The Matriarchs Have Moved

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You'll find old-fashioned favorites like the 11th Hour Preacher Party, Tuesday Lectionary Leanings, Ask the Matriarch, daily prayers and the Friday Five at our new home. You'll also find new features such as Narrative Lectionary and The Pastoral is Political. Come and see! And let us know what you think of our new digs by leaving a comment at the new blog.

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Friday Prayer: What Name Shall I Call You?

O transcendant, almighty God,
What words can sing your praises?
No tongue can describe you.
No mind can probe your mystery.
Yet all speech springs from you,
And all thought stems from you.
All creation proclaims you,
All creatures revere you.
Every gust of wind breathes a prayer to you,
Every rustling tree sings a hymn to you.
All things are upheld by you.
And they move according to your harmonious design.
The whole world longs for you,
And all people desire you.
Yet you have set yourself apart,
You are far beyond our grasp.
You are the purpose of all that exists,
But you do not let us understand you.
Lord, I want to speak to you.
By what name shall I call you?


- Gregory of Nazianzus

Friday Prayer: Let it out

God,

You know the secrets of my heart. 

So, why do I have to pray? If you already know, I'd hate to put the Holy Spirit out of a job. 

Yet, the words pour forth. 

My concerns... my fears... my needs... my joys... my desires...

The foremost thoughts tumble out and they are slowly caboosed by the truths that I cannot hide from you. 

I cannot help, but pray. 

You can help and do. 

Thank you. 

Thank you. 

Thank you. 

Amen. 

Friday Prayer: Lord Jesus, You Shall Be My Song As I Journey

Lord Jesus, You Shall Be My Song

Words Fr. Stephen Somerville
Melody Jackie Bennett

Lord Jesus you shall be my song as I journey
I’ll tell everybody about you wherever I go
For our life and our peace and our love is yourself
Lord Jesus you shall be my song as I journey

Lord Jesus, I’ll praise you as long as I journey
May all of my joy be a faithful reflection of you
May the earth and the sea and the sky join my song
Lord Jesus, I’ll praise you as long as I journey

As long as I live, Jesus, make me your servant
To carry your cross and to share all your burdens and tears
For you saved me by giving your body and blood
As long as I live, Jesus, make me your servant

I fear in the dark and the doubt of my journey
But courage will come with the sound of your steps by my side
And with all of the family you saved by your love
We’ll sing to the dawn at the end of our journey



Song in French: https://soundcloud.com/mark-mummert/lord-jesus-you-shall-be-my

RevGalPrayerPals: Monday Prayer

Again and again we return to you, Most Welcoming God.

Again and again we seek your face, searching
for that glint of grace in your eyes
for that insightful word from your tongue
for that compassionate smile on your countenance.

Again and again we sit at your feet, learning
to love more often, more tangibly
to give more selflessly, more unreservedly
to listen more carefully and speak more boldly.

Again and over again we share your table, marveling
at the abundance of your life
at the wellspring of your imagination
at the hope that we find when we rest in you.

Again and again we give you thanks, Most Wondrous God.

Friday Prayer - Serve God

Holy God,

At Vacation Bible School
the children are learning
to serve
Family
Friends
Community
You

It all makes sense
You make us able
to help one another
You hope we will do it

It seems so simple
when we teach it to
children

But when we examine our days
we find we serve other things
Earthly Kingdom Requirements
Bosses
Paperwork
Debts
Expectations

Remind us how simple
it really can be

Love You
Love each other
Love the other
Love ourselves

In Jesus' name
Amen.

RevGalPrayerPals: Monday Prayer

God of vocation and avocation, 

I pray for those who rise today to seek employment. Whether short or long-term, be with them in their search for work, for hope, for assurance. 

Grant strength for another interview, another form, another line. Bring peace and consolation in a time of rejection. 

Your creation has space for meaningful work for all  Help us to see the usefulness of Christ in those around us. 

Amen. 

RevGalPrayerPals: Friday Prayer

I cannot pray like Peter and I don't know that I want to preach like Paul.

Telling the love of Jesus is the desire of my heart, but it is tougher than I expected. 

I long for the balm of Gilead. I ask for a soothed soul. 

I seek the deep scent and softness of that balm and, in that experience, 

I so briefly feel the brush of wings- the Spirit, she hovers. 

On the day, O Lord, grant rest to my soul and respite to all who cry out to You. 

Amen, 

RevGalPrayerPals: Waiting for My Children to Sleep

Abba-

I sit here and wait,

Damp with sweat and tired...

Waiting for the stillness that means they sleep. Oh, so briefly, 

I am tired to the bone, but I dare not complain. 

So many friends long for this task, but does not need doing in their house.

Many grieve to wait this wait one more time. 

Some keep this vigil, accompanied by the hum of machines and hospital sounds. 

And some friends have a life without this wait, which is also fine. 

I wait and I listen and I feel a connection to all those...

And to You, who keep this watch every day, for the whole creation. 

Thank you. 

Amen. 

RevGalPrayerPals: Friday Prayer: Open-Ended

Breath of Life- within and without-

Holy is your name.

     Strengthen my desire for you. 

You are ever with me. 

     Increase my awareness of your presence. 

You know all my desires. 

     Receive the prayers of my heart. 

You are the peace that passes all understanding. 

    Favor me with a glimpse of that peace. 

Amen. 

Friday Prayer: For Racial Harmony

For Racial Harmony

God of all, in your love you made all the nations of the world to be a family, and your Son taught us to love one another.

Yet our world is riven apart with prejudice, arrogance, and pride.

Help the different races to love and understand one another better.

Increase among us sympathy, tolerance, and goodwill,that we may learn to appreciate the gifts races and ethnicities may share with one another, and to see in all people our brothers and sisters for whom Christ died.

Save us from jealousy, hatred, and fear, and help us to live together as members of one family at home in the world, sons and daughters of one Holy Parent who live in the liberty of the children of God;

through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Edited from the Book of Common Order of the Church of Scotland 
(Edinburgh: St. Andrew Press, 1994)

RevGalPrayerPals: Monday Prayer: Nuclear Family of God

On this day in 1945, at 5:29:45 a.m., the Manhattan Project comes to an explosive end as the first atom bomb is successfully tested in Alamogordo, New Mexico.


God of creativity and inspiration-

You smiled as we learned about animals, as we explored the garden of creation, as we expanded to see Your face in all things. 

Your Spirit inspires us to new connections and deeper understanding. 

And then the forces that oppose you whisper in our ear and we forget, oh so briefly, that promise and future of growth and well-being. Moments of destruction reap lifetimes of pain and unforgiveness. 

On this day of remembering, inspire us toward creativity with a healing purpose. Lead all creation to reconciliation through peace. Open our eyes to see you in all those around us. 

Be with us and renew us, again, into being co-creators with you- purposed with growth and blessing for your creation. 

Amen. 

RevGalPrayerPals: Friday Prayer: Grant Us Your Vision

God of all our days and nights-

Some rejoice that it is Friday- a day of rest and anticipation.

Others dread the weekend- a time without structure or the cause of separations.

For You, this day is like all others- a grain of sand in all the days You have made, yet equally known and precious to you.

On this day, help us to feel a share in that closeness, a view of that expansiveness, and a moment of peace in you.

Amen.

Monday Prayer: Gratitude

“To be grateful is to recognize the Love of God in everything He has given us - and He has given us everything. Every breath we draw is a gift of His love, every moment of existence is a grace, for it brings with it immense graces from Him. 


Gratitude therefore takes nothing for granted, is never unresponsive, is constantly awakening to new wonder and to praise of the goodness of God. For the grateful person knows that God is good, not by hearsay but by experience. And that is what makes all the difference.”  ― Thomas Merton

God, open my heart so that I may more fully experience your goodness in all around me- all situations, all people, all creation, in silence and in singing. Amen.

Monday Prayer: John the Baptizer

Holy Parent of All-

On this his feast day, we give you thanks for John the Baptizer. We praise your hand for his zeal and fervor, for his conviction and temerity, for his courage and his faithful action.

We are moved at his boldness in proclaiming Your kingdom.
We resonate with his hesitation at baptizing his cousin, Jesus- his Savior and our Lord.
We lament his death- too soon- at the hands of Herod and Herod's wife.
We thrill at his call to prepare, in the wilderness, the way of the Lord.

We want to be like him.

But then we don't.

Well, we'd like the same conviction, the same strength, the same courage, the same tangible experience of both Jesus and the Holy Spirit.

We would prefer not to die like him, not to be uncomfortable in diet or clothing, to speak truth to power  but without being terrified of what it will mean for our future.

Can we have one set of requests without the other?

No?

Reflection

Lord, make us like John the Baptizer and quickly, before we can change our minds.

Amen.

Monday Prayer: A Scholar's Wish (Or a Pastor's)

God help my thoughts! They stray from me, setting off on the wildest journeys. 
When I am in church, they run off like naughty children, quarreling, making trouble. 
When I read the Bible, they fly off to a distant city, filled with beautiful women. 
My thoughts can cross an ocean with a single leap; they can fly from earth to heaven, and back again, in a single second. 
They come to me for a fleeting moment, and then away they flee. No chains, no locks can hold them back; no threats of punishments can restrain them, no hiss of lash can frighten them. 
They slip from my grasp like tails of eels; they swoop hither and thither like swallows in flights. 
Dear, chaste Christ, who can see into every heart and read every mind, take hold of my thoughts. Bring my thoughts back to me, and clasp me to yourself. 

Amen. 

"Celtic Prayers". The HarperCollins Book of Prayers, 1993. p. 95

When Someone Moves On

God,

We know that our time on earth is not permanent
and our time with each other is not forever.

It is hard, though, when someone leaves us
They have a new job
They have a new relationship
They have a new life

And we are glad for them!

But we are sad for ourselves.
The shine has gone off things.
We mourn.

How will we manage? How will we do the things we have always done?

And the answer comes:

We will do things differently

It will hurt

But we will survive it

Every parting is an instruction in the great parting

and every leave-taking a reminder that one day

We will all sit at The Big Table with you.

Amen.

Monday Prayer: For Those Who Mourn (Dirge Without Music)

Dirge Without Music

I am not resigned to the shutting away of loving hearts in the hard ground.
So it is, and so it will be, for so it has been, time out of mind:
Into the darkness they go, the wise and the lovely. Crowned
With lilies and with laurel they go; but I am not resigned.

Lovers and thinkers, into the earth with you.
Be one with the dull, the indiscriminate dust.
A fragment of what you felt, of what you knew,
A formula, a phrase remains, --- but the best is lost.

The answers quick & keen, the honest look, the laughter, the love,
They are gone. They have gone to feed the roses. Elegant and curled
Is the blossom. Fragrant is the blossom. I know. But I do not approve.
More precious was the light in your eyes than all the roses in the world.

Down, down, down into the darkness of the grave
Gently they go, the beautiful, the tender, the kind;
Quietly they go, the intelligent, the witty, the brave.
I know. But I do not approve. And I am not resigned.

- Edna St. Vincent Millay

Oh Dear

God, it was my day to post a prayer

and I just got so busy I forgot.

Not just to post a prayer

but to pray.

Thanks for talking with me, anytime. 

Love, me

Monday Prayer: The Stories We Don't Know

God of all time and places, 

You know everything. 

In this age of information, there is still so much that escapes our notice. Stories that are "too small" for reporting. News that is "too far away". Cries and joys that remain private, thank You, and go unnoticed and unremarked upon by even the closest neighbors. 

We thank you for your presence in all these stories. We are consoled by knowing you are in Turkey and Oklahoma, but even greater is our relief that you are in those places and with those people whose stories are unknown to us. 

We thank you for your Spirit's work of healing, even before we hear of destruction. For Christ's work of reconciliation, even before we heard of dissension. For your work of reformation, even while we are still building. 

Keep us awake to your presence- that goes beyond our knowledge and our boundaries, 

Amen.