Social Affirmation - Covenant: Pentecost Monday, 2012

Last week, during the first Pentecost Prayer Van Dyke has us praying "Revive the power of the gospel in our hearts, that it may be to us a sacred trust for the blessing of all creation." That line caught me as a powerful reminder or our activity in the world around us. For those of us on boats, how do we leave a small wake in our environment? What sort of covenant speaks to these kinds of concerns?

While wrestling with these questions this past week, I was reminded of the World Methodist Social Affirmation, found in the back of the United Methodist Hymnal (#886). I would be curious if other denominations have a similar statement of faith - please let me know.

I find this a starting point for discussion and reflection on how we can bless the world around us with God's love and through Christ's example, how with the Spirit's help we can transform the world into the Garden of Paradise again.

Below is the Social Affirmation.

Blessed Be

Joel

THE WORLD METHODIST SOCIAL AFFIRMATION

We believe in God, creator of the world and all people;
  and in Jesus Christ, incarnate among us,
     who died and rose again;
  and in the Holy Spirit,
     present with us to guide, strengthen, and comfort

We believe:
God, help our unbelief.

We rejoice in every sign of God's kingdom:
     in the upholding of human dignity and community;
     in every expression of love, justice, and reconciliation;
     in each act of self-giving on behalf of others;
     in the abundance of God's gifts
          entrusted to us that all may have enough;
     in all responsible use of the earth's resources.

Glory be to God on high;
and on earth, peace.

We confess our sin, individual and collective,
  by silence or action:
    through the violation of human dignity
      based on race, class, age, sex, nation, or faith;
    through the exploitation of people
      because of greed and indifference;
    through the misuse of power
      in personal, communal, national, and international life;
    through the search for security
      by those military and economic forces
      that threaten human existence;
    through the abuse of technology
      which endangers the earth and all life upon it.

Lord, have mercy;
Christ, have mercy;
Lord, have mercy.

We commit ourselves individually and as a community
  to the way of Christ:
    to take up the cross;
    to seek abundant life for all humanity;
    to struggle for peace with justice and freedom;
    to risk ourselves in faith, hope and love,
        praying that God's kingdom may come.

Thy kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven. Amen.

Two Pentecost Prayers: Monday Prior to Pentecost

With Pentecost this coming Sunday, here are two prayers out of the United Methodist Book of Worship. With this first prayer, notice how we humans are involved with creation.

Blessed Be.

Joel

O God, you sent the Holy Spirit to enkindle the zeal of Christ's followers
   waiting in Jerusalem for his promised gift.
Pour the same inspiration on your people here assembled,
   and on the Church of Christ throughout the world.
Revive the power of the gospel in our hearts,
   that it may be to us a sacred trust for the blessing of all creation.
Enable your Church to spread the good news of salvation,
   so that all nations may hear it in their own tongues,
   and welcome it into their own lives.
Protect, encourage, and bless all ministers of the cross,
   and prosper their words and works,
so that Jesus, being lifted up, may draw all people unto him,
and the kingdoms of the world
   may become the kingdom of our Lord and of Jesus Christ. Amen.

(Henry Van Dyke, USA, 20th Cent)

God of wind, word, and fire, we bless your name this day
   for sending the light and strength of your Holy Spirit.
We give you thanks for all the gifts, great and small,
   that you have poured our upon your children.
Accept us with our gifts
   to be living praise and witness to your love throughout all the earth;
through Jesus Christ, who lives with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
   one God, for ever. Amen.

(Don E. Saliers, USA, 20th Cent)

Praise for Creation Filled with Light and Splendor: Easter Monday 6, 2012

Although this is the time of year when boaters are trying to get things ready for summer fun, the beautiful weather we have been having has also called some of out to just put the lists aside and enjoy a day upon the water. If you have been one of those who just put things aside to enjoy the light, then this prayer is for you.
Blessing,

Joel

BLESSED ARE YOU, LORD OUR GOD, WHO HAS FILLED CREATION WITH LIGHT AND SPLENDOR

Radiant Lord,
     we rejoice with hearts filled with gratitude
     that You are not a hidden God
     for You reveal Yourself daily
     through the mystery of light.
Your majesty and glory
     shine out from within all creation,
     as well as from sun, moon and stars.
We walk by their light,
     and we also feed upon that light
     as it is transformed daily into our food.

Blessed are You, Illuminator of All Creation,
     for the gifts of sunrise, high noon and sunset.
In the splendor of the sun,
     the sky-wheel of energy and light,
     we see Your splendor, O Light of Lights.

Your Son, Jesus, called Himself
     the light of the world
     and invited us to be His luminous brothers and sisters
     and Your children of light.

We are grateful for the daily light of insight,
     that gift by which we see our way to You.
We are also grateful for shadows and nightfall
     which serve as a background for this light.
In our lives, we often stand
     in the darkness of failings and suffering.
May Your Divine Light
     penetrate that murky overcast of these times,
     and radiate outward from the horizon of our hearts.
May Your Divine Presence
     be a shining star in the midst of gloom.

Like the plants of the earth,
     may we lean toward You,
     Eternal Source of All Light and Energy.
Help us this day,
     to be light to all we meet.

Blessed are You, Lord our God,
     who has filled creation with light and splendor.

Amen.

_____
Edward Hays. Prayers for the Domestic Church. Forest of Peace Books, Inc. (1979), p. 52.

Happy Mother's Day, 2012

BLESSING PRAYER FOR MOTHER'S DAY

God of Love,
     listen to this prayer.
God of Holy People,
    of Sarah, Ruth and Rebekah;
    God of holy Elizabeth, mother of John,
    of Holy Mary, Mother of Jesus,
    bend down Your ear to this request
    and bless the mother of our family.

Bless her with the strength of Your spirit,
     she who has taught her child/children
     how to stand and how to walk.

Bless her with the melody of Your love,
     she who has shared how to speak, how to sing
     and how to pray to You.

Bless her with a place at Your eternal dinner table,
     she who has fed and nurtured
     the life that was formed within her
     while still helpless but embraced in her love.

Bless her today,
     now, in this lifetime,
     with good things, with health.
Bless her with joy, love, laughter
     and pride in her child/children
     and surround her with many good friends.

May she who carried life in her womb
     be carried one day to Your divine embrace:
     there, for all eternity,
     to rejoice with her family and friends.

The blessing and all graces, we pray,
     descend upon the mother of our family:
     in the name of the Father,
     and of the Son
     and of the Holy Spirit.

Amen+


__________
The above quote comes from Edward Hayes. Prayers for the Domestic Church: a handbook for worship in the home. (1979) p. 80.

Manual Labor: 5th Monday in Easter, 2012

As we open ourselves up for transformation during this Easter season - opening ourselves up to become even more a Resurrection People, do we contemplate how what we are doing can become a form of prayer, and as such an invitation to pray without ceasing?

Many places around the Northern Hemisphere celebrated Opening Day yesterday (and/or had prayers/blessings of the fishing fleets and remembrances of those lost during the past year). Here was fabulously sunny weekend, too. Which means that people were out and about getting their boats ready for the season: sanding, scrubbing, polishing, waxing, painting, varnishing, changing oil, running engines, overhauling halyards, checking out sails and batteries .... The lists seem endless. But these activities can also be opportunities for prayer. And while one might be tempted to move into the cursing type, that's not exactly what I had in mind.

Turning manual labor into prayer is especially true with the repetitiveness of some of the above work. While we have to concentrate on what we are doing with our bodies, the repetitiveness means we can also pay attention to what our mind is doing. Rather than letting it run feral, we can focus the mind upon doing one thing at a time, and invite God into our work. Then the brush, sandpaper, polish wheel become instruments of prayer.

Listen to Mary Margaret Funk:

To have a pure heart is to have a single desire (no mixture) in our heart, with no defilement or contaminants. Purity of heart is about a quality of clear light and translucent effulgence. Our heart is chaste. But it also means to be one, single, not divided or double in our intention as in duplicity. The practice of doing one thing at a time is a first step. It is not easy to be mindful of what you are doing when you do it. To have a single intention while doing something is a practice toward single-mindedness. So, the first step is to do one thing, the second step is to be mindful of the doing of it, and the third step is to shift your intention to do it for/with/in Christ Jesus. Manuel labor becomes an outward sign of inner spiritual work.
     The desert tradition recommends doing ceaseless prayer as we work so that when we work this very work becomes our prayer and our prayer becomes our work. This is a reversal of the movement of thoughts that cycle and recycle back upon us over and over again so that work becomes really about "self."
     When we want our work to be our prayer, doing repetitive work is easier because disciplining our mind is very difficult. When we don't have to think about how we are doing our work, we can be stable and centered.
     Once we bring our mind to our work and to the doing of one thing at a time, the next step is to attend to our intentions. This is a natural flow. Since we have offered to do all for the glory and honor of God, our motivation and reason for work is all God. The guest is God, the food is Eucharist, the broom is sacred, and the computer is gift. The radical tool here, though, is not just to have "an attitude" of praising God, but an actual thought about God just as we have a thought about our work. I've had some argue that to think about God again is another thought and usually ego and not God. that's a different path, bringing god to the work. The practice of manual labor is when each touch of the hand to the device of labor is single-minded and God springs up and there's Presence. Then all is God. There is not mental overlay. Holiness emerges from underneath and we see it as it is. God is in us.
     This is why we need the practice of ceaseless prayer in order to do manual labor well because, when thoughts arise and take us away from doing one thing at a time and from our attention to our work, we can return to ceaseless prayer or redirect our thoughts to the mindfulness of the work at hand.*

As you work, may you be invited into silence, your work turned into ritual, and find yourself surrounded by Presence.

Blessed Be,

Joel

________
* Funk, Mary Margaret. Tools Matter for Practicing the Spiritual Life. Continuum, 2002. 67-68.