Category: Daily Prayer

KEEPING THINGS WHOLE by Mark Strand In a field I am the absence of field. This is always the case. Wherever I am I am what is missing. When I walk I part the air and always the air moves in to fill the spaces where my body’s been. We all have reasons for moving. I...

NOTHING TWICE by Wislawa Szymborska Nothing can ever happen twice. In consequence, the sorry fact is that we arrive here improvised and leave without the chance to practice. Even if there is no one dumber, if you’re the planet’s biggest dunce, you can’t repeat the class in summer: this course is only offered once. No day...

Good evening, everyone.  Welcome to Friday evening’s prayers. During the last eighteen months many people have been through all sorts of ups and downs in their experiences. Earlier this week, Don used again a prayer from Sunday morning’s service which referred to this and which reminds us that God is with us wherever along this continuum...

God’s constant unchangeable care Good morning, Cornerstone friends, at the end of a week of no constancy other than constant change. Let us begin today in praise. My God, it is incredibly comforting to begin the day remembering how much you care for us, how close you remain to us, despite our fickle favourites and our...

Psalm 130 1 Out of the depths I cry to you, Lord; 2 Lord, hear my voice. Let your ears be attentive to my cry for mercy. 3 If you, Lord, kept a record of sins, Lord, who could stand? 4 But with you there is forgiveness, so that we can, with reverence, serve you. 5 I wait for the Lord,...

Greatly to be Praised I will praise You with my whole heart; … I will worship toward your holy temple, and praise your name; for your loving kindness and your truth; …. Psalm 138: 1–2a In Psalm 138, we find the song of ‘a man after God’s own heart’, who had travelled a long journey down...

HAPYNESS by Carl Sandburg I asked the professors who teach the meaning of life to tell me what is happiness. And I went to famous executives who boss the work of thousands of men. They all shook their heads and gave me a smile as though I was trying to fool with them And then one Sunday...

Good morning, good Cornerstone friends. We are halfway through 2021 already. Don’t wait too long to do those things you intended to do; time flies. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me bless his holy name. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits. Who forgives all...

WITNESS: INCOMMUNICADO by Denise Levertov They speak of bonding. Of the infant, the primitive without sense of boundary, everything as much or as little as itself. Yet what loneliness the solitude of thought before language. A kind of darkness stirring the mind, blurring the glare and the glitter of vision, steam on the white mirror. Good...

YOUNG POETS by Nicanor Parra Write as you will In whatever style you like Too much blood has run under the bridge To go on believing That only one road is right. In poetry everything is permitted. With only this condition of course, You have to improve the blank page. Good morning and welcome to Morning...

I walked past a house where I lived once by Yehuda Amichai I walked past a house where I lived once: a man and a woman are still together in the whispers there. Many years have passed with the quiet hum of the staircase bulb going on and off and on again. The keyholes are like...

GATE C22 by Ellen Bass At gate C22 in the Portland airport a man in a broad-band leather hat kissed a woman arriving from Orange County. They kissed and kissed and kissed. Long after the other passengers clicked the handles of their carry-ons and wheeled briskly toward short-term parking, the couple stood there, arms wrapped around...

Good evening, everyone. Welcome to Friday evening’s prayers. Let us pray: Thank you, loving God, for making us the people we are, and helping us to understand that we are precious in your sight. With thankful hearts, we ask you to help us appreciate all that we experience in our daily lives – the people we...