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A Wedding Responsory

Thu, 14 Dec 2006 22:33:56 +0000

taken from the Song of Solomon

Response:
Many waters cannot quench love
neither can floods drown it.

Verse:
Set me as a seal on your heart
as a seal on your arm
for love is as strong as death
Its flashes are flashes of fire

Response: Many waters …

Verse:
Upon my bed at night
I sought him whom my soul loves
I sought him and found him not
I called him but he gave no answer.

Response: Many waters …

Verse:
I slept but my heart was awake
Listen! my beloved is knocking
I am my beloved’s and my beloved is mine
He pastures his flocks among the lilies

Response: Many waters …

Verse:
My beloved speaks and says to me
“Arise, my love, my fair one,
and come away
for now the winter is past
the rain is over and gone.”

Response: Many waters …

Verse:
Awake, O north wind,
and come, O south wind
blow upon my garden
that its fragrance may be wafted abroad
let my beloved come to his garden
and eat its choicest fruits.

Response: Many waters …

Verse:
The flowers appear on the earth
the time of singing has come
and the voice of the turtle dove
is heard in our land
my beloved is mine and I am his,
and his banner over me is love.

Response: Many waters …

Litany

Thu, 14 Dec 2006 22:32:28 +0000

(suitable for healing services)

Holy God
You watch over us with the most gentle motherly love,
– aching for our wholeness,
In you we are created and recreated,
In you we are found and celebrated,
In you we are fully known.
All: Give us the courage to welcome your love.

Jesus
Light of the world and of our hearts,
You walk beside us through the darkest valleys,
and weep with us in the nights that know no end
You hear the silent screams of our hearts
and when we are unable
even to reach out for your touch,
You enter the tomb of our brokenness –
to kneel before us
and caress our wounds –
anointing us with your ceaseless self giving.
All: Give us the courage to welcome your love.

Holy dancing, life-giving Spirit
sweet scent of divine tenderness,
Blazing fire of mercy,
unrestrainable joy of Heaven.
You plummet the depths of our desolation,
to enfold all,
to restore all.
All: Give us the courage to welcome your love.

A Litany to Michael

Thu, 14 Dec 2006 22:25:43 +0000

Michael protecting
Michael encircling
Michael behind
Michael before
Michael worshipping
Michael adorning
Michael incisive
Michael penetrating
Michael gazing
Michael surrounding
Michael bold
Michael swift
Michael enthusiastic
protect and pray for us.

Prayers for Michaelmas

Thu, 14 Dec 2006 22:23:05 +0000

Leader:
With the Angels
All:
We praise and worship you O God

Leader:
May our eyes and ears and hearts,
and the eyes and ears and hearts of the Church
be open to receive angels who surprise us,
who come unannounced, who come unexpectedly.

We thank you for Raphael
who accompanied Tobias on his journey,
Thank you for all angels who travel with us and guide us,
who protect us from danger
and help us find our way when we are lost.

With the Angels ......

As Joseph recognised the angels’ voice in his dreams
may we recognise angels who come to us in our dreams.
May we listen and respond to their message.

With the Angels ......

Dragons abound and threaten us.
Dragons of despondency, despair, darkness, bitterness, greed ....
they come in all shapes and sizes.
Send your angels to slay the dragons,
send angels to help us tame dragons.

With the Angels ......

With Michael may we stand in awe
“Who is like God?”
With the Cherubim and Seraphim may we always worship before you saying Holy, Holy, Holy”.
As angels may we be swift to serve, may angel wings carry us,
angel light fill us, angel voices sing in us!

With the Angels ......

Grant us renewed vision for our community,
new understanding of Emily’s dreams,
new ways of living those dreams today.

God glorious, Holy, Ever Being
Ever beyond, ever present, ever sustaining, ever love
to you in the company of Michael and All Angels
we offer these dreams, hopes and prayers.

Amen. Amen.

Angels

Thu, 14 Dec 2006 22:15:33 +0000

A whisper
A secret hand
A catastrophe averted.

A gentle reminder
An unknown voice
A serious omission rectified.

An anonymous letter
Of cheer and support
A horrendous experience survived.

Can angels be denied?

Thoughts

Thu, 14 Dec 2006 22:12:03 +0000

Listening to Beethoven’s Pastoral Symphony

Entombed in deafness
Yet were you freed to soar
far through some inner height
climbing with giant strides
sound pinnacles, mountains
where light and darkness
(giants too)
struggled within your joy and agony.

And Ludwig, (here my tears start),
from your lovelessness, your unfilled heart,
your body too, ungainly and ungiven,
broke birth upon birth of beauty.
Your soul’s smarting
startles answering truth, begetting truth,
(Oh my soul’s greed, I would have God
and having God, have ALL).

Now stand most fruitful
in your unshared heart and flesh-loneliness,
barren bough, bending and breaking
with excess of LIFE.

To Peter on Easter Evening

Thu, 14 Dec 2006 22:11:29 +0000

Crumbling Rock, crushed
by the nausea of self-hatred
and slow corroding of despair,
Love’s betrayal,
the ‘you’ in me, lost;
Oh the night, the night,
the chasm of grief and
the deep well of failure.

Then shafts of light
and you, radiantly renewed,
come to me, I prostrate
with humble joy,
I stricken Rock
healed, lifted up, no reproach
in your gaze.

Love’s restoration.

To John on the Day of the Resurrection

Thu, 14 Dec 2006 22:10:02 +0000

There was the dark
and the heart-breaking
dead with grief,
the cold terror of lostness,
shattered hopes and love- yearning;

then the message and rush
to the tomb,
the heart standing still
till its winged vision,
(eagle-like)
flew to the sun’s light,
breaking in wave upon wave
with a sudden dark knowing.
I was silent, without words,
(there was no need) –
I beheld,
I believed.

The Passion of Our God

Thu, 14 Dec 2006 22:07:29 +0000

You
who gasped and moaned,
sweated and pushed,
pouring forth life,
giving birth to creation

You
have stood before us in perfect humanity,
You have touched us and blessed us
called us relentlessly
loved us unceasingly

We have wrestled with you in the night.
We have rested in your arms

but we could not hold you
and we could not understand
why
you submitted
to nails
and human cruelty

I sat stunned
holding that limp body,
damp, cold and broken
and you were there beside me great Mother God
groaning for the beloved
writhing in a pain more terrible than the first
bathing us in hot burning tears
choking in a grief that darkened the sun

and then,
absence

as that precious weight
which threatened to crush me
was torn from me
and laid in a tomb

cold silent
ABSENCE

I couldn’t stay away
my whole being ached for you
and so, stumbling in the darkness
I came to find you,
knowing you would understand
that primitive human need
to caress, anoint and hold

ABSENCE. ABSENCE.

my trembling empty flesh
cheated of its last comfort
screamed aloud into the dawning day

I called you –

– you whose ears were closed forever.
I called your name again, again

I called

until I could call no longer

and all around me the sun rose
and the world began to sing
and into my desolation

– a voice,

into absence – presence

PRESENCE !

Easter Mystery

Thu, 14 Dec 2006 22:06:52 +0000

New Annunciation
To Mary, in the Night of the Pasch

It was the inrush of heaven
vibrant with life,
(no angel visitation this),
joy’s inflow swelling the flood
of love, love’s banks breaking,
(It was wonder),
heaven rushing in
with new life and warmth,
(He like new minted gold
fresh from fire).
It was power, gentle yet strong
(wonder, pondered anew).

Suddenly in the dark silence
joy singing, and light.
It was morning.

A Dying Community Good Friday

Thu, 14 Dec 2006 22:06:13 +0000

Today
I felt the chill of the tomb,
sepulchral voices
enshrined in black,
in long corridors of shining clean tiles.

But where are the children’s voices,
laughter,
life-giving green of new shoots
from the established vine?

It feels like an enclosed tomb,
shut off from the fresh air of day –
I long for the breath of the Spirit here,
new life, new wine, green,
Opening on to the world,
the voices of the poor
and those who are searching
for Life.

Come, holy dove,
come and spread your wing,
overshadowing the tomb
of our chill deadness,
numbness;
Awaken,
rekindle,
Anoint with fresh oil
the root of our being,
that Life may flow once more,
and the voices of children
may be heard,
singing your praises,
O you who are ever fresh,
ever young,
Green sap,
Holy God.

Hell

Thu, 14 Dec 2006 22:05:40 +0000

Hell is not knowing
Having no hand stretched out
No one waiting
Hell is being lost
Hell is crying to no purpose
Hell is desperation
It is dead ends and no ends
It is being full of anger and
not knowing why

It is being afraid
Afraid of … .
Afraid of nothingness, purposelessness
Afraid of deception
Afraid of being completely wrong.

Afraid of the inner journey
Just gets emptier and emptier
Afraid of the outer
Only further to go
To where?

I want to believe
but can’t by wanting.
I don’t want anything from you
Only to know that you are there

Running Away

Thu, 14 Dec 2006 22:05:11 +0000

Running away from God to find God.
Away from the judgmental God
to the accepting one.
To the God who can touch me without
making me cringe in self-loathing.
Whose touch is a caress, not a blow.
Whose touch is gentle
and strong enough to hold and support.
Not hard and demanding, holding me rigid.
Whose touch is inspired by love and
not duty.

The Widow s Mite

Thu, 14 Dec 2006 22:04:30 +0000

Some have lost what they never had
And yet gave all.
All that they had, though it was nothing.
God saw, and it pleased him.
He read their hearts aright.
He didn’t take their offering at face value.
Why do we – why do I?

I thought I gave all and yet it was nothing.
Now I want all and have nothing to give.
I give my nothing.

Help me to open my heart and
my hands to receive your all
– or your nothing.

A Litany to Mary

Thu, 14 Dec 2006 22:04:00 +0000

Mary strong
Mary tender
Mary vulnerable
Mary open
Mary nurturing
Mary radiant
Mary beautiful
Mary comely
Mary decisive
Mary Yes
Mary laughing
pray for us now and in the hour of our death.
Amen.

Luke 1 26 to 28

Thu, 14 Dec 2006 22:03:25 +0000

God found Mary through His messenger.
Mary didn’t have to go hunting for Him.
She didn’t have to read this and study that to see how to find Him.
She didn’t have to visit this one and consult that one
to learn where to meet Him
She didn’t have to do anything.
She only had to be – at home – to Him.

She could, and did question, as do we all,
But she listened to His answers,
and accepted them.
She knew when to stop asking questions and let God act.

Open my Eyes

Thu, 14 Dec 2006 22:02:58 +0000

As the old eyes of Simeon
Saw through the veil of humanity
In that tiny baby
To the glorious divinity within,
So open my eyes, O great Physician
Of the blind,
To see the divine pattern, stamp
Written on all your creatures –
The mark of your Fatherhood, Motherhood,
Brooding spirit, bringing forth Life
From dead wastes of matter;
Drawing up all in your great embrace
Through those outspread, pierced hands,
Into the great eternal banquet
Of endless rejoicing,
Glorious, blissful Trinity.

Pentecost

Thu, 14 Dec 2006 22:02:52 +0000

I have come
– a blazing light of joy,
dancing in the mountains
as the darkness
crumbles around me.

I have come in roaring wind
and bubbling streams,
sweeping the earth
with great tides,
filling all
with the sacred fragrance
of life.

I am the promise
of peace
and of hope.
Breath of the Risen One,
Triumph of Love.

I hear your cries,
I hold your tears,
I am in
the wordless pleas
of your heart.
I have come to be born
in the thirsty ground
of your soul.

Pain and despair –
you will be banished,
days of anguish –
you are numbered.

I have come,
come to free you,
for there are no chains
that I cannot break,
no wounds
that I will not heal,
and no night I cannot penetrate.

Take courage and be comforted,
I will draw you closer,
I will absorb you and lift you up,
carry and caress you
and sing my song through you.

I have come –
and there is no joy
that will not be poured upon you.

Water into Wine

Thu, 14 Dec 2006 22:02:28 +0000

Expect great things.
Jesus is God of all power
To move mountains,
Water into wine,
Water gushing from flinty rock
Struck by the Spirit,
Lame man leaping,
The blind one sees people, colours,
And the leper is washed clean,
Like a baby – new.

So what is death to Him?
Or weary, painful illness?
Or deafness, speech impediment,
Depression, the grey tomb of sorrow?
Every tear shall be wiped away
As these mountains are swept into the sea
By the embracing waves
Of His glorious power and love.

Expect great things.
Now.
Today.
This very hour.
Jesus is God of all authority and power
Now. Today. Every day.

Expect great things.

My Child

Thu, 14 Dec 2006 22:01:45 +0000

The child in me
Can play with paint.
She doesn’t have to create “proper pictures.”

She can say what she thinks without thinking.
She can be truly honest.

She can laugh and cry and knows it’s alright.
It’s good to do both.

She can accept mystery and wonder at it.
Can enter into it and be unafraid.
She doesn’t have to understand.

She doesn’t have to impress with difficult words.
Simple ones will do.
Simple ones like
“I love you,
and you love me”
are enough.

I’m glad my child has emerged.
(Still a bit shy, but she’s there!)