Tag Archive for "blessing" | To Bend Light

Posts Tagged ‘blessing’

On the Front Lines of the Pandemic

Posted on: March 25th, 2020 by Alden

A prayer for those on the front lines of the pandemic. It begins with the medical professionals putting themselves in harm’s way. The second stanza broadens the view of what’s included as ‘the front lines.’ It ends with two universal prayers. For a focused prayer for medical professionals, skip the second paragraph, although I believe this crisis calls for the inclusive view. Here are three related prayers: “Healing from Coronavirus“, “Coronavirus: A Prayer for Medical Scientists” and “Traveler’s Prayer in a Time of Pandemic.” Note: As a writing coach I have two open spots for new clients. Contact me at: alden@tobendlight.com.

On the Front Lines of the Pandemic

Source of mercy,
Watch over the medical professionals –
Doctors, nurses and all health care workers –
On the front lines of the pandemic
As they tend to the sick,
Putting themselves in harm’s way
To care for us.
Protect them from illness.
Shield them from trauma.
Guard them from all harm.
Bless their limbs with strength,
Their eyes with courage,
Their hands with gentleness,
For they are a source of hope and love.
May their deeds
Find favor in heaven
And bring healing on earth.

Rock of love,
Watch over those who are caring for the vulnerable,
The disabled, infirm, chronically-ill and elder populations,
And those who are called upon to serve the public in new ways,
All who cannot protect themselves with self-isolation,
Among them police, fire, ambulance and sanitation,
As well as those providing for our basic needs,
Workers in grocery stores, pharmacies and other essential services,
All who are doing Your work with love,
Putting themselves at additional risk
In service to humankind.

G-d of healing,
Extend your tabernacle of health and peace
To all in need.
Bring a speedy end to this pandemic,
And all disease and suffering,
So that we may know
Your compassion and Your grace.

Let deliverance rise up from heaven,
Let joy and celebration resound
From the four corners of the earth,
And may peace,
At long last,
Reign on earth.

Postscript: Thanks to Michael Jarvis, a student cantor at HUC-JIR, who suggested the idea for this prayer. Here are prayers “For Nurses” and “For Physicians.” Both appear in my book, Jewish Prayers of Hope and Healing.

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 use or like this prayer, please post a link to Facebook, your blog or mention it in a tweet.

Shavua Tov Live! with Trisha, Devon and Alden

Posted on: March 21st, 2020 by Alden

This is your personal invitation to an online reading of prayer and poetry, with song and meditation, to uplift your week. Ritualwell is hosting a half-hour event featuring Devon Spier, Trisha Arlin and me on Sunday, March 22, at 1:00 p.m. eastern time on Zoom. Register in advance here. We’ll each read from our work. Devon will lead a chant and I’ll lead a Six-Word Prayer moment. Here’s a taste of the event. Remember to register.

Trisha Arlin’s “Instead of: A Prayer for Peace“

Blessed Yah, Creator, Created, Creating…
We pray for peace,
For ourselves and the world,
Even if only for one day:

Instead of anger, we choose kindness.
Instead of revenge, we choose justice.
Instead of resentment, we choose empathy.
Instead of work, we choose rest.
Instead of ideology, we choose compromise.
Instead of destruction, we choose community.
Instead of fear, we choose endurance.
Instead of invective, we choose prayer.
Instead of violence, we choose peace.

Blessed Yah, Creator, Created, Creating…
We give thanks for this day of peace.
May it change us, may it change the world,
And let us say, Amen.

Chant to be led by Devon Spier

From the head on my shoulders
To the soles of my shoes
Somebody someone comin’ through

From the soul ‘bove my shoulders
To the soles of my shoes
Somebody someone comin’ through

La da da da da da da da da!
Da da da da la la la la da da (x2)

לֹא בָאֵשׁ יְהוָה; וְאַחַר הָאֵשׁ, קוֹל דְּמָמָה דַקָּה
But Adonai was not in the fire
And after the fire a still small voice (1 Kings 19:12)

“Spiritual Vandals” by Alden Solovy
At the gates of an ancient city
A spiritual vandal cracked into my heart.
Stunned,
Expecting the blood of my grief and shame
To sizzle on the hot stone,
Ready to shout,
‘How dare you touch that sacred place,’
I saw a river of light flowing through me.
Starlight. Moonlight. Sunlight. Your light. My light.
Light from the moment of creation.
So much radiance and glory.
Suddenly on my knees,
My forehead on the pilgrim’s path,
I wept.

Now I wait at the gates
For you.
To invite you close,
To let me see the fissure in your heart
Ready to burst,
To touch it with love,
To crack you open
So that you can see the majesty and the beauty
That flows through us all.

Listen,
Dear sisters, dear brothers:
Do not fear the vandals who guard
The gates of mercy.
For mercy is love,
And love is light,
And light seeks light,
And these angels only want to show
That it’s been inside you
All along.

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Postscript: Remember to register in advance here. You’re also invited to join my Six-Word Prayer Facebook page, and my daily gratitude Facebook page called “Grateful Heart, Joyous Soul, Precious Life.” Thanks again to Ritualwell.

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. You can also connect on Facebook and Twitter.

Traveler’s Prayer in a Time of Pandemic

Posted on: March 4th, 2020 by Alden

This is a new prayer for safe travel, incorporating the perils of modern life with classic language of t’filat haderech, the traveler’s prayer. It’s my third prayer related to the outbreak of coronavirus. The first,”Coronavirus: A Prayer for Medical Scientists,” was included in a Central Conference of American Rabbis rapid response liturgy packet, which got me thinking about prayers that might be missing from the packet. I then wrote “Healing from Coronavirus” which was subsequently added. This morning, the idea of a revised traveler’s woke me. This is what I wrote.

Traveler’s Prayer in a Time of Pandemic
May it be Your will,
Our G-d,
G-d of our fathers and mothers,
That we journey in peace
And return in peace,
Safe from the ancient hazards of travel –
Enemies, thieves, ambushes and wild beasts –
And safe from modern perils –
Plane crashes and traffic wrecks,
Scammers and con artists,
Infectious disease and quarantine –
So that our travel serves it highest purpose,
And we reach our destination and return home
In joy, life and health.
Grant us grace in Your eyes
And in the eyes of all whom we meet.

.ברוך אתה ה’, שומע תפלה
Baruch atah Adonai, sho’me’a t’fila.
Blessed are You Adonai, Who hears prayer.

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Postscript: My other prayers for healing include: “For Surgery,” “On Waiting for An Organ Transplant,” “Upon Recovery from Surgery,” “For Healing the Spirit” and “For a Critically Ill Child.”

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: Wikimedia Commons

Healing from Coronavirus

Posted on: March 3rd, 2020 by Alden

Here’s a prayer for those who’ve contracted or have been exposed to the coronavirus, including those who might contract the disease in the future. See also: “Coronavirus: A Prayer for Medical Scientists.”

Healing from Coronavirus
Source of healing,
Cast the light of health and well-being
On those who’ve been exposed to coronavirus,
Those who have contracted the disease,
And those — G-d forbid — who contract the disease in the future.
Bless them, protect them and bring them speedily to full recovery.
Bless all who are ill
With healing of body
Healing of soul
And healing of spirit.

.ברוך אתה ה’, מקור חיים
Baruch atah Adonai, m’kor chayim.
Blessed are You Adonai, Source of life.

New here? Subscribe here to get my newest prayers by email.
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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: World Health Organization

Coronavirus: A Prayer for Medical Scientists

Posted on: February 27th, 2020 by Alden

This is a prayer is for the wisdom and skills of medical scientists, researchers and public health officials around the world fighting the novel coronavirus. See also: “Healing from Coronavirus,” “On the Front Lines of the Pandemic” and “Traveler’s Prayer in a Time of Pandemic.”

Coronavirus: A Prayer for Medical Scientists
G-d of wisdom,
Bless medical scientists and researchers around the world
With insight and skill, dedication and fortitude,
As they combat coronavirus,
So that their work yields knowledge and understanding,
Speedily finding vaccines, treatments and deterrents to its spread.

Source of life,
Grant public health and government officials
The strength to act swiftly and decisively,
With compassion and understanding,
In service to humankind,
Fighting this outbreak
And the other diseases that still plague the planet,
Diseases threatening the lives of our brothers and sisters,
Nations and communities,
Young and old.

Rock of Ages,
Bring an end to disease and suffering,
So that all may know
Your compassion and Your grace.

בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה ה’, רוֹפֵא כׇל בָּשָׂר, וּמַפְלִיא לַעֲשׂוֺת׃
Praised are You G-d, healer of flesh, maker of wonders.

Postscript: Here are prayers “For Nurses” and “For Physicians” that appear in my book, Jewish Prayers of Hope and Healing. My other prayers for healing include: “For Surgery,” “On Waiting for An Organ Transplant,” “Upon Recovery from Surgery,” “For Healing the Spirit” and “For a Critically Ill Child.”

Photo Source: East Stroudsberg University

Come Walk, Revisited

Posted on: July 19th, 2019 by Alden

Saturday marks 50 years since the first manned spacecraft landed on the Moon, with the first human steps there coming a few hours later, with Apollo 11 Commander Neil Alden Armstrong’s now immortal words: “One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.” In that moment, it seemed that there were no horizons that we couldn’t conquer with effort and imagination. In 50 years we’ve learned more about the vastness of our universe and the depths of our inner dimensions. To commemorate the first moon walk, here’s an invitation for you to walk the unexplored landscapes of your heart.

Come Walk
I know a man who lives in a rainbow.
I’ve heard the poet who lives on the moon.
I’ve heard the secret that sings all around you.
I know a man who can teach you the tune.

Hear the music among the lilies
And whispers in the blades of grass.
Hear the thunder beneath the ocean.
Feel the love that will always last.

Come walk the sacred sunshine.
Come walk the Milky Way.
Walk gently through the heavens.
Walk gently through each day.

Put your head upon my shoulder
And your hand upon my chest.
Put your hope above your sorrow.
Give yourself a time to rest.

I know a man who sings from the mountains,
And another who sings from the seas.
I’ve heard the man who sings from his glory,
And the man who sings on his knees.

Come walk between the layers of clouds.
Come walk the spirals of stars.
Walk gently through joy and sorrow.
Walk gently, walk holy, walk far.

Postscript: This meditation first appeared on this site on August 8, 2010. Thank you to Ira Scott Levin, Julia Bordenaro Levin and Tracy Friend. Their music helped me find this voice. Thanks also to Ros Roucher, her comments on earlier drafts. Here are more prayer/poems from the spiritual traveler: “All is Well,” “River,” “Bird is Bird” and “About the Rainbow.”

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: Wikipedia

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

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

A Land Your Heart Knows

Posted on: March 22nd, 2018 by Alden

A new song of the Spiritual Traveler. It’s about hearing the music in your veins, the music in the wind and the music in the sky. It’s about trusting your heart, trusting your eyes and trusting your breathing…

A Land Your Heart Knows
There is a land
That only your heart knows.
But if you trust the music in your veins
You will journey to the place
Where love and power,
Innocence and wonder,
Merge inside your soul.
And you will emerge
Shimmering with light.

There is a dream
That only your eyes know.
But if you trust the music in the sky
You will rise to the place
Where limits become possibilities,
Where endings become beginnings,
Where horizons flow toward you in the color of light.

There is a moment
That only your breathing knows.
But if you trust the music in the wind
You will become a river of blessings,
A fountain of hope,
A well of healing,
And a source of peace.

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Photo Source: Alden Solovy

I Sing

Posted on: January 7th, 2018 by Alden

A prayer about song in honor of the amazing musicians filling the world with new Jewish music. The format — 6x6x3, six lines of six words in three stanzas — is inspired by the Facebook group I created where people share their Six Word Prayers. This piece appears in This Precious Life: Encountering the Divine with Poetry and Prayer from CCAR Press.

I Sing
I sing because G-d made music,
To lift our hearts and souls
From the hollow depths of darkness
To the highest heights of heaven,
From the cold shadows of desire
To the gates of radiant hope.

I sing because G-d made music,
To mark the moments of wonder,
To sanctify the moments of sorrow,
To soothe, to comfort, to gladden,
To cradle us with infinite harmony,
To rock us with eternal love.

I sing because G-d made music,
To give our souls a trumpet,
To give our wisdom a tambourine,
To give our prayers a voice,
To make our lives a song,
With the instruments of G-d’s blessings.

Postscript: Other prayers about song include: “We are Music,” “To Hear Me Sing,” “For the Gift of Song” and “For the Gift of Music.”

Photo Source: ClipArtLook

Posts Tagged ‘blessing’

On the Front Lines of the Pandemic

Shavua Tov Live! with Trisha, Devon and Alden

Traveler’s Prayer in a Time of Pandemic

Healing from Coronavirus

Coronavirus: A Prayer for Medical Scientists

Come Walk, Revisited

Before Writing a Prayer

Receiving Blessings

A Land Your Heart Knows

I Sing

“Alden has become one of Reform Judaism’s master poet-liturgists…" - Religion News Service, Dec. 23, 2020

“Mesmerizing, spiritual, provocative, and thoughtful, Alden was everything you would want in a guest scholar and teacher.” – Rabbi Denise L. Eger, Congregation Kol Ami, Los Angeles, and Past President, CCAR

**"Alden Solovy has become one of the most revered liturgists of the last decade…" - Jewish Post & Opinion, March 29, 2023**

“Alden left everyone feeling inspired.” – Cantor Jeri Robins, Shabbat Chair, NewCAJE6

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