Posts Tagged ‘distress’

 

In My Distress

Posted on: November 25th, 2019 by Alden

A new prayer of healing, recognizing that some of my dearest, simplest prayers appear to be unanswered. How do I maintain faith in prayer? My faith is in G-d’s promise, reflected in our liturgy, is to hear our prayers, not to answer them, or to answer them with my desired result. This prayer combines a piece I wrote about a year ago with one penned recently at the Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies while leading the Pardes Paytanim / Liturgical Writing Group.

In My Distress
I called out in my distress,
To You,
Holy One,
Who heals and loves,
And sometimes
Refrains.

What, then, is this prayer?
What, then, is my open heart?
I lay bare before You,
And You hold space for my grief,
For my sorrow and love,
For my confusion and wonder.

This life is a journey,
An uneven road,
Paved in light and shadow,
In darkness and daybreak,
So that when my footsteps falter,
I am drawn back to You.

I called out in my distress
To find the glory of holiness
I could not see.
The holiness that abandoned me.
The love I could no longer find.

You who hears prayer,
Accept my tears as expiation,
As incense on the altar of life,
As a guilt offering to the ones I love.

Let my trust in You never fail,
Nor my hopes fade,
For You are the source of healing.
The source of hope.
The source of faith.

I called out in my distress.
And my heart,
Still yearning,
Prays for rest.

.ברוך אתה ה’, שומע תפלה
Blessed are You Adonai, who hears prayer.
Baruch ata Adonai, shomeah t’fillah.

© 2021 CCAR Press from This Precious Life: Encountering the Divine with Poetry and Prayer

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