Tag Archive for "joy" | To Bend Light

Posts Tagged ‘joy’

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.

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Let Love

Posted on: April 6th, 2011 by tobendlight

What if we could embody love? Love would light up our days, our lives and the lives of those around us. Together, we could light up the world. This is from a series of prayers that invokes a prophetic voice, the voice of spiritual challenge, calling on us to embody all that is good. The series includes “Let Truth,” “Let Joy,” “Let Holiness” and “Let Torah.” To listen, click on the triangle in the bar below. The text follows.

Let Love
Let love wash over your face,
Caress your eyes,
Brush your lips.

Let love pulse through your heart,
Warm your lungs,
Fill your chest.

Let love strengthen your bones,
Ignite your nerves,
Awaken your flesh.

For love is in the air and in the wind,
The current and the waters,
The flow of gifts from G-d’s creation,
Divine bounty and grace,
Calling out to you dear sisters and brothers:
‘Awake you slumberers!
Awake you who walk warily into the day and dejected into the night.
Have you forgotten My gifts and treasures?
Have you forsaken the beauty around you?
Have you surrendered your joy and passion?’

This, then, is G-d’s command:
Let love wash over you,
Pulse through you,
Pour strength into you.
Let love carry you into luminous days
And radiant nights.
Sing and dance,
Laugh and play,
Lifting your life with passion and hope.
Let love be your messenger and your message.

Blessed are You, G-d of love.

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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: Epic Love

This Wound

Posted on: March 29th, 2011 by tobendlight

A new prayer about healing wounds of the heart, of the soul, of the spirit. Please listen along by clicking on the triangle in the bar below. The text follows. This prayer appears in my new book, Jewish Prayers of Hope and Healing.

This Wound
G-d of my heart,
This wound is too deep for me to heal
Without You,
Your power and Your grace.
Remove the walls of grief that separate me from
Your love and Your blessings.
You call us to life,
To hope,
To service,
To seek and to do,
To heal and to complete Your creation.

G-d of gentle moments,
I surrender my life to
Your awesome works,
Your secret ways.
Reunite me with myself,
With my fellows
And with the world,
To do Your will in humble service.

Blessed are You,
Your love is eternal.

Postscript: Other prayers about healing the heart include: “This Stubborn Heart” and “Witnessing: A Meditation.” Please consider purchasing my new 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 like this prayer, please post a link to Facebook, your blog or mention it in a tweet.

Spring, Again

Posted on: March 16th, 2011 by tobendlight

Spring arrives again on March 20, 2011. Here’s a prayer for the season. To listen as 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, G-d 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.

G-d 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.

Postscript: Other seasonal prayers include: “For Rain,” “For Autumn,” “For Winter” and “For the New Year.” This prayer was first posted on March 23, 2010.

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. You can also connect on Facebook and Twitter.

About Shabbat

Posted on: March 4th, 2011 by tobendlight

This is from a series of prayer/poems in the voice of the one who has a question that doesn’t need an answer. The series includes “About the Rainbow” and “About the Heavens.” Here’s another lovely Sabbath prayer, “For the Arrival of Shabbat,” as well as two stories, “Sarah Rivkah: A Challah Baking Story” and “Mendel Baruch: S’hema on Shabbat.” To listen along, click on the triangle in the bar below. The text follows.

About Shabbat
Majestic Sovereign,
Well of blessings,
How did You decide
To create heaven and earth?
Was this Your purpose:
To make a world of work,
For us to toil in service?
Did You bring forth a day of rest
As a gift to Your creation?
Or was this Your only option,
After first conceiving
The glory of Shabbat?
Was the Sabbath itself
Your only intention?
Perhaps You summoned
Time and space
Solely to bring forth
The magnificent splendor
Of Shabbat.

Postscript: See also “For the Arrival of Shabbat,” as well as two Shabbat stories, “Sarah Rivkah: A Challah Baking Story” and “Mendel Baruch: S’hema on Shabbat.”

Photo credit: The Little Minyan

Let Joy

Posted on: February 10th, 2011 by tobendlight

Here’s a prayer about joy, first posted for Purim and Adar. It’s also great for Sukkot, the time of our rejoicing. This prayer is part of a series including “Let Truth,” “Let Holiness,” “Let Love” and “Let Torah.” Each invokes a prophetic voice and ends with a divine call to action. Please listen along by clicking on the triangle below. The text follows.

Let Joy
Let joy spread across your face,
Flash from your eyes,
Beam from your lips.

Let joy quiet your heart,
Sooth your lungs,
Relieve your chest.

Let joy flow through your bones,
Awaken your nerves,
Caress your flesh.

For joy is in the dawn and the dusk,
The silence and the great expanse,
The flow of light from G-d’s grace,
Divine wonder and awe,
Calling out to you dear sisters and brothers:
‘Awake you slumberers!
Awake you who sleepwalk through hours and days,
Blind to hope and love.
Have you forgotten Sarah’s laugh and Miriam’s song?
Have you forsaken Jacob’s dreams and Ezekiel’s visions?’
Have you succumbed to fear and shame?

This, then, is G-d’s command:
Let joy hold you,
Carry you,
Burst forth from your words and deeds.
Let joy take you from season to season.
Dance and sing,
Celebrate and rejoice,
Lifting your life with exultation.
Let joy be your light and your lamp.

Blessed are You, G-d of joy.

Photo Source: WikiMedia Commons

For the Arrival of Shabbat

Posted on: January 26th, 2011 by tobendlight

A prayer to celebrate the gifts of Shabbat. The closing lines are from Shalom Aleichem. Please listen along as you read. (Click on the triangle in the bar below. The text follows.)

For the Arrival of Shabbat
Well of Life,
Bless my heart with the gifts of Shabbat,
The presence of Your love in my pulse,
Your glory in my chest
And Your wonder in my breath.

Bless my eyes with the gifts of Shabbat,
Seeing the beauty of the candle sticks,
The Kiddush cups and challot.

Bless my lips with the gifts of Shabbat,
Rejoicing in song and prayer,
Singing melodies ancient and new.

Bless my ears with the gifts of Shabbat
Hearing hymns and praises,
The nigunim of old,
And blessed words of Torah.

Bless my soul with the gifts of Shabbat,
Awe and thanksgiving,
Calm and surrender,
Beauty, righteousness and peace.

Let these gifts descend gently on all Your people Israel,
So that together,
Wherever we may be,
In one voice
From the four corners of earth we sing,
Boachem l’shalom
Malachay ha’shalom,
Malachay elyon.

Postscript: You may enjoy these two short, short stories about Shabbat, “Sarah Rivkah: A Challah Baking Story” and “Mendel Baruch: S’hema on Shabbat.”

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Photo Source: WikiMedia Commons

Morning Blessings

Posted on: January 3rd, 2011 by tobendlight

The Jewish morning service begins with Birkot Haschachar, the morning blessings. It includes a simple-but-profound set of one-line prayers called the N’sim B’chol Yom. Here’s a modern supplement — or alternative — to these blessings. It’s written as four sets of three related blessings, acknowledging G-d for: i) creation (“wonder,” “splendor,” “glory”); ii) the flow of Divine gifts (“source,” “well,” “fountain”); iii) daily renewal (“…who provides…”); and iv) the call to tikkun olam, healing the world (“…who delights in…”). This piece appears in This Joyous Soul: A New Voice for Ancient Yearnings from CCAR Press.

Morning Blessings
Blessed are You, Adonai Our G-d, Sovereign of the universe…
…Who created a world of luminous wonder.
…Who created a world of radiant splendor.
…Who created a world of shimmering glory.
…Source of life and health.
…Well of joy and love.
…Fountain of forgiveness and hope.
…Who provides rest and renewal.
…Who provides strength and fortitude.
…Who provides wisdom and understanding.
…Who delights in prayer.
…Who delights in charity.
…Who delights in service.

Blessed are You, Adonai Our G-d, Sovereign of the universe, Creator of this new day, Source of sustenance, bless the works of my hands so that I become a source of holiness and healing.

Postscript: Please check out: “Quick Meditation for Today,” “Quick Meditation at Noon,” “Your Name: Quick Prayer at Dusk” and “Quick Meditation at Night.” Related prayers include “Modeh Ani” and “Quick Prayer on Waking.”

Photo Source: Alden Solovy

Jerusalem: A Meditation

Posted on: December 20th, 2010 by tobendlight

This is a meditation on the beauty and heartbreak of the City of Gold. A lovely reflection on the City of Peace, it can be used in private prayer, in communal worship or as an additional reading during your Passover Seder. This meditation appears in my new book, Haggadah Companion: Meditations and Readings. To listen along as you read, click on the triangle in the bar below. The prayer text follows.

Jerusalem: A Meditation
Jerusalem,
You are mystery and wonder,
Secrets hidden and secrets revealed.
You are beauty in the hills
And holiness in stone.

City of Peace,
Why are you still besieged by nations?
Why are you held hostage from within?
What errant flight has the white dove taken?
What mission of love and mercy
Has drawn her away
Leaving us to weep, broken-hearted?

Jerusalem,
You are prayers and echoes,
Questions without answer,
Yearning and hope,
Radiance and splendor.

Jerusalem,
You are my journey and my destination.
You are my longing.
You are my sorrow.
Will you be my consolation?

Postscript: Here are links to “Israel: A Meditation” and “For Peace in the Middle East.” Here are more prayers for and about Israel.

Photo Credit: Alden Solovy

In Praise

Posted on: December 6th, 2010 by tobendlight

No matter what, “Hallelujah.” This prayer appears in This Joyous Soul: A New Voice for Ancient Yearnings from CCAR Press.

In Praise
Hallelujah at sunset.
Hallelujah at daybreak.
Hallelujah at dusk.
Hallelujah at dawn.
Hallelujah with pauper and prince,
With beggar and king.
Hallelujah with all G-d’s works.

This is my prayer, G-d of Sarah,
To declare Your glory in all things.

Hallelujah in sunshine,
Hallelujah in shadow.
Hallelujah in calm.
Hallelujah in storm.
Hallelujah in peace.
Hallelujah at war.
Hallelujah in shelter.
Hallelujah when all comfort and protection
Appear lost.

This is our prayer, G-d of Abraham,
To praise You every moment.

To praise You,
To sing to You,
To dance for You,
To declare Hallelujah with our lives.

Please check out my CCAR Press Grateful/Joyous/Precious trilogy. The individual books are: This Joyous Soul , This Grateful Heart, and This Precious Life. Here’s a link to my ELItalk, “Falling in Love with Prayer..” 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.

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

Photo by Alden Solovy

Posts Tagged ‘joy’

Sing Hallelujah

Let Love

This Wound

Spring, Again

About Shabbat

Let Joy

For the Arrival of Shabbat

Morning Blessings

Jerusalem: A Meditation

In Praise

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