10/18/25

Pause for Prayer: SUNDAY 10/19

 
Maybe not today, Lord,
but there are times and seasons
when I feel like 
    - I've fallen and I can't get up...

When those days come, Lord: 
   Lift me up, please, lift me up!

Lift me up with a word of faith     
    to help me trust you're always near,
        right there by my side...

Lift me up with a word of love
   to help me see within my self
      your beauty dwelling in my soul...

Lift me up with a word of hope
   to cut the darkness with your light
      and help me trust the peace you give...

Lift me up with a word of truth
   to help me see where you're leading me
      and the path that I should walk...

Lift me up with a word to heal
    the aching in my soul
      and the wound that's in my heart...

Lift me up with a word of trust
   in those who give me counsel
      and guide me through my fears...

Lift me up with a word of peace
   to free my soul from my worries,
        my anxiety and grief...
         
Lift me up with a wisdom word
    to still my nagging doubts
       and calm my mind's confusion...

Lift me up with a word of strength
   when I'm so weak I cannot move
      for fear I'll fall or fail...

Lift me up with a word of mercy,
    cleansing and forgiving me
      with your amazing grace...

Lift me up with a word of wonder
    opening wide my tired eyes
      to beauty all around me...

Lift me up with a word of courage:
   help me speak what my heart knows,
      the word that's mine to share...

Lift me up with a word of grace
    to kindle in my tepid heart  
        the fire of your love...

Lift me up with your strong hand, Lord,
   to raise my soul from lonely depths,
      to heights of joy with you...

Lift me up,
    please lift me up, O Lord! 

Amen. 

  

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NIGHT PRAYER: Saturday 10/18



This morning's Pause for Prayer and this evening's Night Prayer are newer versions of prayers I posted on the first No Kings Day...  
 
Hope, on one hand, is an absurdity 
    too embarrassing to speak about,
for it flies in the face of all those claims 
    we have been told are facts.  
 
Hope is the refusal 
    to accept the reading of reality 
        which is the majority opinion; 
and one does that only
    at great political and existential risk. 
 
On the other hand, hope is subversive, 
    for it limits 
        the grandiose pretension of the present, 
daring to announce that the present,
    to which we have all made commitments, 
        is now called into question.
 
- Walter Brueggermann 
 
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * 
 
Lord, 
    make of us a people of hope 
        and make of me a person of hope...
 
Free me, O Lord,
    to rise each morn
        with hope upon my lips,
    to live each day 
        with hope within my heart,
    to fall asleep at each day's end
        with hope and trust in you...
 
Free me, Lord, 
    to speak with hope,
    to act with hope,
    to trust deep in my soul with hope
        that all things shall be well... 
 
Free me from the inside out
    to walk with hope
    to work with hope,
    to try and try again to hope
        that all things shall be well...
 
Free me, Lord,
    to share my hope
        with no hint of embarrassment...
 
Free me, Lord, 
    to boldly hope
        when others have surrendered... 
 
Free me, Lord, 
    for hope that dares
        beyond my pride and ego...
 
Free me, Lord,
    for hope that stands
        to challenge power's rule...
 
Free me, Lord,
    for hope whose truth
        defies conventional wisdom... 
 
Free me, Lord,
    to hope in you,
        my way, my truth, my life...
 
Make us a people who hope in you,
    who hope in your love and mercy 
and make of me a person who trusts
    that all things shall be well... 
 
Protect me, Lord, while I'm awake
    and watch over me while I sleep
that awake, I might keep watch with you
    and asleep, rest in your peace...

Amen.
 
There Is A Hope by  Stuart Townend
 
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Pause for Prayer: No Kings Day

    adapted from Fritz Eichenberg 
                     
You rule, Lord!
 
With universal dominion, 
  you reign over all creation:
    over every living being on earth,
    over all that was and all that is
    and all that ever more shall be...
 
Command us, then, to survey your kingdom
  and see it as you see it, Lord: 
    one world, one village, one human family;     
        one unique life given each of us, 
    deserving of  reverence, 
        respect and compassion,
            each of us made in your image divine;
     for each one, Lord, each precious life,
        descends from you and your royal line...
 
Come wrap us, then, in your reign of love:
    Rule 
        over our minds and hearts!
    Rule 
        over our passions and zeal!
    Rule
        over our pride and ego! 
    Rule
        over greed and desires! 
    
Rule 
        over our dreams and schemes!
    Rule
        over our will and defiance!   
    Rule
        over our lust for power!  
    Rule 
        over our work and achievements!
    Rule 
        over our arts and science!
    Rule 
        over our deeds and decisions!
  
Rule over our hearts, O Lord,
    with the word of your life and your truth,
    with your tenderness, patience and kindness
    with your mercy, wisdom and justice...
 
Let your reign and rule 
    be always the measure
        of our compassion and care,
        of our selfless sacrifice,
        of our generous mercy,
        of our attentive, unsparing love...
 
And remind us, Lord,
    that you rule as a servant:
born in a stable 
    the Cross is your throne;
you bleed for your subjects,
    your crown's made of thorns;           
your scepter is mercy,
    your edicts, good news;
you lay down your life
    that your people might live... 
 
Cover of Plush: Stone Temple Pilots
 
With regal power reconcile us 
  and all the tragic divisions     
    in our villages, cities and towns,  
    in our families 
        and with our neighbors and friends,
    in and between all the nations on earth,
    in our use and care of our planet's goods,
    in our kinship with you among the poor...
 
You rule, Lord!
    You're our King of Kings and Lord of hosts,
    our Wonder Counselor and Mighty God,
    our Prince of everlasting peace!
With power and dominion, 
    you reign over all:
        over every living being on earth
        over all that was and all that is
        and all that ever more will be...
 
Reign over all your people, O God,
    and teach us to govern with mercy
as you have, kindly, ruled over us,
    your daughters and sons, your own... 
 
Amen.
 
The King Shall Come by John Brownlie
 
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 The King shall come when morning dawns,And light triumphant breaks;When beauty gilds the eastern hills,And life to joy awakes.
 Not as of old, a little childTo bear, and fight, and die,But crowned with glory like the sun,That lights that morning skyO, brighter than the rising morn,When He, victorious rose,And left the lonesome place of death,
Despite the rage of foes. 
O, brighter than that glorious morn,Shall this fair morning be,When Christ, our King, in beauty comes,And we His face shall see.The King shall come when morning dawns,And light and beauty brings;—Hail! Christ the Lord; Thy people prayCome quickly, King of kings.  

  

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10/17/25

NIGHT PRAYER: Friday 10/17

Sometimes, Lord,
like a child,
I want to crawl into my mother's lap
or have my father lift me 
to the cradle of his arms...
 
Sometimes, Lord,
like a child,
I need a place to run to,
a hiding place where I'll be safe:
far from troubles, far from worries
far from all I fear...
 
Sometimes, Lord,
like a child,
I want to be held - close;
to be comforted, consoled,
and protected from all danger
- real or just imagined... 
 
Sometimes, Lord,
like a child,
I need to trust there's always someone there
    to cling to for dear life,
    to wipe away my tears
    and to hold me in the promise
        of a love that lasts forever...
 
So, especially tonight...
    protect me, Lord, while I'm awake
        and watch over me while I sleep
    that awake, I might keep watch with you
        and asleep, rest in your peace...
 
Amen.

You Are My Hiding Place 
   by Michael Ledner 
 
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You are my hiding place 
You always fill my heart with songs of deliverance 
Whenever I am afraid I will trust in You 
I will trust in you 
Let the weak say: 
    I am strong in the strength of my Lord!
 

  

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Pause for Prayer: FRIDAY 10/17

Photo by Rob Neeley

Lord...
 
If I'd but stop and just look up 
I'd see your brush strokes clearly
in branches high above...

If I'd be still and listen
then I'd hear your Spirit rustling,
whispering soft as falling leaves...

If I'd but stop and pause to pray
I'd find your presence stirring
in the breezes all around...
 
If I'd but stop and take a breath
then you might take my breath away
with autumn's awesome glory...

If I'd but lift a prayer to you
I'd find the peace I long for
in the seasons of my soul...

If I'd but stop and just look up
I'd find your brush strokes' beauty
in the trees and in my heart...

Amen.


  

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10/16/25

NIGHT PRAYER: Thursday 10/16


 
Tonight's prayer is not in the usual format. The video below brings us  Archbishop Timothy Broglio's comments on the fifth anniversary (10/3/2020) of Pope Francis' encyclical letter Fratelli Tutti, a letter on fraternity and social friendship. Archbishop Broglio was the Archbishop of the Archdiocese for the Military Services USA before becoming the current president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.  His words and the papal letter he recalls are particularly poignant for current events.
 
I invite you to watch the video and then to reflect on the two prayers following it, prayers which Pope Francis wrote and with which his letter ends. 
 
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A Prayer to the Creator

Lord, Father of our human family,
you created all human beings equal in dignity:
pour forth into our hearts a fraternal spirit
and inspire in us a dream of renewed encounter,
dialogue, justice and peace.
Move us to create healthier societies
and a more dignified world,
a world without hunger, poverty, violence and war.

May our hearts be open
to all the peoples and nations of the earth.
May we recognize the goodness and beauty
that you have sown in each of us,
and thus forge bonds of unity, common projects,
and shared dreams. Amen.

An Ecumenical Christian Prayer

O God, Trinity of love,
from the profound communion of your divine life,
pour out upon us a torrent of fraternal love.
Grant us the love reflected in the actions of Jesus,
in his family of Nazareth,
and in the early Christian community.

Grant that we Christians may live the Gospel,
discovering Christ in each human being,
recognizing him crucified
in the sufferings of the abandoned
and forgotten of our world,
and risen in each brother or sister
who makes a new start.

Come, Holy Spirit, show us your beauty,
reflected in all the peoples of the earth,
so that we may discover anew
that all are important and all are necessary,
different faces of the one humanity
that God so loves. Amen.

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

Make Me A Channel of  Your Peace
 
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Pause for Prayer: THURSDAY 10/16

 
I'm not sure, Lord,  
if there's anyone among us
who always tells the truth...
 
It's just so easy 
    to bend the truth,
    enhance the truth, 
    hedge the truth,
    embellish the truth, 
    hide the truth,
    color the truth,
    stretch the truth, 
    disguise the truth, 
    fake the truth,
    blur the truth, 
    pad the truth,    
    obscure the truth,
    suppress the truth,
    veil the truth, 
    bury the truth,
    and ignore the truth...
 
So many ways
    to avoid the truth
and oh-so-very-many times
    when it's just-so-very-tempting
to just skip the truth
    - and lie...
 
And, Lord, 
    there are lies all around us!
 
Big lies, small lies
    and all the in between lies
that keep us from the truth,
    from what's honest, real and factual,
        authentic and objective,
from what's certain, sure, transparent,
    reliable and proven...
 
Lead me to the truth, Lord, 
   teach me desire, to seek and love your truth...
 
Strengthen my conscience, Lord,
    and help me tell the truth
especially when lies
    might shield me from embarrassment,
    or save me from some punishment 
    or pave a smoother path,
    or make my life much easier    
    or maintain my good name
    or keep me from confronting
        what the truth would bid me face...
 
And give me, Lord, the knowledge, 
    the counsel, wit and wisdom
to see through all the falsehoods
    that confront me every day:
        - all the fabricated nonsense
            masquerading as statistics
        - all the anecdotal foolishness
            that substitutes for facts
        - all the outright lies and sophistry
            that fill the daily news;
        all the B.S. oft repeated
            'til it passes for the truth...
 
Knowledge and counsel, 
    wit and wisdom:
that's what I need and pray for, Lord, 
    what I ask of your today... 
 
Recharge, reboot my intellect, 
    open up my mind!
 
Fill my thoughts with insight,
    common sense 
        and sound good judgement! 
 
Help me to see, 
    to perceive, to discern between
       fact and fiction,    
       sincerity and duplicity,
       the real and the sham,  
       substance and fantasy, 
       humility and pretense,
       the provider and the conman, 
       the giver and the grifter,  
       the true and the false, 
       the truth and the lie...
 
Make me first a person of truth, myself,
    that I might seek and find and know
what's true and sure and  certain around me:
    the truth of your presence, 
    the truth of your word,
    your truth, O Lord, that sets me free...   
 
Amen.   

  

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10/15/25

NIGHT PRAYER: Wednesday 10/15

All around the world,
    in every nation, land and clime,
    in cities, towns and neighborhoods,
    at work, in school and where we play,
    in churches, mosques and synagogues,
    in families and with our friends,
    in all our minds and hearts and souls,
    in the depths of who we are:
LORD
    slow us down and calm our fears,
    heal our wounded, broken lives,
    make us humble, make us wise,
    fill our thoughts with common sense,
    make us just in word and deed,
    forgive our proud and foolish ways,
    fill our hearts with love to spare,
    root out hate and prejudice,
    keep us faithful to your word,
    help us seek and speak the truth,
    turn our hearts to other's needs,
    make us channels of your peace,
    help us pardon as we're pardoned,  
    help us always do the next right thing,
    lead and guide us, day by day,
    help us love as you love us,
    and give us grace to do your will...
   
And all this we pray tonight, Lord,
     from the depths of who we are...
    
Protect us, Lord, while we're awake
    and watch over us while we sleep:
that together we keep watch for you
    'til we rest in a world at peace...

Amen.
 
A beautiful world-wide version
   of an old favorite...  

He's Got the Whole World in His Hands
 
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