How shall I plumb your memory, O God, I that am fleeting as the dew of morning? How shall I acclaim your compassion? For you remember your people. When they wander pleading in the wilderness, When they are cast low beneath the earth, You do not forget them. By your hand the nations are shaken, […]
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Written in hospital the night after having a stroke Tune: Eventide, Abide with me Hold us in love Enfold us in your arms Guide us through troubles Keep us safe from harm Please let our fellowship Stay strong and true Hold us in love And hold us close to you Lighten our darkness Be our […]
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You have walked with me in the shadows and held for me the light I couldn’t see You have struck for me the blows and suffered the pain which striking them must bring you for the sake of my soul You have honoured me with your ruthlessness and comforted me with your tenderness You have […]
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Scars that are invisible Hurts that don’t heal Attitudes that are risible Stigma that’s real And as you carry me Just like the cross I’m not a burden to you I’m not lost Scars that are complicated Wounds that are deep Traumas that are conflated Agony that won’t sleep And as you find me Naked […]
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Resolution – a hymn of reconciliation Tune: Laus Deo Arising from the lectionary for Proper 18, Year A — Matthew 18:15-20, particularly verse 15 Link to download musical score, lyrics for a PowerPoint and to listen to tune: Resolution In communities we gather For encouragement in life; We need grace, acceptance, nurture, Ways to halt […]
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Safe! Home safe! A welcome mat of rainbows Hands outstretched to clasp the stranger. Love, you are the power lifting our open arms The thought enabling our inclusion The spirit warming our hearts to the ‘other’, Reminding us that we are ‘other’ to them. Emmanuel, yours is the face they wear, Yours is the clan […]
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Written for Year B Epiphany 5 Mark 1.29-39 Tune: Melcombe For the lyrics, music and a power point, click here. In healing, Jesus did embrace An energy we cannot trace; His love revealed in every place The mystery of amazing grace. They came to Jesus to be blest – The sick and those who were […]
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God of mercy and love, for all who live with HIV or AIDS. Grant them loving companions who will support them in the midst of fear, that every day may be lived with courage and faith. Bless them with an abundance of your love, that they may live with concern for others. Pour on them […]
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Teach me the habits that love you Show me the visions that ring true Shower on me the light that shines through In all of this hold me Give me the courage to reach out Help me to challenge where I find doubt Let me grow so I am curious about How you are holding […]
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‘Last week one of my daughters and I had a terrible argument, and we remain quite distant. It is from that event that this prayer poem surfaced.’ — William Stephenson O God, I come to you now, even when my heart has been closed to someone I love. Even as I am aware of the […]
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A responsive prayer of intercession & confession Inspired by Psalm 51 Silence: a diamond symbol (♦) indicates a short pause. One: God, we call to mind the fractured beauty of the world we live in. All: May we be people of reconciliation. ♦ One: We call to mind broken relationships. All: May we be people […]
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This has been a difficult season for many of us. Illness… unemployment… separation from loved ones… broken relationships… unmet hopes and expectations… events that have divided our homes, families, communities and country… loneliness and isolation… the death of a friend or family member… the loss of a pregnancy… war in our world… fear for our […]
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This might be adapted for corporate worship changing ‘me’ to ‘us’ and ‘my’ to ‘our’. Loving God, Grant me the gift Of sacred sabbath rest Interrupting the inertia Of inner and outer worlds Addicted to endless activity And productivity’s promise That work alone can heal. Unwind soul’s tightness Unable to trust your promise Of reinvigorating […]
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This might be used as a corporate prayer, substituting ‘we’ for I’. It might also be used at a service of affirmation — an induction, ordination, baptism, re-commitment or confirmation, substituting ‘you’ for ‘I’. May I…. Hands at third eye centre: May I see things as they really are, and not as how I want […]
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God, we sometimes forget that we were created for joy. Our minds are too busy. Our hearts are too heavy for us to remember that we have been called to dance the sacred dance of life. We were created to smile to love to be lifted up and to lift others up. O Sacred One, […]
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O Love, Thank-you for silence Rising, resting, holding Heart and mind In sacred submersion Of Spirit beyond my knowing But through which I am known. Gift descending or arising I know not how or why Only that eternity visits In the precious gift of now. Let me receive it Not trying to figure it out […]
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Originally written for Good Friday Jesus, man of sorrows, give me the courage to be a faithful witness to those who are suffering. Help me to overcome my awkwardness and fear to sit with them among the ashes, and to stay alongside. Help me to not recoil from sickness or death, but to be a […]
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O Love, Center us in your heart Pulsing with Christ-love Healing and holding Challenging and changing Everything necessary For your vision to rise. Take every weariness And form resurrections Small and large in us Offering a strength Beyond our own Binding us to you And to each other And your whole creation. By this, O […]
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Before you know it, your kid’s childhood is over and she’s gone off to college. Before you know it, your vacation is over and it’s time to go back to work. Before you know it, the storm has passed and the sky is clear. Before you know it, way too much of your life has […]
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Care. Tender care. Soul care. Spiritual care. Material care. Collective care. Not self care, no. Or, rather, not only self care. Because no self is separable from the multitude of our relations, and we are made for murmurations, and our lives and legacies and futures are bound up together, even now, even now. So, yes, […]
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When I was just a Queer Palestinian child, I didn’t know any better; God was multicolour. Feeling Their facets and hugging their multitudes of love, All was just being, nothing made of. Palestinian and Queer was a Tibetan Bowl’s ring, That I heard sung in the womb of Rumi’s wing. See it, right there on […]
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A prayer for healing after trauma Easily adapted for a group, e.g. using ‘our’ and ‘us’ God of all time, this time is difficult. My memories rush at me. My memories have disappeared as my mind manages each day. I am aware that others have had times like mine or worse. But God it feels […]
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The next time it gets light I will awake with hope And tonight as it gets dark I will not fear The next time it grows light I will welcome the dawn The next time morning comes I’ll be reborn The next time it grows dark I will not hide away The darkness does not […]
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A responsive Call to Worship written specifically for intergenerational worship (works well during Advent) God, you came into the world weak: A baby born in a stable, Sleeping in a feeding trough With animal sounds and smells all around. This is how love came to earth. God, you have made us vulnerable. Our bodies can […]
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The days are short. The nights are long. Your universe mirrors the reality of our hearts, Revealing your gracious spirit that Mourns with us in grief, Cries with us in sorrow, Sits with us in despair. You are not a distant God, removed from human pain, But a faithful companion Closer to us than our […]
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Hold us and heal us with your love Alternative phrases for both American and British English are provided. Ow! That hurts! Mama! Grandma! Daddy! [Mummy! Nana! Daddy!] A whimper. A wail. A wound. Oh God, Hold us and heal us with your love. Silent. Withdrawn. Pain visible only in our eyes. Or perhaps hidden […]
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We are not given a mandate to judge or an obligation to convert. We are not required to argue religion. We are given power to heal. We need not muster up the strength. We are given authority. Christ is in us to heal. May I be a healer today; may I set free those who […]
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His were the hands That shaped the wood That smoothed the knot That summoned the friends And launched the boat His were the hands That touched the blind And opened ears That held the child And cast out fears His were the hands That fingered the coin That plucked the corn That wrote in sand […]
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What if we thought of it as the Jews consider the Sabbath— the most sacred of times? Cease from travel. Cease from buying and selling. Give up, just for now, on trying to make the world different than it is. Sing. Pray. Touch only those to whom you commit your life. Centre down. And when […]
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What words do we use to worship in the face of a pandemic? What words express our hopeful faith, our doubting fear? What words do we share as the months turn into years, as the rules change, as the familiar drifts farther away and the strange moves in to stay? What words do we share […]
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Fourth Sunday of Lent, Year John 9:1-41, particularly verses 13-16a Link for the lyrics, music and a power point: When Jesus healed on the Sabbath Tune: Winchester Old When Jesus healed on Sabbath days, He broke the sacred law; The power structures were appalled; Were shocked by what they saw. For breaking of the Sabbath […]
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Therapeutic music ‘Therapeutic music is music used in a palliative care setting to provide relaxation, alleviate isolation and boredom, calm fears, soothe frustrations, and in some cases help patients make spiritual connections at this most profound stage of life.’ — Linda Allen If You Cannot Speak If you cannot speak my friend I will hear […]
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Tune: Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing , by J. Wyeth 1813 God, I know you as a spirit Blowing through me like a wind You are the spirit of the water You are the source, you are the end God, I know you as a mother Giving birth to all I am But I […]
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A reflection on Dame Julian of Norwich’s text from Revelations of Divine Love: ‘All shall be well. You shall see yourself that all things shall be well. That which is impossible for you is not impossible for me. I shall keep my word in all things and I shall make all things well.’ ‘All shall […]
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Words to still the soul . . . used perhaps as one enters a worship space, or prepares to. Now, for this space, I put them all aside, the awesome things for which no words will come. Such grief must go where only God is guide. Our lovely plane darkens. Nightmares ride. The sunlit waters […]
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A prayer for World Health Day – 7 April For the many children, women, and men whose lives have been saved through global cooperation, God, we praise You. For the many who needlessly suffer around the world because of indifference or malice, God, we beg Your blessing. For the progress in people’s health made […]
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Mark 5:21-43 dramatised — adapted by Ana Gobledale, UK A Girl Restored to Life and a Woman Healed adapted from the New Revised Standard Version These copies of the drama are ready to download and print. Each features a role highlighted. DRAMA – Mark 5, 21-43 – Disciple DRAMA – Mark 5, 21-43 – […]
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‘There is much to celebrate in the world of global health. Neonatal deaths have been cut in half since 1990. Mother-to-child transmission of HIV has substantially decreased. Polio and guinea worm are on the verge of elimination. ‘But there is still much to be done. Drug-resistant forms of tuberculosis and malaria bring new threats to […]
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When the earth shakes, the lightning flashes, the tsunami rolls across the waters; when the snow whites out the roads, the floods wash out bridges and homes, the wildfires rage across the ridges; when the tornados race through town, the hurricanes churn up the coast, the heat waves wipe out crops— then, […]
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Dearest Friend, gentle Spirit, breath of live, source of our being, from the peacefulness of silence, the silence that preceded Creation, your Word entered the void and said, ‘Let there be light.’ This afternoon we sit mindful that we are kin and covenanted to that Word and to your light. We are grateful to you, […]
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