Morning Prayer Tuesday, 10 November 2020
Georgic
By Michael Prior
This is the landscape
I was made for,
where the work
is a word half-recalled,
unpronounceable
without practice,
or a story in which
my great-grandfather
tends a strawberry farm
in a small town
beside the Pacific:
the rotting mulch,
the suck of mud on a boot,
vines’ frost-stunted fruit;
the way the ocean
nested driftwood
across the frozen beach,
or the time a nest
of field-mice ruined
the only rice for months—
vignettes I had to hear
to see. Today, I eat
strawberries in bed and sleep
until the sun raises
its bright meniscus
over the brownstones,
the endless meiosis
of the off-ramp,
the median’s poor
attempts at colour:
early magnolias, narcissuses,
clumps of parched crabgrass.
I have heard, too, how
my great-grandfather
died of tuberculosis
in a northern city,
having left his wife,
his children, the farm,
to travel across the country
to study the lucrative
sculpture of false teeth.
Somewhere, in an Ontario attic,
there is a leather satchel
filled with his tools:
a fine-stemmed mirror
like a flower stripped
of petals in a game
of he-loves-me-not;
a steel drill, its bit as thin
as a hummingbird’s beak.
And somewhere,
inscribed on each,
a name I couldn’t say
without having heard it
said first. Tomorrow,
when a late snow
gathers along the sidewalk
like bone-light in an x-ray
I will stay inside
and imagine its cold
dissolving on skin,
its wet weight
tugging on a heel.
Good morning and welcome to Morning Prayer
The night has passed, and the day lies open before us;
let us pray with one heart and mind.
Silence is kept.
As we rejoice in the gift of this new day,
so may the light of your presence, O God,
set our hearts on fire with love for you;
now and for ever.
Amen.
Breathe in
Breathe out
Be still…
I arise today,
embraced in the arms
of God the Father,
empowered by the strength
of God the Spirit,
immersed in the love
of God the Son.
I arise today
in the company
of the Trinity,
Father, Spirit and Son.
I arise today
Amen
Presence
The more we call on the Lord
the more we can feel his Presence.
Day by day he draws us closer
to his loving heart.
Freedom
Many countries are at this moment suffering the agonies of war.
I bow my head in thanksgiving for my freedom.
I pray for all prisoners and captives.
Consciousness
How wonderful it is to be able
to enter into your presence Lord.
No matter what time it is.
No matter which land I am in.
I need only to speak your name.
The Word of God
Luke 17:7-10
Jesus said to his disciples, “Who among you would say to
your slave who has just come in from plowing or tending sheep in the field,
‘Come here at once and take your place at the table’?
Would you not rather say to him, ‘Prepare supper for me,
put on your apron and serve me while I eat and drink;
later you may eat and drink’? Do you thank the slave for doing what
was commanded? So you also, when you have done all that you
were ordered to do, say, ‘We are worthless slaves;
we have done only what we ought to have done!'”
WORDS OF WISDOM
God is the ultimate nonviolent one, so we dare not accept any theory of salvation—much less socialization, economics, or politics—that is based on violence, exclusion, social pressure, or moral coercion. When we do, these are legitimated as a proper way of life. God saves by loving and including, not by excluding or punishing.
So what does it really mean to follow Jesus? I believe we are invited to gaze upon the image of the crucified Jesus to soften our hearts toward all suffering, to help us see how we ourselves have been “bitten” by hatred and violence, and to know that God’s heart has always been softened toward us. In turning our gaze to this divine truth, we gain compassion toward ourselves and all others who suffer. It largely happens on the psychic and unconscious level, but that is exactly where all of our hurts and our will to violence lie. A transformative religion must touch us at this primitive, brainstem level, or it is not transformative at all.
History is continually graced with people who have been transformed in this way and somehow learned to act beyond and outside their self-interest for the good of the world. They are exemplars of public virtue. We recall Nelson Mandela, Corazon Aquino, John Lewis, and Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Add to them Etty Hillesum, Corrie ten Boom, Rosa Parks, Mother Teresa, Dorothy Day, Óscar Romero, César Chávez, and many others. These inspiring figures gave us strong evidence that the mind of Christ still inhabits the world. Most of us are fortunate to have crossed paths with many lesser-known persons who exhibit the same presence.
Following Jesus is a vocation to share the fate of God for the life of the world.
To allow what God for some reason allows—and uses: the imperfect everything, including me!
And to suffer ever so slightly what God suffers eternally.
Often, this has little to do with believing the “right” things about God—beyond the fact that God is love itself.
Those who agree to carry and love what God loves—which is both the good and the bad—and to pay the price for its reconciliation within themselves, these are the followers of Jesus Christ. They are the leaven, the salt, the remnant, the mustard seed that God uses to transform the world.
To maintain this mind and heart over the long haul is true Gospel spirituality. I have no doubt that it takes many daily decisions and many surrenders. It is aided by seeking out like-minded people. Such grace and freedom are never lone achievements. Saints are those who wake up while in this world, instead of waiting for the next one. Francis of Assisi, William Wilberforce, Thérèse of Lisieux, and Harriet Tubman did not feel superior to anyone else; they just knew they had been let in on a big divine secret, and they wanted to do their part in revealing it to those who knew nothing about it.
Richard Rohr
https://cac.org/for-the-good-of-the-world-2020-11-06/
Copyright © 2018 by CAC. Used by permission of CAC. All rights reserved worldwide.
PRAYERS & INTERCESSIONS
We pray for the world…
Lord, in your mercy
hear our prayer.
We pray for the universal church of Christ…
Lord, in your mercy
hear our prayer.
We pray for one another and all those known to us…
Lord, in your mercy
hear our prayer.
The Lord’s Prayer
As our Saviour taught us, so we pray
Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
Forgive us our sins
as we forgive those who sin against us.
Lead us not into temptation
but deliver us from evil.
For the kingdom, the power,
and the glory are yours
now and for ever.
Amen.
May God the Father
prepare your journey,
Jesus the Son
guide your footsteps,
The Spirit of Life
strengthen your body,
The Three in One
watch over you,
on every road
that you may follow.
Amen
BLESSING
May your day be blessed
by moments of quietness,
light in your darkness,
strength in your weakness,
grace in your meekness,
joy in your gladness,
peace in your stillness.
May your day be blessed
AMEN
Thank you for join us…have a wonderful day!
Revd. Ernesto Lozada-Uzuriaga
