NIGHT PRAYER: Friday 11/5

 

November is often called the Month of All Souls, 

a special time to pray for those who have gone before us...

Ah, November, Lord…

The gateway, in these parts, to shorter days and colder nights; to “the holidays” and all that they entail; to this year’s end and all the wonder, worry and mystery of what a new year holds in store...

But in all things living comes this dying, Lord: this inevitable annual ending, sapping the strength of all that was bright and beautiful, warm and wonderful…

And then the harvest: a time for raking, burning, plowing under, waiting for the winter… then waiting through the winter…  then waiting for the waiting itself to finally end...

I don’t like the end of things, Lord: the dying, the loss, the giving up, the letting go…

My soul mourns the loss of summer’s warmth and grieves in seeing autumn in her beauty pass away…

I shiver against the chill November brings... And December’s pledge of colder days dims my hopes for spring…

Ah, November, Lord…

What other month might better bear the prayers we offer up for all souls gone before us: precious leaves fallen from our family trees…

All those holy souls: lost from us, found and claimed by you, harvested for life that never ends…

Ah, November, Lord… the month to pause and face the loss of those we prayed might never go - but did…  the month to stop and face the truth:  dying's part of living and after death there comes a time when we will know your reign of peace and know again the love of those we've lost who’ve gone before us… 

Ah, November, Lord…   the month of souls whose loss has touched our hearts in ways we cannot bring to speech - but bring to prayer for you to touch with healing, with the grace of hope that sees beyond the summer’s end, beyond the fall, beyond the winter’s wait for springtime and for life that has no end...

We lift to you the souls, the lives, our love and all our memories of those who’ve gone before us, and in the quiet of our prayer, we now lift them up by name… 

(Take some time, in God's presence, to name family members and friends who have died...) 

We lift them up to you in prayer, Lord: welcome them in mercy to the place that you prepared for them, long before all time began... Hold them in your arms, we pray, Lord - hold them in your arms...

And shape our lives according to your word that one day we may be with them once more, when your mercy brings us home to live with you in peace, in that joy that has no end...

Protect us, Lord, while we're awake and watch over us while we sleep, that awake we might keep watch for you, and asleep, rest in your peace...

Amen.

Tonight's musical offering is a little different: composer Liam Lawton reads a remarkably beautiful prayer against the background of simple music...

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Lord 

My heart is numb 

The one I love has died 

And I have cried and cried

 

There is an empty space in my heart  

That I long to fill

 

As you wept for Lazarus your friend 

Your human heart was breaking 

Now I take your place

Lift the veil that I might see 

Beyond my grief 

Where love is pure and 

Light will reach beneath 

These empty walls

 

May no harm come to them 

They who have taken leave 

The pilgrims of Paradise 

 

May their journey be gentle

And blessed memory 

Lighten their way

May they see the glimmer 

Of Heaven’s light 

Calling them deeper and deeper

Into eternal beauty

 

May they recognize the kindly faces

Of loved ones, old friends and neighbors 

Who’ve gathered to greet them

And take them by the hand

To the land of eternal summer

 

And may they see you Lord 

As you are 

Radiant in beauty

With a gaze from beautiful eyes 

That will never ever leave them 

 

And may they know the sweet embrace

Of your soft, tanned hands

 

So Lord, in my empty moments

May blessed memory 

Be the bridge 

From my heart to Heaven

 

So rest in peace O gentle soul

Until that day 

When love will call us home

 - Liam Lawton

 

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