Tag Archive for "mystery" | To Bend Light

Posts Tagged ‘mystery’

Inside the (Hanukkah) Light

Posted on: November 27th, 2013 by Alden

This meditation carries an echo of Hanukkah. It’s about seeing, feeling and loving the light shining around us, and our yearning to be a source of light and hope for the world. Here’s the meditation set as a song by my friend Cantor Brad Hyman, as well as the article he wrote about it for Reform Judaism.org. This piece appears in This Precious Life: Encountering the Divine with Poetry and Prayer from CCAR Press.

Inside the Light
A rainbow shines
Inside the light.
If you could be the dew drop
You would always see it.

Stillness waits
Inside the light.
If you could be the sky
You would always feel it.

The sunrise dawns
Inside the light.
If you could be the horizon
You would always find it.

Freedom flows
Inside the light.
If you could be the wind
You would always ride it.

Beauty rises
Inside the light.
If you could be the sparrow
You would always reach it.

Mystery pulses
Inside the light.
If you could be the wonder
You would always know it.

Majesty reigns
Inside the light.
If you could be the wisdom
You would always hear it.

Faith rests
Inside the light.
If you could be the eagle
You would always hold it.

Your soul glows
Inside the light.
If you could be yourself
You would never leave it.

Postscript: “Inside the Light” first appeared here on May 22, 2012, the day I arrived in Israel. I wrote it on the airplane from Chicago to Newark on my way to Israel to make aliyah. Cantor Brad Hyman set it to music in 2017 and it was published by CCAR Press four years later. Other Hanukkah prayers include: “Lamps Within” and “The Season of Dedication.”

Please check out my CCAR Press Grateful/Joyous/Precious trilogy. The individual books are: This Grateful Heart, This Joyous Soul, and This Precious Life. For reprint permissions and usage guidelines, 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. For a taste of my teaching, see my ELItalk video, “Falling in Love with Prayer.”

Photo Source: Ron Almog

Sing Praises

Posted on: October 31st, 2013 by tobendlight

I wrote this song of praise in about seven minutes while making the Kickstarter film about my forthcoming book, Jewish Prayers of Hope and Healing. My videographer wanted a shot of me writing. Pretending to write a prayer felt silly, so I jotted down a few favorite lines, ignored the camera and let it flow. The lines are, essentially, instructions to the reader incorporated into the prayer: quite, breathe, listen. I use those same instructions in two other prayers: “We are Music” and “Invitations.”

Here’s what I wrote during the video. Since then, I’ve changed one word. The rest is exactly as I wrote it in the black moleskin notebook that you can see me using the film. The title came later.

Sing Praises
Quiet now.
Breathe.
Breathe and listen.

Listen to the prayers in the wind.
Listen to the joy on the breeze.
Listen to the hope in the heavens.
For love and life are yours.
Holiness and passion remain.
Wonder and awe
Shimmer from sunset to sunset.

This is the moment where love meets joy,
Where hope meets surrender.

What is that music?
What is that radiance?
What is that yearning?

Quiet now.
Breathe.
Breathe and listen.

Listen to your own voice.
Listen to your own prayers.

This is your power and your peace.
This is your pulse and your heartbeat.
This is your life.

Sing praises,
Sing praises.

Postscript: Please see also: “We are Music,” “Invitations,” “Life as a Symphony,” “For the Gift of Song” and “For the Gift of Music.”

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.

Photo Source: Elahn Zetlin, Chutzpah Media, from my Kickstarter

Breisheit: This is the Place

Posted on: September 26th, 2013 by tobendlight

Beauty and holiness are everywhere. Here. Now. This prayer dreams of messianic times, while making the bold assertion that holiness is already here, that holiness is already waiting and that holiness has been here since the moment of creation, making it a prayer for Shabbat Breisheit. I’ve also selected it to represent Malchut sh’b’Malchut, the Nobility in Nobility, the last night of Counting the Omer. To listen along, click on the triangle in the bar below. The text follows.

This is the Place
This is the place where the beginning and the ending meet,
Where the vast sky greets the firmament of heaven,
Where the finite and the infinite touch,
Where the breathing in becomes the breathing out.

This is the place where darkness meets the light,
Where mourning surrenders to rejoicing,
Where what we are summons what we may become,
Where all hearts beat together in joy.

Oh to see so clearly.
Oh to live so gently.
Oh to be so simply.
Oh to love so sweetly.

This is the place where holiness can be held,
Where mystery shimmers and eternity shines,
Where the core of the earth burns with the fire of starlight,
Where majesty rises like the sun
In radiant brilliant luminous wonder.

Postscript: Here’s a link to “For Creation,” another prayer for Shabbat Breisheit. Click here for more prayers of praise, many of which appear in my book, Jewish Prayers of Hope and Healing. This prayer first appeared on December 14, 2011.

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: Wikimedia Commons

Quick Prayer on Waking

Posted on: July 11th, 2013 by tobendlight

This brief prayer borrows its intention and theology from modeh ami, the traditional Jewish prayer said immediately on waking up in the morning, echoes of which are heard in the second stanza. The prayer is another in my series of quick prayers. Here’s a related set of prayers called “Morning Blessings.”

Quick Prayer on Waking
G-d,
Grant me a gentle day,
A kind and a sweet day,
A day of light and breath,
A day of love and service.

Holy One,
Thank You for renewing me to life.
For restoring my soul to my body
And for returning me
In joy and gratitude
To Your gifts and blessings.

Postscript: See also: “Quick Meditation for Today,” “Quick Meditation at Noon,” “Your Name: Quick Prayer at Dusk,” “Quick Meditation at Night” and “Quick Prayer for Healing.” Here’s a short, short story about saying morning blessings called “Bracha Simcha.”

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Photo Source: Yellow Sunrise, Wikipedia

First Bird

Posted on: July 9th, 2013 by tobendlight

This prayer/poem in the voice of the spiritual traveler was inspired by the birds of Jerusalem, their many voices and songs in the early morning. It’s a companion piece to two other prayer/poems using birds as the central metaphor, “Bird is Bird” and “Soarbird.” Sometimes the spiritual traveler will say a prayer with his eyes, with her heart, with his breath, with her being. And sometimes that prayer will be “said” by listening to other voices.

First Bird
The first bird of morning
Sings alone,
For the joy of breathing,
For the glory of seeing,
For the love of being,
Alive and awake
In this world.

The second bird of morning
Sings a duet
In the gentle breeze,
As daybreak meets the earth
With the wonder of being
Alive and awake
In this world.

Then the chorus appears.
The pitch rises.
Still, they make space
For solos and for silence.
They make space
To hear
They make space
To rejoice in being
Alive and awake
In this world.

Postscript: I use the phase “…alive and awake in Your world…” in the prayer titled “Every Beginning.” Here’s a short, short story about listening as a way of prayer. It’s called “Chava bat Chana.”

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.

Photo Source: Malene Thyssen

We Are Music

Posted on: February 6th, 2013 by tobendlight

This prayer/poem is about embodying the music of life and hearing the music created when we move in and out of moments together. It’s my second incorporating instructions to the reader into the prayer. The first is called “Invitations.” This appears in This Joyous Soul: A New Voice for Ancient Yearnings from CCAR Press.

We Are Music
Quiet now.
Listen.
Breathe.
And listen.

You are music.
Your breath and hands,
Your smile and tears,
Your eyes and pulse,
Are notes that dance
In the space between us.

We are music.
A symphony conducted
By the rhythm of life,
By G-d’s hand,
By our choices, day-by-day.

Our notes play on,
Separately, together,
The sacred sound of living.
Our music waltzes,
Making melodies fresh and new,
Never heard again,
Bass lines that pulse from our hearts
To the Soul of the Universe.

Joy bends sorrow.
Sorrow bends hope.
Hope bends grief.
Grief bends love.
Love bends joy.

Quiet now.
Listen.
Breathe.
And listen.

The silence is your longing.
The silence is your yearning for a different song.
The music of your own will
Blocks your heart to the harmonies
Already dancing around you,
To the chorus already singing around you.

Oh, you hidden delight of heaven.
Oh, you secret gift of G-d.
We are music.
We are music.
The music plays
Through us.

Postscript: Please see also: “Life as a Symphony,” “Invitations,” “For the Gift of Song” and “For the Gift of Music.”

Photo Credit: Picks and Sticks Music

Va’eira: Your Name, Meditation at Dusk

Posted on: January 11th, 2013 by tobendlight

“And God spoke unto Moses, and said unto him: ‘I am the LORD, and I appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, as G-d Almighty, but by My name Adonai I made Me not known to them.’” – Exodus 6:2-3

From Torah we learn that we can begin to know and understand G-d through the revelation G-d’s Holy Names. This prayer is about naming G-d according to the blessings we receive. It appears in my book, This Grateful Heart: Psalms and Prayers For a New Day.

Your Name: Meditation at Dusk
G-d of Old,
Your name is Peace.
Your name is Justice.
Your name is Mercy.

G-d of Life,
Your name is Compassion.
Your name is Love.
Your name is Hope.

G-d of Blessing,
Your name is Truth.
Your name is Wisdom.
Your name is Righteousness.

G-d of our fathers,
G-d of our mothers,
Your Name is in my heart
And before my eyes.

Blessed are You Adonai,
Your name shines throughout creation.

Postscript: Here’s a prayer “For Prayer” that evokes G-d’s Name. My other prayers of praise include: “Dance Hallelujah,” “Sing Hallelujah” and “In Praise.” This prayer was first posted on July 14, 2011, as “Your Name: Quick Prayer at Dusk.”

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!”

Photo Credit: TheTorah.com

Shemot 5773: Finding G-d

Posted on: January 3rd, 2013 by tobendlight

“And the angel of Adonai appeared unto him in flame of fire out of the midst of a bush; and he looked, and, behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed. And Moses said: ‘I will turn aside now, and see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt.’ And when Adonai saw that he turned aside to see, God called unto him out of the midst of the bush…” – Exodus 1:2-4

What does it take to see holiness in a burning bush? What does it take to see G-d all around? This is a meditation about waking up to find G-d. This prayer echoes the theme in another piece called “Seeking G-d.”

Finding G-d
Finding G-d is
As simple as
Breathing in
The morning air,
As simple as
Seeing
The light
Around you,
As simple as
Feeling
Your heartbeat
Fill your chest.

Ah, my dear ones,
Learning to breathe, to see, to feel
The presence of holiness…
That is the secret.
That is the journey.
How quiet and still,
How open and aware,
How ready and willing must we be
To see the
Extraordinary
In the mundane?
Before we can see a
Bush in flames
That is not consumed?
Before we take off our shoes
In the light of awe and majesty?

Finding G-d is
As simple as
Breathing in mystery,
As simple as
Seeing the radiance around you,
As simple as
Feeling glory fill your limbs,
And wonder fill your chest.

Postscript: Other prayers about finding G-d include: “To Hear Your Voice,” “To Seek Your Glory,” “To Seek Your Love” and “To Know Your Word.”

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

Photo Credit: Geabler

Vayetze 5773: A Moment of Love

Posted on: November 25th, 2012 by tobendlight

“…Rachel came with her father’s sheep; for she tended them. And it came to pass, when Jacob saw Rachel the daughter of Laban his mother’s brother, and the sheep of Laban his mother’s brother, that Jacob went near, and rolled the stone from the well’s mouth, and watered the flock of Laban his mother’s brother. And Jacob kissed Rachel, and lifted up his voice, and wept.” – Genesis 29:9-11

After he sees Rachel, Jacob opens the well for her flock, a feat of great strength, and he opens his heart fully: a lesson in love from the third generation of our fathers and mothers.

A Moment of Love
Love is a well of strength,
A river of hope,
A fountain of holiness,
A moment for tears.

Love is in our arms,
In our hearts,
In our voices,
And in our eyes.

G-d of our mothers,
Let me be like she
Who tends the flocks,
Bringing them safely
To the waters.

G-d of our fathers,
Let me be like he
Who opens the source
Of blessing
To our lives together.

Blessed are You, Adonai our G-d,
Creator of life and love.

Postscript: My other prayers about love include: “Let Love,” “The Cut That Heals,” “For New Love,” “To Seek Your Love” and “A Heart of Love.”

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Photo Credit: Chabad Jewish Center of Massachusetts.

Breisheit: For Creation

Posted on: October 8th, 2012 by tobendlight

This is a simple prayer to remember the majesty of G-d’s creation. It’s the first of a series of prayers and poems tied to the parasha of the week. Some, like this one, will be repostings because the particular piece fits with the Torah reading. Others will be new pieces. To listen as you read, click on the triangle in the bar below. The text follows. This piece appears in This Grateful Heart: Psalms and Prayers for a New Day from CCAR Press.

For Creation
Author of life,
Architect of creation,
Artist of earth,
Your works declare Your Holy Name.

Mighty rivers,
Turbulent seas,
Towering mountains,
Rolling hills,
Vast spaces of brilliance and grandeur.

You created pallet and paint,
Color and hue,
Shape and form,
Abundant and beautiful,
Glorious and majestic,
Full of mystery and wonder.

Blessed are You,
With divine love You created a world of splendor.

Postscript: Other prayers about creation include: “To Know Your Word” and “About the Rainbow.” This piece was originally posted November 28, 2010.

Photo Credit: Alden Solovy

Posts Tagged ‘mystery’

Inside the (Hanukkah) Light

Sing Praises

Breisheit: This is the Place

Quick Prayer on Waking

First Bird

We Are Music

Va’eira: Your Name, Meditation at Dusk

Shemot 5773: Finding G-d

Vayetze 5773: A Moment of Love

Breisheit: For Creation

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