Neighborhood Prayer

 "May my neighbors in this house

Experience joy today ~

And may their joy

Point the way back to you

O God!"

When I walked by your house today, this is the prayer I prayed.

I don't know where this came from on

    such a foggy day ~

       this prayer for joy in the midst of the mist.

Happiness is shallow and passes quickly

   Like the spring deluges that send rivers of water down the street

      Too fast to go deep, deep into the earth

         Travelling, instead to sewer drains.

But, joy is deep - even in the midst of sorrows and pain

   It lies in wait, ready to rise or bubble up every now and then

      More like the steady rain - or the mists of fog -

          That fall gently and deeply into the earth.

I pray for my conservative neighbor who thinks might makes right,

The neighbor who is hustling his children out the door so they get to school on time,

The one who is lying in a sick bed in her home, awaiting death's call,

The mother who has so many balls juggling that she barely has time to take a breath,

The person in the car who drove by just now,

Those air conditioner installers who just pulled up in front of that home,

The people I might not like, the people I could like

The people I know, the people I don't know

Suffering Syrians and those from Afghanistan

Soldiers and peace makers

Israelis and Palestinians

One percenters and ninety-nine percenters

The agnostic neighbor, the biblical literalists

Old and young, doubters and believers

This is my prayer today ~

May my neighbors in this world

Experience JOY this day ~

And may their joy
Point the way

Back to you, O God!

         

Sidewalk Mindfulness

Sidewalks can teach you things.

Each panel, different in some way
     Cracked, split open
     Cracked with fillings to prevent further cracking
Pock-marked with holes from the size of dimes to half dollars

Dark tiles
     Cream colored tiles
Smooth
     Rough
      Clean
         Dirty
Some with stones poking through
     Grass growing between the tiles - or maybe a dandelion
Power washed with some missed patches
Littered with stones,
     mowed grass,
            pieces of gum,
                  twigs,
                       bird droppings

A panel with a gutter running across it, smoothly indenting it
     Corners dipping down to make sidewalks accessible
           Sheered tops that make for uneven walking
Dual purpose panels serving as entry ways to driveways
An occasional chalk drawing
     or a pattern for hopscotch etched in cement.

And in the sidewalk, I see pieces of myself
   and metaphors for my life.

This is what sidewalk mindfulness teaches me:
Whatever the stuff is that I walk through day to day,
The path still leads me home.

Whatever the stuff is that I walk through in life,
I am still on the path
    with God
        who is leading me
Home.

Vespers Prayer

(I probably wrote about this prayer last year; but, it is a favorite of mine from Vespers).

O God, you have called your servants to ventures of which we cannot see the ending...

    Are you calling to us, God? To what are you calling us? The future is uncertain, the church as we know it is radically changing right before our very eyes. What new thing are you breathing life into? 

...by paths as yet untrodden... 

    No one has taken a road quite like this before. How will we get there if there is no path?

...through perils unknown...

    Dangers. There will be danger. Anger. Failure. Defeat. They all could be waiting for us. It is hard not to be afraid...

...Give us faith to go out with good courage....

   But, there it is. Faith. Faith is the net that supports us, the arms that surround us, the eyes that point the way.

...not knowing where we go....

    Trusting. Leaning on God's promises. Where will we go?

...but only that your hand is leading us...

    Yes! Your hand, God. Leading. Lifting us up when we fall. Pulling us along when we falter. Guiding us along the way.

...and your love supporting us...

    Most importantly - that love - YOUR love, Lord. Perfect love.

...through Jesus Christ our Lord...

    (Who has been through this before on the road to Calvary.)

Amen

    Resurrection comes at last!

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