Sunday, September 21, 2008

Prayers For Amy and Warren

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Holy and Life-giving One,
shower your healing grace on Amy and Warren.

You made them in your image, full of light and love.
In their creativity, wisdom, joy, and grace
we catch glimpses of you,
the source of all that is good and joyful and life-giving.

Holy God, we pray for healing.

Touch every cell of Amy's body with health and wholeness.
Drive far away all that is painful or cancerous.
Fill her with physical and emotional strength to win this battle.

When her spirit is tired, give her the comfort of your presence.
When her body is weak, give her the grace of your strength.
When she is afraid, fill her with the confidence of your peace.

Be for Amy and Warren the spring of healing water that washes over and fills them, today and tomorrow and for years to come.

Amen.




- The Reverend Lydia Huttar Brown

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Monday, September 8, 2008

The Blessing of the Backpacks

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Gracious and loving God, you created us in your image, giving us minds to think and hearts to love and hands to serve. Bless these backpacks, to be a sign to those who carry them of your presence with them throughout this year. Bless these students and teachers with your grace and love.



Give them clear minds, that they may learn. Give them compassion to be true friends. Give them strong bodies and good health, to work and play for their own growth and the service of others. Above all, help them remember that you are always with them. May your love fill them with joy and peace, throughout the year.

Tuesday, September 2, 2008

Something New

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Something new is upon us,
and yet nothing is ever new.

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We are alive in a fearsome time,
and we have been given new things to fear.

We've been delivered huge blows but also
huge opportunities to reinforce or reinvent our will,
depending on where we look for honor and how we name our enemies.

The easiest thing is to think of returning the blows.
But there are other things we must think about as well, other dangers we face.

A careless way of sauntering across the earth and breaking open its treasures, a terrible dependency on sucking out the world's best juices for ourselves—these may also be our enemies.

The changes we dread most may contain our salvation.


- Small Wonder - Barbara Kingsolver - 2002

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