23 Friday Nov 2018
Posted in Current Events, Life, Pop
Tags
Black Friday, Christmas, mall, Prayer, Prayers, retail, retail workers, shopping
Ever-Present One, as the day seems long, and our energy is dwindling, give us the strength to see the hope and joy in this very moment.
Give us patience during these many hours. Help us to reach out in love. Open our eyes to new possibilities in our jobs. Present to us opportunities to spend time with friends and family, And provide us with restful sleep tonight.
Amen.
29 Monday Oct 2018
Posted in Current Events, grief, Pop, Prayers, Social Justice
Tags
Bigotry, gun violence, hate, interfaith, Isaiah 51, Prayer, Prayers, Synagogue, Tree of Life
“For the Lord will comfort Zion;
he will comfort all her waste places,
and will make her wilderness like Eden,
her desert like the garden of the Lord;
joy and gladness will be found in her,
thanksgiving and the voice of song.” – Isaiah 51:3
Your prophets told the people that Eden would be here. Your prophets foretold comfort and joy, gardens and gladness.
And upon arrival, only wastelands stand.
So where is this flowering land? Where is the spiritual destination foretold? Where is the sanctuary where soul and body are safe and nourished? They thought they had arrived…
And yet – only the raw wilderness remains.
Rather than a wilderness flourishing like Eden, this garden remains rocky. Its sandy soil erodes with each bigoted downpour.
The diaspora people in their new orchards struggle for the fruits to blossom while deep, infiltrating weeds of privilege sprout and strangle. The flowerbeds cannot abide in beauty while wayward shrubs obstruct the sun’s streams of healing and nurture.
We keep praying for comfort. Comfort the people. Comfort our neighbors. But the warm winds are blocked by the biting breeze of bigotry.
We ask again for their comfort. And, this time, we must ask for our complacency to end. We must work for our inertia to end.
Divine Cultivator, even when the winds are harsh and the weeds unruly, let us be willing to abide together in orchards. Let us be willing to sow together in new gardens, and may we be willing to uproot the crabgrass which overtakes healthy soil.
May Eden abide in the diaspora, and may we be willing to cultivate Eden with all your gardeners.
Amen.
© 2018 Rev. Michelle L. Torigian. Permission is given to reproduce for worship or educational purposes.
27 Thursday Sep 2018
Posted in Current Events, Pop, Prayers, Social Justice
Tags
Christine Blasey Ford, Justice, Kavanaugh, Prayer, Prayers, progressive Christianity, sexual assault, Social Justice
God, you waited with us in our shadows,
You currently abides with us on thresholds
And you will walk with us in the sun-
Today, a voice will exclaim her truth.
And you will be with her.
There have been many women and men throughout the ages who have sat in chairs-
Watching as they’ve expressed themselves
And detailed a piece of their past.
Yet trauma awaits them in the chambers,
Lurking behind tables,
Entering the room through vicious questions and piercing stares.
May peace rest upon the heart of Christine
And may her soul be soothed.
May others who need to tell their stories – whether related to this particular case
Or other cases-
Find your strength that already abides in their hearts.
And for the questioners…
May wisdom fill their dreams as they sleep.
And as they wake,
May your clarity guide them when speaking
And may openness stir them into listening.
For the ones who commit such abuses,
Who have left scars upon the spirits of many,
May your voice enter their minds.
May the winds of change nudge them to repent
Not only for the survivors, but for the spiritual survival of our world.
We are slowing moving towards justice.
May Christine find healing
May we say her name, Anita’s Name,
The names of women throughout times and spaces –
From Tamar to Vashti and many more.
In lifting their resilience and courage
We will find ours too.
Amen.
29 Wednesday Aug 2018
Posted in Church Life, Pop, Prayers
Tags
autumn, Back to Church, Choir, Choir Prayer, Choral Music, Church, Church Music, Church Musicians, Church Year, fall, Music, Prayer
God of harmonies and melodies,
Of clanging and clashing cymbals,
Of sopranos and basses, of tenors and altos-
As voices unite together in this new season,
Bless the vibration of vocal cords
And the lungs which birth the songs.
May the words streaming from their spirits
Be ones in which unite us with You and neighbor.
May each stanza strengthen the souls of Your children
And may the chorus invigorate static hearts.
May those absorbing the sounds and beats of these tunes
Experience your presence through song.
Divine Symphony of Love,
Our hearts of gratitude celebrate this ensemble
And all who gift us with music.
Amen.
08 Wednesday Aug 2018
Posted in Church Life, Pop, Pop Culture, Prayers
Tags
Actor, Actors, Actress, Actresses, Backstage, Cast, Cast and Crew, Crew, Director, Musical, Musicians, Performers, Play, Prayer, Prayers, Stage, Theater, Theatre
Creating God, Divine Inspiration-
For human imagination we give gratitude.
We ask for blessings upon performers inhabiting stages
And opening themselves up to the present moment.
May their joy for the craft be contagious to all.
For the costumers and sound production technicians,
For the makeup artists and light operators,
For the ones preparing props and raising curtains-
May Your wisdom fill their minds and Your precision fill their hands.
For directors, choreographers, stage managers, and orchestral directors-
May their positive leadership infuse all people active in the production.
May Your vision dance within their heads
And Your dreams fill their souls.
We give thanks for the hospitality of ushers
And the presence of the audience.
May the shared experience of the show be one in which we grow to love humanity.
Bless all cast and crew – no matter who they are or what part they play.
Like Your world, it takes all of us acting together-
Using our sacred time and our unique talents-
To make Your Divine-infused creation to revolve.
Amen.
09 Saturday Jun 2018
Posted in Church Life, Current Events, Pop, Prayers
Tags
ordination, Prayer, Prayers, prayers for ordination, progressive Christianity, Women's Ordination
Spirit whose power hovered over the early swirling seas and whose power called the cliffs to creation:
You will encircle my sister in her ordination today. You will give her the words you gave Mary Magdelene to share the good news on the crisp resurrection morning. You will give her the strength and courage you gave Vashti and Esther and Rahab. You will give her the pastoral nature to sit with the dying and sick and grieving as you did with Ruth.
For such a time as this you call her, Holy Fire.
We thank you for her call, her passion, her openness to you. We thank you that her season of waiting for this plant to bloom has arrived. We thank you for this threshold she walks across today. We thank you for your grace which continuously covers her heart.
May this prayer be my hand resting on her shoulder as your winds encircle her on this very special day. She walks with the sisters of all times and places who preached and cared for your children.
For all of this we celebrate.
Amen.
17 Thursday May 2018
Tags
call to worship, Communion, Communion Liturgy, invocation, opening prayer, Pentecost, Prayer, Prayers
Hello Friends!
I adore Pentecost. I suppose it’s the non-commercial tendencies of the holiday, the illustrations of nature that accompany the celebration, and the renewing nature of L the Holy Spirit.
Below is a link for a call to worship and opening prayer that I wrote in 2015. Also below is a link to a communion liturgy that I wrote last year.
CALL TO WORSHIP
One:Listen for the Winds.
Many:We hear the howling uncertainty.
One:Feel the Breeze.
Many:Air of comfort encircles us.
One:See the world swaying.
Many:The Spirit stirs us from complacency.
One:Inhale the Breath.
Many:The Spirit saturates our souls.
OPENING PRAYER
Restless Spirit, Fiery God,
You ignite our soul with the flames of inspiration-
Light our dimly-lit minds,
Burn in our chilled hearts.
Clear our eyes to see visions from afar.
Kindle our sleep with your dreams.
May we walk in the glowing path of Christ. Amen.
Communion liturgy for Pentecost
Prayer on RevGalBlogPals that can be used as a pastoral prayer
14 Saturday Apr 2018
Posted in Current Events, Pop, Social Justice
Tags
April 2018, bombing, bombs, Chemical attack, chemical weapons, gas, Isaiah 2, lament, plowshares, Prayer, Prayers, progressive Christianity, refugee, refugees, swords, Syria, Syrophoenician woman
Samer Daboul, photographer, Syria
Syria- my heart breaks for your health. Your own leaders feel your value is minimal. Powers-that-be across the planet forget that you are children of God.
Like the Syrophoenician woman and her child, they deserve crumbs too. They deserve more than crumbs.
Jesus came to see this. May the Powers-that-be see the people as fully human- as needing more than crumbs. May they see that these children of God crave more than just remnants of goodness found scattered between the shells of bombs and under clouds of poison. May their own leaders see that their lungs need to feel the clean air of the Spirit and not the toxic gasses of hate.
God will call us over and over again to turn our swords into plowshares, our bombs into cornerstones, our guns into farms. God is calling us now to forget the muscle memories of violence and myths of war as a natural means of achieving peace.
May we cease the creation of warheads and build houses of tranquility and prosperity for refugees seeking God’s love and peace.
May we as people of earth, as persons all created in the image of God and as companions on the journeys around the sun gather together to pray, to send energy, to share love with our siblings in Syria.
28 Wednesday Feb 2018
Tags
anxiety, fear, Fear of flying, flying, flying phobia, Life, phobia, Prayer, prayer for fear of flying, Prayers, progressive Christianity
God of the seas and lands and skies
Today I am soaring in the air to my destination
Excited for my adventures at the end of this flight…
But…
As you well know, I have a fear of flying.
Bumps along the way concern me.
Are we ok? I ponder this in my mind-
And sometimes I ask the flight attendant.
What is that noise? Is that normal?
We are so high up!
I wish I had more control…
Oh, the turbulence will come if I fly often
And just like life, none of us can avoid it.
Roll with it, I say to myself,
But the nerves in my gut are screaming with fear.
God who soars with me,
Give me the courage to keep flying.
May my anxiety rest as the sky’s potholes keep the aircraft hopping.
May I learn to release control to you and he universe,
And may my adventures upon landing be ones where I see your presence.
Amen.
16 Friday Feb 2018
Posted in Current Events, grief, Lent Prayers, Life, Pop, Social Justice
Tags
action, Congress, florida, gun, gun violence, Lent, parkland, Prayer, Prayers, praying with feet, praying with hands, school shootings, Social Justice, thoughts and prayers
“What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but do not have works? Can faith save you?”
James 2:14 (NRSV)
Holy One who created us to pray when life makes no sense, or when we are grateful, or when we are in need…
Let’s face it- we use our prayers as a way to stay in safe spaces. It’s easy to pray and send our thoughts to people who hurt. It’s simple to pray that an issue will go away.
And yet day after day, these thoughts and prayers are not enough. Issues continue to stack up. People are dying.
So today we pray that we have enough courage not only to pray with our mouths and minds and hearts, but also with our hands and voices and feet. It’s time for us to stop half-praying and time for us to fully pray with our whole selves. We know you are calling us to action.
Give us the clarity needed to complete your work effectively. And give us peace as we work to bring forth your Kin-dom to earth.
Amen.
