A Good Friday Prayer

A Litany for Good Friday

Jesus Christ, Savior of our world,
Redeemer of all creation,
The bringer of health and wholeness,
We bless and praise your name.
You died for us and hung upon a cross,
Your blood was shed and your body broken,
So that we might be set free,
We bless and praise your name.

Have mercy on us,
Son of the living God,
Healer of lepers, feeder of the hungry,
Releaser of the oppressed, bringer of wholeness,
Christ crucified, Eternal God
Have mercy on us.

Help us to lay down our own lives daily,
And consciously take on Christ’s life,
May we consider the needs of others as more important than our own,
Teach us, Lord, to live the life of the cross.
Enable us to live a life of service and not of selfish ambition,
Empower us to reach out with compassion and care,
May we identify with the poor, the marginalized, and the vulnerable,
Teach us, Lord, to live the life of the cross.
Encourage us to extend ourselves in serving and loving,
Being willing to walk the extra mile,
May we reach out to all those who suffer and are in pain.
Teach us, Lord, to live the life of the cross.
Forgive us for when we discard Christ’s life,
And so quickly reach for our own ways again,
For it is in dying to ourselves that we find life and enter the ways of your kingdom.
Teach us, Lord, to live the life of the cross.

Excerpt from “Litany for Good Friday”
Taken from A Journey Into Wholeness (Lenten Guide 2009)
By Christine Sine
http://msainfo.org/articles/a-journey-into-wholeness-lenten-reflection-guide

Prayer for Palm Sunday

Assist me mercifully with your help, O Lord God of our salvation, that I may enter with joy upon the contemplation of those mighty acts, whereby you have given us life and immortality; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

From The Divine Hours by Phyllis Tickle. For Divine Hour liturgies this Holy Week, click here.

I am also following the Passion Week via Twitter. While I usually avoid Twitter because it it just too much real time information, this week I will follow the events of Jesus' final week via the @passionweek account created by John Chandler. The Twitter account will give brief real time glimpes of what Jesus experienced at the estimated time he would of experienced it. You can read more about it by clicking here.

You can check out the Passion Week Twitter here @passionweek.

One Year!

Just a quick post on this year anniversary of my arrival in Buenos Aires (March 14)! I am enjoying a weekend retreat getaway in a riverside town just outside the city, called Tigre (about two hours away by bus & train). I found a B & B right on the river and I am looking forward to a couple “tranquilo” days of rest, reflection, and retreat.

Today is the last Saturday of summer here. And it is giving us one last summer blast of heat. One news headline read, "La Ciudad es un Horno" (The City Is an Oven). Tomorrow the temps drop about 10 degrees celsius. Our clocks also "fall back" tonight. So, the time difference from California is now back to 4-hours.

I continue to seek ways posture my heart during this season of Lent. I recently found a very helpful reflection from Christine Sine, “What Lent Is preparing Us For? You can check out the entire reflection on her blog - click here. But, here is the essence of what she says...

“First I want to emphasize that Lent is not about preparation for the celebration of Stations of the Cross much as I enjoy participating in that experience. Nor is it even primarily a preparation for the celebration of the resurrection of Christ, even though this is the pivotal celebration of our faith.

“Lent is primarily about preparing us to live in the world that Christ’s resurrection brought into being - the kingdom of God world - what I like to call God’s resurrection created world. It is about preparing us to follow the one who “transfigured the world with the Spirit of life.”

This provides a helpful and important shift in understanding the purpose of Lent. Our intentional focus and disciplines during Lent are to clear away the clutter that keeps us from living more fully into God’s Kingdom in this world. Sine goes on to say, “The disciplines that we establish during this season are for that purpose. They are intended to break down the barriers that inhibit us from dwelling fully in this world. It is intended as a time to put to death those parts of our lives that are not centered on God and God’s purposes.”

spanish, lent, & one year in buenos aires

I am wrapping up my intensive Spanish course tomorrow with the oral exam. Friday was the written exam. Overall, this past month of daily Spanish class and study has been just what I needed. On some days I left class feeling encouraged and hopeful, while other days I left discouraged and frustrated. I will continue to press on and meet with a tutor three times a week.

Next weekend marks one year in Buenos Aires! I arrived March 14. I just made a reservation to get away for a couple days of personal retreat next weekend to a riverbank town outside the city called Tigre. Tigre lies on the river, Paraná Delta. I visited there three years ago when I visited the Forcattos during my around the world trip. It should be a tranquilo space to rest, reflect, and celebrate my first year here.

Every Friday our community is praying the Lenten liturgies created by Christine Sine in her Lenten Guide. I continue to contribute every Friday to the Prayers & Creeds blog (www.prayersandcreeds.wordpress.com) This week I posted an excerpt from this week’s liturgy (“A Litany for the Brokenness of Hunger”), but thought I would also share it here.

God, you have set us free
Not free to do what we please
But free to love you with our whole heart gladly
Free to love our neighbors as we do ourselves.
God, we need to know your freedom
Free us from our selfishness
Free us from our indifference to the plight of the poor
Free us to love and serve you with all our being.
God, we want to live in your freedom
Free us to show compassion to all who are cast by the wayside
Free us to share generously so that others will not hunger or lack provision
Free us to live in love and mutual care.
God, you call us to freedom
Freedom to love you with our hearts and souls and minds
Freedom to love our neighbors as ourselves
God, may we enter the freedom of your kingdom today.

Pause to offer up your own prayers for those who face hunger around the world

Let God’s compassion bloom in us
Let God’s righteousness bear fruit
Let God’s generosity be harvested
May God’s life be born afresh in us
May God’s light shine in hidden places
May God’s love take root and grow
Amen

Excerpt from “A Litany for the Brokenness of Hunger”
Taken from A Journey Into Wholeness (Lenten Guide 2009) by Christine Sine
http://msainfo.org/articles/a-journey-into-wholeness-lenten-reflection-guide

Ash Wednesday

Tomorrow is Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent. Lent is the 40-day period plus six-Sundays leading up to Easter. This year I am looking forward to using two resources to be my guide through Lent. I will be praying with the church using a The Divine Hours by Phyllis Tickle (Eastertide: Prayers for Lent through Easter from the Divine Hours). This prayer book includes both Morning and Evening Offices. Many of the scripture readings and prayers are taken from the Book of Common Prayer, as well as other ancient prayer books and hymns. Here is one church’s web site that posts The Divine Hours offices throughout the day: www.annarborvineyard.org/tdh/tdh.cfm

I will also be journeying through Christine Sine’s 2009 Lenten Guide, A Journey Into Wholeness. Our community here in Buenos Aires plans to make space each week to observe the liturgies that Sine has written and shared in the Guide for each week of Lent. The GodSpace blog is a great place to visit if you are looking for other resources for Lent this year. GodSpace will also include a “syncroblog” which will link many Lent reflections and meditations from other blog writers. In addition GodSpace includes some meaningful liturgy videos for Lent. Check it out: www.godspace.wordpress.com

I will close with the prayer for Ash Wednesday from The Divine Hours (taken from the BCP)…

Almighty and everlasting God, you hate nothing you have made and forgive the sins of all who are penitent: Create and make in us new and contrite hearts, that we, worthily lamenting our sins and acknowledging our wickedness, may obtain of you, the God of all mercy, perfect remission and forgiveness; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

not too early to prepare for lent...

The season of Lent begins in just about two weeks on Ash Wednesday, February 25. If you are considering ways to observe and journey through Lent this year, Christine Sine has written a super helpful Lenten Reflection Guide that is posted on Mustard Seed Associates website for download. It focuses on different themes of brokenness for each of the five weeks of Lent and includes reflections, litanies, and suggested activities for each week.

To check it out, click here....
A Journey Into Wholeness: Lenten Reflection Guide

She also plans to follow up the Lenten Guide with a similar guide for the celebration of Easter and the resurrection, leading up to Penetcost Sunday in May. Good stuff!