PRAYERS for ANGLICAN PRAYER BEADS and OTHER READINGS

I have been collecting written prayers for the possibility of using them with prayer beads and meditation.  I offer them here for use by anyone who would like to use them, and hope I have included the correct authors and references for them all without breaking any copyright laws.  They are in no particular order, and I will continue to add to this list.
 
PRAYER STEPS:
1.  Every morning wake up.
2.  Ask Jesus what he is doing that day—not what he wants you to do, but what he is really 
     doing.
3.  Go and join him.

 

The one concern of the devil is to keep Christians from praying.  He fears nothing from prayerless studies, prayerless work, and prayerless religion.  He laughs at our toil, mocks at our wisdom, but trembles when we pray.
Samuel Chadwick

Wesley’s Covenant Prayer

I am no longer my own, but thine.
Put me to what thou wilt, rank me with whom thou wilt.
Put me to doing, put me to suffering.
Let me be employed for thee or laid aside for thee,
exalted for thee or brought low for thee.
Let me be full, let me be empty.
Let me have all things, let me have nothing.
I freely and heartily yield all things to thy pleasure and disposal.
And now, O glorious and blessed God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit,
thou art mine, and I am thine.
So be it.
And the covenant which I have made on earth,
let it be ratified in heaven.
Amen.
(as used in the Book of Offices of the British Methodist Church, 1936).
 

A Prayer from City on our Knees, by Tobymac

Dear Loving God,

Help us to remember, when we begin to lose hope,

That all the darkness in the world is just a speck in your light,

A light that fills the universe.

When pain and confusion invade our lives,

Let us not rely on our own resources.

Instead, lead us to seek answers on our knees.

Lord, show us your way.

Lord, lead us to your destination.

We thank you for being our beacon of hope,

A beacon we can always see, if we will only look.

Amen.
 

A Prayer of St. Ignatius of Loyola

Lord Jesus, teach me to be generous;

Teach me to serve you as you deserve,

To give and not to count the cost,

To fight and not to heed the wounds,

To toil and not to seek for rest,

To labor and not to seek reward,

Except that of knowing that I do your will.

Amen.

The Prayer of Saint Patrick

From “The Breastplate,” a prayer of protection that Patrick taught his disciples.

 

I arise today

Through a mighty strength, the invocation of the Trinity,

Through the belief in the Threeness,

Through the confession of the Oneness,

Of the Creator of Creation.

I arise today

Through the strength of Christ’s birth with his baptism,

Through the strength of his crucifixion with his burial,

Through the strength of his resurrection with his ascension,

Through the strength of his descent for the judgment day…

Christ to shield me today

Against poison, against burning,

Against drowning, against wounding,

So that there may come to me abundance of reward.

Christ with me,

Christ before me,

Christ behind me,

Christ in me,

Christ beneath me,

Christ above me,

Christ on my right,

Christ on my left,

Christ when I lie down,

Christ when I sit down,

Christ when I arise,

Christ in the heart of every man who thinks of me,

Christ in the mouth of everyone who speaks of me,

Christ in every eye that sees me,

Christ in every ear that hears me.

 

I arise today

Through a mighty strength, the invocation of the Trinity,

Through belief in the Threeness,

Through confession of the Oneness,

Of the Creator of Creation.
 

By Howard Thurman
In the quietness of this place,
Surrounded by the all-pervading presence of the Holy,
My heart whispers:
Keep fresh before me the moments of my High Resolve,
That in good times or in tempests,
I may not forget that to which my life is committed.
Keep fresh before me the moments of my High Resolve.

From Trinity UB Church Directory - 1925

Keep us, O God, from pettiness; let us be large in thought, in word, in deed.
Let us be done with fault-finding and leave off self-seeking.
May we put away all pretense and face each other with frankness, without self-pity or prejudice.
May we never be hasty in judgment and always generous.
Teach us to put into action our better impulses straight forward and unafraid.
Let us take time for all things.  Make us grow calm, serene and gentle.
Help us to know that little things cause difference, big things create unity.
And may we strive to know and touch the common human heart,
And, O Lord God, fill us with they love and help us to be kind.
 
Three Prayers of John Wesley 
O God, seeing as there is in Christ Jesus
an infinite fullness
of all that we can want or desire,
May we all receive from him,
grace upon grace;
grace to pardon our sins,
and subdue our iniquities;
to justify our persons
and to sanctify our souls;
and to complete that holy change,
that renewal of our hearts,
Which will enable us to be transformed
into the blessed image
in which you created us.
O make us all acceptable to be partakers
of the inheritance of your saints in light.
Amen.

O LORD God Almighty,
Father of angels and men,
We praise and bless your
holy name for all your goodness
and loving kindness to humanity.
We bless you for our creation, preservation,
and for your unceasing generosity to us
throughout our lives;
But above all, we bless you for your great love
in the redemption of the world
by our Lord Jesus Christ.
We bless you for bringing us safe
to the beginning of a new day.
Grant that this day we fall into no sin,
Neither run into any kind of danger.
Keep us, we pray,
from all things hurtful to body or soul,
and grant us your pardon and peace,
So that, being cleansed from all our sins,
We might serve you
with quiet hearts and minds,
and continue in the same until our life's end,
through Jesus Christ,
our Savior and Redeemer.
Amen.

Now, to God the Father, who first loved us, and made us accepted in the Beloved;
to God the Son, who loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood;
to God the Holy Ghost, who sheddeth the love of God abroad in our hearts, be all love and all glory in time and to all eternity.
Amen.

Pastoral Prayer for Ordinary time by Dow Edgerton, Chicago Theological Seminary
God of all good gifts, we give you thanks and praise.
For the light you have given,
light at morning and evening,
light for seeing, light for walking,
for the lights of knowledge, and of faith,
the light of guidance, the light of wisdom,
the light of truth,
For the light you have given, we give you thanks and praise.

For the dark you have given,
the dark where birth comes from,
the dark where we are renewed each night,
the dark of marvelous dreams,
the rich dark of solitude and prayer,
the darkness of the Word on the page,
the dark that shades us, the safe shadow of your wings
where your people sing for joy,
For the dark you have given, we give you thanks and praise.

For the work you have given,

the work together and the work alone,
the work of thought and the work of our bodies,
the work of justice and the work of love,
the work that gives a life,
and the work which costs a lifetime,
For the work you have given, we give you thanks and praise.

For the grace you have given,
the grace of Water, Word, and Table,
the grace of sister and brother,
the grace which calls us away,
and the grace which calls us home,
For the grace you have given, we give you thanks and praise.

Whatever we do in faith, hold it in your own hands.
Whatever we do in hope, see it through with your own eyes.
Whatever we do in love, keep it holy in your own heart.
Build us, we pray, into a holy city, a city of refuge,
a city of safety, a city of justice, a city of rejoicing,
a city of peace.
Befriend us now and forever,
Guard and defend us now and forever,
We ask it in Jesus' name.  Amen. 

Prayer of Confession by Pat de Jong, Senior Minister, First Congregational Church in Berkeley, and trustee of Pacific School of Religion
Sustaining God, keeper of the night and light of our mornings, hear our prayer as we open our heart to your tender mercy. You call us to become pilgrims, to follow you on the journey
of faith. We would find it easier to follow if so much were not at stake! But you promise that you will be with us and that our needs will be met. When we cling to our possessions,
trusting in them for security, you lead us into unfamiliar places, asking that we trust in you. Your way is challenging; forgive us our complacency. Your love makes demands; forgive us our anxiety. Guide us with your mercy and forgive our hesitant steps toward the promise of a new dawn.  Amen.

1. From the United Methodist Book of Worship
As you have made this day, O God, you also make the night.
Give light for our comfort.
Come upon us with quietness and still our souls
That we may listen for the whisper of your Spirit
And be sensitive to your nearness in our dreams.
Empower us to rise again in new life to proclaim your praise,
And show Christ to the world.  Amen.

2. From the United Methodist Book of Worship (Psalm 141:1-2)
I call upon you, O Lord; come quickly to me;
Give ear to my voice when I call to you.
Let my prayer be counted as incense before you,
And the lifting up of my hands as an evening sacrifice.
 
3. From the United Methodist Book of Worship
New every morning is your love, great God of light,
And all day long you are working for good in the world.
Stir up in us desire to serve you,
To live peacefully without neighbors,
And to devote each day to your Son,
Our savior, Jesus Christ the Lord.  Amen.
 
4. From the United Methodist Book of Worship by Masao Takenaka
Eternal God, hallowed by your name.
Early in the morning, before we begin our work, we praise your glory.
Renew our bodies as fresh as the morning flowers.
Open our inner eyes, as the sun casts new light upon the darkness.
Deliver us from all captivity
Like the birds of the sky, give us wings of freedom to begin a new journey.
As a mighty stream running continuously,
Restore justice and freedom day by day.
We thank you for the gift of this morning,
And a new day to work with you.  Amen.

5. From the United Methodist Book of Worship
O God, you have ordered this wonderful world
And know all things in earth and in heaven.
Give us such faith that by day and by night,
At all times and in all places,
We may without fear commit ourselves
And those dear to us to your never-failing love,
In this life and in the life to come.  Amen.
 
6. From the United Methodist Book of Worship
God of us all, your love never ends.
When all else fails, you still are God.
We pray to you for one another in our need,
And for all, anywhere, who mourn with us this day.
To those who doubt, give light;
To those who are weak, strength;
To all who have sinned, mercy;
To all who sorrow, your peace.
Keep true in us the love with which we hold one another.
In all our ways we trust you.
And to you, with your Church on earth and in heaven,
We offer honor and glory, now and forever.  Amen.
 
7. From the United Methodist Book of Worship
God of love, we thank you
For all with which you have blessed us
Even to this day:
For the gift of joy in days of health and strength
And for the gifts of your abiding presence and promise
In days of pain and grief.
We praise you for home and friends,
And for our baptism and place in your Church
With all who have faithfully lived and died.
Above all else we thank you for Jesus,
Who knew our griefs,
Who died our death and rose for our sake,
And who lives and prays for us.  Amen.
 

8. From the United Methodist Book of Worship

Holy God, before you our hearts are open
And from you no secrets are hidden.
We bring to you now our shame and sorrow for our sins.
We have forgotten that our life is from you and unto you.
We have neither sought nor done your will.
We have not been truthful in our hearts,
In our speech, in our lives.
We have not loved as we ought to love.
Help us and heal us,
Raising us from our sins into a better life,
That we may end our days in peace,
Trusting in your kindness unto the end;
Through Jesus Christ our Lord,
Who lives and reigns with you
In the unity of the Holy Spirit,
One God, now and forever.  Amen.

A Prayer  by Christina Hutchins
Great God of the old and the new, take our lives and make them like new wine. Refresh our spirit. Disturb our apathy. Strengthen us with your courage, for we seek to be new people. Be with us as we worship, for your presence gives us joy. Pour through our work and play all the days of our lives. Amen.

 

VIDEO: Planting

This is a video I completed for the youth concerning a project they were doing for the Caring Cupboard in 2010.  I like the way it came out, and it's one of my favorite videos.  My brother, Rick, did the narration for it.  It would have benefited greatly with the use of a tripod, but such is life. 

Poetry: Songs of Death

THE BOOK OF REVELATION

The love of life is gone
     darkness touches its inner soul
     filling remote corners
     with its velvety, numbing pain
Emotionless
It moves as a puppet
     pulled by the twelve strings
     of the dark believers
It experiences anew
     round objects with sharp edges
     colors that smell
     sounds that taste
Fillings its empty mind with
     new thoughts
     new ideas
     a reformed purpose
The soul, now blackened
     does not return
     from out of the ash
     from out of the dust
     whence it came.
Smiles caress the faces of the dark ones
     their numbers grow
     as beings convulse and die
     the stings are jerked and pulled
Their powers increase

Time passes by
Impatiently awaiting the Son
     to lash our from behind its
     heavy curtain
Waiting to split the darkness
     and bathe eternity in
     Awesome Light.


INCIPIENCE*

Go now, O soul
     tread upon that land
     follow the footprints if you can
     leading toward the unknown
Worry not that your prints
     track not
     lost in the many
     that have gone before
Follow the trodden path
     hardened by centuries of
     perpetuate use
Think not that your footprints
     obscured
     seem washed aside like the
     millions of lives that have gone before
Wave upon wave of years
     swirling past
Fleeting , spectral shadows
     cast by the fading light of
     an eclipsed sun
     waiting for no one.

The future remains a vision
Dreams awash in haze and clouds
Muted by the millennia
Of past suffering and silence.

Follow the scarred, treacherous route
Upon whom fewer have traveled
Where pristine, outlying reaches
Remain unmarred and unexplored.

Search now, O soul
Search for the meaning
     in memories lying dim
     in the recorded pages of time
     waiting for those who seek
     bereft
     as solitary prints upon the sand
Tread upon that land
     follow the footprints, if you can
     of incur to make
     your own.

Go now, O soul, Go now.

(*beginning to exist or appear; in an initial stage)
 

SOUL FLIGHT

In consummation of life
     it drives itself through the barrier
Clashing with the stark cold
     beyond the frozen sphere
Casting effervescent tendrils among the
     ensconced ecclesiastic
Sparkling against that
     icy, black backdrop
As some precious diamond
     prematurely crushed from existence.

Hallucinogenic origins
     of the universe
Revealed through mist-clouded embodiments
     of a life now extinct
Reality awash
     in waves of time
As a new version of life
     gestates and grows
Until time and space themselves
     wink out
Lives join and
     become one
Bounded by the Glory of
     the Immense Being
Whose face is masked
     by that of the Lamb.

Woe to those who
     make the journey unprepared
For the path is dark, long and
     traveled unexpectedly
Death reveals the key to life
     and the key is simple
Yet how often it is ignored
     by those who understand.


SUPERNOVA

One quick flash and
All is over
There is no sound
No deafening explosion
No cries of anguish
Only looks of curiosity
Followed by one brief instant
Of apprehension
An instant between arrival
Of that terrible light
And the cosmic radiation.
Hundreds of light years away
An alien nation lifts their eyes
Toward the heavens
A glorious nova
Lighting the sky
Even by day
Alien astronomer focus
Their sensors and recorders
On the spectacle
Unaware
That they record
The final death convulsions
of a once mighty world.


INSOUCIANCE*

The flame of life ebbs
And as his eyes close at last
     in death
He sees himself more clearly than he
     ever has before
The floating grayness
     and the retched scream that marked
     the final transition
Have faded into dull nonexistence.
All is peaceful
Tranquil
Blissfulness overtakes
Pain, anguish, fear
Debilitating emotions
     that have plagued him through life
     have been stolen away
Vanished
Set to ease by those emotions
     he searched for all his life
     yet never found.

(*lack of care or concern)


THE JUMP

Go ahead,
 Jump!
You think it looks so deep, so dark?
Have you really looked?
Do the walls look as solid as you think they should?
Go ahead,
Bend down and touch them
But not too far
You must be ready
When you go over the edge.
Well?
What do you think?
Not so bad, eh?
The surface is kind of soft and warm
And do you see that small shimmer of light
Way down there?
That's where your journey ends.
Your path is predestined
Only one way to go
Once you jump.
You've no real choice at all, you see
And the light does look inviting
Doesn't it?
You feel a little calmer?
But I can see that
You're still scared
Don't be embarrassed
It's natural
But fear is something
You have to overcome.


HOLOCAUST

Appropriate
For the disintegration of life surrounding
Darkness
Ruling over existence
Latent sins
Arising continually
Out of the shadowy paths of past consciousness
Duty calls to lay such sinners rest
But death, which is death, as life is death,
Remains forbidden by ancient laws.
Vengeance acquiescent
Unacknowledged
The cunning past retains its haunting
Over all how have touched
Its fevered, spectral hands
Claws
Which decay when trust removed
In agony
Live or dead
Changing consciousness
Actions
Thought
Remaining vivid
Revengeful
Influencing as the present
Not yet laid to rest
Or more so
Seeding the wind that reaps the whirlwind
Only death, which is death, as death is life
becomes less harsh and cruel.


DEMENTIA

Time
The embryo floating in its glossy fluid
Has no notion
Nor the old and feeble minded
Whose neurofilaments
Entangled among themselves
Flash signals here and there
In a vain attempt
To rouse the life
That once was theirs
Ticking by
Gaining speed as even it
Grows old
Perhaps perceiving
What human flesh cannot
As it runs from something
From which there is no escape
But for death
Or races toward that
Which we have yet to know
Something glorious and
All-encompassing
Picking up speed
In an anxious attempt
To grasp it still sooner.

Time seems against us
We sit
Confused
Doubtful
Unable to change
That which cannot be changed
As leaves tossed about
In an autumn breeze
Floating on the winds of time
Willing or unwilling
Going where e're it blows
Cast into wretched piles
To rot and decompose
Or
For a few

To soar with the wind
Sensing new freedom
Excitement
Experiencing the wind
Becoming part of it
To change
Explore
Belong
Achieve
To live life
To its fullest.

And when that time comes
When our own neuronal cells
Flash incoherent signals
To themselves
To be inwardly content
In the knowledge
That time
Never ceases
With the assurance
That the confusion will end
In death
And once again
Time will be our friend.
 
Time
As the wind
Will carry us aloft
And show us all
We yearn now to know
Yet cannot comprehend
The enemy of the dawn
Will prove itself eventually
Too be an ally at twilight
By showing us that our lives
No matter what we've done
Will have been important
If we've spent them loving
And caring
For each other.

Poetry: More Mundane Mental Meanderings

STELLAE

Your light glances down
Giving incredible visions
Of eras long past
And gallant worlds beyond our own.
As a symbol, you have been
The Inspirer of Legend,
The Director of History
Your movements have guided the smallest
To the largest of tasks.

Oh stars, how many questions
Have been raised to you
As you sit knowingly, eternally
As a demigod of lightening
Powerful and indestructible?

Yet the merest wisp of moisture
Erases you from the heavens.


CORONA

The ones you wear are not of your choosing
Had you known, fear might have been
Your overriding emotion
Or curiosity
Masked as that insatiable desire
For knowledge of the unknown
Thrust upon you in the wink of an eye
None would have chosen your fate
You did not
Whether you know it, or care
You bear them well.

(Written in honor of the crew of the Challenger.)


REJECTION

The ocean bid me welcome
     though I was far
     from our usual meeting place
We had struck up quite a friendship
     the sea and I
So I ventured down
     to sit by her side
     for a time
But a fierce storm blew up
     from the south
     before I could arrive
So I sat
     not caring to venture
     from the warmth and dryness
     of my car
     gazing at the water
     pummelling the beach
Reaching out with my mind
     to embrace my friend
But the ocean
     like a wounded lover
     concealed her thoughts
     from me.

(Written while I was stationed at Tyndall AFB, on Florida's Gulf coast.)


DESOLATION

The wind and
lightening
symbols of
loneliness
(inescapable)
so far from home.
Searching for
friendship
companionship
Yet living
without a glimpse of warmth
kindness.
All I see
is the top
of one lonely tree
out here
(awful expanses)
on the prairie.

(Written while stationed at Tinker AFB, Oklahoma.)


THE FINAL DECISION

It wasn't always evil
Many came to meditate by its side
To play in the waves
To cool themselves from the summer sun
Its face was often benevolent
But when its obvious temper flared
Humans stayed away
Unknowingly wise in their fear
For they lacked the insight
To read the water
And often trusted it
When it did not deserve trust
For it was sly
And demanded occasional offerings
A rogue wave caused
The excitement it craved
Much time had passed
And it grew tired
Of the playful beings
Who frolicked in its surf
So it puffed itself up
Deciding it was time
And while his children watched
It killed the man whose back turned
Toward the waves.

(For Thomas Barton, my high school Advanced English teacher, who was killed by an ocean wave while on vacation.)


THE SECRET PLACE

Oh, to be all alone
amid the wood and wind
Where solitude lives and breathes,
becoming a welcome partner
in the pact
sealed before birth.
To wander over the years
always returning
to my secret lookout
over the beautiful horseshoe lake.
I brought my parents here,
my loved ones,
And my friends,
we sang a hymn to its beauty,
And met the One to whom I give all.
And finally
at my twilight I come
to the place
Where surrender means
to become a part of the mountain
In the only place
that yet has meaning.
To die here
alone
on Whiteface Mountain.

(Written either in Grad School or during summer "music camp" with the Gregg Smith Singers.  Both locations are close to Whiteface Mountain, the summit of which is one of the most beautiful places God ever created.  If one has to die, which we all do, I can think of no more beautiful place to do it.  What a great final visage it would make.)


BEAUTY
 
What is beauty
      if it is not the warm haze
     of a summer's day
     delicately lodged between
     the unwavering mountains
Or the rainbow
     cast against the backdrop
     of angry thunderheads
     still charged and alight
     with frightful bolts of lightening?
 
What is beauty
     if it cannot be seen
     in a blade of grass
     ebbing its way forth from earthen cracks
     in the stained sidewalk
Or in the dancing leaves
     on a lone tree
     growing between immense stone constructs
     in the heart of the city?
 
Even a child's tear
     pristine and moving
     as it is wiped away by one
     who cares enough to surrender all
     to protect his innocence and breath
     offers insight into
     a heavenly beauty
     incomprehensible by human understanding.
 
Through His gift of free will
     the universe lies wide before us
Our gift to Him
     our inner eyes which see beauty in all.
 
For by His hand
     all the beauty of the world
     was released from darkness
By His voice
     eternal silence was shattered
     by the vibrations of celestial music
And through His eyes the vision of a universe
     all encompassing and complete
     was released from His thought.  

(New York City, 1985)