A Prayer for Standing on Tiptoe.
On tiptoe we stand, Lord Jesus
eagerly awaiting
your full revelation
always expecting you
to come some more.
Our hands and hearts
are open to your grace.
Our lives still waiting for
the fullness of your presence.
We are those who have been promised
a Kingdom, and we can never forget
Yet we have a foot in both worlds
and so we stumble.
But still we stand
on tiptoe
Owning our kingdom-loving hearts
and our earth-eyes
We lean forward
and hope.
– Macrina Wiederkehr
INTO THE RIVER
Take the covenant with you into the river –
the boundary river, the risky river between
future and past, between fear and hope,
whose swirling depths can dislodge your feet –
take the covenant with you into the river –
the river that is all that is out of control,
restless and relentless and gnawing its banks,
whose wild floods can drown field and home –
take the covenant with you into the river –
chilling and destructive, peaceful and refreshing,
the river that is world, full of mystery and song,
whose waters can bless like renewal of life –
take the covenant with you into all of your rivers –
let it rest on your shoulders when you take
your steps, let it remind you of a promise,
let it remind of God’s presence,
that you do not cross the boundaries alone,
that you are not abandoned in the raging floods,
that in the depths that would knock you
off your careful feet, God’s love is anchor
to hold and to guide, and waters of danger
shall not overwhelm, and waters of chaos
may bring newness of life, and out of the noise
of rushing waters may rise a beautiful song.
Take the covenant with you.
Watch even the river become
servant of love.
Child of Wonder.
(From: Seasons of Your Heart by Macrina Wiederkehr)
To be this child of wonder you must learn to take off your shoes often. Taking off your shoes is a sacred ritual. It is a hallowed moment of remembering the goodness of space and time. It is a way of celebrating the holy ground on which you stand. If you want to be a child of wonder cherish the truth that time and space are holy. Whether you take off your shoes symbolically or literally matters little. What is important is that you are alive to the holy ground on which you stand and to the holy ground that you are.
Holy Ground
My bare feet walk the earth reverently
for everything keeps crying,
Take off your shoes
The ground you stand on is holy
The ground of your being is holy.
When the wind sings through the pines
like the breath of God
awakening you to the sacred present
calling your soul to new insights
Take off your shoes!
When the sun rises above your rooftop
colouring your world with dawn
Be receptive to this awesome beauty
Put on your garment of adoration
Take off your shoes!
When the Red Maple drops its last leaf of summer
wearing its ‘burning bush’ robes no longer
read between its barren branches, and
Take off your shoes!
When sorrow presses close to your heart
begging you to put your trust in God alone
filling you with a quiet knowing
that God’s hand is not too short to heal you.
Take off your shoes!
When a new person comes into your life
like a mystery about to unfold
and you find yourself marvelling over
the frailty and splendor of every human being
Take off your shoes!
When, during the wee hours of the night
you drive slowly into the new day
and the morning fog, like angel wings
hovers mysteriously above you
Take off your shoes!
Take off your shoes of distraction
Take off your shoes of ignorance and blindness
Take off your shoes of hurry and worry
Take off anything that prevents you
from being a child of wonder.
Take off your shoes;
The ground you stand on is holy.
The ground you are is holy.
Prayer for Taking Off Your Shoes.
by Macrina Weiderkehr
Creator of fire and water,
Your burning bush has turned
into a bubbling brook
And I have taken off my shoes
having heard you call my name.
You do not speak in fire only, Lord.
In water you have sung your songs
And you are singing still.
Today you chant a memory-song
to my grown-up heart,
You are washing my anxiety away
You are reminding me of days of old
when I had time to play.
I stand barefoot upon the stones
the rushing water,
lapping at my heals.
The sharp stones pierce my grown-up soles
My tough child-feet have worn away
as I grew up, forgetting to play.
Creator of the rocks and streams,
I’m growing up once more
I’m taking off my shoes
and remembering to adore.
My feet are getting tough again
My heart is getting young.
A Further Reflection on a Pause.
by Noel Davis.
A pause….
a gap in the human go
where the Divine squeezes through.
Extend the pause
widen the gap
and Lord only knows what might emerge!
Nooma “Open.”
Rob Bell on prayer:
Nooma “Rain.”
Rob Bell.
Please copy into the youtube search:
Hello to the Day.
Neither I nor the poets I love have found the keys to the kingdom of prayer and we cannot force God to stumble over us where we sit. But I know that it’s a good idea to sit anyway. So every morning, I kneel, waiting, making friends with the habit of listening, hoping that I’m being listened to. There, I greet God and my own disorder. I say hello to chaos, my unmade decisions, my unmade bed, my desire and my trouble. I say hello to distraction and privilege, I greet the day and I greet my beloved and bewildering Jesus. I recognise and greet my burdens, my luck, my controlled and uncontrollable story. I greet my untold stories, my unfolding story, my unloved body, my own body. I greet the things I think will happen and I say hello to everything I do not know about the day. I greet my own small world and I hope that I can meet the bigger world that day. I greet my story and hope that I can forget my story during the day, and hope that I can hear some stories and greet some surprising stories during the long day ahead. I greet God, and I greet the God who is more God than the God I greet.
Hello to you all, I say, as the sun rises above the chimneys of North Belfast.
Hello.
Pages 244-245.