Tag Archive for "mourning"

Posts Tagged ‘mourning’

Mourner’s Lament

Posted on: August 25th, 2019 by Alden

A short meditation about the daily shifts that mourners may experience on the journey to healing, based on my own experiences of mourning. I wrote it a few days ago as a comfort for several friends currently experiencing fresh losses.

Mourner’s Lament
In the morning whisper, heal me.
In the afternoon shout, help me.
In the evening wonder, how long?

In the morning whisper, O love.
In the afternoon shout, O death.
In the evening wonder, how long?

In the morning whisper, this again.
In the afternoon shout, no more.
In the evening wonder, how long?

In the morning whisper, O love.
In the afternoon shout, O life.
In the evening wonder, how long?

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Postscript: See also: “Tears, Too Close: A Prayer of Consolation.”

Please check out my ELItalk video, “Falling in Love with Prayer,” and my two CCAR Press books: This Joyous Soul: A New Voice for Ancient Yearnings and This Grateful Heart: Psalms and Prayers for a New Day. For reprint permissions and usage guidelines and reprint permissions, see “Share the Prayer!” To receive my latest prayers via email, please subscribe (on the home page). You can also connect on Facebook and Twitter.

Photo Source: My Jewish Learning

Private Meditation on the Death of a Beloved Public Figure

Posted on: May 8th, 2018 by Alden

A beloved teacher, I didn’t get the chance to know Rabbi Aaron Panken z’l. Yet from everything written about him — from obituaries to Facebook posts — knowing him would have been an immense blessing. I wrote this months ago and hadn’t gotten around to posting it. The idea, which came from a friend, was that in the flow of beautiful, communal, public mourning, one could forget that private and small group moments of mourning are also important to the grieving process. It seems to me that posting this in his memory would be a fitting tribute.

Private Meditation on the Death of a Beloved Public Figure
Source of blessings,
Deal kindly with the soul of ________________ (name)
Who left a legacy of ________________ (one-word description, e.g.: Torah, music, dance, diplomacy…)
In this world,
A legacy of love, care and inspiration,
A legacy for the generations.

Rock of comfort,
So many were touched by him/her,
As was I,
And grief casts a shadow over my heart.
Even as he/she is celebrated publicly,
With honors and praises due,
Hear my personal prayer,
My private grief and loss.
Let his/her memory become a light
For the days and years ahead.
And let those memories, private and public,
Grow stronger with the passing time,
Becoming a well of consolation.

G-d of all being,
Grant a perfect rest under Your canopy of peace to him/her.
May his/her soul be bound up in the bond of life,
A living blessing in our midst.

Postscript: I wrote this at the suggestion of a friend. It’s rare that I can’t remember — or find a note telling me — who gave me the idea for a particular piece. If it’s you, I apologize and please send me a private message of some kind so I can fix this.

New here? Subscribe here to get my newest prayers by email.
Share the prayer! Email this to a friend.

Please check out my ELItalk video, “Falling in Love with Prayer,” and This Grateful Heart: Psalms and Prayers for a New Day. For reprint permissions and usage guidelines and reprint permissions, see “Share the Prayer!” To receive my latest prayers via email, please subscribe (on the home page). You can also connect on Facebook and Twitter.

Photo Source: HUC-JIR

For the Sufis of the Sinai

Posted on: November 26th, 2017 by Alden

At least 300 are dead after an attack on a Sufi mosque in the Northern Sinai on Friday, including at least 27 children. More than 125 people were also injured in this coordinated assault that began with a bomb blast and continued as terrorist militants gunned down fleeing worshipers from a packed mosque.

For the Sufis of the Sinai
Oh people of conscience,
Cry out.
For man has again turned violent,
Murdering and maiming the innocent,
Worshipers in the act of prayer.

Source and Creator,
Grant a perfect rest under your tabernacle of peace
To the victims of terror in the Northern Sinai,
Sufi innocents,
The hundreds murdered and wounded
By the hand of wickedness,
The hand of malevolence,
As they praised Your Name.
Each one a human.
Each one a life.
Each one enough to cry out to heaven.

Remember the survivors of this horror,
The injured, the witnesses, the mourners,
The new widow and the new orphan,
Those in shock and those in trauma.
Grant them shelter and solace,
Comfort and consolation,
Blessing and renewal.

Heavenly guide,
G-d of refuge,
Hand of love and shelter,
Grant the Sufis of the Sinai,
And all the people of Egypt,
Your protection,
Your wholeness and Your healing.
Let violence, hatred and terror vanish,
Let comfort descend from heaven,
And let the righteous rest in peace.

Postscript: This new prayer combines elements of three other prayers written in the wake of violence: “One is Everything: A Meditation on Terror and Numbers,” “Racist Violence against Houses of Worship” and “For Paris.”

Photo Source: Business Insider

Posts Tagged ‘mourning’

Mourner’s Lament

Private Meditation on the Death of a Beloved Public Figure

For the Sufis of the Sinai

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