Tag Archive for "prayer for leaving"

Posts Tagged ‘prayer for leaving’

Lech Lecha 5775: Let Go

Posted on: October 29th, 2014 by Alden

Lecha Lecha. Leave it all for an unknown future. G-d’s call: faith in the journey to discover a promised land. Before Avraham Aveinu and Sarah Emeinu left on the journey that defined their lives and ours, they had to let go of their most intimate, known world. I wrote this at Shabbat Shira, an annual weekend of creativity, focused on Jewish music at OSRUI. Here’s a link to “The Journey” posted for Lech Lecha 5773 and “For Service” posted for Lech Lecha 5774.

Let Go
Let it go.
Let it all go.
Let go of the darkness
That ties you to empty ideas.
Let go of the fear
That binds you to false gods.
Let go of the chains
That imprison you in foreign lands.
Follow G-d’s voice
To an unseen horizon.
Follow G-d’s command
To an unknown destination.
Surrender to the truth
That G-d summons you
To a sacred calling,
To Torah,
To mitzvot,
To healing the world.
Surrender to the wisdom
Of letting go,
Letting it all go,
So that glorious mystery
Will open before you,
So that your life will become an adventure
In the palm of G-d’s hand.

Postscript: Shabbat Shira is a labor of love from the education team of OSRUI. It’s a unique and powerful source of creative inspiration and collaboration. “Let Go” is one of five prayer/poems I began and finished over the weekend, along with a sixth performance piece and two more “starts,” one of which I’ve since completed. Here’s a link to Rabbi Larry Karol’s blog describing our collaboration on a new song we wrote together over the weekend, as well as a link to his rendition of our song “Only Now” and the lyrics. Here’s another link to “The Journey” posted for Lech Lecha 5773 and “For Service” posted for Lech Lecha 5774.

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Photo Source: Imgfav

Lech Lecha: The Journey

Posted on: October 21st, 2012 by tobendlight

“Go from your land, from your birthplace and from your father’s house to the land which I will show you.”
– Genesis 12:1.

A brief meditation on answering the call.

The Journey

There will come

A moment when

You must leave

What you know

On the journey

To find who

You can be.

You can be

One who finds

On the journey

What you know

If you leave

The moment when

Your time comes.

Postscript: Here are two more prayers about the spiritual journey: “Messengers” and “On the Trail.” Click here for songs of the Spiritual Traveler. Click here for more prayers and meditation about Journeys.

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: Alden Solovy

Shall I Cry?

Posted on: January 4th, 2012 by tobendlight

This is a prayer about the vastness of joy, love, friendship and care. I’ve selected this for day 36 of Counting the Omer, the Lovingkindness in Bonding, the Chesed of Yesod, because it’s about the dedication to finding deep and lasting love. It appears in my book, Jewish Prayers of Hope and Healing, as well as Mishkan Aveilut from CCAR Press.

Shall I Cry?
Shall I cry at the last withered leaf of fall?
Or the lonely swallow?
Or my grieving heart?

Shall I mourn the past?
Protest the future?
Bury myself in these losses?
The leaving. The death.

Oh you sea of clouds.
Oh you curtain of rain.
Oh you silent yearning.
You arrive as messenger and guide,
Sent from the Source of healing,
The Source of radiance and wonder.

This soul cannot learn to love
In heaven, where only
The vast blue glory
Of light
Resides.

Postscript: See also: “Unlock Your Heart,” “This Stubborn Heart,” “Every Heart,” “My Heart Knows What it Needs,” “A Heart of Vision” and “A Heart that Hears.”

Photo Credit: Just Walk Away

Your Light

Posted on: November 4th, 2011 by tobendlight

This prayer/poem resonates with the love, hope and yearning of the one who is summoned to travel, to leave, to roam. It’s intentionally ambiguous on several levels, like the journey itself. To listen, click on the triangle in the bar below (website only). The text follows.

Your Light
Your light
Shines to greet me.
Generous and warm.
Precious and true.
When I leave
Your light follows,
A gentle glow of
Heart and home.

This journey of awe and mystery,
Radiance and wonder,
Summons me across land and sea,
To listen, to look, to feel, to be.
G-d’s wisdom and grace carry me
Across earth and sky
To song and splendor.

Shine brighter, my loves!
So that when my journey ends
I will remember
The way home.

Postscript: See also “To Find Home,” “The Way Home” and “On the Trail.”

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Posts Tagged ‘prayer for leaving’

Lech Lecha 5775: Let Go

Lech Lecha: The Journey

Shall I Cry?

Your Light

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