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Archive for the ‘Praises’ Category

Evening Blessings

Posted on: November 20th, 2011 by tobendlight

Jewish liturgy includes a set of morning blessings called Birkot Hashachar. Those blessings include a set of one line prayers that remind us of G-d’s gifts of renewal each day. This creates the practice of reciting a daily morning gratitude list. “Evening Blessings” is an attempt to create a night time version of this prayer.

Evening Blessings
Blessed are You, Adonai Our G-d, Sovereign of the universe who has given us (me) the…
…gifts of the body.
…delights of the senses.
…beauty of the heart.
…dignity of the mind.
…radiance of the soul.
…mystery of the spirit.
…blessings of Your Word.
…majesty of Your wisdom.
…presence of Your glory.
…wonder of being.

Blessed are You, Adonai Our G-d, Sovereign of the universe,
For these and all Your gifts, we sanctify and praise Your Holy Name.

Postscript: Here’s a link to my version of “Morning Blessings.” Also check out: “Quick Meditation for Today,” “Quick Meditation at Noon,” “Your Name: Quick Prayer at Dusk” and “Quick Meditation at Night.”

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I Saw G-d

Posted on: September 27th, 2011 by tobendlight

This is the third piece – written in the voice of the spiritual traveler – that loosely follows a meter and a rhyming pattern, which is not my typical style. The others are “Come Walk” and “Each Day.” The three pieces fit together loosely as a series, although this piece and “Come Walk” are more closely connected.

I Saw G-d
I saw G-d in the color of the rainbow.
I saw G-d in the color of the sky.
I saw G-d in my mirror.
I saw G-d in the color of your eyes.

I heard G-d in your laughter.
I heard G-d in your breathless cry.
I heard G-d in my heartbeat.
I heard G-d in your secret sigh.

I felt G-d in the quiet morning.
I felt G-d in the lonely night.
I felt G-d in your gentle breathing.
I felt G-d in your holy light.

I know G-d as Source and Shelter.
I know G-d as the Rock of Love.
I know G-d as Grace and Wisdom.
I know G-d as the Rock of Life.

Postscript: Check out “Come Walk” and “Each Day.” Other songs, prayers and poems of the spiritual traveler include: “Leaving,” “Remember,” “About the Rainbow,” “Bird is Bird” and “Soarbird.”

If you like this prayer, post a link to your Facebook page, to your blog or as part of a tweet. And don’t forget to click “like” on this page. Thanks. For reprint permissions, see “Share the Prayer!” in the right hand column.

Photo courtesy of USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service

I Am Breathing

Posted on: September 24th, 2011 by tobendlight

This is a meditation on the simple joys of breathing, hearing and seeing, but it’s really about the hope to embody in my own life the simple, gentle act of being. Here’s the piece, along with a photo I took of a sunrise over Lake Michigan one summer morning. To listen along as you read, click on the triangle in the bar below.

I Am Breathing
I am.
Breathing.
I am breathing.
A prayer runs through it.
A prayer of hope.
A prayer of love.
A prayer of wholeness and heart.

I am.
Hearing.
I am hearing.
A song runs through it.
A song of joy.
A song of wonder.
A song of thanks and praise.

I am.
Seeing.
I am seeing.
A light runs through it.
A light of hope.
A light of love.
A light of wisdom and grace.

I am.
Being.
I am being.
My life runs through it.
A life of mystery.
A life of awe and splendor.
A life exalting G-d’s Holy Name.

Postscript: Other songs and prayers of the spiritual traveler include: “Come Walk,” “Leaving,” “Remember,” “Bird is Bird” and “Soarbird.”

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: Alden Solovy

For Devotion

Posted on: August 11th, 2011 by tobendlight

אֲדֹנָי שְׂפָתַי תִּפְתָּח וּפִי יַגִּיד תְּהִלָּתֶֽךָ
“O Lord, open You my lips and my mouth shall declare your praise.” – Psalms 51:17

This meditation opens with the words of Psalms 51:17 which are used before reciting the Amidah to set the intention for devotion in prayer. Each of the subsequent lines builds upon the line before to deepen the intention. To listen along, click on the triangle in the bar below. The text follows.

For Devotion
אֲדֹנָי שְׂפָתַי תִּפְתָּח וּפִי יַגִּיד תְּהִלָּתֶֽךָ
G-d, open my lips, so that my mouth may declare Your Praise.
Open my mouth, so that my heart may sing Your Glory.
Open my heart, so that my eyes may see Your Wisdom.
Open my eyes, so that my soul feels Your Presence.
Open my soul, so that my hands do Your Mitzvot.
Open my hands, so that my works glorify Your Torah.
Open my works, so that my deeds bear witness to Your Truth.
Open my deeds, so that my life bears witness to Your Justice.
Open my life, so that my spirit bears witness to Your Mercy.
Open my spirit, so that my days declare Your Holy Name.

Postscript: Here are two more meditation based on a lines from Jewish prayer, “Affirmation of Faith” and “Gathering: A Dream of Reunion,” as well as related prayers “For Humility,” “For Joy” and “For Service.”

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. Please consider making a contribution to support this site and my writing.

Photo Source: Kaballah Source

Prayer Released

Posted on: July 17th, 2011 by tobendlight

Here’s a meditation asking G-d to help give us voice to the prayers hidden deep in of our flesh and our bones. It’s similar to “For Prayer,” but carries a deeper sense of yearning. So far, I’ve written 11 prayers about prayer, including one to be said “Before Writing a Prayer” and one for “After Writing a Prayer.” To listen along, click on the triangle in the bar below. The text follows.

Prayer Released
There’s a prayer stuck in my throat,
Longing to be given voice,
Yearning to be heard.

There’s a prayer stuck in my limbs,
Longing to be given power,
Yearning to be seen.

There’s a prayer stuck in my lungs,
Longing to be given breath,
Yearning to be given life.

G-d of Old,
Release the prayer hidden deep in my bones,
The prayers that move through my veins and through my heart.
Let my body become a blessing of joy and service.
Let my being become an instrument of holiness and light.
Let my life praise creation with all of my deeds.

Ancient One,
Use my voice,
My limbs,
And my breath.
Set free this chorus of sacred love,
This symphony of
Radiance and splendor.

Postscript: This is another offering in my series of prayers about prayer, including: “For Prayer,” “Prayers of My Heart,” “Whispered Prayer,” “To Pray” and “Prayer for You, Prayer for Me.”

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. Please consider making a contribution to support this site and my writing.

Photo Source: Sam Mugraby, Photos8.com

Quick Meditation at Noon

Posted on: July 12th, 2011 by tobendlight

This is from a set of meditations for use when prayer time is brief, like waiting in line at the grocery story or stopped at a red light, as well as for those daily in between moments and for mornings when you need to get off to work quickly. Other prayers in this series are: “Quick Meditation for Today,” “Your Name: Quick Prayer at Dusk” and “Quick Meditation at Night.” To listen along, click on the triangle in the bar below. The text follows.

Quick Meditation at Noon
There’s still time to live this day with intention,
To set aside petty thoughts and small tasks,
To see myself with dignity and grace.

There’s still time to live this day with my hands and my heart,
To walk with strength
To act with courage,
To offer kindness,
To build and to sustain,
To embrace and to bless.

G-d of forgiveness,
Thank you for the gift of hope
That you’ve planted in every moment,
The gift of renewal that You’ve given to every hour,
So that we may find the way
To redeem our days with holiness.

Postscript: “A Moment of Blessing” and “Morning Blessings” are slightly longer and lovely prayers to use to start the day. Other quick prayers are: “Quick Meditation for Today,” “Your Name: Quick Prayer at Dusk” and “Quick Meditation at Night.”

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 Credit: David Horvitz

Offerings

Posted on: May 22nd, 2011 by tobendlight

In this simple set of rhythmic, parallel verses we affirm the connection between G-d’s gifts and our responses. The result is hope for a lasting dialogue with G-d. In communal worship this can be used as a congregational mediation or it can be read responsively. I use this prayer during week five of counting the Omer. It appears in This Joyous Soul: A New Voice for Ancient Yearnings. To listen along, click on the triangle in the bar below. The text follows.

Offerings
When G-d offers love, I offer my heart.
When G-d offers wisdom, I offer my mind.

When G-d offers beauty, I offer my senses.
When G-d offers silence, I offer my patience.

When G-d offers challenge, I offer my strength.
When G-d offers trial, I offer my faith.

When G-d offers pain, I offer my dignity.
When G-d offers fear, I offer my courage.

When G-d offers grief, I offer my endurance.
When G-d offers shame, I offer my amends.

When G-d offers death, I offer my mourning.
When G-d offers life, I offer my rejoicing.

When G-d offers joy, I offer my thanksgiving.
When G-d offers awe, I offer my wonder.

When G-d offers righteousness, I offer my blessings.
When G-d offers holiness, I offer my praise.

Postscript: Other prayers about G-d’s gifts include: “This Bounty,” “These Blessings” and “In Plain Sight.” This “Meditation After the Yom Kippur Vidui” is also about offering ourselves in service to G-d.

Photo Credit: The Word in Hebrew

Hershal Dovid: A Torah Reading Story

Posted on: May 12th, 2011 by tobendlight

This 131-word story is about the joy of reading Torah. The story is named for my cousin Jon’s oldest son, David. I got the idea after attending his Bar Mitzvah. It’s similar in theme and texture to two other short, short stories: “Mendel Baruch” and “Motyl the Fool.” To listen, click on the triangle in the bar below. The text follows.

Hershal Dovid : A Torah Reading Story
When Hershal Dovid stepped up to read Torah for the first time, when he walked up to the bimah and took his place on the pulpit, when he held the yad in his hand and pointed it at the Sacred Scroll, the parchment gleamed before his very eyes. Hershal’s body began to tremble, his heart filled with a luminous flow of holy light, his voice filled with the radiance of Divine gifts. As he chanted in perfect pitch, in perfect cadence, with perfect inflection, the Torah itself joined in the song. Hershal Dovid and the Word of G-d sang a duet of everlasting love, of everlasting devotion, the song of the ancient and the new, of the finite and the infinite, of our longing for G-d, of G-d’s longing for us.

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. Please consider making a contribution to support this site and my writing.

Photo Source: Judea Reform Congregation

Meditation for Today

Posted on: April 12th, 2011 by tobendlight

This is a simple daily prayer for a kindness, gentleness and peace from This Grateful Heart: Psalms and Prayers for a New Day. It is applicable in times of joy and times of duress.

Meditation for Today
G-d,
Help me through this day.
Guide me toward kindness, gentleness and peace.
Grant me strength and endurance,
Courage and humor,
So that I may do Your will with a full heart,
In joy and in love.
Grant me wholeness, wonder and awe.
Then, G-d of Old,
I will become a source of blessings,
A light of Your word.

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 by Alden Solovy

Sing Hallelujah

Posted on: April 9th, 2011 by tobendlight

To sing as an expression of G-d’s love and G-d’s gifts, that is to Sing Hallelujah. This and a companion prayer, “Dance Hallelujah,” would fit well into the Hallel section of your Passover Seder. To listen along as you read, click on the triangle in the bar below. The text follows.

Sing Hallelujah
Hallelujah
A hymn of glory,
A chant of praise,
A song of thanksgiving.
Voices raised, hearts to heaven.
Lungs full and strong.
A breath, a note, a lyric, a tune.
A call of love,
An echo of truth,
Resounding with joy and praise.

Let my hopes carry me toward wondrous deeds.
Let my heart lift me toward sacred wisdom.
Let my breath lead me to majestic truth.
Let my words exalt Your Holy Name.

Hallelujah
A song of hope,
A harmony of justice,
A chorus of mercy.

G-d of Miriam,
Prophet who danced by the sea,
Teach me the song of life,
Of dedication and zeal,
Of wonder and glory.
Teach me to sing my Hallelujah.
Teach me to live my Hallelujah.
A song of righteousness.
A song of thanksgiving.
A song for the generations.

Postscript: Here are links to related prayers: “For the Gift of Song,” “For the Gift of Dance” and “For the Gift of Music.” Please take a look at my book, Jewish Prayers of Hope and Healing.

Click here for a list of prayers that would make lovely additions to a Seder.

Please consider making a contribution to support this site and my writing. For usage guidelines and reprint permissions, see “Share the Prayer!” For notices of new prayers, please subscribe. Connect with To Bend Light on Facebook and on Twitter.

Archive for the ‘Praises’ Category

Evening Blessings

I Saw G-d

I Am Breathing

For Devotion

Prayer Released

Quick Meditation at Noon

Offerings

Hershal Dovid: A Torah Reading Story

Meditation for Today

Sing Hallelujah

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