Category: Blessing

Prayer blessings~

3/7/2015

I’m on the plane, finally* on my way home, thinking about the many prayer blessings of this trip. Immediately the benefit of time comes to mind since I had no obligations, nor anyone to be with except God. There were the sacred places for prayer, namely churches, ancient streets and gardens; there was the all the art for contemplation; there were the cafes and libraries for writing. Dare I mention the food that fed my mind, body spirit?
Each time I return from one of my solitary trips, I wonder if it will be the last. I want to keep traveling, but at age 75 I am beginning to accept that issues of stamina and health will eventually slow me down. Regardless, in response to the question the Brothers of Saint John the Evangelist asked in their Lenten series, I can say, “Yes, I am content; I have enough.”
Another area that I’ve come to terms with is a fantasy to live abroad, particularly in Florence or on the Isle of Skye in Scotland. Again, “I am content. I have enough.” I can do God’s work NOW, wherever I find myself, not where I think I’d like to be.

* If you want to know why I say finally, check out my cottagebythesea blog.

P.S. I’m posting this the day after I got home.

Cup of salvation or cup of blessing~

1/23/2015

A small group of us meet at what is called The Well at church every Wednesday for a hour to discuss a topic and share communion. The other evening it was ‘Salvation’. I had suggested the topic after serving communion at the church the previous Sunday. As people came forward to dip their bread into the cup, I said, “The Cup of Salvation.” That’s just what came out of me and I thought nothing more about it until I was offered, “The cup of blessing.”

Why had I chosen to say salvation? Why hadn’t I said blessing, which is the usual term used in my church? As I explained to my little group at The Well, I always feel blessed, but I am continually searching for salvation. Not a one time salvation that is often aligned with evangelical Christian theology, but the little salvations that I obtain when I am right with God. I have to keep working for them, however, for it is very clear to me I that I can’t obtain salvation by myself. Try as I might to ‘be perfect as God is perfect’, I know and have come to believe that I need God’s saving grace to give me those moments.

Wilderness Blessings, by Jeffrey Gallagher

3/25/2014

I believe I blogged about Wilderness Blessings when it came out last year but I can seem to locate it right now. Whether I’m posting again or for the first time, I am convinced than that this is an important book.

Before I finished reading it four months ago, I gave my original copy to my niece who is a cardiologist at Children’s Hospital in Boston. As I continued reading last night, I came to Jeff’s discussion of prayer-- his understanding of prayer and how prayer affected him during Jacob’s second surgery. I’ll write about that in the next few blogs. Here’s today reintroduction.

Yesterday Jeff Gallagher and I got together at his church office in Kittery Point to catch up and talk about writing. Jeff went to divinity school with me and was a field education student at my church. He is now the father of two boys, Noah a third grader, and Jacob a kindergartener, who has Down syndrome. In 2013 Jeff published Wilderness Blessings: How Down Syndrome Reconstructed Our Life and Faith, a book about his (and his wife Kristin's) early experiences parenting Jacob. It is a book about love, parenting, Down syndrome, medical wonders (specifically at Children's Hospital in Boston), faith and so much more. It is how all these aspects, especially the ‘wilderness’ ones, can become blessings.

Parental blessing~

2/24/2014

My dad would have been 109 on February 20th; he left us in 1984 but the memories are palpable. The last thing he said to me was, “Oh, Bobbi, I’m so glad you’re here. You’re my spiritual director.” I had come to visit, which I did every few weeks toward the end, and he was still up and about and very cognizant of what was happening to him (prostrate cancer). I don’t know which memory is more vivid, his words or his smile and welcoming outstretched arms as he walked across the yard to greet me. Blessings, for sure.

John O'Donohue blesses the New Year~

1/2/2014

To me, this feels like a sad, even depressing poem. John O’Donohue has a melancholy tone to all is work but he is also comforting, offering hope as well. And let’s face it, there is a great deal of sadness in the world and in our lives. There was for Jesus, too, and that is where the hope lies. So, as the New Year begins, let us acknowledge it all, the joys and the concerns and the peace that, through Jesus, passes all understanding.

A Blessing for the New Year

Beannacht (Irish Blessing)

On the day when
the weight deadens
on your shoulders
and you stumble,
may the clay dance
to balance you.
And when your eyes
freeze behind
the grey window
and the ghost of loss
gets in to you,
may a flock of colours,
indigo, red, green,
and azure blue
come to awaken in you
a meadow of delight.
When the canvas frays
in the currach of thought
and a stain of ocean
blackens beneath you,
may there come across the waters
a path of yellow moonlight
to bring you safely home.

May the nourishment of the earth be yours,
may the clarity of light be yours,
may the fluency of the ocean be yours,
may the protection of the ancestors be yours.
And so may a slow
wind work these words
of love around you,
an invisible cloak
to mind your life.

Beannacht

John O'Donohue

A Gratitude Blessing

11/27/2013

Dear Friends:

First, let us offer a blessing for those celebrating the Thanksgiving holiday in the USA, and for all of our contemplative friends around the globe:

"Contemplative Outreach, Ltd." <clp@coutreach.org>

Loving God we thank you
For the beauty and fruitfulness of the earth,
and the mystery and wonder of all creation.
For the love of family and friends,
and the blessings of our global contemplative community.
For health and strength, and the courage to bear ill health and weakness.
For the gift of work, and for the opportunities of creative leisure.
For this and for all our many blessings we are grateful.
Amen.

(Adapted from Romans 7:25)

Prayers heard and answered~

11/18/2013

I’m at the cottage, so grateful to wake up in this sacred place; the silence, solitude and simplicity is palpable. I arose at 5:15 and sat of the deck (living room) for almost two hours, just being in God’s presence as it washed over me—it remains with me still. I am blessed to be here with no obligations other than to take care of myself in the most rudimentary ways--eat, sleep and be safe. But blessings are not to be coveted or selfishly held, and so I know I have another obligation, one that God has given me, and that is to pray for others. When I am here, it is easier for me to clear out the cobwebs of chatter, judgment, critique and analysis that get in the way of being with God. When I am here, the space between God and me (and others) is transparent, and that, I believe is when prayer is heard and answered.

Prayer, God, faith, hope, all such mysteries, and yet today I sense I have a handle on it all. I am especially praying for a friend whose son just took his life, and for a few others who are walking a precarious road. I know that my prayers are being heard and answered. ‘Very grateful.’

Baptism: 'God shows no partiality'~

10/28/2013

Do you know the power of two or more being baptized together? It is part of the Roman Catholic tradition and can be traced back the early church. In my UCC church, however, it is usually one baptism a Sunday. But yesterday two babies, born six months ago within a few weeks of each other, were baptized together: the son of our pastor and his wife, and the daughter of a young couple in the church.

There was so much ‘God is still speaking,’ energy in the sanctuary, with equal attention given to each baby. At the close of the baptism, my pastor carried the little girl and introduced her to the congregation while a deacon carried his son to do the same. Scripture tell us that ‘God shows no partiality,.’

Taking our turn being poor~

10/11/2013

Care for the poor, a phrase out there in the ethos these days, from the lips of Pope Francis, scattered among political rhetoric, and expressed from the pulpit and pews of my church. It’s easy to think of the poor as ‘other’, you know, those who are homeless and needing our welfare, certainly not me! But that is not so. Depending on a given circumstance, we are all poor.

The blessing is that when we are poor, we need help. And when we need help, we give others the opportunity do just that. Good thing, because tomorrow the roles may be reversed. It is said that it is more blessed to give than to receive, but that just won’t work if there are no receivers. We all have to take a turn at each of the roles.

A friend recently reached out for help as she prepares for serious surgery in a few weeks. She will be poor in strength and in her ability to care for herself. She can’t play the I can do it all myself card that we all like to put out on the table. Humility is the new game. She’ll have to admit that she is poor, which is without a doubt one of the hardest things that any of us has to do. In asking for help she has already done so; her poverty is making her rich indeed, rich in faith and hope.

Summer day gratitude~

8/20/2013

I don’t have much to share today other than to say that this is just one of those rare summer days in which everything is prayer. God’s kingdom on earth, from coffee, scrambled eggs and bagel to reading and resting with my feet up. Even my granddog Scuppers joins me in being “Very grateful!”