Thank you God, for our brother, the Ethiopian Eunuch, baptised into your life a forebear in the family of Christ. Thank you for all of our forebears, and siblings who are embodied in ways that disrupt heteropatriarchal norms; who are part of the family you are making: gay and lesbian inside and outside of gender… Read More
Sunday Prayer: I Shall Not Want
By your name and your power, O Christ, our lives are renewed for the living of these days, for the loving of all peoples, for the leaping gladness of praise. By your name and your power, O Christ, our hearts are saved for the laboring of mercy, for the welcoming of peace, for the shattering… Read More
Thursday Prayer: Pursued by Goodness
Goodness and mercy all my days, shall surely follow me… Dear God, I am trying to write my sermon for Good Shepherd Sunday and I keep singing Brother James’ Air and in particular those lines about goodness and mercy. The verb is apparently a really active one. Not so much follow as pursue. So I… Read More
Sunday Prayer: What Wondrous Love
What love you have for us, O Merciful One: the sparrow chirrups faithfully and the daffodil sprouts through snow, joy greets us daily with the sunrise and grace finds us every night. What love you have for us, O Forgiving One: that new visions reveal your relentless hope though the world is overwrought with war,… Read More
Thursday Prayer: the eyebrows of Jesus!
Your bright, compassionate eyes look kindly on all who ask You for grace and mercy, in love. Blessed be Your eyes, eyelids and wonderful eyebrows! May Your lovely, kind vision be praised forever. Amen. Birgitta of Sweden in Incandescence (Butcher, 2005) Dear Jesus, To be fair, I have never considered your eyebrows, nor your intestines. So… Read More
Sunday Prayer: Of One Heart and Soul
Of one heart and soul, make us: one heart sharing hope, one soul witnessing life, one heart bearing grief, one soul crying “Justice!” Of one heart and soul, make us: one heart bleeding in the street, one soul drowning in the river, one heart longing for freedom, one soul searing from separation. Of one heart… Read More
Thursday Prayer: for mechanics and musicians
For mechanics and musicians we give you grateful thanks; For street-sweepers and statisticians we give you grateful thanks; For receptionists and researchers we give you grateful thanks; For bakers and candle-makers we give you grateful thanks; For bus drivers and baristas we give you grateful thanks; For planners and pattern-makers we give you grateful thanks;… Read More
Easter Sunday Prayer
Of first importance: Life, hallelujah! Life beyond understanding, life renewed despite death, life growing and changing, life outside of time & flesh, life created in blessing — hallelujah! Of first importance: Grace, hallelujah! Grace unhindered by guilt, grace multiplying with love, grace to comfort our hearts, grace with partiality to joy, grace upon grace upon… Read More
Saturday Prayer: Who Knew?
God, The Sabbath rest of Holy Saturday is not for us this year. If only we shared the Marys’ ignorance of what the dawn will bring, we could spend today in the deep rest of grief. But we have already heard the startling commands: “Go.” “Tell.” And, despite our alarm, despite our terror and amazement,… Read More
Saturday Prayer: Hosanna! Save Us
Hosanna! Save us, O God! From hasty palm waving and distracted worship; from the Holy Week panic about to set in; from the onslaught of emails and plastic eggs; from the special music to arrange and the brunch casseroles to bake; from the late nights, the restless sleeps, the too-early mornings. Save us, O God,… Read More
