Category: Daily Prayer

Souvenir of the Ancient World  By Carlos Drummond de Andrade [Translated from the Portuguese by Mark Strand] Clara strolled in the garden with the children. The sky was green over the grass, the water was golden under the bridges, other elements were blue and rose and orange, a policeman smiled, bicycles passed, a girl stepped onto...

Any community that we construct on earth will be only a small model of a universe whose community includes billions of stars and planetary systems. Are we alone? We don’t know, but if we don’t know how to become a community with our own species, how shall we find harmony with other life forms in the...

We meet in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen Opening Sentences Let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us. Establish Thou the work of our hands; establish Thou the work of our hands. Presence  Dear Lord, you have called me by my name. You have carved me...

Good evening, friends. Welcome to our Friday evening prayer time. Those of you who use the prayers on WhatsApp may find these pictures familiar. Unfortunately, I sent out the wrong file last week, which had the beginnings of a draft for this Friday. Thanks to Robin, who noticed this, so it could be changed on the...

Good morning, dear friends, and welcome to this new day! We have arrived at the last Friday in August – the beginning of the Bank Holiday Weekend this evening – the last holiday before Christmas. Our last chance to be still until the dark of winter. Regardless of your role in the community – up to...

   A reading from Paul’s letter to the Ephesians 1 Follow God’s example, therefore, as dearly loved children 2 and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. 8 For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live...

Jesus Treasured Children ‘Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, … .’ Mark 10: 14 NIV® The little girl moved joyfully and gracefully to the music of praise. She was the only one in the aisle but that didn’t keep her from spinning and waving her arms and lifting her feet...

House  By Stanley Plumly  Door frames off the square, the inside sweating tile-brick walls uncovered, the checkerboard linoleum floors tilted toward infinity or at least in the direction of my northern bedroom window, which in winter is half-frozen with ice thick enough some mornings to draw on with a fingernail, while in the dust of summer...

Good morning, Cornerstone people. God has prepared this new day for us all. Hope you are not too storm tossed. O Lord, our governor, how glorious is your name in all the world! Your majesty above the heavens is praised. Out of the mouths of babes at the breast, you have founded a stronghold against your...

A World Created by the Powerful  By Seifu Metaferia  [Translated from the Amharic by Alemu Tebeje & Chris Beckett] They say “come here! go there!” with a gun to emphasize their words “just drive me, please!” they say mixing polite and threatening because they like to blur distinctions —              ...

No Nonsense  By Charlie Smith  split off for a sec I thought I might say something truthful but couldn’t come up with it and lingered in the rosy twilight unpacking an old suitcase I found under the stairs sometimes I stay as still as possible and tell myself a limitless vista’s opening up when it’s not...

XLIII Judica me, Deus  By Malcom Guite  Shucked of the husk of all my wasted years I long to step forth, free of all encumbrance To set aside the heaviness, the tears, The sin that clings so close, the doleful hindrance Of resentment and regret, to let them go Roll them below the cross, as Christian once...

VII By Malcolm Guite  35 At close of day I hear the gentle rain Whilst experts on the radio explain Mind-numbing numbers, rising by the day, Cyphers of unimaginable pain 36 Each evening they announce the deadly toll And patient voices calmly call the roll I hear the numbers, cannot know the names Behind each number, mind...

Dear Friends, We begin our evening sequence tonight with a reflective Sonata in G minor by Domenico Scarlatti. Born in 1685 – the same year as both Bach and Handel – Scarlatti wrote move than 550 keyboard sonatas, many of them highly original in style, looking forward to the classical era of Haydn and Mozart.  ...