Write a Prayer-a-Day Project

Here’s to the new, and here’s to the old.  Let us cherish each in equal measure.  Let us bind them together and wear them as a comfortable jacket.  They will warm us, comfort us, challenge us and engage us.  Yesterday, today, and tomorrow: all is now.  For the infinite moment we give thanks.  Blessed Be, and Amen.

May we proclaim our wholeness and our worthiness, and may we live into the same.  We need only prove these to ourselves, and recognize them in all others.  For glorious recognition we give thanks.  Blessed Be, and Amen.

We are grateful for the many gifts we receive from each other daily: compassion, care, thick listening, deep connecting.  Material gifts are merely  symbols of a more profound sharing.  It is good to give and receive, with gratitude and appreciation for the true meaning of the gift.  It is not a commercial transaction: if I give you this I expect to receive that.  Rather, it is a covenantal transaction, an understanding of how we will be together.  Let us give in this deep relational sense, and receive with gratitude and humility.  We are blessed, and we give thanks.  Blessed Be, and Amen.

Let us seek to find again our child-like wonder of everything.  Let us recall how magical the world can be if we experience it without bias or expectation.  Yes, we must be responsible to ourselves and those that depend on us – we cannot abandon all the experience we’ve gained.  And yet, how often are we delighted when the world takes us by surprise!  Let this be the miracle that we seek, and remain open to wonderment.  For surprise and delight we give thanks.  Blessed Be, and Amen.

O Holy Night – each night is a holy night, and each child born is a miracle.  We are called to herald this deep truth 365 days of the year, recognizing our own divinity and the divinity of each other.  We are the ongoing story.  We are the constant process of revelation.  We write the sacred text again and again.  We are the Covenant, the Light, and the Word.  Let the celebration commence: we are thankful.  Blessed Be, and Amen.

Are Faith & Belief the same?  Beliefs, whether rational or not, seem to come from experience, observation, and discernment.  Faith is first felt and then practiced: a Faith devoid of practice is merely duplicitous rhetoric.  Let us each believe as we will; let us all search for Universal Faith that embraces true compassion, affirms our worth and dignity, and calls us to heal and to make peace.  For Big Faith we give hopeful thanks.  Blessed Be, and Amen.

In darkness we dwell; in darkness we thrive.  We catch a glimpse of the fading light, and we are comforted in the knowledge that it will return.  We embrace the night, as a time to reflect, a time to renew, and a time to contemplate.  Without the darkness there would be no light.  Without the night there would be no day.  Without death there would be no life.  And so we celebrate, in dark, in cold, in silence and in stillness.  We are blessed, and we are thankful.  Blessed Be, and Amen.

We live for connection.  To connect, we must allow our authentic self to be seen.  For our authentic self to be seen we must invite ourselves into vulnerability.  At first glance it appears a frightening, dangerous place, but when we actually expose ourselves, we find that we are empowered: we are free to be exactly who we are.  So let us invite vulnerability, with gladness and joy!  We shall be free!  For our vulnerability we give thanks.  Blessed Be, and Amen.