Midday Prayers
Session 3
The Season of the Day
Happy Epiphany!
Happy Three Kings Day!
Feliz Dia de los Reyes.
We have arrived in our journey through the life of Jesus to Epiphany. January 6th, the arrival of the wise ones who came bringing gifts to the Christ child.
Though some would have already put away their Christmas decorations, many, who celebrate all 12 days of Christmas, still have theirs up and are closing out the season by celebrating the day of the kings. In some Latinx cultures, January 6 is a big day for presents.
Back before Covid (when we worked in the office together), someone would have stopped by the Mexican bakery and picked up a King’s Cake to bring to the office – for everyone to share. If you have not had a king’s cake, it’s the same cake you get for Mardi gras. There are from 1 to 3 babies hidden in the cake, representing the Christ child hidden from Herod.
(In the culture of our Mexican friends at the office, whoever got the baby would be responsible for bringing the tamales at the feast of Candlemas on February 2nd.)
And then, our Orthodox Christian siblings will just now be getting to their Christmas celebration. January 7th is the Christmas celebration for these folks.
A prayer for Epiphany by Steve Garnaas-Holmes
God of Creation, your light shines in the stars.
May your light lead us to life.
Your light shines in the heart of those who wander in search of you.
May your light lead us to wonder.
Your light shines in the Christ child, revealed as the light of the world.
May your light lead us to love.
Holy Spirit, light of God, shine in us, that we may be light for the world.
Alleluia! Come, Spirit of Life, and transform us by your grace. Alleluia!
Source - https://unfoldinglight.net/2023/04/01/epiphany-8/
Rev. Beth A. Richardson
Wednesday
Season of Lent
We are in the season, today, of Lent. Our word – Wilderness. The 40 days (excluding Sundays) preceding Easter.
Up until the 3rd century, entry into the Christian church through Baptism was normally a 2-3 year process of preparation – from the first inquiry until the moment they were Baptized.
Then in the 4th and 5th centuries there’s considerable evidence that those who were preparing for their Baptism on Easter would undergo extensive study and examination in the 40 days preceding Easter. Those 40 days became our season of Lent. (Source.)
I think that we are in a long season of Wilderness. It is as though one day we woke up, looked out of the window, and saw that we were in unfamiliar territory. Recognizable landmarks were gone, and we couldn’t quite find a solid footing beneath us. Now, we find ourselves wondering what has happened and just how to navigate, survive, or even thrive in this wilderness.
David Rensberger wrote in an article in Weavings that periods of wilderness are inevitable for us. “In a sense,” he writes, “everyone who has chosen the life of commitment to God has chosen the desert.” And we can know that, at some time or another, we will be, like the Israelites, like John the Baptist, like Jesus, walking in the wilderness for forty days (or forty years!).
[pp. 13-14 of the book]
We’re in a wilderness, these days, of climate change. Today we pray for those in the paths of the fires in Maui. For the victims, the first responders, all those who are waiting to learn the location of loved ones.
Kyrie. Christ, have mercy, be present with us.
Thursday
Friday – Season of Easter
Christ is risen.
Christ is risen, indeed.
Easter
Bless this day
When light returns
Love astounds,
Life prevails.
Bless the grieving,
The lonely,
The hungry.
Hope is reborn.
Bless the young ones
And the old.
Bless the enemies
And those despised.
Bless this world,
Gripped by violence.
Peace returns.
God makes a way
Where there was no way.
Christ has risen.
Alleluia.
From Christ Beside Me, Christ Within Me: Celtic Blessings by Beth A. Richardson https://www.amazon.com/Christ-Beside-Me-Within/dp/0835815234
Superperson Grace
Thank you, God, for giving us food. (Arms up to the left)
Thank you, God, for giving us food. (Arms up the right)
Thank you, God. (Arms up to the left)
Thank you, God. (Arms up to the Right)
Thank you, God, for giving us food. (Arms up center)
Amen. (Arms at waist, superman pose.)
Same tune, different words and gestures:
https://youtu.be/j9KCZE7lCcM