Autumn -- A Prayer of Acceptance

Eternal One who circles the seasons with ease, teach me about Earth’s natural cycle of turning from one season to another. Remind me often of how she opens herself to the dying and rising rotations, the coming and going of each of the four seasons. Open me today to the teachings of the season of autumn.

When I accept only the beautiful and reject the tattered, torn parts of who I am, when I treat things that are falling apart as my enemies,
walk me among the dying leaves; let them tell me about their power to energize Earth’s soil by their decomposition and their formation of enriching humus.


When I fear the loss of my youthfulness and refuse to accept the reality of aging,
turn my face to the brilliant colors of autumn trees; open my spirit to the mellow resonance of autumn sunsets and the beauty of the changing land.

When I refuse to wait with the mystery of the unknown; when I struggle to keep control rather than to let life evolve,
wrap me in the darkening days of autumn and encourage me to wait patiently for clarity and vision as I live with uncertainty and insecurity.

When I grow tired of using my own harvest of gifts to benefit others,
take me to the autumn fields where Earth shares the bounty of summer and allows her lands to surrender their abundance.

When I resist efforts to warm a relationship that has been damaged by my coldness,
let me feel the first hard freeze of autumn’s breath and see the death it brings to greening, growing things.

When I neglect to care for myself and become totally absorbed in life’s hurried pace,
give me courage to slow down as I see how Earth slows down and allows her soil to rest in silent, fallow space.

When I fight the changes of unwanted, unsought events and struggle to keep things just as they are instead of letting go,
place me on the wings of traveling birds flying south, willing to leave their nests of comfort as they journey to another destination.

When I fail to say “thank you” and see only what is not, instead of what is,
lead me to gather all the big and little aspects of my life that have blessed me with comfort, hope, love, inner healing, strength, and courage.

Maker of the Seasons, thank you for all that autumn teaches me. Change my focus so that I see not only what I am leaving behind, but also the harvest and the plenitude that my life holds. May my heart grow freer and my life more peaceful as I resonate with, and respond to, the many teachings this season offers to me.



The Circle of Life: The Heart’s Journey Through the Seasons
Joyce Rupp & Macrina Wiederkehr
Notre Dame, IN: Sorin Books, 2005

Response to Haiti

We've all seen photos and heard countless stories about the tragic earthquake that took place in Haiti last week. We, as a community of faithful people, must not forget to pray for the people of Haiti in the days, weeks, and years ahead. Pray for the orphans, the grieving, the hungry, the thirsty and the hurt. Pray for doctors and nurses, and all of those risking their lives to save others. Whatever you do, pray.

If, however, you are willing and able to make a financial contribution to the disaster relief efforts, we recommend doing so through the United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR), an agency of the United Methodist Church known for its superior assistance to those in need. 100% of all money you donate to UMCOR goes directly to relief efforts. Not one penny goes to pay executives or send out mailings. Click here to make an online contribution.

Christmas Fun at Monument Square!

Sunday, December 20th
2-5pm at Monument Square

This is an event you won't want to miss! We'll hang out at Monument Square for the afternoon, next to Portland's giant Christmas tree, with horse & carriage rides coming and going. We'll sing Christmas carols, give out FREE coffee and hot chocolate (yes, with marshmallows) to our neighbors, and construct a community project, inviting passersby to reflect on their hopes and prayers for the world and add them to a big cardboard tree. We'll also distribute postcards announcing our Christmas Eve worship gatherings. It's going to be awesome, and we need as many people from New Light to be there as possible, to spread good cheer and meet new friends!

A Prayer for Easter Day

We thank you, God, for this amazing day
when our hearts dance like the shining sun,
when all the world leaps with life
and the great, infinite wonders of the earth shout their "yes!" to you.

We who have seen death,
who have heard the story of the cross and sorrow deep at the sharp agony of the world's pain,
We have come to life again
in the life of your Son.

With Christ we have been lifted from the nothing of death into your new and unimagined life,
where tasting, touching, hearing, seeing and breathing
are more sweet than we had known before
and where you are in beauty and in truth.

How could we ever doubt you,
when today your spirit makes us dance and shout, in the praise of the Risen One,
the one who has defeated death and all evil powers?
How could we doubt you,
now that our ears are awake and our eyes are opened?

We thank you, God, for this amazing day,
when the evil in us lies down dead
and the good in us is born again.
This is the birth day of life and love and goodness.
This is the amazing day
when our savior rose...
when the earth released him...
when the heavens echoed the praise of the earth,
on this great day.

Alleluia to our leaping, rising, lively, infinite God.

Central American Lord's Prayer

Our Lord,
who is in us here on earth,
holy is your name
in the hungry
who share their bread and their song.
Your Kingdom come,
which is a generous land
that flows with milk and honey.
Let us do your will,
standing up when all are sitting down,
and raising our voice when all are silent.
You are giving us our daily bread
in the song of the bird and the miracle of the corn.
Forgive us
for keeping silent in the face of injustice,
and for burying our dreams,
for not sharing bread and wine,
love and the land,
among us, now.
Don’t let us fall into the temptation
of shutting the door through fear;
of resigning ourselves to hunger and injustice;
of taking up the same arms as the enemy.
But deliver us from evil.

Give us the perseverance and the solidarity
to look for love,
even if the path has not yet been trodden,
even if we fall;
so we shall have known your kingdom
which is being built for ever and ever.
Amen.

— Central American Lord’s Prayer

Praying for Peace

Today is the International Day of Prayer for Peace, coordinated annually on September 21 by the World Council of Churches, in conjunction with the United Nations International Day of Peace. The objective of the International Day of Prayer for Peace:

"to encourage worldwide, 24-hour spiritual observations for peace and nonviolence on the International Day of Peace, 21 September, in every house of worship and place of spiritual practice, by all religious and spiritually based groups and individuals, and by all men, women, and children who seek peace in the world."

During our New Light Community Gathering tonight, we spent some time praying for peace in God's world. As we lifted up prayers for specific places of conflict and suffering, we placed stickers depicting doves on a globe. It was distressing, to say the least, to see a globe covered in stickers by the time we finished -- tangible reminders of the great suffering, much of it caused by sisters and brothers inflicting violence on each other, all over this earth God created. I can only imagine how God grieves to see God's children at war with one another.

And so, we pray for peace, and we pray that God will use us as instruments of peace.

Here's a prayer that we shared during our time of worship tonight:

Their plowshares are beat into swords

And now their plowshares are beat into swords – as are ours.
Now their pruning hooks are beat into spears – as are ours.
Not only swords and spears,
but bullets, and bombs, and missiles,
of steel on flesh,
of power against bodies….

And you, in your indignation sound your mantra,
“Blessed are the peacemakers.”
We dare to believe they are the aggressor,
and we are the peacemaker.
Yet in sober night dream, we glance otherwise
and think we may be aggressor,
as we vision rubbled homes,
murdered civilians,
and charred babies.

And you, in our sadness, sound your mantra,
“Blessed are the peacemakers.”
We do not love war,
we yearn for peace,
but we have lost much will for peace
even while we dream of order.

And you, in your hope, sound your mantra,
“Blessed are the peacemakers."
Deliver us from excessive certitude about ourselves.
Hold us in the deep ambiguity where we find ourselves,
Show us yet again the gaping space
between your will and our feeble imagination.
Sound your mantra with more authority,
with more indignation,
through sadness,
in hope… “Blessed are the peacemakers.”

Only peacemakers are blessed.
We find ourselves well short of blessed.
Give us freedom for your deep otherwise,
finally to be blessed,
in the name of the Peacemaker
who gave and did not take. Amen.

— Walter Brueggemann, Awed to Heaven, Rooted in Earth
(Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2003)

Words to live by

"The more we receive in silent prayer, the more we can give in our active life. We need silence to be able to touch souls. The essential thing is not what we say, but what God says to us and through us. All our words will be useless unless they come from within. Words which do not give the Light of Christ increase the darkness."

~ Mother Teresa of Calcutta

Source: Mark Yaconelli: Contemplative Youth Ministry:
Practicing the Presnce of Jesus (Youth Specialties, 2006)

Celebrating the Fourth of July with a Global Perspective

This is my song, O God of all the nations,
a song of peace for lands afar and mine;
this is my home, the country where my heart is;
here are my hopes, my dreams, my holy shrine:
but other hearts in other lands are beating
with hopes and dreams as true and high as mine.

My country's skies are bluer than the ocean,
and sunlight beams on cloverleaf and pine;
but other lands have sunlight too, and clover,
and skies are everywhere as blue as mine:
O hear my song, thou God of all the nations,
a song of peace for their land and for mine.

May truth and freedom come to every nation;
may peace abound where strife has raged so long;
that each may seek to love and build together,
a world united, righting every wrong;
a world united in its love for freedom,
proclaiming peace together in one song.

This is my prayer, O Lord of all earth's kingdoms,
thy kingdom come, on earth, thy will be done;
let Christ be lifted up 'til all shall serve him,
and hearts united, learn to live as one:
O hear my prayer, thou God of all the nations,
myself I give thee — let thy will be done.

— Lloyd Stone & Georgia Harkness

A Prayer for Good Friday

Shock Me with the Terrible Goodness of this Friday

Holy one,

shock and save me with the terrible goodness of this Friday,

and drive me deep into my longing for your kingdom,

until I seek it first —

yet not first for myself,

but for the hungry

and the sick

and the poor of your children,

for prisoners of conscience around the world

for those I have wasted

with my racism

and sexism

and ageism

and nationalism

and religionism,

for those around this mother earth and in this city

who, this Friday, know far more of terror than of goodness;

that, in my seeking first the kingdom,

for them as well as for myself,

all these things may be mine as well:

things like a coat and courage

and something like comfort,

a few lilies in the field,

the sight of birds soaring on the wind,

a song in the night,

and gladness of heart,

the sense of your presence

and the realization of your promise

that nothing in life or death

will be able to separate me or those I love,

from your love

in the crucified one who is our Lord,

and in whose name and Spirit I pray.

— Ted Loder, Guerillas of Grace: Prayers for the Battle

New Light Daily Devotional Readings

Guide to Daily Devotions
Week of February 10, 2008

S – Scripture: Read the assigned passage slowly and carefully.
O – Observation: Record observations on the passage… What is the lesson for you?
A – Application: How do these words apply to you in your own life?
P – Prayer: Write a prayer to God concerning this passage and your life.
Y – Yield: What do you need to surrender to God for this lesson to become alive in you?

Daily Exercise:

• Read the assigned Scripture passage.
• Using the SOAPY guide, record thoughts and reflections in your journal]
• Pray the Covenant Prayer

Readings this week:

Sunday, Feb. 10: John 12: 44-50
Monday, Feb. 11: Mark 1: 1-13
Tuesday, Feb. 12: Mark 1: 14-28
Wednesday, Feb. 13: Mark 1: 29-45
Thursday, Feb. 14: Mark 2: 1-12
Friday, Feb. 15: Mark 2: 13-22
Saturday, Feb. 16: Mark 2:23 - 3:6