October 2014: The colours of prayer
Psalm 104
1 Bless the Lord, O my soul.
O Lord my God, how excellent is your greatness!
21 You appointed the moon to mark the seasons,
and the sun knows the time for its setting.
22 You make darkness that it may be night,
in which all the beasts of the forest creep forth.
23 The lions roar for their prey
and seek their food from God.
24 The sun rises and they are gone
to lay themselves down in their dens.
25 People go forth to their work
and to their labour until the evening.
26 O Lord, how manifold are your works!
In wisdom you have made them all;
the earth is full of your creatures.
27 There is the sea, spread far and wide,
and there move creatures beyond number, both small and great.
28 There go the ships, and there is that Leviathan
which you have made to play in the deep.
29 All of these look to you
to give them their food in due season.
30 When you give it them, they gather it;
you open your hand and they are filled with good.
31 When you hide your face they are troubled;
when you take away their breath,
they die and return again to the dust.
32 When you send forth your spirit, they are created,
and you renew the face of the earth.
33 May the glory of the Lord endure for ever;
may the Lord rejoice in his works;
Rag-rug your personal praise to God into the rug as a prayer
Psalm 51
1 Have mercy on me, O God, in your great goodness;
according to the abundance of your compassion
blot out my offences.
2 Wash me thoroughly from my wickedness
and cleanse me from my sin.
3 For I acknowledge my faults
and my sin is ever before me.
4 Against you only have I sinned
and done what is evil in your sight,
5 So that you are justified in your sentence
and righteous in your judgement.
6 I have been wicked even from my birth,
a sinner when my mother conceived me.
7 Behold, you desire truth deep within me
and shall make me understand wisdom
in the depths of my heart.
8 Purge me with hyssop and I shall be clean;
wash me and I shall be whiter than snow.
9 Make me hear of joy and gladness,
that the bones you have broken may rejoice.
10 Turn your face from my sins
and blot out all my misdeeds.
11 Make me a clean heart, O God,
and renew a right spirit within me.
12 Cast me not away from your presence
and take not your holy spirit from me.
13 Give me again the joy of your salvation
and sustain me with your gracious spirit;
14 Then shall I teach your ways to the wicked
and sinners shall return to you.
15 Deliver me from my guilt, O God,
the God of my salvation,
and my tongue shall sing of your righteousness.
16 O Lord, open my lips
and my mouth shall proclaim your praise.
17 For you desire no sacrifice, else I would give it;
you take no delight in burnt offerings.
18 The sacrifice of God is a broken spirit;
a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.
19 O be favourable and gracious to Zion;
build up the walls of Jerusalem.
20 Then you will accept sacrifices offered in righteousness,
the burnt offerings and oblations;
then shall they offer up bulls on your altar.
Rag-rug your prayer of personal confession into rug
Lament against person close to you who betrayed you
Psalm 55
1 Hear my prayer, O God;
hide not yourself from my petition.
2 Give heed to me and answer me;
I am restless in my complaining.
3 I am alarmed at the voice of the enemy
and at the clamour of the wicked;
4 For they would bring down evil upon me
and are set against me in fury.
5 My heart is disquieted within me,
and the terrors of death have fallen upon me.
6 Fearfulness and trembling are come upon me,
and a horrible dread has overwhelmed me.
7 And I said: 'O that I had wings like a dove,
for then would I fly away and be at rest.
8 'Then would I flee far away
and make my lodging in the wilderness.
9 'I would make haste to escape
from the stormy wind and tempest.'
10 Confuse their tongues, O Lord, and divide them,
for I have seen violence and strife in the city.
11 Day and night they go about on her walls;
mischief and trouble are in her midst.
12 Wickedness walks in her streets;
oppression and guile never leave her squares.
13 For it was not an open enemy that reviled me,
for then I could have borne it;
14 Nor was it my adversary that puffed himself up against me,
for then I would have hid myself from him.
15 But it was even you, one like myself,
my companion and my own familiar friend.
16 We took sweet counsel together
and walked with the multitude in the house of God.
17 Let death come suddenly upon them;
let them go down alive to the Pit;
for wickedness inhabits their dwellings, their very hearts.
18 As for me, I will call upon God
and the Lord will deliver me.
19 In the evening and morning and at noonday
I will pray and make my supplication,
and he shall hear my voice.
20 He shall redeem my soul in peace
from the battle waged against me,
for many have come upon me.
21 God, who is enthroned of old,
will hear and bring them down;
they will not repent, for they have no fear of God.
22 My companion stretched out his hands against his friend
and has broken his covenant;
23 His speech was softer than butter, though war was in his heart;
his words were smoother than oil, yet are they naked swords.
24 Cast your burden upon the Lord and he will sustain you,
and will not let the righteous fall for ever.
25 But those that are bloodthirsty and deceitful, O God,
you will bring down to the pit of destruction.
26 They shall not live out half their days,
but my trust shall be in you, O Lord.
Tell God about it as you rag-rug a rag (or several) into rug
Lament against evil in the world
Psalm 28
1 To you I call, O Lord my rock;
be not deaf to my cry,
lest, if you do not hear me,
I become like those who go down to the Pit.
2 Hear the voice of my prayer when I cry out to you,
when I lift up my hands to your holy of holies.
3 Do not snatch me away with the wicked,
with the evildoers,
who speak peaceably with their neighbours,
while malice is in their hearts.
4 Repay them according to their deeds
and according to the wickedness of their devices.
5 Reward them according to the work of their hands
and pay them their just deserts.
6 They take no heed of the Lord's doings,
nor of the works of his hands;
therefore shall he break them down
and not build them up.
Reflect on which persons/organisations in the world really get you hot under the collar for what they're doing that is wrong
Tell God about it by rag-rugging a piece or rag (or several) into the rug
Lament against God
Psalm 88
1 O Lord, God of my salvation,
I have cried day and night before you.
2 Let my prayer come into your presence;
incline your ear to my cry.
3 For my soul is full of troubles;
my life draws near to the land of death.
4 I am counted as one gone down to the Pit;
I am like one that has no strength,
5 Lost among the dead,
like the slain who lie in the grave,
6 Whom you remember no more,
for they are cut off from your hand.
7 You have laid me in the lowest pit,
in a place of darkness in the abyss.
8 Your anger lies heavy upon me,
and you have afflicted me with all your waves.
9 You have put my friends far from me
and made me to be abhorred by them.
10 I am so fast in prison that I cannot get free;
my eyes fail from all my trouble.
11 Lord, I have called daily upon you;
I have stretched out my hands to you.
12 Do you work wonders for the dead?
Will the shades stand up and praise you?
13 Shall your loving-kindness be declared in the grave,
your faithfulness in the land of destruction?
14 Shall your wonders be known in the dark
or your righteous deeds in the land where all is forgotten?
15 But as for me, O Lord, I will cry to you;
early in the morning my prayer shall come before you.
16 Lord, why have you rejected my soul?
Why have you hidden your face from me?
17 I have been wretched and at the point of death from my youth;
I suffer your terrors and am no more seen.
18 Your wrath sweeps over me;
your horrors are come to destroy me;
19 All day long they come about me like water;
they close me in on every side.
20 Lover and friend have you put far from me
and hid my companions out of my sight.
Reflect on what it is that you're fed up with God over in terms of how God is being
Tell God about it by rag-rugging that complaint into the rug, using a strip of rag (or several)
Sadness
(3m 17s) De Profundis music (Out of the Deep) by Keith Duke, inspired by part of Ps. 130.
Listen along and pray silently inside with it or, if wished, sing it once you get the hang of it.
Out of the deep I call O God
Out of the dark of my own night
Out of the deep I call O God#
Lord come, in your great might
Out of the deep I call O God
Out of the depth of my despair
Out of the deep I call O God
Lord come, lift me from there
Out of the deep I call O God
Out of the turmoil of my soul
Out of the deep I call O God
Lord come and make me whole
Out of the deep I call O God
Out of the agony of my being
Out of the deep I call O God
Lord come, my whole life free
Rag-rug a particular thing of sadness into the rug as a prayer to God
Bereavement
Karl Jenkins "Now the Guns have stopped" (3m 25s)
Rag-rugging each person you've lost and want to remember here into rug
From the rising of the sun to its setting, let us remember them
1 minute silence to remember the people we've lost
Karl Jenkins "Benedictus" (7m 37s)
Thanksgiving
Psalm 30
1 I will exalt you, O Lord,
because you have raised me up
and have not let my foes triumph over me.
2 O Lord my God, I cried out to you
and you have healed me.
3 You brought me up, O Lord, from the dead;
you restored me to life from among those that go down to the Pit.
4 Sing to the Lord, you servants of his;
give thanks to his holy name.
5 For his wrath endures but the twinkling of an eye,
his favour for a lifetime.
Heaviness may endure for a night,
but joy comes in the morning.
6 In my prosperity I said,
'I shall never be moved.
You, Lord, of your goodness,
have made my hill so strong.'
7 Then you hid your face from me
and I was utterly dismayed.
8 To you, O Lord, I cried;
to the Lord I made my supplication:
9 'What profit is there in my blood,
if I go down to the Pit?
Will the dust praise you or declare your faithfulness?
10 'Hear, O Lord, and have mercy upon me;
O Lord, be my helper.'
11 You have turned my mourning into dancing;
you have put off my sackcloth and girded me with gladness;
12 Therefore my heart sings to you without ceasing;
O Lord my God, I will give you thanks for ever.
Rag-rug a particular thanksgiving into the rug as a prayer to God
Petition
Pray for others using the light green fabric strips and for yourself using the dark green fabric strips
Luke 7 v 36-50 One verse each person. To be cut into strips of a verse each and handed around the circle. This is for after the penitence section.
1. One of the Pharisees asked Jesus to eat with him, and he went into the Pharisee’s house and took his place at the table.
2. And a woman in the city, who was a sinner, having learned that he was eating in the Pharisee’s house, brought an alabaster jar of ointment.
3. She stood behind him at his feet, weeping, and began to bathe his feet with her tears and to dry them with her hair. Then she continued kissing his feet and anointing them with the ointment.
4. Now when the Pharisee who had invited him saw it, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, he would have known who and what kind of woman this is who is touching him—that she is a sinner.”
5. Jesus spoke up and said to him, “Simon, I have something to say to you.” “Teacher,” he replied, “speak.”
6. “A certain creditor had two debtors; one owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty.
7. When they could not pay, he cancelled the debts for both of them. Now which of them will love him more?”
8. Simon answered, “I suppose the one for whom he cancelled the greater debt.” And Jesus said to him, “You have judged rightly.”
9. Then turning toward the woman, he said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you gave me no water for my feet, but she has bathed my feet with her tears and dried them with her hair.
10. You gave me no kiss, but from the time I came in she has not stopped kissing my feet.
11. You did not anoint my head with oil, but she has anointed my feet with ointment.
12. Therefore, I tell you, her sins, which were many, have been forgiven; hence she has shown great love. But the one to whom little is forgiven, loves little.”
13. Then he said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.”
14. But those who were at the table with him began to say among themselves, “Who is this who even forgives sins?”
15. And he said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.”
Praise
Psalm 150
1 Alleluia.
O praise God in his holiness;
praise him in the firmament of his power.
2 Praise him for his mighty acts;
praise him according to his excellent greatness.
3 Praise him with the blast of the trumpet;
praise him upon the harp and lyre.
4 Praise him with timbrel and dances;
praise him upon the strings and pipe.
5 Praise him with ringing cymbals;
praise him upon the clashing cymbals.
6 Let everything that has breath
praise the Lord.
Alleluia.
Rag-rug your personal praise to God into the rug as a prayer
Glory be...... cycle through this twice. Shekinah is the wandering Spirit of God (the noun is feminine) who searches over all the Earth to find a home
"Shekinah, Shechinah, Shechina, or Schechinah is the English transliteration of a Biblical Hebrew word meaning dwelling or settling, and denotes the dwelling or settling of the Divine Presence of God, especially in the Temple in Jerusalem."
In Orthodox tradition, all references to Wisdom are seen as references to Christ. Thus the Haggia Sophia in Istanbul, the Church of the Holy Wisdom, is very much a Christchurch
We call God Father. Jesus also taught us to use the affectionate Aramaic "Abba". The feminine is "Amma"
1)
Glory be to You, O God,
Amma, Christ Sophia and Shekinah,
As it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be, world without end, Amen
2)
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit