Posts Tagged ‘the power of prayer’

 

Prayer for You, Prayer for Me

Posted on: September 2nd, 2012 by tobendlight

Love Your Neighbor Hebrew TilesThe secret to prayer is no secret at all. To pray for yourself, pray for someone else. And the secret to compassion is no secret, either. Pray for everyone. I use this prayer for the 17th day of counting the Omer. It appears in This Joyous Soul: A New Voice for Ancient Yearnings from CCAR Press.

Prayer for You, Prayer for Me
What brilliance is this?
What divine secret of blessing,
That my prayer for you
Is a prayer for me?

Can love be so simple
Or holiness so close,
Can joy be as near
Or awe and wonder as ready
To blossom in the glow of faith?

May you know peace.
May you know health and healing.
May you know hope.
May you know laughter and delight.

What majestic gift,
G-d of Old,
Have You hidden
Inside our prayers,
That my prayers for others
Resound with joy
And echo in my being?

Ancient One,
Master of Blessings,
You call upon us
To summon
the light of holiness
Into the world with our prayers.

© 2019 CCAR Press from This Joyous Soul: A New Voice for Ancient Yearnings

Postscript: This is another offering in my series of prayers about prayer, including: “For Prayer,” “Prayer Released,” “Prayers of My Heart,” “Whispered Prayer” and “To Pray.”

Please check out my ELItalk “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: חאן רוח גלילית

To Pray

Posted on: April 24th, 2012 by tobendlight

prayer-conversations-with-god_Why do I want a heart of prayer? So that I can sing G-d’s praises fully, deeply, from my entire being. It’s another prayer about prayer, such as: “For Prayer,” “Prayer Released,” “Prayers of My Heart,” “Whispered Prayer” and “Prayer for You, Prayer for Me.” To listen along, click on the triangle in the bar below. The text follows.

 

To Pray
G-d, bless me with a heart of prayer:
To lift my voice,
To sing Your praise,
To extol Your wisdom,
To recall Your deeds,
To proclaim Your glory,
To declare Your majesty,
To recount Your ways,
To remember Your works,
To delight in Your gifts,
To rejoice in Your Word.

Let prayer flow from my lips.
Let me join the song of my people,
Filling the realms above
And the realms below
With joy and wonder,
So that holiness, radiance and awe,
Walk with us
Throughout our days.

© 2012 Alden Solovy and tobendlight.com. All rights reserved.

Postscript: See also: “Quick Meditation for Today,” “Quick Meditation at Noon,” “Your Name: Quick Prayer at Dusk,” and “Quick Meditation at Night.”

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 Source: First Baptist Church of Glenns Ferry

Whispered Prayer

Posted on: January 31st, 2012 by tobendlight

whisperedprayersThis meditation — a riff off of Psalm 150 — is a reminder that the voice of prayer resounds in the heavens. It ends with a classic chatimah, a closing seal to the prayer, which is taken from Jewish liturgy. It asserts that G-d hears our prayers. This prayer appears in This Joyous Soul: A New Voice for Ancient Yearnings from CCAR Press. It’s also available as a poster. To listen along, click on the triangle in the bar below. The text follows.

Whispered Prayer
Your whispered prayer
Your secret hope
Your quiet yearning
Have holiness and power.
They resound in the heavens
And echo on high.
They are drum and cymbal,
Trumpet and horn,
Proclaiming your faith,
Music of generations,
Proclaiming your hope,
Hymns of the heart,
Proclaiming your dedication
To the G-d of all Being,
Source and Shelter,
Rock and Redeemer,
Light and Truth.

Your whispered prayer
Is the song of the ages.
Your secret hope
Is the light of tomorrow.
Your quiet yearning
Is the voice of eternity.

Blessed are You Adonai,
Who hears prayer.
.ברוך אתה ה שומע חפלה
Baruch atah Adonai, shomei’a t’filah.

© 2019 CCAR Press from This Joyous Soul: A New Voice for Ancient Yearnings

Postscript: This prayer is available as a downloadable PDF poster and is from my series of prayers about prayer, including: “For Prayer,” “Prayer Released,” “Prayers of My Heart” and “Prayer for You, Prayer for Me.”

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 Source: Whispered Prayer PDF poster

“Alden has become one of Reform Judaism’s master poet-liturgists…" - Religion News Service, Dec. 23, 2020

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"Alden Solovy has become one of the most revered liturgists of the last decade…" - Jewish Post & Opinion, March 29, 2023

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