Posts Tagged ‘CCAR Press’

 

This Joyous Soul

Posted on: July 15th, 2018 by Alden

Here’s the title piece from my forthcoming book from CCAR Press, This Joyous Soul: A New Voice for Ancient Yearnings. The book is a companion volume to This Grateful Heart: Psalms and Prayers for a New Day. This Grateful Heart provides prayers and meditations to address the days and seasons of our lives. This Joyous Soul offers a bridge between the language of traditional prayer and the language of personal experience.

This Joyous Soul
God’s love lingers
Where the rainbows hide,
Waiting to burst forth
In radiant glory.

How this joyous soul yearns for You!
Your blessings and Your grace,
Your wisdom and Your compassion,
This joyous voice sings Your praises.

God’s love lingers
At the gates of your heart,
Waiting to burst forth
In luminous splendor.

© 2019 CCAR Press from This Joyous Soul: A New Voice for Ancient Yearnings

Postscript: This Joyous Soul: A New Voice for Ancient Yearnings is available for pre-order. This Grateful Heart: Psalms and Prayers for a New Day is available for purchase.

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Photo Source: Central Conference of American Rabbis

Prayer of Joy

Posted on: March 19th, 2017 by Alden

joy-with-white-backgroundThis is a prayer of gratitude for joy, with a reminder to live joy as a daily spiritual practice. It’s a meditation for daily use when time is brief. It’s in my new book This Grateful Heart: Psalms and Prayers for a New Day from CCAR Press.

Prayer of Joy
G-d,
Thank You for joy and delight,
For wonder and awe,
For moments of gladness and celebration.
Grant me the ability to breathe gentleness
Into my hours and seasons,
So that I live awake to beauty,
To holiness,
To the radiance that surrounds us.
Grant me the wisdom to arrive each day
With passion and humor,
With song and dance,
With smiling eyes,
In service to myself,
In service to others,
In service to Your Holy Name.

© 2017 CCAR Press from This Grateful Heart: Psalms and Prayers For a New Day

Postscript: This piece originally appeared on March 29, 2013, this site as “Quick Prayer of Joy.” It appears in my new book This Grateful Heart: Psalms and Prayers for a New Day from CCAR Press.

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: ThyBlackMan.com

Shemini: G-d on Tiptoes

Posted on: March 29th, 2015 by Alden

still-small-voiceEarly in this week’s Torah portion, a very simple line appears: “…the glory of G-d appeared unto all the people.” (Leviticus 9:23) The simplicity stands in contrast to the scene from parashat Yitro in which G-d appears in smoke and fire, the earth quaking. Here, G-d’s glory arrives without fanfare. This meditation for parashat Shemini is the mirror of my Yitro meditation, “G-d’s Voice.” The prayer maintains the structure of the first, borrowing the forth stanza and the closing lines, setting up both connection and contrast. This appears in my book This Grateful Heart: Psalms and Prayers for a New Day from CCAR Press.

G-d on Tiptoes
What if G-d arrived unannounced?
No smoke. No thunder.
A gentle appearance of radiance and love.

What if G-d snuck in on tiptoes?
No earthquake. No blast of the shofar.
A luminous presence of wonder and glory.

What if G-d’s voice whispered in your ear,
So quiet that you had to hold your breath to hear?
A silent surrender of hope and faith.

What if holiness packed the empty space with light
As your lungs filled with the one divine breath
Together with every other living being?

What if G-d’s voice is as near
As your willingness to listen quietly
To the soul of the universe,
As a sense of calm and peace
Pass through you?

What if that moment
Is now?

© 2017 CCAR Press from This Grateful Heart: Psalms and Prayers for a New Day

Postscript: After a friend assured me that the Torah’s paucity of language assumes we know, precisely from Yitro, that G-d’s arrival is full of wonder and terror, he then said: “Of course, we do have the image of the still, small voice.” (Kings 19:12) Here’s another link to “G-d’s Voice.”

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.

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Egypt Inside

Posted on: March 29th, 2010 by tobendlight

wollfhaggadahLeaving Egypt is the quintessential Jewish metaphor for the road to freedom. Leaving is only the beginning of that road. Leaving Egypt behind, leaving slavery behind, is much more difficult. This meditation appears in my new book, This Grateful Heart: Psalms and Prayers for a New Day.

Egypt Inside
This I confess:
I have taken Egypt with me.
I’ve kept myself a slave to grief and loss,
Fear and anger and shame.
I have set myself up as taskmaster,
Driving myself beyond the limits
Of reasonable time and common sense.
I’ve seen miracles from heaven,
Signs and wonders in my own life,
Yet I’ve taken Egypt with me,
Still waiting for the heavens to speak.

G-d of redemption,
With Your loving and guiding hand leaving Egypt is easy.
Leaving Egypt behind is a struggle.
In Your wisdom You have given me this choice:
To live in a tyranny of my own making,
Or to set my heart free to love You,
To love Your people,
And to love myself.

G-d of freedom,
Help me to leave Egypt behind,
To hear Your voice,
To accept Your guidance,
And to see the miracles in each new day.

Blessed are You, G-d of wonder,
You set Your people on the road to redemption.

© 2017 CCAR Press from This Grateful Heart: Psalms and Prayers for a New Day

Postscript: My book Haggadah Companion: Meditations and Readings includes 18 readings for Passover. Special thanks to Rabbi Peter Knobel who suggested – among many wonderful ideas for my writing and this site – that I think of holidays as opportunities to write new prayers.

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: The National Library of Israel

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