This is the table

A Celtic Prayer of welcome to the Holy Table

This is the table, not of the Church, but of the Lord,
it is make ready for those who love Him
and those who want to love Him more.

So, come, you have much faith and you who have little,
you who have been here often and you who have not been here long,
you who have tried to follow and you who have failed.
Come because God invites you, and it is His will
that you should meet him here.

Take notice of the wonder!

To pray is to take notice of the wonder, to regain a sense of the mystery that animates all beings, the divine margin in all attainments. Prayer is our humble answer to the inconceivable surprise of living. It is all we can offer in return for the mystery by which we live....

Amidst the meditation of mountains, the humility of flowers wiser than all alphabets--clouds that die constantly for the sake of God's glory--we are hating, hunting, hurting. Suddenly we feel ashamed of our clashes and complaints in the face of the tacit glory in nature. 

Abraham Joshua Heschel

The Lord is my shepherd

Psalm 23 King James Version

The LORD is my shepherd; *
I shall not want.

He maketh me to lie down in green pastures; *
he leadeth me beside the still waters.

He restoreth my soul; *
he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his
Name’s sake.

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil; *
for thou art with me;
thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me.

Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of
mine enemies; *
thou anointest my head with oil;
my cup runneth over.

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days
of my life, *
and I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever.

Keep watch dear Lord

Keep watch, dear Lord, with those who work, or watch, or weep this night, and give your angels charge over those who sleep. 

Tend the sick, Lord Christ; give rest to the weary, bless the dying, soothe the suffering, pity the afflicted, shield the joyous; and all for your love's sake. Amen.

Abide in God's love

Jesus prays to the Father in John 17:20-26, and gives us a model of how we might also pray to God.  The theme, as I see it, in this prayer is of love and oneness.  Just as Jesus and the Father are one, so also we should be one, of one mind, of one heart, not so separated and alienated from each other, but one.  And the basis of this oneness is love, just as God the Father loves God the Son, so also God's love pours out into us, and we have only to look to the deep wells within us to find the love that God has placed within our very souls.  Jesus prays to the Father, and asks that we might all be one, and be united through God's love.  So, shouldn't love be the litmus test of what we do, of what we are, and of what we desire?  Shouldn't we not "sweat the small stuff" unless it comes to the living out a life of love towards one another?  Abide in God, abide in Christ, look deep to the wells of love that have been placed within us!

~The Rev. Peter M. Carey

John 17:20-26 (NRSV)

20 "I ask not only on behalf of these, but also on behalf of those who will believe in me through their word, 21 that they may all be one. As you, Father, are in me and I am in you, may they also be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. 22 The glory that you have given me I have given them, so that they may be one, as we are one, 23 I in them and you in me, that they may become completely one, so that the world may know that you have sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. 24 Father, I desire that those also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory, which you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world.

25 "Righteous Father, the world does not know you, but I know you; and these know that you have sent me. 26 I made your name known to them, and I will make it known, so that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them."