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