Tuesday, February 28, 2012
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
Blessing for Finals Week and Advent (Lynne)
Great and Compassionate God, we beseech your blessings on us this week as we finish the semester and begin the wondrous season of Advent. Fill us with patience, persistence and sleep that we might stay focused on the true reason for which we are at LSTC. Keep us mindful of caring for ourselves while we imbue these bodies that you have blessed with excess stress, minimal exercise and questionable nutrition. We ask your blessings on those who will graduate and go out into the world of ministry. Guide them, fill them with your grace and keep them in your loving arms. For although we are now a community united through your son, Jesus Christ, soon we will scatter to the four corners of the world. And we thank you for bringing us all together during these years of formation and learning so that we might know our sisters and brothers through that baby due to be born, Jesus.
Amen.
Monday, December 1, 2008
eating disorder grace
God of all, we thank you for the works you are doing today. we thank you for the food on our table and the friends and family around our table. we thank you that we are able to eat today and ask that you send your Spirit to comfort those who cannot eat today. oh God of compassion, show your love to our sisters and brothers struggling with food issues and eating disorders. may we be agents of your work among them and all people. help us to recognize our own eating problems and show us ways to take better care of our bodies. and bless this food we are about to eat to the health of our bodies, and bless our bodies to work in your service. amen.
In this grace, I wanted to think about praying for those with an eating disorder. It recently occured to me that thanking God for providing food to eat would hard and awkward for someone who did not want to eat that food. I also wanted to touch on all of the ways we eat 'incorrectly' and ask God to help us fix that. I hope it could be a grace that people on all sides of the issue could pray.
In this grace, I wanted to think about praying for those with an eating disorder. It recently occured to me that thanking God for providing food to eat would hard and awkward for someone who did not want to eat that food. I also wanted to touch on all of the ways we eat 'incorrectly' and ask God to help us fix that. I hope it could be a grace that people on all sides of the issue could pray.
winter grace
God of growth and death, we humbly thank you for this food you have provided. In this season where so much appears dead and dying, we thank you that you are the living God who always looks after your children. Teach us not to look for you only in the green leaves, but also in the bare branches. Bless this food to our bodies and our bodies to your service. Amen.
For me, this grace reflects the season of winter. It is easy to lose sight of what God is doing in winter when everything is dark and grey and stark. But we must remember that God has always provided through lean times, and is even now providing food to eat when the ground outside is frozen solid. Our God never forgets her children.
For me, this grace reflects the season of winter. It is easy to lose sight of what God is doing in winter when everything is dark and grey and stark. But we must remember that God has always provided through lean times, and is even now providing food to eat when the ground outside is frozen solid. Our God never forgets her children.
A Table Grace for Advent: David's Grace #3
Christ our Light and our Life,
We remember that you once came to us -- enfleshed and in our likeness.
We remember your promise to come again and bring in the fullness of the kingdom.
Help us to remember, as we partake of this meal, that you are continually coming.
That you are still enfleshed and in our likeness.
That you are among us now at this table.
And that you are among those who are not at any table this day.
Help us to remember during this season:
The poor.
The hungry.
The unemployed.
The homeless.
And all in need.
And may this food you have provided strengthen us:
To be your hands.
To be your eyes.
To be your ears.
To be your heart.
And to show your love to all.
We pray this in your holy, life-giving name.
Amen.
Advent is a time of expectation, but it is also a time to remember. Take the word apart. Re-member. Member back together. In this grace, we re-member ourselves in Christ to those at the table and those who are not. We re-member ourselves to those who can eat their fill, and those who do not know where their next meal will come from. We re-member ourselves to our faith -- that Christ not only has come, and will come, but is coming. Christ is always among us, if we just open ourselves to his presence.
It's a rough time for a lot of folks. This holiday won't be a very happy one for many. While we give thanks for what we have, we need to wake ourselves up to what others are going through. In Mark's Gospel for the 1st Sunday of Advent, Jesus reminds us to keep awake. Let's not only keep awake for Christ's eventual coming, but for his continual coming among us and the whole human family.
We remember that you once came to us -- enfleshed and in our likeness.
We remember your promise to come again and bring in the fullness of the kingdom.
Help us to remember, as we partake of this meal, that you are continually coming.
That you are still enfleshed and in our likeness.
That you are among us now at this table.
And that you are among those who are not at any table this day.
Help us to remember during this season:
The poor.
The hungry.
The unemployed.
The homeless.
And all in need.
And may this food you have provided strengthen us:
To be your hands.
To be your eyes.
To be your ears.
To be your heart.
And to show your love to all.
We pray this in your holy, life-giving name.
Amen.
Advent is a time of expectation, but it is also a time to remember. Take the word apart. Re-member. Member back together. In this grace, we re-member ourselves in Christ to those at the table and those who are not. We re-member ourselves to those who can eat their fill, and those who do not know where their next meal will come from. We re-member ourselves to our faith -- that Christ not only has come, and will come, but is coming. Christ is always among us, if we just open ourselves to his presence.
It's a rough time for a lot of folks. This holiday won't be a very happy one for many. While we give thanks for what we have, we need to wake ourselves up to what others are going through. In Mark's Gospel for the 1st Sunday of Advent, Jesus reminds us to keep awake. Let's not only keep awake for Christ's eventual coming, but for his continual coming among us and the whole human family.
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
Dear Lord,
On this day of thanks giving as we are gathered here together as a family in your presence. We are grateful to be here on this beautiful earth with this bounty of plenty before us. You have graced our table with the outpourings of your love and benevolence through the nourishing food before us, the life-giving and pleasurable wine we drink and toast with, and the uniquely beautiful persons sitting beside us who share in the joys and sorrows of our lives. As we gather here in celebration of life and family let us remember loved ones not here with us this year whether they be gathered elsewhere or have passed on before us into your kingdom. Let us remember the people whose hands have toiled and labored to provide us with constant influx of nourishment. Let us remember others who will not be gathered around tables with their families this year as they faithfully serve our country overseas. Let us remember and lift up to you their safety and those whom are lonely, feeling unloved, homeless and unfed today. We remember that these gifts you have bestowed upon us are also our responsibility and that we too are stewards of this good earth and that we are called to share our gifts, our love with others. We take this task seriously and give you thanks for giving us life, nourishment, family, friends, love and also the ability to transform the lives of others through these gifts. Thank you Lord for gracing our table with your presence. Amen.
Reflection
This Thanksgiving I’ll be with my boyfriend’s family rather than my own. They have welcomed me into their family and I hope to be an official member one day, however, as two families, two identities come together some clashes occur occasionally. I wanted to share a prayer with them that would unite all of us together. They have their family, their core family unit of the four of them. Then there is another family unit of his sister and her husband. And another family unit subset of my boyfriend and I. We are all united yet all different also, coming together as one family. I want to bring lightness, hope, joy and love to the presence of our gathering on Thanksgiving day. While bringing these elements to form our family, I also am conscious of those around me in various predicaments and stages of life. I am also aware of how I have been blessed and that this has a double meaning, for blessing brings responsibility too. I hope my Thanksgiving prayer will be well-received by his family and have the atmospheric impact I hope for.
On this day of thanks giving as we are gathered here together as a family in your presence. We are grateful to be here on this beautiful earth with this bounty of plenty before us. You have graced our table with the outpourings of your love and benevolence through the nourishing food before us, the life-giving and pleasurable wine we drink and toast with, and the uniquely beautiful persons sitting beside us who share in the joys and sorrows of our lives. As we gather here in celebration of life and family let us remember loved ones not here with us this year whether they be gathered elsewhere or have passed on before us into your kingdom. Let us remember the people whose hands have toiled and labored to provide us with constant influx of nourishment. Let us remember others who will not be gathered around tables with their families this year as they faithfully serve our country overseas. Let us remember and lift up to you their safety and those whom are lonely, feeling unloved, homeless and unfed today. We remember that these gifts you have bestowed upon us are also our responsibility and that we too are stewards of this good earth and that we are called to share our gifts, our love with others. We take this task seriously and give you thanks for giving us life, nourishment, family, friends, love and also the ability to transform the lives of others through these gifts. Thank you Lord for gracing our table with your presence. Amen.
Reflection
This Thanksgiving I’ll be with my boyfriend’s family rather than my own. They have welcomed me into their family and I hope to be an official member one day, however, as two families, two identities come together some clashes occur occasionally. I wanted to share a prayer with them that would unite all of us together. They have their family, their core family unit of the four of them. Then there is another family unit of his sister and her husband. And another family unit subset of my boyfriend and I. We are all united yet all different also, coming together as one family. I want to bring lightness, hope, joy and love to the presence of our gathering on Thanksgiving day. While bringing these elements to form our family, I also am conscious of those around me in various predicaments and stages of life. I am also aware of how I have been blessed and that this has a double meaning, for blessing brings responsibility too. I hope my Thanksgiving prayer will be well-received by his family and have the atmospheric impact I hope for.
Monday, November 24, 2008
Juanita's Blessing 4th Table Blessing
THANKSGIVING BLESSING
Almighty God Creator Of The Universe, We give you thanks for the abundance of your creation. We give you thanks for the feast presented before us. We give you thanks for all the people with us who will share the food at this table. Bless our loved ones who cannot be with us today but are with us in spirit. Bless this meal so that it will fill us physically and spiritually. Amen.
This is a general Thanksgiving or table blessing which I give. When giving a table blessing for a special holiday like Thanksgiving, I always remember to include a blessing for those who are absent from the table.
Almighty God Creator Of The Universe, We give you thanks for the abundance of your creation. We give you thanks for the feast presented before us. We give you thanks for all the people with us who will share the food at this table. Bless our loved ones who cannot be with us today but are with us in spirit. Bless this meal so that it will fill us physically and spiritually. Amen.
This is a general Thanksgiving or table blessing which I give. When giving a table blessing for a special holiday like Thanksgiving, I always remember to include a blessing for those who are absent from the table.
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