Photo by Phil Braudaway-Bauman
St. Patrick’s Breastplate
I arise today through the strength of heaven, the radiance of the moon, the splendor of fire, the swiftness of wind, the depth of the sea, the firmness of rock. I arise today through God’s strength to pilot me, God’s might to uphold me, God’s wisdom to guide me. I arise today through a mighty strength, the Creator of creation.
Prayer Walk 8 - Flagstaff Summit
Tuesday, November 5 at 3 pm
Location: Meet at Flagstaff Summit, Flagstaff Dr, Boulder
Prayer for Washington DC: United States Supreme Court Building, Capitol, and White House
Prayer for the Journey
O God, you have called your servants to ventures of which we cannot see the ending, by paths as yet untrodden, through perils unknown. Give us faith to go out with good courage, not knowing where we go, but only that your hand is leading us and your love supporting us; through Christ, we pray. Amen
The Chapel is open for personal prayer Tuesday 11/5, Wednesday 11/6, and Thursday 11/7 from 9 AM – 2 PM.
Contemplative Worship - Thursday, 11/7 from 6 – 6:45 PM
Gather with others in the Chapel for a service of silence, quiet singing, candlelight, and gentle community – a time to be still, listen for the Spirit’s leading, and speak the prayers and concerns of your heart.
I Believe In Living
by Dave Tomlinson
I believe in living now.
Grappling life by the scruff of the neck and never putting it on hold for another time.
I believe the future is open, not fixed, and we can help create what is yet to be.
I believe faith is a stroke of imagination, which, though tiny as a mustard seed, can shift mountains.
I believe hope is our greatest deterrent against waves of pessimism and despair.
I believe love can repel tsunamis of ill intention, making friends out of enemies.
I believe in life before death. That befriending death empowers us to live better lives, now.
I believe in knowing our limits, but never limiting who we are or can be.
I believe uncertainty is a virtue, keeping faith alive for new possibilities.
I believe people who intimidate and coerce are weak, ridiculous, and less than half alive.
I believe in being who we are without apology and welcoming everything that can help us to grow and evolve.
I believe in living fully in this world, not waiting for another.
In You, Lord, I take refuge. Don’t let me be put to shame; deliver me in Your righteousness. Hear my cry... rescue me, be my refuge... a strong fortress.... ...save me. You are my rock... lead me... ...guide me. Keep me free from the traps set for me... you are my refuge...my protection. I put my Spirit...my soul...into your hands... ...deliver me.
I am so afraid...and alone... my mind is consumed with distress.... my body and soul is weakened by grief and sorrow. O God, be merciful to me.
I am forgotten...I have become broken pottery. But I trust you God. You are my Creator and Deliverer. Save me.
Shine Your light on me; save me though Your love. God...can you hear my cry? I trust in you; You are my God. You are my refuge. I will find shelter in your presence. You are my safe dwelling place. Hear my cry for mercy God. I need your help.
I trust in your faithfulness God. I love you... ...and my hope is in You.
The
Hill We Climb
by Amanda Gorman Inaugural Poem, January 2021
When day comes, we ask ourselves, where can we find light in this never-ending shade?
The loss we carry. A sea we must wade. We braved the belly of the beast.
We’ve learned that quiet isn’t always peace, and the norms and notions of what “just” is isn’t always justice. And yet the dawn is ours before we knew it. Somehow we do it.
Somehow we weathered and witnessed a nation that isn’t broken, but simply unfinished.
We, the successors of a country and a time where a skinny Black girl descended from slaves and raised by a single mother can dream of becoming president, only to find herself reciting for one.
And, yes, we are far from polished, far from pristine, but that doesn’t mean we are striving to form a union that is perfect. We are striving to forge our union with purpose.
To compose a country committed to all cultures, colors, characters and conditions of man.
And so we lift our gaze, not to what stands between us, but what stands before us.
We close the divide because we know to put our future first, we must first put our differences aside.
We lay down our arms so we can reach out our arms to one another. We seek harm to none and harmony for all.
Let the globe, if nothing else, say this is true. That even as we grieved, we grew. That even as we hurt, we hoped. That even as we tired, we tried.
That we’ll forever be tied together, victorious. Not because we will never again know defeat, but because we will never again sow division.
Scripture tells us to envision that everyone shall sit under their own vine and fig tree, and no one shall make them afraid. If we’re to live up to our own time, then victory won’t lie in the blade, but in all the bridges we’ve made. That is the promise to glade, the hill we climb, if only we dare.
It’s because being American is more than a pride we inherit. It’s the past we step into and how we repair it. We’ve seen a force that would shatter our nation, rather than share it.
Would destroy our country if it meant delaying democracy. And this effort very nearly succeeded.
But while democracy can be periodically delayed, it can never be permanently defeated. In this truth, in this faith we trust, for while we have our eyes on the future, history has its eyes on us.
This is the era of just redemption. We feared at its inception.
We did not feel prepared to be the heirs of such a terrifying hour.
But within it we found the power to author a new chapter, to offer hope and laughter to ourselves.
So, while once we asked, how could we possibly prevail over catastrophe, now we assert, how could catastrophe possibly prevail over us?
We will not march back to what was, but move to what shall be: a country that is bruised but whole, benevolent but bold, fierce and free.
We will not be turned around or interrupted by intimidation because we know our inaction and inertia will be the inheritance of the next generation, become the future. Our blunders become their burdens. But one thing is certain. If we merge mercy with might, and might with right, then love becomes our legacy and change our children’s birthright. So let us leave behind a country better than the one we were left.
Every breath from my bronze-pounded chest, we will raise this wounded world into a wondrous one. We will rise from the golden hills of the West. We will rise from the windswept Northeast where our orefathers first realized revolution. We will rise from the lake-rimmed cities of the Midwestern states. We will rise from the sun-baked South. We will rebuild, reconcile, and recover. And every known nook of our nation and every corner called our country, our people diverse and beautiful, will emerge battered and beautiful. When day comes, we step out of the shade aflame and unafraid. The new dawn blooms as we free it. For there is always light, if only we’re brave enough to see it. If only we’re brave enough to be it.
Prayer of Return
by Kelly Ann Hall
God, here we are— showing up, sinking in, getting still, becoming aware of our presence, and yours.
We’re remembering our unbroken union.
Our hearts within your heart, Our breath within your breath, Our story within your story.
We gather as people in progress to share, listen, observe. To increase our awareness of Holiness, yours and ours.
To get in on who you are and what you’re up to— to together become fertile, sacred ground, so that the burdened, hidden inner work becomes Light, so that death is transformed into Life.
Thank you that we don’t have it all figured out to be useful, and we don’t have to be useful to be loved and belong. Thank you for making us good first, for loving who you made when you made us.
We return to you to keep being made whole. We return for more God, to reconnect with our Soul, to deepen our togetherness.
We return with hope that our lives would be meaningful and matter.
We return for more love, more truth, more liberation— we return to open and to become a conduit of your Spirit everywhere we go.
Musical Meditations
Randall Thompson “But these are they that forsake the Lord,”
from The Peaceable Kingdom. The opening words, from Isaiah 65:11, are a warning to those who turn away from the Lord. The text that follows (Isaiah 55:12) offers a glimpse of the joys that will come to those who remain faithful to the Lord: “For ye shall go out with joy, and be led forth with peace; the mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.” (https://tinyurl.com/3pr5ra4y)
Randall Thompson
“Ye shall have a song,”
The Peaceable Kingdom. In Isaiah 30:29 the prophet proclaims to the Jews in Judah that despite earlier warnings of the consequences of their transgressions, “Ye shall have a song, as in the night when a holy solemnity is kept; And gladness of heart, as when one goeth with a pipe to come to the mountain of the Lord. (https://tinyurl.com/2pv3bh9k)
Hildegard of Bingen “De Spiritu Sanctu.”
An affirmation that the Holy Spirit is present, “cleanses the cosmos of every impurity, effacing guilt, and anointing wounds” and “wakens . . . everything that is.” (https://tinyurl.com/3jb2ptw4)
Herbert Howells “Like as the hart.”
This setting of Psalm 42:1-3 appears to reach a climax at the question “Where is now my God?” But as the anthem draws to a close, the phrase that we heard earlier, “When shall I come to appear before the presence of God?” now conveys serenity as the work come to its end.. (https://tinyurl.com/25npzxbh)
John Newton “Amazing Grace.”
This enduring expression of the power of grace continues to provide hope during troubled times. (https://tinyurl.com/3dhzabn3)
A Franciscan Benediction
May God bless you with discomfort at easy answers, half truths and superficial relationships –so that you may live deep within your heart
May God bless you with anger at injustice, oppression, and exploitation of people - so that you may work for justice, freedom and peace.
May God bless you with tears to shed for those who suffer pain, rejection, hunger and war - so that you may reach out your hand to comfort them and turn their pain to joy
And may God bless you with enough foolishness to believe that you can make a difference in the world... - so that you can do what others claim cannot be done... To bring justice and kindness to all our children and the poor.
