Tag Archive for "rejoice" | To Bend Light

Posts Tagged ‘rejoice’

Harvest Prayer

Posted on: September 22nd, 2011 by tobendlight

Here’s a prayer of thanks for the harvest season. To listen along, click on the triangle in the bar below. The text follows.

Harvest Prayer
The yield arrives
Full and ripe,
Plump and ready,
Bursting in flavor,
Brimming with gifts
Of earth and sky.
Tree and grass,
Vine and root,
Blessings of the rich soil,
The gentle rain,
The constant sun.
Blessings from the flow of seasons,
And the work of our hands.
Blessings of abundance and grace,
The work of Your creation.

Blessed are You,
Adonai our G-d,
Source of Life,
Your bounty sustains us.

Postscript: Other prayers for the season include: “For Autumn,” “This Bounty” and “Life as a Banquet.”

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Breaking Bonds

Posted on: April 18th, 2011 by tobendlight

Here’s another Passover prayer, written Erev Pesach 5771. It’s about breaking free from the chains that I’ve locked around myself. As such, the theme parallels “Egypt Inside,” although this piece follows a standard rhythmic structure, while “Egypt Inside” is a meditation set as prose poetry.

Breaking Bonds
To break the bonds of anger,
To live with gentle pride.

To break the bonds of shame,
To live with humble strength.

To break the bonds of envy,
To serve each other in joy.

To break the bonds of guilt,
To accept all G-d’s gifts.

To break the bonds of fear,
To love with fullness of heart.

To break the bonds of lust,
To love with fullness of being.

To break the bonds of loneliness,
To receive a hand of hope.

To break the bonds of neglect,
To reach out a hand of help.

To break the bond of tears,
To see with awe and wonder.

To break the bonds of loss,
To rejoice in all G-d’s works.

Postscript: Click here for an annotated list of all of my Passover prayers, with links. This is the first prayer that I’ve written specifically to be used as a responsive reading.

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Photo Credit: What’s On Karen’s Plate

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

Passover Prayers

Posted on: April 2nd, 2011 by tobendlight

Here’s a list of my prayers that would make lovely additions to your Passover Seder, divided into four categories: prayers about freedom, prayers for social justice, prayers for Hallel and Counting the Omer. Many of them appear in Haggadah Companion: Meditations and Readings. Some appear in This Grateful Heart: Psalms and Prayers for a New Day. To read them, click on the name of the prayer:

Prayers About Freedom
Egypt Inside – About personal freedom
Breaking Bonds – Setting ourselves free
The Season of Freedom – A time to be free
Release Me – Freedom from emotions that hold me back
Elijah – Our deepest yearning for a world of wholeness

Prayers for Social Justice
To The Streets – About taking tikun olam to the streets
Against Human Trafficking – For modern-day slaves
Against Tyranny – For an end to the rule of tyrants
Against Poverty – For all to live in economic well-being
Against Worker Exploitation – For fair wages and conditions
Against Hunger – To feed the world
For Women of Congo and Sudan – Against the abuse of these women

Prayers for Hallel
Dance Hallelujah – To dance in praise of G-d
Sing Hallelujah – To sing in praise of G-d
In Praise – To speak in praise of G-d

Counting the Omer and Other Topics
The Season of Counting – About the meaning of counting
For Spring – For the new season
History – About the gifts of memory and history
Jerusalem: A Meditation – “Next year in Jerusalem!”

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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 Gift of Words

Posted on: September 29th, 2010 by tobendlight

This is a prayer for writers and orators, another in my series of creativity prayers, including “For the Gift of Song,” which describes the common framework used in this series. To listen along as you read, click on the triangle in the bar below. The text follows.

For the Gift of Words
G-d, we give thanks for the gift of words,
The gift of language,
The gift of insight and emotion,
The gift of sacred communion through communication.
For it was You who spoke and the world came into being.
It was You who carved tablets on the holy mountain.
Hear this prayer for those who write to explore the mysteries of creation.
Hear this prayer for those who speak to unlock Your divine secrets.
Make their words Your vessel.
Let heaven pour wisdom and love through them
So that they overflow with Your glory,
Drawing others to Your truths.
So that when we hear these words
Our souls turn back to You in love.
Together, we offer our insights back to heaven,
And rejoice.

Postscript: Be sure to check out the other prayers in this series: “For the Gift of Song,” “For the Gift of Dance,” “For the Gift of Art,” “For the Gift of Music,” “For the Gift of Laughter,” “For the Gift of Torah Scholarship” and “For the Joy of Learning.”

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Posts Tagged ‘rejoice’

Harvest Prayer

Breaking Bonds

Let Love

Passover Prayers

Let Joy

For the Gift of Words

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