiet reflection this night as we contemplate the ways “the glory of the Lord” shines and arises upon us and in us, throughout the heavens and the earth.

Call: The heavens declare your glory
Response: And the skies proclaim your handiwork

Morning sun and moon by night
The light and warmth that fuels our life
Call: The heavens declare your glory
Response: And the skies proclaim your handiwork

Rolling hills and mountain peak
Flowing stream and ocean deep

Call: The heavens declare your glory
Response: And the skies proclaim your handiwork

Thunder’s roar and breeze’s whisper
Creation sings to its Creator

Call: The heavens declare your glory
Response: And the skies proclaim your handiwork

This earth, full of your glory,
praises your name
through unspoken words of beauty and peace,
reveals your love
through hand of stranger and gift of grace.
This earth, full of your glory,
praises your provision
through living water and food to eat,
reveals your Word
through daily blessings and breath of life.
This earth, full of your glory,
praises your name.

The Lord’s Prayer

Go out into the world to share the many gifts that have been give to you. Do not let them go to waste; share them through the power of the Spirit. And as you do so, may the grace and peace of God abide with you along the way this night and always. Amen.

Friends, I’m under the weather and headed to bed early tonight. I will not be offering Night Prayers, but I do share with you the following portion of a Christmas Litany. May I suggest that you light a candle, allow for silence before and after each portion of the biddings, and sing a favorite Christmas Carol and/or listen to the link for “In the Blesk Midwinter” to call for rest in the night. Christmas blessings. Be well, y’all!

Jesus you come,
In the voice of the poor,
In the hurting of the sick,
In the anguish of the oppressed. Open our eyes that we may see you.

Jesus you come,
In the weakness of the vulnerable,
In the questions of the doubting,
In the fears of the dying.
Open our ears that we might hear you.

Jesus you come,
In the celebration of the saints,
In the generosity of the faithful,
In the compassion of the caring.
Open our hearts that we might embrace you.

Almighty God whose great love and compassion came into our world in the person of your incarnate son, Jesus Christ, plant in every heart your concern and care for all humankind. May the light of Christ ignite our hearts and shine out brightly from our lives, proclaiming your salvation to all the earth.

May the light of God shine on us,
May the love of Christ shine in us,
May the life of the Spirit shine through us. This day and evermore,
Amen.

(Source: Christine Sine)

In The Bleak Midwinter | Paul Cardall | Audrey Assad Get the song: http://smarturl.it/cardallIn The Bleak Midwinter performed by Paul Cardall & Audrey Assad from the album CHRISTMAS by Paul Cardall. Produced by...

My apologies:
No Night Prayers again tonight. We’ll see you in the Christmas season!

We celebrated A Blue Christmas Service tonight. So, all are invited to say the following prayers from that service and to light four candles as directed:

Light and peace, in Jesus Christ our Lord.

Short Readings
If I say, “Surely the darkness will cover me, and the light around me turn to night,” darkness is not dark to you, O Lord, the night is as bright as the day; darkness and light to you are both alike. – Psalm 139:10-11

In the middle of the night, when stark night was darkest, then you chose to come.
God’s resplendent first-born sent to make us one.
The voices of doom protest: “All these words about justice, love and peace—
all these naïve words will buckle beneath the weight of a reality which is brutal and bitter, ever more bitter.”

It is true, Lord, it is midnight upon the earth, moonless night and starved of stars.
But can we forget that You, the Son of God, chose to be born precisely at midnight?
– Dom Helder Camara

Let us pray.
God of Mercy, hear our prayer in this Advent Season of waiting and anticipation for ourselves and our families who live with painful experiences of loss and grief. We ask for strength for today, courage for tomorrow and peace for the past. We ask these things in the name of Christ who entered the world at Christmas to share our life in sorrow and joy, death and new birth, despair and promise. Amen.

Then, you are invited to leave hut the candles on the Advent wreath or any four candles followed by their respective prayers.

First Candle
We light this candle to remember those persons who have been loved and lost. We pause to remember their names, their faces, their voices. We give thanks for the memory that binds them to us in this season that anticipates Christ. May God’s eternal love surround them.


Second Candle
We light this second candle to redeem the pain and loss – the loss of relationships, the loss of health, the loss of jobs, and the loss of financial security. As we gather up the pain of the past, we offer it to you, O God, asking that into our welcome hearts and open hands, you place the gift of peace. Refresh, restore, renew us, O God, and lead us into Your future.


Third Candle
We light this third candle to remember ourselves this Christmas time. We pause and remember the past weeks, months and for some of us, years of down times. We remember the poignancy of memories, the grief, the sadness, the hurts, and the pain of reflecting on our own mortality. Let us remember that dawn defeats darkness.

Fourth Candle
This fourth candle is lit to remember our faith and the gift of hope that God offers to us in the Christmas story. We remember that God, who shares our life, promises us a place and time of no more pain and suffering. Let us remember the One who shows the way and who goes with us into tomorrow.

Night Prayers WILL be offered TONIGHT - Tuesday, Nov 30th -
late… at 9:30pm!
See y’all in a bit.

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Friends,
I am taking it easy this week and spending time with my family. There will be no Tuesday Abiding Night Prayers, but I intend to gather with you after feasting on Thursday. Be well, friends. And, in the meantime, I commend to you and yours the following Thanksgiving prayer by the Rev. Leslie Scoopmire:

God of Abundant Grace,
your love preserves us
and calls us to wakefulness and compassion:
we raise our hearts in thankfulness and praise.

You, O God, call all the stars by their names,
and set them dancing overhead to our wonder and delight.
You teach the birds their songs
that lighten our hearts and call us to joy.

May we tend to the earth,
and to each other,
with steadfastness and gratitude,
always seeing your imprint, Lord Christ,
wherever we look.
May we treasure friends and loved ones,
companions and fellow travelers on this earth,
and reach out to those around us in love and kindness.
May we seek to mend the wounds we have created,
and forgive those who have hurt us.

May we ever cultivate being honorable and compassionate,
being just while loving mercy and grace,
seeking purity while acknowledging our humanity.

Holy One, send your angels to tend to those
who call upon You and depend upon your care,
especially those away from home,
and those whose needs we place before You,
that your peace,
surpassing all our knowing,
may be our embodied prayer.
Amen.

Blessings, y’all.
No Tuesday Night Prayers.
Consider viewing/praying a previous offering.