Tag Archive for "blessing" | To Bend Light

Posts Tagged ‘blessing’

Regarding Old Wounds

Posted on: April 18th, 2010 by tobendlight

This prayer is about the spiritual path, recognizing that it requires a sense of purpose and joy, of love and humility. Why? Because healing can be painful. Much like surgery, it’s often necessary for me to receive my wounds in order to grow. Then I have a profound choice, to live wounded or to let these wounds heal and live from a place of wonder and awe. I use this prayer in week four of Counting the Omer, chesed b’netzach.

Regarding Old Wounds
Daughter of man,
Son of woman,
Children of compassion and sacred secrets:
Your wounds are deep,
Your losses crushing,
Knife on flesh,
Hammer on bone,
Burning your heart and searing your eyes.
Why do you invite them back
To chastise your days
And torture your nights?
Why do you love these old wounds,
Holding them so dear?

Son of celebration,
Daughter of ecstasy:
Cast off your doubts,
Banish your fears,
Exile the pain of time beyond your reach.
There is beauty in your past,
Wonder in your future,
And holiness in each new moment of life.

Come you children of G-d,
You witnesses of suffering and grace,
Lift your heads from your hands,
Raise your voices in song,
Lift your lives in service,
And rekindle the light of compassion and love.
Then, your lives will become a blessing,
A well of hope,
A river of consolation,
A fountain of peace.

Blessed are You, G-d of forgiveness,
You renew our lives with purpose.

Postscript: This piece was part of a collaboration with Lin Batsheva Kahn of the Tikvah Company of Artists and Desiree Miller of the Chicago Civic Orchestra called “Three Prayers,” using my words, original choreography and dance by Lin and original cello music by Desiree. “Three Prayers” premiered in Jerusalem in June 2014 as part of an evening of dance and poetry by Miriam Engel’s Angela Dance Company. This prayer appears in my book, Jewish Prayers of Hope and Healing.

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: Neshama נשמה Nicole Raisin Stern

For the Gift of Song

Posted on: April 11th, 2010 by tobendlight

Creativity. What an amazing set of gifts! Song, dance, music, art. Writing. Humor. This is part of a series of prayers celebrating creativity, including dance, music and art. Each of these prayers has a common framework:

Thanks to G-d for the beauty of that gift: “G-d, we give thanks for the gift of… ”
Recognition of those who’ve been given that particular gift: “Hear this prayer for those who…”
A petition that the gift be used to bring holiness into the world: “Make their [_____] Your vessel…”
A petition that, in receiving this gift from G-d through the artist, we’ll be reminded to use our own lives to bring beauty and holiness into the world: “So that when we…”

To listen while you read, click on the triangle in the bar below. The text follows.

For the Gift of Song
G-d, we give thanks for the gift of song,
For the gift of melody and harmony,
For the gift of voices quilted together in chorus,
Lifting praises toward the holy realms.
Hear this prayer for those who chant in Your Name,
Who chant for healing,
Who chant to witness Your love,
Your power,
Your grace.
Make their voices Your vessel.
Let heaven pour joy through them
So that they overflow with Your light,
Drawing others to Your glory.
So that when we hear their song
Our hearts turn back to You in peace.
Together, we offer our prayer back to heaven
And rejoice.

Postscript: Be sure to check out the other prayers in this series: “For the Gift of Words,” “For the Gift of Dance,” “For the Gift of Art,” “For the Gift of Music,” “For the Gift of Laughter,” “For the Gift of Torah Scholarship” and “For the Joy of Learning.”

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.

To Hear Your Voice

Posted on: April 1st, 2010 by tobendlight

This prayer starts with yearning hear G-d’s message, the desire to understand G-d’s will and the humility to seek G-d’s counsel. It ends with the affirmation that G-d’s voice is available to all who listen. This prayer is from a series of prayers that includes: “To Seek Your Glory” and “To Know Your Word.” I use this prayer on the 31st day of the counting of the Omer, Compassion in Humility. This prayer poem appears in This Joyous Soul: A New Voice for Ancient Yearnings from CCAR Press.

To Hear Your Voice
Divine Voice of reason and love,
Of compassion and understanding:
Speak gently and clearly so that I may know Your will.
Give me the patience to listen and the desire to seek
Your counsel and instruction.
Grant me the understanding to hear Your teachings in every voice,
From all people,
In every moment of need.
Open my heart to others,
To their suffering,
To their call for help.
Open my heart to love and laughter,
Song and dance,
Beauty and grace,
So that I remember to celebrate Your gifts day by day.

Divine Creator of spirit and light,
Teach me to hold my joys and sorrows gently in my hands
And to honor them both.
Teach me to be present to all that I see and all that I feel,
In truth, without fear.
Teach me to be present for others,
In humble service.

Blessed are You,
Teacher and Guide,
You make Your wisdom known to those who ask
And those who listen, willingly and patiently,
To the voices of Your creation.

Blessed are You, Your Voice resounds throughout creation.

Postscript: Here are three related prayers: “Prayers of My Heart,” “Whispered Prayer” and “Prayer for You, Prayer for Me.” Please check out my book, This Joyous Soul: A New Voice for Ancient Yearnings.

Photo Credit: Nemoy Fine Arts

For Spring

Posted on: March 23rd, 2010 by tobendlight

Spring arrives. This prayer first appeared in my book, Haggadah Companion: Meditations and Readings, where I suggest that it would be a lovely supplement to the karpas ceremony. It also appears in This Grateful Heart: Psalms and Prayers for a New Day. To listen while you read, click on the triangle in the bar below. The text follows.

For Spring
Shimmering, radiant air
Alive with new warmth.
Sunshine waking the earth,
Calling the grasses to grow,
Bulbs to prepare flowers.
Winds clear the last remnants of seasons past,
Old leaves and dry branches
Making way for new life.
And the rain joins the sun to feed the land.
Bless this day, God of seasons.
Bless the Spring with energy and hope.
Be present with us as we celebrate the glory of Creation
Planting the land and our lives with Your gifts,
These gardens of holiness and love.

God of time and space,
May this season be a blessing and a teacher.
Make me like the sunshine, a source of light.
Make me like the earth, a source of bounty, ready to give.
Bless my days with service and my nights with peace.
Make me like a garden,
A source of beauty and purpose,
Sustenance and splendor.

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Postscript: Other seasonal prayers that also appear in This Grateful Heart: Psalms and Prayers for a New Day include: “For Winter,” “For Summer,” “For Autumn” and “For Rain.”

Photo Source: Alden Solovy

For Healing the Spirit

Posted on: March 22nd, 2010 by tobendlight

This prayer opens by summoning the prophetic voice, asking that we examine our lives, that we examine why we waste our days in grief and despair. Then the prayer turns to the power we have to make our lives holy, asking us to walk toward holiness. This is one of a set of three related prayers, including “Regarding Old Wounds” and “For Sharing Divine Gifts.” All three appear in my book, Jewish Prayers of Hope and Healing. To listen while you read, click on the triangle in the bar below. The text follows.

For Healing the Spirit
Daughter of man,
Son of woman,
Children of love and divine union:
Why do you stay buried in your losses,
Crushed by your burdens,
Drowned by your fears?
Why do you look down to the dust
When the morning sky
Bursts with daybreak?
When the night
Shimmers with starlight?
Why do you shuffle your feet
When the earth calls out
To feel your dance?

Daughter of majestic gifts,
Son of glorious secrets:
Cast off your sorrows.
Banish your pain.
Exile your grief.
There is joy in every breath,
Mystery in every sky.

Come you children of G-d,
You witnesses of life and loss:
Walk with dignity toward holiness
And with grace toward healing.
Walk with confidence into each moment
And with passion into each new day.
Then your lives will become a blessing,
A divine teacher,
An instrument of heaven,
A messenger of hope.

Blessed are You, Creator of life,
You heal the broken spirit with love.

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Postscript: Although all three of the prayers in this series have particular relevance during the Hebrew month of Elul. I’ve selected this prayer for using during week four of Counting the Omer. Here are more prayers for healing: “For a Critically-Ill Child,” “For Surgery” and “Upon Recovery from Surgery.”

Photo Credit: Neshama Life

Posts Tagged ‘blessing’

Regarding Old Wounds

For the Gift of Song

To Hear Your Voice

For Spring

For Healing the Spirit

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