Some Prayers
October 4, 2006
Coincidentally, both Bowie and I have brothers who are deploying to Iraq for the war. We also both have brothers who are brand new parents. We’re also both starting a church together.
With these things in mind, I wrote a few prayers:
God of Isaiah and Daniel, who has promised us a day when we will beat our tools of war and destruction into tools of food and abundance, we pray for our brother who is going to war. We pray that you will keep him safe from violence and we pray that you will keep him safe from having to commit violence himself. Above all, dear God, we beg for the advent of a time when your children are no longer sent away from their families so that they may spend their energy bringing about your kingdom on earth.
God of Abraham and Sarah, Zechariah and Elizabeth, we thank you for the gift of this child. Please help us love this child with the same love with which you have loved us, so that the bonds of love and kinship may be continually cemented in your community.
And finally, I have an excerpt from the Disco Episco which you might enjoy. The Episcopal Church requires us to pray for a) the church, b) the nation, c) the world, d) the community, e) those who are suffering, and f) those who have died. Since we only have thirty minutes to play with, my collaborator John penned the shorted Prayers Of The People I’ve ever seen:
Praying for the church and nation,
Keep the earth and congregation,
Those in trials and tribulations,
Those who’ve passed their expiration.
St. Francis & Storahtelling
September 22, 2006
Originally uploaded by perhapsfairfax.
Yom Kippur 5767 (in the Jewish calendar) is coming up on Oct 2nd. Ike has been gigging with a group called Storahtelling – “a radical fusion of storytelling, Torah, contemporary performance art and traditional ritual theater” – for three years now. Since Yom Kippur is so close to St. Francis’ Day this year, they have invited us (Transmission) to do a littler interfaith component during their day long YK 5767 RituaLab.
Here’s an email I sent to a Storahtelling leader on Sept 11th -
Hi Amichai -
Again, thank you very much for welcoming me in yesterday. What an amazing and wonderful group you have. And so welcoming - this morning Ayelet stopped me in the Times Square subway to say Hi!
I wanted to send you a little more info on Francis, who is arguably the most beloved Christian saint (he is certainly a favorite for Episcopalians, who value their saints for the lives they lived and as role models, more than for miraculous powers).
Francis’ feast day is October 4th, but will be celebrated by Christians on Sunday, October 1st (which is often a ‘blessing of the animals’ service). So incorporating Francis into an Oct 2nd Yom Kippur is timely - and will hopefully be one more way for us to think together about the interplay between atonement and peace - both personal and shared.
Blessings, Bowie
Info on Francis
St. Francis Prayer
Lord, make me an instrument of Thy peace;
where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
and where there is sadness, joy.
O Divine Master,
grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console;
to be understood, as to understand;
to be loved, as to love;
for it is in giving that we receive,
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.
Amen.
* this, other prayers by Francis, and many other great prayers from World Prayers
prayer litany for greenbelt
August 17, 2006
God we thank you for the fabrics of our lives: cotton for comfort, wool for warmth, silk, corduroy, denim, and spandex. For the way cloth feels against our skin: layers of memories embracing us, protecting us, and presenting us to the world. [please add your own petitions] God, in your mercy: Hear our prayers.
For the transformative wonder of a prom dress or tuxedo, a costume, a haircut. For scarves, boots, pajamas, sneakers, and all that we wear to live - and express ourselves - in the world. [please add your own petitions] God, in your mercy: Hear our prayers.
For uniforms and those in them - the police force, firefighters, sanitation workers, doctors in scrubs, priests in collars, and all those dressed and ready for service. [please add your own petitions] God, in your mercy: Hear our prayers.
For the gift of our bodies, in more colors, sizes, and variations than the human mind can comprehend. For our nakedness, made in God’s image, and the moments in our life when there is nothing between God and us. [please add your petitions] God, in your mercy: Hear our prayers.
For the celebration of Christ’s incarnation, the word become flesh and dwelt among us. [please add your petitions] God, in your mercy: Hear our prayers.