October 22, 2020
Poem: "Narrative Theology #2" by Padraig O'Tuama
I used to need to know the end of every story but these days I only need the start to get me going.
God is the crack where the story begins. We are the crack where the story gets interesting.
We are the choice of where to begin – the person going out? the stranger coming in?
God is the fracture, and the ache in your voice, God is the story flavoured with choice.
God is the pillar of salt full of pity accusing God for the sulfurous city.
God is the woman who bleeds and who touches. We are the story of courage and blushes.
God is the story of whatever works. God is the twist at the end and the quirks.
We are the start, And we are the center, we’re the characters, narrators, inventors.
God is the bit that we can’t explain – maybe the healing maybe the pain.
We are the bit that God can’t explain maybe the harmony maybe the strain.
God is the plot, and we are the writers, the story of winners and the story of fighters.
the story of love, and the story of rupture, the story of stories, the story without structure.
Music: "Pavane pour une infante défunte" composed by Maurice Ravel, performed by Thérése Dussaut.
Prayer by Hilary Hirtle.
October 14, 2020
Poem: Pilgrimage II, 1 From Rilke's Book of Hours, translated by Anita Barrows and Joanna Macy Read by Grace Barnes
You are not surprised at the force of the storm-- you have seen it growing. The trees flee. Their flight sets the boulevards streaming. And you know: he whom they flee is the one you move toward. All your senses sing him, as you stand at the window.
The weeks stood still in summer. The trees' blood rose. Now you feel it wants to sink back into the source of everything. You thought you could trust that power when you plucked the fruit; now it becomes a riddle again, and you again a stranger.
Summer was like your house: you knew where each thing stood. Now you must go out into your heart as onto a vast plain. Now the immense loneliness begins.
The days go numb, the wind sucks the world from your senses like withered leaves. Through the empty branches, the sky remains. It is what you have. Be earth now, and evensong. Be the ground, lying under that sky. Be modest now, like a thing ripened until it is real, so that he who began it all can feel you when he reaches for you.
Music: Nocturne in E minor, Op. 72 No. 1 by Frederick Chopin Performed by Luke Faulkner
Prayer
October 7, 2020
Poem: "Fully Alive" by Dawna Markova
I will not die an unlived life. I will not live in fear of falling or catching fire. I choose to inhabit my days, to allow my living to open me, to make me less afraid, more accessible, to loosen my heart until it becomes a wing, a torch, a promise. I choose to risk my significance; to live so that which came to me as seed goes to the next as blossom and that which came to me as blossom, goes on as fruit.
Music: "Dido's Lament" Henry Purcell, composer Arranger and performer, Evgeniy E. Moshkin
Prayer
September 30, 2020
Poem: "Vigil" by Maya Angelou
Music: "We Shall Overcome" arranged and performed by Scott, Pamela and Olivia Brownlee
Prayer from Sarah Signorino, Canisius College
September 23, 2020
Poem: by Albert Camus
In the midst of hate, I found there was, within me, an invincible love. In the midst of tears, I found there was, within me, an invincible smile. In the midst of chaos, I found there was, within me, an invincible calm. I realized, through it all, that in the midst of winter, I found there was, within me, an invincible summer. And that makes me happy. For is says that no matter how hard the world pushes against me, within me, there's something stronger -- something better, pushing right back.
Music: "Rescindment" by Margaret Francik Performed by Alexandra Rannow on voice and Margaret Francik on piano
Prayer by St. Francis
September 16, 2020
Poem: "Silence" by Ana Ramana
Music: "Silence" by Margaret Francik (a choir piece that uses the same text as the poem)
Prayer by Dietrich Bonhoeffer
September 9, 2020
Poem by Rainier Maria Rilke from the Book of Hours
They see not the faintest glimmer of morning and listen in vain for the cock's crow. The night is a huge house where doors torn open by terrified hands lead into endless corridors, and there's no way out.
God, every night is like that. Always there are some awake, who turn, turn, and do not find you. Don't you hear them crying out as they go farther and farther down? Surely you hear them weep; for they are weeping.
I seek you, because you are passing right by my door. Whom should I turn to, if not the one whose darkness is darker than night, the only one who keeps vigil with no candle, and is not afraid-- the deep one, whose being I trust, for it breaks through the earth into trees, and rises, when I bow my head, faint as a fragrance from the soil.
Prayer Excerpted from a longer prayer by Lois Siemens posted on the website of the Superb Mennonite Church
by Paul Francik
September 1, 2020
"Everything is Going to be Alright" by Derek Mahon
How should I not be glad to contemplate the clouds clearing beyond the dormer window and a high tide reflected on the ceiling? There will be dying, there will be dying, but there is no need to go into that. The poems flow from the hand unbidden and the hidden source is the watchful heart. The sun rises in spite of everything and the far cities are beautiful and bright. I lie here in a riot of sunlight watching the day break and the clouds flying. Everything is going to be all right.
Prayer
written and performed by Olivia Brownlee (used with permission) If you'd like to support Olivia Brownlee in her music making, click this link to visit her patreon.
August 26, 2020
Poem: "A Litany For Survival" by Audre Lord
Music:"Why Has God Forsaken Me?" Text by Bill Wallace Music by Taihei Sato Recorded and arranged by Riley Gray and Margaret Francik
Prayer:"A Psalm of Lament and Praise in a Time of Coronavirus" by the Revd Kenneth Howcroft
August 19, 2020
In Blackwater Woods by Mary Oliver
Look, the trees are turning their own bodies into pillars
of light, are giving off the rich fragrance of cinnamon and fulfillment,
the long tapers of cattails are bursting and floating away over the blue shoulders
of the ponds, and every pond, no matter what its name is, is
nameless now. Every year everything I have ever learned
in my lifetime leads back to this: the fires and the black river of loss whose other side
is salvation, whose meaning none of us will ever know. To live in this world
you must be able to do three things: to love what is mortal; to hold it
against your bones knowing your own life depends on it; and, when the time comes to let it go, to let it go.
A Voice Is Heard in Ramah Responsive Prayers from Sojourners
Spiritual, arranged by H.T. Burleigh
August 12, 2020
Poem: "Moments of Life" by Anthony Mirarcki
Music: "We Are an Offering" music and words by Dwight Liles, performed & arranged by Riley Gray
Prayer: "A Prayer for These Days and Times" by Rev. Cynthia Belt
August 5, 2020
"Once Upon A Children's Game," by Barbara Reynolds
"The Prayer Perfect" by James Whitcomb Riley
Tim and Shelly Barber
July 29, 2020
Poem:"Crossing The Delaware" by Rob Hardy
Music: "We Come To You For Healing, Lord" Text by Herman G Stuempfle Jr. Music is an American Folk Melody arr. by Annabel Morris Buchanan Riley Gray and Margaret Francik as performers
Prayer
July 22, 2020
"From Blossoms" by Li-Young Lee
Prayer
by Tim Barber
July 10, 2020
Prayer: Canticle of Creation II
Poem: Tomatillos by Shelly Barber
Tomatillos are otherworldly. Astonishing wonders. Noticing inside my heart and outside my window. The issue often is not the issue of why I feel pain. But tomatillos. It's okay even when it doesn't feel okay. Tomatillos. The same Creator who made me, Made tomatillos. Unexpected truths, to lighten the work. Keep going, Beloved.
Music: Lord, Let My Heart Be Good Soil Music and Text by Handt Hanson, arranged by Margaret Francik
July 3, 2020
"Corona Pantoum" by Monica Raymond
Prayer by James Parker
by Margaret Francik and Riley Gray
CHORUS Wear your mask! It's important for society, who has a better pedigree, Facebook or the CDC? Wear your mask! Or else we'll have to do this forever, so come on now, just be clever, and wear your mask.
When you go to the grocery store, When you go to the bank, When you go to get a new car, oh The rona doesn't care, so wear your mask!
If you don't know anyone who's sick, It doesn't mean they're not there, But if you ignore this fact, oh You're part of the problem, so wear your mask!
When you go out with your friends, Or hang out in the park, You think that you'll be just fine, but news flash: It's not about you, so wear your mask!
June 26, 2020
Poem: A Prayer for the Sequestered by Carol Flake Chapman
Music: Edvard Grieg — In the Homeland, Op. 43, No. 3 played by Helen Byrne
Prayer by Rev. Larry Doornbos
June 19, 2020
The Confession of 1967
"God has created the peoples of the earth to be one universal family. In his reconciling love, God overcomes the barriers between sisters and brothers and breaks down every form of discrimination based on racial or ethnic difference, real or imaginary. The church is called to bring all people to receive and uphold one another as persons in all relationships of life: in employment, housing, education, leisure, marriage, family, church, and the exercise of political rights. Therefore, the church labors for the abolition of all racial discrimination and ministers to those injured by it. Congregations, individuals, or groups of Christians who exclude, dominate, or patronize others, however subtly, resist the Spirit of God and bring contempt on the faith which they profess."
MY FRIEND JESUS Y FRIEND JESUS by Damon Syphers
Master, Rabbi, and Friend, as I look upon your crucified face, I am reminded of your total Love for humanity. You took on all the ills, social injustices, and social inequities of your time. I daresay these same problems have become so much of our life in the 21st century. To you there are no color differences, everybody is made the same according to God’s plan. There are no rich or poor in the sight of God nor are there the social injustices that man has made in the name of religion. As I ponder and meditate your crucified face, I am reminded of the ills of imperialism, colonialism, and domination. So I pray for strength in my lifetime to loosen some burdens of society. Because I know that if I do your work it will help heal your scarred, tormented, crucified face. Please give me the strength, intelligence, and LOVE to be able to take over where you left o# many years ago. For I know if I carry this yoke, I am doing the work of the Father and above all things living the golden rule of “love your neighbors as you love yourself. For you are the Way, the Truth, and the Light.” Give me strength to help others to do Your work to make the world a better place. Amen
Text: Francis of Assisi, adapt. Marty Haugen Music: Marty Haugen Recording and vocals by Riley Gray
June 12, 2020
Poem: Listening by Amy Lowell
’T is you that are the music, not your song. The song is but a door which, opening wide, Lets forth the pent-up melody inside, Your spirit’s harmony, which clear and strong Sing but of you. Throughout your whole life long Your songs, your thoughts, your doings, each divide This perfect beauty; waves within a tide, Or single notes amid a glorious throng. The song of earth has many different chords; Ocean has many moods and many tones Yet always ocean. In the damp Spring woods The painted trillium smiles, while crisp pine cones Autumn alone can ripen. So is this One music with a thousand cadences.
Music: Breathe on Me, Breath of God/Trusting Jesus Pamela Brownlee & Margaret Francik
Breathe on me, breath of God, fill me with life anew, that I may love what thou dost love, and do what thou wouldst do. Simply trusting every day, trusting through a stormy way, even when my faith is small, trusting Jesus that is all. Breathe on me, breath of God, until my heart is pure, until my will is one with thine, to do and to endure. Brightly doth his Spirit shine into this poor heart of mine; while he leads I cannot fall, trusting Jesus that is all. Breathe on me, Breath of God, till I am wholly thine, until this earthly part of me glows with thy fire divine. Singing if my way is clear, praying if the path be drear, if in danger, for him call, trusting Jesus that is all. Trusting as the moments fly, trusting as the days go by, trusting him what-e'er be-fall, trusting Jesus that is all.
Prayer
June 5, 2020
Batter my heart, three person'd God (Holy Sonnet 14) by John Donne
Batter my heart, three-personed God, for you As yet but knock, breathe, shine, and seek to mend; That I may rise, and stand, o'erthrow me, and bend Your force to break, blow, burn, and make me new. I, like an usurped town, to another due, Labour to admit you, but Oh, to no end. Reason, your viceroy in me, me should defend, But is captived, and proves weak or untrue. Yet dearly I love you, and would be loved fain, But am betrothed unto your enemy: Divorce me, untie or break that knot again, Take me to you, imprison me, for I, Except you enthrall me, never shall be free, Nor ever chaste, except you ravish me.
Bach Menuet from Cello Suite No. 2 in D Minor Played by Helen Byrne
The Confession of Belhar
May 29, 2020
Music: "In, Out" written and sung by Margaret Francik
Poem "Intubation" by Sara Cupp Smith
I wake in purgatory, where I hear The rhythmic ventilator’s pulse and see My hands and feet restrained. There seems to be No way to flee paralysis and fear. Intensive care, a cell with pale green walls, Imprisons me, a soul without a voice, Immobile, intubated, lacking choice. The ventilator’s soft which lifts and falls. Outside this hospital the city fears Contagion, deprivation, even death, And many conversations end in tears. But I am now reduced to breath, then breath. No other act is possible. I weep In silent isolation. Then I sleep.
Prayer
For all who have contracted coronavirus, We pray for care and healing.
For those who are particularly vulnerable, We pray for safety and protection.
For all who experience fear or anxiety, We pray for peace of mind and spirit.
For affected families who are facing difficult decisions between food on the table or public safety, We pray for policies that recognize their plight.
For those who do not have adequate health insurance, We pray that no family will face financial burdens alone.
For those who are afraid to access care due to immigration status, We pray for recognition of the God-given dignity of all.
For our brothers and sisters around the world, We pray for shared solidarity.
For public officials and decisionmakers, We pray for wisdom and guidance.
Father, during this time may your Church be a sign of hope, comfort and love to all. Grant peace. Grant comfort. Grant healing. Be with us, Lord.
Amen.
May 22, 2020 Click on the linked titles to listen.
May 15, 2020
by Brother Richard
Handel played by Helen and Leonard Byrne
from Walnut Creek Presbyterian Church
May 8, 2020
by Allison Woodard (written for the Liturgists Podcast episode "God our Mother," October 2017) read by Rebecca Francik
To be a Mother is to suffer; To travail in the dark, stretched and torn, exposed in half-naked humiliation, subjected to indignities for the sake of new life.
To be a Mother is to say, “This is my body, broken for you,” And, in the next instant, in response to the created’s primal hunger, “This is my body, take and eat.”
To be a Mother is to self-empty, To neither slumber nor sleep, so attuned You are to cries in the night— Offering the comfort of Yourself, and assurances of “I’m here.”
To be a Mother is to weep over the fighting and exclusions and wounds your children inflict on one another; To long for reconciliation and brotherly love and—when all is said and done— To gather all parties, the offender and the offended, into the folds of your embrace and to whisper in their ears that they are Beloved.
To be a mother is to be vulnerable— To be misunderstood, Railed against, Blamed For the heartaches of the bewildered children who don’t know where else to cast the angst they feel over their own existence in this perplexing universe
To be a mother is to hoist onto your hips those on whom your image is imprinted, bearing the burden of their weight, rejoicing in their returned affection, delighting in their wonder, bleeding in the presence of their pain.
To be a mother is to be accused of sentimentality one moment, And injustice the next. To be the Receiver of endless demands, Absorber of perpetual complaints, Reckoner of bottomless needs.
To be a mother is to be an artist; A keeper of memories past, Weaver of stories untold, Visionary of lives looming ahead.
To be a mother is to be the first voice listened to, And the first disregarded; To be a Mender of broken creations, And Comforter of the distraught children whose hands wrought them.
To be a mother is to be a Touchstone and the Source, Bestower of names, Influencer of identities; Life giver, Life shaper, Empath, Healer, and Original Love.
Text: Jean Janzen Music: Carolyn Jennings
adapted from First Presbyterian Church of Argentina
May 1, 2020
"A Prayer for reconciliation" by Padraig O'Tuama Prayer by Rev. Michael Scott of the Dublin Community Church
"Cup of Water" written by Tim Barber and sung by Tim and Shelly Barber and friends
April 24, 2020
by Pablo Neruda Now we will count to twelve and we will all keep still for once on the face of the earth, let’s not speak in any language; let’s stop for a second, and not move our arms so much. It would be an exotic moment without rush, without engines; we would all be together in a sudden strangeness. Fishermen in the cold sea would not harm whales and the man gathering salt would not look at his hurt hands. Those who prepare green wars, wars with gas, wars with fire, victories with no survivors, would put on clean clothes and walk about with their brothers in the shade, doing nothing. What I want should not be confused with total inactivity. Life is what it is about; I want no truck with death. If we were not so single-minded about keeping our lives moving, and for once could do nothing, perhaps a huge silence might interrupt this sadness of never understanding ourselves and of threatening ourselves with death. Perhaps the earth can teach us as when everything seems dead and later proves to be alive. Now I’ll count up to twelve and you keep quiet and I will go.
Music by Margaret Francik
by Roy E. Dickerson in Daily Prayer Companion I pause, Father, to commune with you. Help me to be still and know that you are God. Ease awhile any tense muscles or strained nerves or wrought-up emotions. Let me be relaxed in body and calm in spirit so that I may be more responsive to your presence. I pause, Father, to commune with you. Amen.
April 17, 2020
by Pierre Teilhard de Chardin Above all, trust in the slow work of God. We are quite naturally impatient in everything to reach the end without delay. We should like to skip the intermediate stages. We are impatient of being on the way to something unknown, something new.
And yet it is the law of all progress that it is made by passing through some stages of instability— and that it may take a very long time.
And so I think it is with you; your ideas mature gradually—let them grow, let them shape themselves, without undue haste. Don’t try to force them on, as though you could be today what time (that is to say, grace and circumstances acting on your own good will) will make of you tomorrow.
Only God could say what this new spirit gradually forming within you will be. Give Our Lord the benefit of believing that his hand is leading you, and accept the anxiety of feeling yourself in suspense and incomplete.
Composed and played by Margaret Francik (The recording is a little soft. Please turn up your speakers.)
"Jesus, during Your ministry on Earth You showed Your power and caring by healing people of all ages and stations of life from physical, mental, and spiritual ailments. Be present now to people who need Your loving touch because of COVID-19. May they feel Your power of healing through the care of doctors and nurses.
Take away the fear, anxiety, and feelings of isolation from people receiving treatment or under quarantine. Give them a sense of purpose in pursuing health and protecting others from exposure to the disease. Protect their families and friends and bring peace to all who love them."
Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.
—Philippians 4:6 (NIV) |