A Collection of Prayers for the New Year :: 2014

I recently posted a couple of prayers that personally resonate with me as I begin the new year. If you missed them, you can check them out here…

The Singing Bowl
A Sonnet by Malcolm Guite

And so we gather the scattered pieces…
By Jan L. Richardson

In addition, over the past few years I have shared several prayers for the new year on the Prayers & Creeds blog. You can check them out by clicking on the prayer below.

New Year’s Eve Prayer

A Sonnet for the New Year by Malcolm Guite

Celtic New Year’s Prayer – The Opening Door

New Year’s Prayer by Ted Loder

New Year’s Prayer by Christine Sine

Help Me to Believe in Beginnings by Ted Loder

Prayer of John of the Cross

And so we gather the scattered pieces...

And so we take the ragged fragments,

the patches of darkness
that give shape to the light;
the scraps of desires
unslaked or realized;
the memories of spaces
of blessing, of pain.

And so we gather the scattered pieces

the hopes we carry
fractured or whole;
the struggles of birthing
exhausted, elated;
the places of welcome
that bring healing and life.

And so we lay them at the threshold, God;

bid you hold them, bless them, use them;
ask you tend them, mend them,
transform them
to keep us warm,
make us whole, and send us forth.

Prayer by Jan L. Richardson (Through the Advent Door: Entering a Contemplative Christmas)
(Originally published in Night Visions: Searching the Shadows of Advent and Christmas by Jan L. Richrdson)

2013 Reads

This year's list is a little longer than usual. Maybe going back to school had something to do with that? Once again, thanks to Goodreads for helping me easily compile my list of books read in 2013. All good books that uniquely spoke into my life and formation this year. As always, for every book finished there are another two or three on my reading wish list waiting on the book shelf or Kindle.

- The Long Loneliness: Autobiography of Legendary Catholic Activist
Dorothy Day
- Holy Listening: The Art of Spiritual Direction
Margaret Guenther
- The Awakened Heart
Gerald May
- Supervision of Spiritual Directors: Engaging the Holy Ministry
Edited by Mary Rose Bumpus and Rebecca Bradburn Langer
- Letters to a Young Poet
Rainer Maria Rilke
- Rilke’s Book of Hours: Love Poems to God
Rainer Maria Rilke (Translated by Anita Barrows and Joanna Macy)
- Holy Eros: Recovering the Passion of God
James D. Whitehead
- Everyday Mission: How Ordinary People Can Change the World
Leroy Barber
- Life of Pi 
Yann Martel
- The Essential Enneagram: The Definitive Personality and Self-Discovery Guide
David Daniels
- Tattoos of the Heart: The Power of Boundless Compassion
Gregory Boyle
- The Prophet
Gibran Kahlil
- Unexpected Gifts: Discovering the Way of Community
Christopher L. Heuertz
- Listening to Your Life: Daily Meditations with Fredrick Buechner
Fredrick Buechner
- Through the Advent Door: Entering a Contemplative Christmas
Jan L. Richardson

“O Antiphons” Begin December 17

Since the eighth century the O Antiphons have been used by many liturgical Christian traditions during vespers the last seven days of Advent (December 17-23). These O Antiphons became the basis for the popular Christmas carol, “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel.”

“Their predominant theme is messianic, stressing the hope of the Savior's coming. Jesus is invoked by various titles, mainly taken from the prophet Isaiah. The sequence progresses historically, from the beginning, before creation, to the very gates of Bethlehem….In their structure, each of the seven antiphons follows the same pattern, resembling a traditional liturgical prayer.  Each O Antiphon begins with an invocation of the expected Messiah, followed by praise of him under one of his particular titles. Each ends with a petition for God's people, relevant to the title by which he is addressed, and the cry for him to ‘Come’.”
(Jeanne Kun, “Praising the Names of Jesus: The Antiphons of Advent”)

You can read the entire description of the “O Antiphons” by Jeanne Kun...HERE.

A couple years ago I posted an “O Antiphons Litany” for Advent on the Prayers and Creeds blog. You can check it out...HERE.

Other Resources:
Extended liturgies for the O Antiphons

The Antiphons of Advent (Readings & meditations for each day)

Contemporary translation on Everyday Liturgy 

Third Sunday of Advent :: JOY!

We Wait

(Inspired by Isaiah 35: 1-10)

This is the season of holy waiting.

We wait for the time when the desert will bloom abundantly.

We watch for the day when all God’s people will come together with singing.

We wait while the dawning light appears on the horizon.

Come let us walk in the light of God!

Taken from: re:Worship blog 

This morning I’ve been reading and reflecting on the third Sunday of Advent, as I prepare to light the pink candle of joy and try posture my heart for the third week of Advent ahead. In case you are wondering why the third candle is pink while the other three are purple, here is a good summary I took from the CRI Voice website.

The third candle, usually for the Third Sunday of Advent, is traditionally Pink or Rose, and symbolizes Joy at the soon Advent of the Christ.  In the four weeks of Advent the third Sunday came to be a time of rejoicing that the fasting was almost over (in some traditions it is called Gaudete Sunday, from the Latin word for "rejoice"). The shift from the purple of the Season to pink or rose for the third Sunday Advent candles reflected this lessening emphasis on penitence as attention turned more to celebration of the season.

The rose candle is lit on the third Sunday of Advent, referred to as "Gaudete" or "Rose Rejoicing" Sunday (from the epistle and introit which speak of "rejoicing in the Lord always"). "Rose Rejoicing Sunday" shows how anticipated joy over our Savior's coming breaks through all our serious Advent preparation. 

This year I am taking time out to read the weekly Advent season scriptures from the Revised Common Lectionary (RCL). My "go to" website for weekly Revised Common Lectionary scripture readings is from Vanderbilt Divinity Library. For the Third Sunday of Advent 2013 readings...Click HERE.

I also stumbled on this great resource of prayers, benedictions and liturgies that relate to the weekly RCL readings…
re:Worship Blog (Third Sunday of Advent 2013)...Click HERE.

Finally, some words from Gustavo Gutiérrez regarding this week’s RCL readings from Matthew 11:2-11...

“Gestures of love toward others nourish the hope of the final coming of the Lord, and they make it new and dynamic (James 5:7-8).”

“Relieving the suffering of a few poor in Jesus’ day is a sign, a sign of the strong promise that the good news of God’s kingdom is for all the world’s poor. It is a proclamation through liberating words and deeds. The gospel is proclaimed to the poor by way of concrete actions: enabling people to see, walk, hear, in other words, giving life. In his own days, Jesus gives the example in order for us to understand that it is a commandment for all his followers in the course of history. Today, our gestures of solidarity in the presence of the hunger and poverty of so many in the world have to communicate that God’s kingdom is among us.”

Taken from: Sharing the Word through the Liturgical Year by Gustavo Gutiérrez

The Singing Bowl

A new book of poetry on my wish list...

Singing Bowl

By Malcolm Guite

Begin the song exactly where you are,

Remain within the world of which you’re made.

Call nothing common in the earth or air,

Accept it all and let it be for good.

Start with the very breath you breathe in now,

This moment’s pulse, this rhythm in your blood

And listen to it, ringing soft and low.

Stay with the music, words will come in time.

Slow down your breathing. Keep it deep and slow.

Become an open singing-bowl, whose chime

Is richness rising out of emptiness,

And timelessness resounding into time.

And when the heart is full of quietness

Begin the song exactly where you are.

Taken from: The Singing Bowl: Collected Poems by Malcolm Guite

Advent & Being Present

“Waiting for the Lord does not bring us out of history; it involves us with it since we are hoping for the God who has come and is in our midst. Such hope is ambitious but it is worthwhile. It will help us see what is inconsistent in our behavior, what is deceptive and underhanded in out personal lives but also what is hopeful in our efforts to defend life and justice.”
~ Gustavo Guitiérrez, Sharing the Word through the Liturgical Year  

“…Advent is a threshold season, a liminal place in the calendar, an in between time of preparation and expectation. Thresholds offer a heady mix of possibility and peril. They are wildly unpredictable, they stir up questions, they cause us to live with uncertainty, they compel us to develop the ability to attend to the present even as we discern the future. Ultimately, they are places of initiation, taking us deeper into God and into the person God has created us to be…To follow God does not mean traveling with certainty about where God will lead us. Rather, following God propels us to be present in the place where we are, for this is the very place where God shows up.”
~ Jan L. Richardson (Through the Advent Door: Entering a Contemplative Christmas, “Door Seven: A Way in the Wilderness”)

A Summertime Advent Reflection

This Advent I contributed a reflection to Christine Sine’s annual Advent blog series on Godspace. The theme of this year’s series is “Coming Home: Uncovering Our Roots in the Advent Story.” Godspace is one of my favorite blogs, especially during Advent. The Advent series includes daily reflections, prayers, resources and a weekly podcast.

You can check out my reflection and the entire Godspace series here…
http://godspace-msa.com/2013/12/05/a-summertime-advent-by-david-bayne/

A Collection of Advent Prayers

This will be my sixth year posting weekly prayers on Prayers & Creeds. I always enjoy finding new prayers for the season of Advent to share on this blog. Once again, here are links to some of my favorite Advent prayers posted in years past. Just click in the prayer…

A Sonnet for the New Year by Malcolm Guite

Advent Prayer by Ted Loder

Awaiting the Christ Child ~ Esperando el Niño Jesús

Advent Prayer for Hope

Prayer for Welcoming Advent

Advent Collect for Southern Hemisphere

Advent Prayer from Walter Brueggemann

Advent Prayer from Henri Nouwen

Awaiting the Christ from Christine Sine

Hope Revived

Advent Prayer from Advent in Art

O Oriens from Madeleine L’Engle

O Antiphons – An Advent Litany

where advent begins

This Advent I am reading a book of daily reflections from Jan L. Richardson in the book, Through the Advent Door: Entering a Contemplative Christmas. I cheated a little and read the reflection for the first day of Advent. Turns out it was exactly what I needed to hear as I posture and prepare myself for the season. Here are a few highlights…

“Perhaps the preparation and expectation to which Advent calls us are not to be found solely in the spaces we set aside during the season. Although it’s important to keep working at finding those contemplative openings in these days, perhaps Advent is what happens in the midst of all this. We enter the heart of the season, the invitation of these weeks, amid the life that is unfolding around us, with it’s wildness and wonder and upheaval and intensity.”

She goes on to say…
“Advent beacons us beyond the certainties that may not serve us – those sureties we have relied on that may have no substance to them after all. Advent is a season to look at what we have fashioned our lives around – beliefs, habits, convictions, prejudices – and to see whether these leave any room for the Christ who is so fond of slipping into our lives in guises we may not readily recognize.

As we cross the threshold into Advent, what are you carrying with you from the seasons past? Is there something you need to let go of so that you have room for Christ as he comes to us in this season? How might God use what is most present in your life – even the chaos and messiness and unpredictability – to fashion a space of welcome, not only for Christ but also for you?”

~ Jan L. Richardson (Through the Advent Door: Entering a Contemplative Christmas, “Door One”)

Preparing for Advent :: 2013

The first Sunday of Advent arrives the Sunday after Thanksgiving…Sunday, December 1. Here is my sixth annual blog post of resources and links in preparation for the Advent season. For those of you who have followed my blog in Advents past, there’s not a whole lot new here. But, I will pass on additional resources and links as I discover them. Please share any additional Advent resources or ideas that have been helpful to you in comments to this blog post.

I have often shared my frustration with reflections of the church calendar seasons that only center around a Northern Hemisphere experience and context. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not knocking them. It’s just that there is a void of reflections, prayers and liturgies from a Southern Hemisphere experience. For example, many Advent reflections often parallel the darkness and waiting of winter, while down here in the Southern Hemisphere summer is upon us and we are enjoying more light and new life. If any of my Southern Hemisphere friends would like to share reflections on Advent from a spring and summer perspective, let me know. I’d love to initiate and compile some reflections on this!

Below if the list of Advent resources and books. Just click on the website or book title to check it out…

CRI/Voice - The Season of Advent: Anticipation and Hope
This is a helpful introduction and summary of Advent.

GodSpace Blog
This Advent Christine Sine will host a blog series, “Coming Home: Uncovering Our Roots in the Advent Story.“ It will include blog posts and reflections from a variety of contributors.

You can also like the Advent Facebook page...HERE.

Ignatian Spirituality Advent Resources
This page includes a variety of resources, including an Advent Retreat booklet based on Ignatian contemplative and prayer practices.

Sacred Space for Advent Online Retreat 2013

Songs for Advent
A couple years ago I discovered this Advent worship digital download. It quickly became a favorite!

Book of Common Prayer Daily Scripture Readings for Advent 
(Year Two - 2013/2014)

Revised Common Lectionary Sunday Scripture Readings for Advent
(Year A - 2013/2014)

Praying Advent
Creighton University’s Online Ministries offers a selection of materials to help people prayerfully enter into Advent, from short prayers to longer reflections and retreats.

Sojourners Top Ten Advent Resources (2012)

Books
The following are a few Advent books I have used in the past or will be using this year.

Sounding the Seasons: Seventy Sonnets for the Christian Year
By Malcolm Guite
I recently discovered this book of sonnets and poetry for the liturgical year. Looking forward to using it beginning this Advent.

Through the Advent Door: Entering a Contemplative Christmas
By Jan L. Richardson
This is a new one for me that I plan to use this Advent. Jan Ricardson has another Advent book called, Night Visions: Searching the Shadows of Advent and Christmas.

Silence and Other Surprising Invitations of Advent 
By Enuma Okoro
This was published last year and focuses on waiting and longing of Elizabeth and Zechariah.

Monastery Journey to Christmas
By Brother Victor-Antoine D’Avila-Latourrette
I purchased this book a couple years ago and it quickly became a favorite!

Watch for the Light: Readings for Advent and Christmas
This is a great compilation of readings from both classic and contemporary writers.

Waiting for the Light: An Advent Devotional
Christine Sine & Mustard Seed Associates have put together a book of reflections, liturgies, and prayers posted on Godspace blog in years past.

On Compassion...Gregory Boyle

My latest read is Tattoos on the Heart: The Power of Boundless Compassion by Gregory Boyle. I am loving it! It definitely will make my list of favorite books of 2013. I recommend you get yourself a copy and read it. If you want to learn a little more about Father Greg, you can check out some of his latest reflection films on At the Work of the People, HERE.

Here is just a taste of the book from the chapter on "Compassion"...

“Here is what we seek: a compassion that can stand in awe at what the poor have to carry rather than stand in judgment at how they carry it.” (67)

"The strategy of Jesus is not centered in taking the right stand on issues, but rather in standing in the right place – with the outcast and those relegated to the margins.” (72)

“The Beatitudes is not a spirituality, after all. It’s a geography. It tells us where to stand.” (75)

“Compassion is not a relationship between the healer and the wounded. It’s a covenant between equals. Al Sharpton always says, ‘We’re all created equal, but we don’t al end up equal.’” (77)

“There is a brand-new, palpable sense of solidarity among equals, a beloved community. This is always the fruit of true compassion.” (80)

Pay Attention :: Frederick Buechner

"From the simplest lyric to the most complex novel and densest drama, literature is asking us to pay attention. Pay attention to the frog. Pay attention to the west wind. Pay attention to the boy on the raft, the lady in the tower, the old man on the train. In sum, pay attention to the world and all that dwells therein and thereby learn at last to pay attention to yourself and all that dwells therein. . .

"Literature, painting, music — the most basic lesson that all art teaches us is to stop, look, and listen to life on this planet, including our own lives, as a vastly richer, deeper, more mysterious business than most of the time it ever occurs to us to suspect as we bumble along from day to day on automatic pilot. In a world that for the most part steers clear of the whole idea of holiness, art is one of the few places left where we can speak to each other of holy things. . .

"And when Jesus comes along saying that the greatest command of all is to love God and to love our neighbor, he too is asking us to pay attention. If we are to love God, we must first stop, look, and listen for him in what is happening around us and inside us. If we are to love our neighbors, before doing anything else we must see our neighbors. With our imagination as well as our eyes, that is to say like artists, we must see not just their faces, but the life behind and within their faces. Here it is love that is the frame we see them in."

~ Frederick Buechner, Listening to Your Life: Daily Meditations 
(Art, February 20)
(Originally published in: Beyond Words: Daily Readings in The ABC's of Faith)

Weekly Rilke :: "Go to the Limits of Your Longing"

God speaks to each of us as he makes us,
then walks with us silently out of the night.

These are the words we dimly hear:

You, sent out beyond your recall,
go to the limits of your longing.
Embody me.

Flare up like a flame
and make big shadows I can move in.

Let everything happen to you: beauty and terror.
Just keep going. No feeling is final.
Don’t let yourself lose me.

Nearby is the country they call life.
You will know it by its seriousness.

Give me your hand.

~ Rainer Maria Rilke
From Rilke’s Book of Hours: Love Poems to God, 1.59
Translated by Anita Barrows and Joanna Macy

August Prayer Letter

Here is a sneak peek at my August prayer letter, hitting mail boxes in a couple week....click here.

shut up, listen, learn, lament…

I can probably count on one hand specific national and international events that have grabbed my attention and stirred my heart in new and significant ways. The Los Angeles riots following the Rodney King verdict in 1992 was one such event. As a college student, I was glued to the TV and saw the smoke from the buildings on fire, all from my suburban neighborhood in Long Beach. The riots and the realities outside my life context and experience stirred something in me vocationally. I believe it played an early part in my desire and decisions to serve among those living in poverty in urban contexts.

I share this because this week I am experiencing similar feelings and stirrings following the Zimmerman/Martin trial and verdict. Thanks to cyberspace and social media, I have been able to follow the post-trial reactions pretty closely from Argentina. I find myself wanting to stand in solidarity with African Americans who lament in anger and grief for not only the verdict, but also their very real life experience it represents. But I feel inadequate to say much of anything. My life experience and context growing up white in the U.S. is very different. I really don’t have a clue. Anything I say could very easily seem trite and insensitive. In fact, I fear this post might even come across that way.

And, quite honestly, I am frustrated and angry with the defensive reaction from some.  We can not ignore, blame and excuse away the real life experiences of others. In my opinion, it only distracts from listening and learning from the African American community and deepens the racial divisions that clearly exist. White Christians, especially, should strive to listen and learn from our black brothers and sisters who are genuinely hurting and lamenting this week. We should see this as an opportunity to move forward in better understanding, reconciliation and healing.

For now, I am going to take the advice of our Word Made Flesh Global Executive Director, Leroy Barber….”listen, learn and lament.” I am also taking Eugene Cho’s advice to heart, in addition to listening, seeking to understand and mourning…“to shut up.” Prayerfully, by being slow to speak, being quick to listen and learn, and lamenting with the African American community, I will someday be able to not only speak up from a more informed, compassionate and empathetic place, but also engage and act!

I invite you to join me in shutting up, listening, learning and lamenting. Here are several articles and links that have especially helped me get started these past few days. Surely, I have missed some good ones, but I will start with these. Just click on the article title.

Okay, time for me to shut up!

From Leroy Barber: “How Christians should respond to the Zimmerman verdict: An interview with Leroy Barber”

From Eugene Cho: “If our black brothers and sisters are hurting, can’t we at least listen, seek to understand, and mourn with them?”

From Leroy Barber: “Raising Black Boys in America: An Interview With Leroy Barber”

From Jim Wallis: “Lament from a White Father”

From Enuma Okoro: “When Your Church Is Silent”

From Margot Starbuck: “Responding to Trayvon Martin: Our Renewed Call to Suffer Together”

Saturday Morning Poetry with Rilke

I believe in all that has never yet been spoken.
I want to free what waits within me
so that what no one has dared to wish for
may for once spring clear
without my contriving.

If this is arrogant, God, forgive me,
but this is what I need to say.
May what I do flow from me like a river,
no forcing and no holding back,
the way it is with children.

Then in these swelling and ebbing currents,
these deepening tides moving out, returning,
I will sing you as no one ever has,
streaming through widening channels
into the open sea.

~ Rainer Maria Rilke
(From The Book of Hours, Translated by Anita Barrows and Joanna Macy)

My looking ripens things...

The hour is striking so close above me,
so clear and sharp,
that all my senses ring with it.
I feel it now: there's a power in me
to grasp and give shape to my world.

I know that nothing has ever been real
without my beholding it.
All becoming has needed me.
My looking ripens things
and they come toward me, to meet and be met.

"I, 1" by Rainer Maria Rilke, from The Book of Hours, translated by Anita Barrows and Joanna Macy.

a little reverse culture shock...

I am still in California for a couple more weeks. After being in Argentina for almost five-years, I always experience some reverse culture shock when I visit the U.S. I continue to strive for a deeper sense of enculturation, home, and stability in Buenos Aires. I still have a loooooooong way to go, but every trip to the United States reminds me just a bit of the progress I have made. Here are a few of the funnier examples….

1) Greeting and Saying Goodbye at Gatherings – In Argentina it is customary to greet and say goodbye (with a kiss on the cheek) to everyone at a gathering (within reason). It always throws me off a little when people leave a party in the U.S. and don’t say goodbye. I also feel the urge to go around the room and greet everyone with a hug when I arrive or leave a gathering. My classes in San Francisco included daily evening prayer, which was closed with “passing the peace.” I found such a sense of home in Argentina with this worship tradition of saying goodbye to everyone in the room with a hug or handshake. I did catch myself leaning in for a kiss on the cheek. Thankfully, I resisted and didn’t break any social norms.

2) Late Night Dinner & Parties – I still am readjusting to dinner at 5:00 or 6:00. Someone in my class was talking about visiting Argentina and the parties and dancing that went until sunrise. I responded, “Oh, that makes me homesick for Buenos Aires.”

3) Pedestrians and the Right of Way – Oh yah, I have the right away in the U.S. I can’t tell you how many times I have stood at a crosswalk waiting for the cars to pass before crossing the street. Drivers stop and look at me like, “What are you waiting for?? GO!”

4) Summertime in La Boca – Talking about the hot humidity of summer, I recently shared about people in my neighborhood and all the activity that just happens outside on the sidewalk and street  (asado cooking, beer drinking, kiddy pools, guys with shirts off, etc.). I said , “Yah, I will know I have truly arrived when I feel comfortable walking down the street with my shirt off, perhaps with a bottle of beer.” I got some pretty strange and somewhat alarmed looks with that one. One guy responded, “Maybe that is a sign to leave?” I say…NAH!

I Am the Kite

I am the kite:
Red and orange,
Fire in the sky,
Stunt Kite,
Cutting loops
And gashes in the blue,
My skin vibrates
On my frame with power.

I cut the cord
To fly yet higher still,
To show the rest
What freedom's all about.
I turn and twist
My fanciest curl
And set my course
For distance.

But, my mistake
Was not
To take the wind for granted,
But the cord
That tensioned me
To one I did not see
So far below.

The flyer is not me.

Lord, give me the anchor. Give me pause.
Let me know in freedom's limited flight,
The kite's first cause.

Bruce Barton Bailey
Sunday, May 29, 1994
University Presbyterian Church, Seattle, Washington

Fire

What makes a fire burn

is space between the logs,

a breathing space.

Too much of a good thing,

too many logs

packed in too tight

can douse the flames

almost as surely

as a pail of water would.

So building fires

requires attention

to the spaces in between,

as much as to the wood.

When we are able to build

open spaces

in the same way

we have learned

to pile on the logs,

then we can come to see how

it is fuel, and absence of the fuel

together, that make fire possible.

We only need to lay a log

lightly from time to time.

A fire

grows

simply because the space is there,

with openings

in which the flame

that knows just how it wants to burn

can find its way.

~Judy Sorum Brown
(Leader’s Guide to Reflective Practice by Judy Brown)

A Prayer and an Icon

"Jesus and Abba Menas. A 6th-century icon from the Monastery of Bawit in Middle Egypt, currently at the Louvre. It is one of the oldest icons in existence."

A print of this icon sits in the front of our class this week.

A Prayer of the Program in Christian Spirituality Community

Creating God:

you stretch wide the heavens

and open the human heart

to receive more and more of your love.

Your Spirit has enlarged our spirits

by drawing us together into this community

of prayer and listening,

hospitality and learning,

compassion and justice –

and we are grateful.

Keep stretching us by your grace

so that we may see, hear, and embrace

the new things you are doing.

Free us to be who you want us to be

so that we may love and serve one another,

our families and communities,

this seminary and the church,

the creation itself,

and you who are within and beyond everything.

We lean on your wisdom and grace

embodied so richly in Jesus Christ

in whose name we pray. Amen.

On Exploring and Change...

“Exploring” by Wendell Berry
Always in the (wilderness) when you leave familiar ground
and step off alone into a new place,
 there will be, along with the feelings of curiosity and excitement,
a little nagging of dread.
It is the ancient fear of the Unknown,
and it is your first bond with the wilderness you are going into.
What you are doing is exploring.
You are undertaking the first experience,
not of the place, but of yourself in that place.
It is an experience of our essential loneliness;
for nobody can discover the world for anybody else.
It is only after we have discovered it for ourselves
that it becomes a common ground and a common bond,
and we cease to be alone.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
THIS IS AN HOUR of change.
Within it we stand uncertain on the border of light.
Shall we draw back or cross over?
Where shall our hearts turn?
Shall we draw back, my brother, my sister,
or cross over?
This is the hour of change, and within it,
we stand quietly
on the border of light.
What lies before us?
Shall we draw back, my brother, my sister,
or cross over?

By Leah Goldberg, adapted; 
Mishkan T’Filah for Travelers: A Reform Siddur 
Central Conference of American Rabbis, 2009

good words for the new year...

"And now let us welcome the New Year full of things that have never been." 

~ Rainer Maria Rilke  

"… every moment is a new beginning, every handshake a promise. I know that every quest implicates the other, just as every word can become prayer. If life is not a celebration, why remember it? If life — mine or that of my fellow man — is not an offering to the other, what are we doing on this earth?"

~ Elie Wiesel from “Open Heart”

"A new beginning! We must learn to live each day, each hour, yes, each minute as a new beginning, as a unique opportunity to make everything new. Imagine that we could live each moment as a moment pregnant with new life. Imagine that we could live each day as a day full of promises. Imagine that we could walk through the new year always listening to a voice saying to us: “I have a gift for you and can’t wait for you to see it! Imagine!"

~ Henri Nouwen

"Teach me God not to wait for the sound of the arrow, but to listen for the creak of the bow. Tune my heart to your future for me."

~ Twitturgies by Gerard Kelly