Tag Archive for "prayers of the heart"

Posts Tagged ‘prayers of the heart’

Before Writing a Prayer

Posted on: June 17th, 2019 by Alden

Here’s a prayer to be said before writing a prayer. The intention of the prayer is to achieve the kavanah, the spiritual mindset, necessary to serve G-d by writing a prayer. Join me this summer for a five-week online workshop, “Ingredients of Prayer: Writing Contemporary Liturgy” hosted by Ritualwell.

Before Writing a Prayer
Ancient One,
Rock of Israel,
With joy and with gratitude,
With humility and love,
I approach the sacred work
Of putting voice to Your people’s prayers.

Only You know the depth of our love,
The sound of our yearning,
The music of longing,
The song of our hope,
And the thunder in our grief.

G-d of Old,
Give me the words that will open
Your People’s hearts to You,
The words that will open
Our hearts to each other,
The words that will open
Our hearts to healing the world.
And give me the words,
Holy One,
That will open Your heart
To us.

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Postscript: Please consider joining me for my online workshop, “Ingredients of Prayer: Writing Contemporary Liturgy” Here’s a prayer to be said “After Writing a Prayer.”

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 credit: Living a Life of Writing

Rhythm and Grace

Posted on: May 20th, 2019 by Alden

This is another song of the Spiritual Traveler, calling on each of us to hear the music that surrounds us and to feel the power that G-d has given to each of us. Other songs of the Spiritual Traveler include: “Light, Overflowing,” “Dance in the Madness,” “Dance in the Sky, “Come Walk” and “Spiritual Vandals.”

Rhythm and Grace
Let the music of your life guide you,
And the rising sun warm you,
Bringing hope and laughter to your moments and breaths.

Let the power of your stance guard you,
As the horizon blackens and the storm approaches
Holding you firm and ready against the rising winds.

Let the wisdom of your heart ground you
When fear and doubt assail your footsteps
So that you listen to the voice of love and truth.

Let the rhythm of your life grace you,
So that the spinning earth
Will carry you on a journey of joyous adventure.

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Photo Source: NASA

Receiving Blessings

Posted on: December 29th, 2018 by Alden

This prayer is my blessing for you for 2019. It’s about opening our hearts to receiving blessings. In this New Year, may we bless each other and be open to being blessed. This prayer appears in my new book, This Joyous Soul: A New Voice for Ancient Yearnings from CCAR Press.

Receiving Blessings
Ancient One,
Open my heart to receive
The blessings around me,
Kindness and wisdom,
Friendship and understanding,
Tenderness and compassion,
Moments of holiness,
Messages from heaven.

Source and Shelter,
Why can’t I bless others
With the fullness of my being
With joy and thanksgiving,
From a hope for healing
And a pulse of love,
To fill the world with benedictions?

Rock and Redeemer,
Grant me the ability to see and to hear
The blessings around me,
A fountain of love
To fill my soul
With gratitude and courage,
With joy and peace.

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Photo Source: The Poached Egg

Falling in Love with Prayer

Posted on: April 4th, 2017 by Alden

What is prayer? Perhaps an invitation to holiness and healing, bending the light from heaven toward tikkun olam. Have you ever fallen in love with a prayer? That’s the theme of my ELItalk, “Falling in Love with Prayer.” Please check it out. Loving prayer is a favorite topic of my work, including “Rise on Wings,” “Prayers of My Heart,” “Whispered Prayer” and “Prayer for You, Prayer for Me.”

Invitations
Quiet now.
Listen.
Breathe.
And listen.
Blessings float gently around you.
Your prayers set them free.

Oh, you hidden delight of heaven.
Oh, you secret gift of G-d.
Welcome you majesty and splendor.

Prayers are invitations,
Beckoning holiness and awe,
Radiance and wonder,
To join in this moment,
Summoning compassion and grace,
Healing and hope,
To spread their wings.

Quiet now.
Listen to the blessings from the earth
And the prayers in the wind.
They yearn for you,
Calling out
To join in the chorus.
Breathe and sing out
With your spirit and your voice.

Oh, you hidden delight of heaven.
Oh, you secret gift of G-d.
Welcome you majesty and splendor.

Postscript: Other prayers about prayer include: “For Prayer,” “Prayer Released” and “To Pray.” And here are four related prayers: “For Devotion,” “For Humility,”“For Joy” and “For Service.” This prayer first appeared here on October 24, 2012.

Please check out my Meet the Author video 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 Credit: ELItalks

Choosing to Heal

Posted on: February 23rd, 2015 by Alden

Sometimes, healing from pain and trauma is a matter of making a choice. Not an easy choice, by any means, but a simple one: to walk with courage and to invite healing to come. It’s a matter of surrender to the possibility of relief from grief and sorrow. And it takes time. May you find the healing you need.

Choosing to Heal
To heal from grief and loss,
Breathe gently into the morning
And walk with courage
Into the new day.
If you want to heal
Choose it, claim it,
Invite healing into your heart.

G-d of our Ancestors,
Rock of Ages,
You have witnessed our sorrows,
You have seen our struggles,
For generations, for millennia,
Since Avraham and Sarah
First headed Your call.
And You have witnessed
Our joys and celebrations
As we wandered the earth,
And when we returned home.

Bring us back.
Bring us back, G-d of Old,
Bring us back to gladness.
Bring us back to love.

Postscript: Here are other prayers about spiritual healing, including: “R’fuat HaNefesh: Healing the Soul,” “Inviting Healing” and “The Cut that Heals.”

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Photo Source: The Grief Recovery Kit

The Details of Beauty

Posted on: July 11th, 2014 by Alden

A gift for Shabbat. A reminder. A reminder for those in sorrow and grief, those who are tired, numb and especially to those who’ve run to bomb shelters all week. Shabbat Shalom.

The Details of Beauty
Remember
The details of beauty
With your eyes.
The autumn leaf,
A baby’s cry,
Small wonders to remind you
Of joy and wonder.

Remember
The details of love
With your breath.
The soft smile
And gentle hand,
Small wonders to remind you
Of awe and majesty.

Remember
The details of faith
With your pulse,
The quiet prayer,
The hymn of glory,
Small wonders to remind you
Of devotion and service.

G-d of Old,
The details of beauty
Surround us.
Love and faith are
Our inheritance.
Teach us to see clearly in each day
The small wonders
You set before us.
To take them in,
To feel their power
And to rejoice.

Postscript: Here are more prayers with a similar theme: “This Moment “Being Present,” “Leaving” and “Small Moments.” If you haven’t yet, please take a look at my book, Jewish Prayers of Hope and Healing, and consider ordering a copy, where some of these prayers appear.

Photo Source: Alden Solovy

Umbrella of Blessings

Posted on: December 5th, 2013 by Alden

Here’s a prayer in praise of G-d’s blessings. Why? By remembering the blessings around me – the blessings around my friends and family – my sight becomes clearer. Small annoyances vanish. Core fears fade. The light around becomes radiant. Even sadness and grief take on a new form, a new meaning, a new form of holiness. This is a companion to a prayer called “Receiving Blessings,” a prayer to see and receive the blessings around us.

Umbrella of Blessings
G-d of mystery,
G-d of wonder,
Your word is an umbrella of blessing,
Your wisdom a canopy of holiness and light,
A shelter of awe and wonder.

Ancient One,
Let Your blessings protect the strong
And lift the humble,
They guard the joyous
And they support the grieving,
They guide the hopeful
And raise the downcast.

Your tent is the arch of the heavens.
Your drape is the firmament of sky.
Your blessings quench our thirst,
Feed the land,
Fill our hearts,
Bring hope and healing.

Blessed are You, Ancient One,
You cover our lives with an umbrella of blessings,
Filling our days with joy and thanksgiving.

Postscript: Here are prayers with a similar theme: “Receiving Blessings,” “Garden of Blessings,” “An Amazing Life,” “These Blessings” and “Unlock Your Heart.”

For usage guidelines and reprint permissions, see “Share the Prayer!” For notices of new prayers, please subscribe. You can also connect on Facebook and Twitter. If you like this prayer, please post a link to Facebook, your blog or mention it in a tweet.

Photo Source: Jen Martin Spirituality

Receiving Blessings

Posted on: July 31st, 2013 by tobendlight

This prayer is about opening my heart to receive blessings. Why? For me, it is easier to bless than to accept the blessings of others. Even with years of writing gratitude lists, even though I know that life is a “Garden of Blessings,” fully taking in a compliment, a good word or a blessing is still a challenge, something I must practice. So, with this prayer I ask for G-d’s help in receiving blessings.

Source and Shelter,
Why can I bless others
With the fullness of my being
With joy and thanksgiving,
But struggle to be blessed?
To release my heart?
To take in these gifts?

Rock and Redeemer,
Grant me the ability to see and to hear
The blessings around me,
A fountain of love
To fill my soul
With gratitude and courage,
With joy and peace.

Postscript: Here are prayers with a similar theme: “An Amazing Life,” “These Blessings” and “Unlock Your Heart.”

Photo Source: The Poached Egg

Let Us Meet

Posted on: March 7th, 2013 by tobendlight

This is a prayer of invitation. “Let us meet,” Ancient One, in the place where “Your radiance shimmers across creation.” Where is that? Everywhere. I use this prayer for day 34 of counting the Omer, yesod b’hod. This piece appears in This Joyous Soul: A New Voice for Ancient Yearnings from CCAR Press.

Let Us Meet
How can You hear me,
G-d of Old,
How can You hear my voice,
In the chorus of
Song and praise
Reaching toward heaven?

How can I hear You,
G-d of Old,
How can I hear Your Voice,
In the chorus of
Traffic and regret
Weighing on my heart?

Let us meet in the hills at daybreak.
Let us meet in my eyes at sunset.
Let us meet in my labor at noontide.
Let us meet in this yearning at twilight.

My life is a prayer.
Your whispers, a blessing.

Let us meet in sacred moments of holiness and love.
Let us meet in gentle moments of awe and wonder.
Your radiance shimmers across creation.
My words approach You, a song of delight.

Holy One,
Let us meet
In a heartbeat,
In a breath,
In a vision
Of Your holy mountain,
Where Your Word,
Where Your Righteousness,
Where Your Justice and Your Mercy
Blesses and sustains
Us all.

Postscript: See also a related meditation called “Invitations.” My other prayers about prayer include: “Prayers of My Heart,” “Whispered Prayer,” “Prayer for You, Prayer for Me.” “For Prayer,” “Prayer Released” and “To Pray.”

Photo Credit: Roseedge.com

Va’eira: Your Name, Meditation at Dusk

Posted on: January 11th, 2013 by tobendlight

“And God spoke unto Moses, and said unto him: ‘I am the LORD, and I appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, as G-d Almighty, but by My name Adonai I made Me not known to them.’” – Exodus 6:2-3

From Torah we learn that we can begin to know and understand G-d through the revelation G-d’s Holy Names. This prayer is about naming G-d according to the blessings we receive. It appears in my book, This Grateful Heart: Psalms and Prayers For a New Day.

Your Name: Meditation at Dusk
G-d of Old,
Your name is Peace.
Your name is Justice.
Your name is Mercy.

G-d of Life,
Your name is Compassion.
Your name is Love.
Your name is Hope.

G-d of Blessing,
Your name is Truth.
Your name is Wisdom.
Your name is Righteousness.

G-d of our fathers,
G-d of our mothers,
Your Name is in my heart
And before my eyes.

Blessed are You Adonai,
Your name shines throughout creation.

Postscript: Here’s a prayer “For Prayer” that evokes G-d’s Name. My other prayers of praise include: “Dance Hallelujah,” “Sing Hallelujah” and “In Praise.” This prayer was first posted on July 14, 2011, as “Your Name: Quick Prayer at Dusk.”

Please check out my Meet the Author video and This Grateful Heart: Psalms and Prayers For a New Day. For reprint permissions and usage guidelines and reprint permissions, see “Share the Prayer!”

Photo Credit: TheTorah.com

Posts Tagged ‘prayers of the heart’

Before Writing a Prayer

Rhythm and Grace

Receiving Blessings

Falling in Love with Prayer

Choosing to Heal

The Details of Beauty

Umbrella of Blessings

Receiving Blessings

Let Us Meet

Va’eira: Your Name, Meditation at Dusk

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