Let us pray* for our community,
where, all too often, like Cain,
we have made the offerings of our brothers and sisters
a cause for hostility and division.
We pray that common vision and common purpose may bind us together,
teaching us to value the richness of our diversity
and to rejoice in every fresh glimpse of a world healed
through traditions and approaches not our own.
Teach us to love:
That we may be children of love.
*meditate, hold in good and active thought.
We pray for those lands where brother and sister fight sister and brother,
divided by arbitrary borders, ideology and religion.
We pray for those lands where extremes of wealth and poverty are bitterly divisive.
We pray for those lands where power is grossly abused
and the dispossessed bear the heaviest burden.
Teach us to love:
That we may be children of love.
We pray for all who have been nourished on bitterness
and fed with the wrongs suffered by earlier generations.
We pray for all who have grown to hate people
instead of hating that which evil has done to people.
We pray for the young who are impatient for change
and the not so young who resist all change.
Teach us to love:
That we may be children of love.
We commend to God the special needs known to us:
- For Meteor Blades and his family;
- For those suffering from health problems or injury, especially: fibromyalgia, infertility, miscarriage, depression and other mental illness;
- For Mary (brain tumor), and for Ann (esophegeal cancer);
- For those angry at their children, or worried for them, for those who lack confidence in their parenting ability, and for those raising children with special needs;
- For those coping with stresses large and small: late snow, academic work, taxes, family problems, unemployment, problems with the military, the heartbroken;
- For all those in need, named and unnamed.
As we remember the sick, the sorrowing, and all who are in distress, let us also remember that God has supremely made himself known to us as Savior and call us to share in God’s rescuing work.
Teach us to love:
That we may be children of love.
Lord, we would heal and not destroy.
Teach us the discipline of obedience to the commandment
“You shall love your neighbor as yourself,”
and give us the fortitude to go on obeying to the end.
Teach us to love:
That we may be children of love.
Please say prayers for my brother who learned a couple weeks ago that he has metastatic melanoma. Two Fridays ago, he had a second surgery to remove his remaining lymph nodes and to amputate his middle finger. It’s stage 3C. He and his wife are pursuing all options, including any openings in any clinical trials. He and I have had a lot of long talks since the news, and it’s been very, very emotional.
Not to be selfish but it’s been very hard on me too. He’s my only sibling. He has five boys, the oldest 21. And my mom lives with him to be close to her doctors. She turns 90 next weekend, and I worry so much about the stress for her, and call her all the time to make sure she’s okay.
…
And, if you’re inclined, say a prayer for Senator Boxer, the raccoon I’ve been feeding. Last week, for the first time I saw him under the backdoor light and saw that his back left leg is horribly wounded — red and raw, no skin or hair left. He has to drag his leg behind him, so can’t go very fast and I think that’s why he’s been coming to my backdoor so much begging for food. We got a trap and found a wildlife rehab place that’ll take Sen. Boxer and get him to a vet. But it’s been very hard since he’s so wary of the trap. We tried sardines the other night but that attracted half the cats in the county. (And, yup, i know about the danger of rabies, etc. so have thick gloves if we get him in the trap.) He’s such a sweetie, and I worry about him. (We decided to call him Senator Boxer because he’s feisty and spirited, but also very friendly and sweet.)
Consider your family in my prayers, Susan. Last summer I unexpectedly lost my only brother to undetected medical problems, and it still hurts.
It’s definitely worth your prayers and hopes for the current treatments out there. Over a year ago my father-in-law was diagnosed with inoperable brain cancer and the doctor gave him a life expectancy of two months. He got all his affairs in order, entered a clinical trial, and endured radical treatments for the next 14 months. But he just finished his last round of chemo, the tumors have nearly disappeared, and things are looking up. My prayers go out to your family this evening.
Thank you, and that is a very heartening story! Hugs.
Namaste.
I know the struggle of facing the loss of one’s only sibling. I too have a brother, who was diagnosed walking dead almost 6 years ago. Amazingly, he is still walking. Not least due to the power of prayer. So be sure that your brother will be included, mightily, in mine. As will your mother. And you. You have to be selfish in some ways, I have found, or you will go mad.
And BB will be included as well….During my brother’s last 28 day stint in ICU (200 miles from home), I cared for his wife’s ailing old dog. There was something about that which helped to keep me together. So, yes, I am inclined to pray for the coonie too. And inclined to see an angel in disguise there.
What reassuring words, and a fascinating site. Thank you… I just fed Sen. Boxer, and was relieved to see him, knowing he’s hanging on despite his wound.
for your brother, and Senator Boxer, too. All God’s critters got a place in the choir.
I certainly will and the candles are lit for them. In the effort to trap Sen.B. without collecting cats you might want to try fruit-the raccoons here love pears and apples.
Ohhh .. thanks! Fabulous tip. I have a couple pears that are ripening, and I have some canned peaches I was savin’ for another upside down peach cake I made once already for the first episode of season two of Deadwood. Maybe I’ll sacrifice the peaches for Sen. Boxer.
The deadwood obsesssion?
Out of pure curiosity, mind you.
I have no clue what Deadwood is, I just see it mentioned in about 700 different spots on the site.
the single best argument against Libertarianism ever devised.
However, even the disabled get jobs as well as some pretty darn fine medical care, and the unaware dying are put out of their misery.
And, the recycling program through Mr. Wu’s pigs is excellent. Nobody much eats the bacon, although little Sophia plays with her bacon slices as if they were dolls .. how ghoulish is that.
It’s a marvelous drama on HBO that’s set in the real town of Deadwood, South Dakota, and the writers draw on a lot of factual history but also take great license to build the characters’ stories as they wish. Check out the site to get a feeling for the show. The first-season DVD can be rented.
FYI, the reference to canned peaches is that, on the show, whenever somebody important is coming into the Gem saloon, the workers get out the canned peaches, in big bowls on the bar. It was considered a big treat. So, fans of the show often eat canned peaches while they watch. I made from-scratch upside-down peach cake for the first episode — it was so good.
Forget about knowledge and wisdom,
and people will be a hundred times better off.
Throw away charity and righteousness,
and people will return to brotherly love.
Throw away profit and greed,
and there won’t be any thieves.
These three are superficial and aren’t enough
to keep us at the center of the circle, so we must also:
Embrace simplicity.
Put others first.
Desire little.