Love planting

 
A sixth-century Jewish rabbi wrote, “God, from the very beginning of creation, was occupied before all else with planting, as it is written, ‘And first of all, the Eternal God planted a Garden in Eden.’ Therefore occupy yourselves first and foremost with planting.”

Lord, give us humility to remember that we are made from dirt so that we might till the dirt and love it as we love ourselves. Amen.

 
from Common Prayer: A Liturgy for Ordinary Radicals by Shane Claiborne, Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove and Enuma Okoro, p. 249

From the blog
3 Prayers for refugees
Grace notes
A new nature
 

Planted together


 

Prayer of Confession

(based on Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43)

Merciful God, you plant each of us like seeds in the same field and together we are nourished and nurtured by the sun. We sway in the wind and are refreshed by the rain. We are blessed by the knowledge that you want us to grow towards what you call us to be.

When we deprive others of that same opportunity,
forgive us.

When we want to uproot those whom we believe
do not belong in our part of the field,
forgive us.

When we label others as good or bad
rather than accept them for who they are,
forgive us.

When we are reluctant to acknowledge
that we ourselves are a mixture of weeds and wheat,
forgive us.

When we are afraid to look into the fields of our own lives
to see what is growing there,
forgive us.

O God, you know us inside and out, through and through.
You search us out and lay your hand upon us.
You know what we are going to say even before we speak.
So we pray that you will help us to reach out to the uprooted and rejected,
the lonely and the outcast,
and to develop and grow the good in ourselves, in others and in the world.
This we pray in Jesus’ name.
Amen

~ by Moira Laidlaw, posted on re:worship

From the blog
Pilgrims together
Soft eyes help
United by love
 

Pots and plants


Geraniums in my kitchen garden
 

A meditation

How hard it is to know
when the pot is too small for the plant.
Some plants need to be contained, held very close.
Others cannot be crowded.
I don’t know when I myself am too pot-bound,
lacking courage to be replanted,
to take the shock of new soil,
to feel into the unknown and to take root in it.

This drying out, this self-crowding
sneaks up on me. It seems I must always feel
a little wilted or deadened before I know
I’m too pot-bound.

This african violet must first be cut
and divided. The knife goes through the root.
The white flesh exposed and moist
looks as if it is bleeding.
It must have soil immediately
so the plant won’t die.
Then water. Water taken in from below.
This water must seep up into the plant
by infusion. Then comes the waiting
as the shock registers.
Days and weeks of waiting.

It will be months before a new leaf appears.
Perhaps the plant won’t make it.
So it is when the time comes for me to be cut
and divided so as to grow again.

Help me to see this not as a problem
but as a process. Help me surrender
to the growth that only comes with pain,
with division, with helplessness, with waiting.
Especially the days and weeks of waiting.

 
from Being Home: A book of meditations by Gunilla Norris, p.32-33

From the blog
Full of air
Ask and receive
In the school of prayer with Michael Mayne
 

Plant us, root us, grow us

 

As we approach another Pentecost, I commend to you The Gift booklet, a resource that grew out of a 12-part series on the ministry of the Holy Spirit that I posted in 2017.

 

A prayer

You who led Israel through the waters,
plant us by streams of living water.

Root us in your love
and grow us up to bear the fruit of your Spirit:

    love, joy, peace,
    patience, kindness, goodness,
    faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.

Amen
 

from Common Prayer: A Liturgy for Ordinary Radicals by Shane Claiborne, Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove and Enuma Okoro, p. 222
 

From the blog
Bloom where you’re planted
Thank you. For fruit-bearing trees
Flowers fall, but …
 

Tears of joy


 

Call to worship

This is the day:
when tears are wiped away;
shattered hearts are mended;
fears are replaced with joy.

This is the day the Lord:
rolls away the stone of fear;
throws off death’s clothes;
goes ahead of us into God’s future.

This is the day the Lord has made:
death has no fear for us;
sin has lost its power over us;
God opens the tombs of our hearts
to fill us with life.

This is the day – Easter Day!
Christ is Risen! Hallelujah!

 
~ written by Thom M. Shuman, and posted on Lectionary Liturgies.

From the blog
To Emmaus and back
Resurrection light
In the school of prayer with Michael Mayne
 

No more tears

A prayer

O God our creator,
whose good earth is entrusted
to our care and delight and tenderness,
we pray:

For all who are in captivity to debt,
whose lives are cramped by fear
from which there is no turning
except through abundant harvest.

May those who sow in tears
reap with shouts of joy.

For all who depend on the earth
for their daily food and fuel,
whose forests are destroyed
for the profits of a few.

May those who sow in tears
reap with shouts of joy.

For all who labour in poverty,
who are oppressed by unjust laws,
who are banned for speaking the truth,
who long for a harvest of justice.

May those who sow in tears
reap with shouts of joy.

For all who are in captivity
to greed and waste and boredom,
whose harvest joy is chocked
with things they do not need.

May those who sow in tears
reap with shouts of joy.

Turn us again from our captivity
and restore our vision,
that our mouth may be filled with laughter
and our tongue with singing.

 
by Janet Morley,
from The Book of a Thousand Prayers by Angela Ashwin, #886

From the blog
In the school of prayer with Tish Harrison Warren
Wilderness woes
Man of Sorrows
 

Weep with those who weep


View from Casa la Salle, Rome

 

“When others are happy, be happy with them, and when they are sad, be sad.”

 

 

A prayer

from Papua New Guinea

Lord Jesus Christ,
    you told the women of Jerusalem not to weep for you
    but to weep for themselves.

Be with women who suffer violence in their homes
    as they weep for their sons caught up in the violence.

Be with women and children trapped in prostitution and poverty.

Be with the women who live in domestic violence,
    who have learnt not to weep for their own pains,
    who have suffered so long they are numb.

Strengthen your Church in its care and support of all who are in pain.

Help us all to be sensitive and caring,
    for you are the Lord who suffers and serves.

 
from A Procession of Prayers: Meditations and Prayers from Around the World by John Carden, p. 243

From the blog
I hear you
Roadside assistance
Windows on Holy Week (series from 2017)
 

Tears on the way

A prayer

Sometimes we don’t realize the intensity of the things for which we pray, Lord.  Keep us courageously mindful that your way is laden with tears on the way to resurrection. Amen.

from Common Prayer: A Liturgy for Ordinary Radicals by Shane Claiborne, Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove and Enuma Okoro, p. 169

From the blog
Theme: God makes all things new  [prayer sheet]
Leaving the desert behind
Burning desire
 

Thank you. For the promise of spring


Tree outside my front door captured in pre-spring array
 

We believe

based on Isaiah 61: 10-11

We believe.
We believe joyfully in the God of love,
with all our being we celebrate our God.
As soil after drought produces green shoots
and as garden seeds spring into new life,
so our God produces justice and praise
to spring up among all nations.

We believe in God
who dresses us in the garments of salvation;
who by the grace of Christ
covers us with the robe of righteousness,
adopts us into the holy family
and promises to make us a crown of beauty,
a royal diadem in the hand of God.

This we believe through Christ Jesus.
May the Holy Spirit strengthen our belief.

 
— written by Bruce Prewer, posted on www.bruceprewer.com
 

From the blog
Blossom and flourish
Singing creation’s song
Hear creation singing
 

Celebrate supply

 

“Our life is not only travail and labor, it is also refreshment and joy in the goodness of God. We labor, but God nourishes and sustains us. And this is reason for celebrating. … Through daily meals [God] is calling us to rejoice, to keep holiday in the midst of our working day.”

 
Diedrich Bonhoeffer,
from Life Together (New York: Harper & Row, 1954), p. 68
 

From the blog
Theme: Ever sustaining  [prayer sheet]
Food for thought
In all seasons – grow