Prayer, day 2841: Inspired by Caedmon's Hymn

O God the Maker, whose creation
brings forth stuttering praises of awe and wonder
from the untutored tongues of your children,
our hearts overflow with your marvelous love.

Holy One, you weave the silken tapestry of heaven,
glorious to drink in and refresh our faith,
spread overhead like the canopy of a mighty oak
drawn anew to contemplate the depth of your wisdom.

Our feet firmly planted among the grasses,
our eyes lifted to the spangled expanse
of the roof of the world You have made, World-Warden;
we stretch heavenward like tender saplings.

You have fashioned this Earth as our home,
and made it holy by the work of your fingers
for all to rejoice in your bounty.

Gratitude and wonder are the foundation of our prayer,
surging up like a spring of water from our souls.

And now, O Creator,
gather our swirling thoughts
within the bounds of your mercy,
and grant your blessing upon us,
and all who turn their hearts to your light.

Amen.

Prayer 2692: A Prayer of Hope and Renewal

God of the Rising Wave,
Ground of Our Being,
Source of All Blessing,
who dances,
and creation springs up beneath your feet
as you pass by,
we rise to meet your gift of this day.
We praise You and sing to You,
O Blessed Trinity:
Creator, Redeemer, Sustainer;
Maker, Savior, and Wisdom-Giver.

Plant your Spirit within us
that we may grow in wisdom and grace,
making each others' burdens our own
until all may share in the peace of God
and the security of the kingdom of heaven.

May we be bound in love and empathy
until the forces of division have no home,
and the bonds of love and faithfulness
are the only ones known on Earth.

May we dwell in amity and joy,
and tear down injustice within our land 
nd uproot its bitter grip in our hearts.

Create within us clean hearts and right intentions,
that we may view with joyful eye
the dawn of a new day of hope,
secure in our belovedness and purpose
as we work for the glory of your Name.

Bless us to your service, Beloved Jesus,
and place your hand of blessing
over all for whom we pray.

Amen.

Prayer 2691: On St. Columba's Day

Holy Beloved,
who gathers all that is
within the lea of thy mercy,
we offer a praise song to You,
and rest within your abundant grace .
May we go forth bearing your Name
in integrity, compassion, and humility.

You have made all that is, O Generous Spirit,
and sustain it with your breath,
nourish it with your love,
and entice all that is to fullness.

We place our hands upon our hearts,
and feel the drum You shaped, O God,
in each living being,
its cadence a call to resistance to evil,
inviting us into the dance of love
which resonates through all creation.

Burnish us and mold us, O Blessed Jesus,
Companion and Guide:
you have shown us the Way of Life.
May we embody your abundant justice and mercy,
your love for us even as we go astray:
we depend upon your forbearance and forgiveness
as we seek to walk the living road of your gospel.

Set your seal upon us, O Maker of All,
and grant your peace and comfort 
to all whom we lift before You in love as we pray.

Amen.

Prayer 2485: Inspired by Caedmon's Hymn

O God the Maker, whose creation 
brings forth stuttering praises of awe and wonder 
from the untutored tongues of your children,
our hearts overflow with your marvelous love. 

Holy One, you weave the silken tapestry of heaven,
glorious to drink in and refresh our faith, 
spread overhead like the canopy of a mighty oak 
drawn anew to contemplate the depth of your wisdom.

Our feet firmly planted among the grasses, 
our eyes lifted to the spangled expanse 
 of the roof of the world You have made, World-Warden;
we stretch heavenward like tender saplings.
You have fashioned this Earth as our home, 
and made it holy by the work of your fingers 
for all to rejoice in your bounty.
Gratitude and wonder are the foundation of our prayer,
surging up like a spring of water from our souls. 

And now, O Creator, 
gather our swirling thoughts 
within the bounds of your mercy, 
and grant your blessing upon us, 
and all who turn their hearts to your light
as we pray.

Amen.


Photo: Ruins of Whitby Abbey, from the British Library entry on Hilda of Whitby.

Prayer 2323: Pentecost Sunday

(Scotland, day 10 )
Merciful One, Blessed Trinity,
We turn to you in faith
as a baby turns into the shoulder of her mother.
You have kept us safe
from the sun’s setting to its rising, Lord Christ,
and watched over us as we slept.

Spirit of the Living God,
set our hearts and wills aflame,
that we may bear your glory into the world,
and testify to the beauty of your gospel of love.

Guide us in our roaming
and protect us in our homing,
covering us with traveling mercies throughout our day.
Hear the whispered prayers of your beloveds,
and gather within your embrace
all those for whom we pray, O Merciful One.

Amen.

Prayer 2322: God of the Rising Wave

(Scotland, day 8 )
God of the Rising Wave,
who is creating the heavens and the Earth,
who is stirring up our souls
with the power of the Holy Spirit,
we praise You and we bless You.

We pause and remember
the steadfast love with which You hold us,
in sun and in rain,
in light and in shadow;
there is no turning away from your goodness,
O Lover of Our Souls.

Bend your ears
to hear our whispered entreaties, Blessed Jesus,
to seek and find you in the depths of our being,
that we may serve each other
as friends and companions,
drawn into the holy dance of the Trinity
to the glory of your name.

By the power of the Holy Spirit,
draw all those who seek you
under the lea of your wing, O Holy One,
especially those for whom we pray.

Amen.

Prayer 2321: God's song in the waves

(Scotland, day 7)

Almighty Creator,
Your song of love resounds
within the wave and the shore,
the wind and the trees,
the birds and the sky,
calling us to You,
and we rejoice at your care of us.

May we reflect your love, O Christ,
like the sea reflects the rosy rise of dawn,
and abide within the enclosure of your mercy,
breathing in your wisdom,
breathing out your peace upon all.

Mend the tattered corners of our hearts
by the soothing balm of your compassion,
O Merciful and Beneficent One,
and gather within your embrace
all those whom we lift before You.

Amen.

What does it mean to be a pilgrim?: Speaking to the Soul for June 5, 2019

Our group arrived at Iona on a Saturday, converging first in Glasgow from east and from west, eager to reach the holy island via a successive means of conveyance: plane, bus, ferry, bus, ferry. The way of the pilgrim should not be easy— but in our impatient age the greatest inconvenience we endured was the pace of travel, the completion of a leg, then the wait to begin another, which would be completed in its own time. 

Here St. Columba had arrived from Ireland in the sixth century, self-exiling himself from his beloved Ireland— there are a variety of theories offered as to why, but the story is that he kept sailing until he could no longer see the island of his birth. Setting out boldly on choppy seas in a leather-skinned boat, he arrived here with a few companions, he climbed the tallest hill nearby, and, when he could no longer see Ireland from it, it is said that he came down and set the boat on fire so that he couldn’t return home, perhaps thinking of Jesus’s instruction to those who would follow him that anyone who looked back after putting their hand to the plow was not fit to follow him— harsh words, but forthright. Nonetheless, there had been a push, there had been a pull, and Columba listened and went.  

What does it mean to be a pilgrim? Perhaps it starts with feeling the push and the pull, and giving way to that force, allowing the wind of the Spirit to fill your sails, then to run before that wind until it takes you where it will.

We’d worshipped in the restored Abbey, and walked among the fallen stones at the Nunnery. The footsteps of pilgrims have resounded here since before Columba’s time, sure, but especially after his arrival, his founding of the monastery here, which itself spawned monasteries from Lindisfarne to the mainland of Scotland and southward into Ireland. When Viking raids forced the retreat of Columba’s monks back to Ireland, soon Benedictines arrived, and Augustinian nuns, and Columba’s wooden buildings were replaced with stone, defiantly proclaiming their intention to stay. This small island is hewn from some of the oldest rocks on the planet— many times older than on the island of Mull just to the east and visible across the sound. You can feel the ages here, and the song of the ages in the rocks still resound in the stones which were also used to build these buildings in which we now pray. 

What does it mean to be a pilgrim? Perhaps it means to carry forward with determination, to establish and re-establish a base for yourself, to recognize and treasure the holy spaces when you encounter them, to feel the ancient song of God in your bones, calling you forward despite the obstacles.

We were hiking on a narrow sheep path that wound along a broad, sandy extended beach called a machair. Our guide, Sarah, was explaining how the machair was transformed and fertilized by the people of the island by laying kelp upon the ground. On this tiny island this was what seemed to be the sole broad, flat area on this rocky little outpost lying off the bigger rocky outpost of Mull, which lies off the rocky coast of Scotland proper. But here was a plain, covered with tiny white and yellow flowers, The earth seemed to ripple from the narrow plots that each villager had been given to till years ago: it was too hard to turn the plow, they’d found, so each villager received one long strip exactly a plow’s width wide. And now that no one farmed it, the islanders had converted the machair into a golf course, groomed by grazing sheep. Of course.

What does it mean to be a pilgrim? Perhaps it is to encounter the resistance to turning, and to find a way forward nonetheless.

At one point in our long hike it had started to rain hard, and we were all soaking wet, and when we would stop for a meditation we all huddled in a circle, listening, praying, and singing. At one moment I looked up and noticed the sheep who could not find a bunker on the golf course were huddled in a circle exactly as we were, butts facing outward against rain and wind. But then the sun broke through the clouds, and we made our way down to the beach where Columba had landed over a millennium ago. We were encouraged to pick up two stones from the rocky shoreline. One was to represent all that you wanted to cast away, all that weighs you down— that one was to be flung into the waves. Another was to represent what you hoped to carry away from the pilgrimage, to carry back with you into your everyday life to further strengthen you in the path you follow in the day-to-day. That one was to be brought home with you, to abide with you as a gossamer remembrance reminding us of that intention, that promise given in God’s name.

What does it mean to be a pilgrim? Perhaps it means knowing what to cast off, and what to treasure and to retain.


This was first published at Episcopal Cafe's Speaking to the Soul on June 5, 2019.

Prayer 2318: Growing deeper in wisdom

(Scotland, day 4)
Most Merciful God,
whose hand upholds us in all our journeys,
we gather before you in gratitude
to sing your praises with joy!
May your word be to us
like rain on thirsty ground,
awakening us to new insight and clarity
as we grow deeper in wisdom and compassion,
nourished by your gospel, Lord Christ.

May we walk the good road with you, O Savior,
and our companions in the Way of Love,
building up the bonds of kinship
with all whom we encounter today.
Anoint us with the power of the Holy Spirit,
that we may be filled
with the knowledge of our unity, O Blessed Trinity.
Press the kiss of your blessing
upon all who seek You, O God,
and grant your peace beyond understanding
to those for whom we pray.

Amen.