A Poem, A Proverb, A Painting, A Prayer: A Lenten Journey-- Day 20: Monday after the 3rd Sunday in Lent

Today’s Theme: Night Prayer


Poem: I Was Never Able to Pray
Wheel me down to the shore
where the lighthouse was abandoned
and the moon tolls in the rafters.

Let me hear the wind paging through the trees
and see the stars flaring out, one by one,
like the forgotten faces of the dead.

I was never able to pray,
but let me inscribe my name
in the book of waves

and then stare into the dome
of a sky that never ends
and see my voice sail into the night.
--------------------- Edward Hirsch (1950- ), poet, author, professor, and critic 



Proverb:
“ I often think the night is more alive and more richly colored than the day.”
------------------Vincent van Gogh, Dutch Impressionist painter and pastor's son



Painting: Magic Fox At Musashi Plain (100 Aspects of the Moon), Tsukioka Yoshitoshi, 1891

      

Prayer: Night Prayer
Lord,
it is night.

The night is for stillness.
Let us be still in the presence of God.

It is night after a long day.
What has been done has been done;
what has not been done has not been done;
let it be.

The night is dark.
Let our fears of the darkness of the world and of our own lives
rest in you.

The night is quiet.
Let the quietness of your peace enfold us,
all dear to us,
and all who have no peace.

The night heralds the dawn.
Let us look expectantly to a new day,
new joys,
new possibilities.

In your name we pray.
Amen.
---------------------The Rev. John Williamson, New Zealand Anglican Priest, from the service of Night Prayer in A New Zealand Prayer Book He Karakia Mihinare o Aotearoa, 1989.