{"id":191,"date":"2006-01-17T21:55:36","date_gmt":"2006-01-18T02:55:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.danielharper.org\/blog\/?p=191"},"modified":"2010-03-25T17:58:39","modified_gmt":"2010-03-26T00:58:39","slug":"meditations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.danielharper.org\/blog\/?p=191","title":{"rendered":"Meditations"},"content":{"rendered":"

I’ve been working on a booklet containing prayers, meditations, graces, words for lighting a chalice, and affirmations, to send home with families that have children or teens at home. One challenge has been to come up with <\/em>copyright-free materials that today’s Unitarian Universalist families are likely to use. Another challenge has been to come up with materials that will appeal to the wide range of theologies we have in the New Bedford church.<\/em><\/p>\n

Most recently, I came up with some prayers based on Bible materials, and I thought I’d share some of these here. First, a recasting of the prayer attributed to Jesus (though scholars say it’s based on a much older Jewish prayer). Traditionalists will cringe, but I rewrote it because I realized that, having heard it every week in the Unitarian Universalist church of my teens, I no longer heard it.<\/em><\/p>\n

God of love,
\nyour name is goodness and holiness.
\nMay your love be present in all the nations of earth,
\njust as I feel your love in my heart.
\nGrant us the food we need today,
\ngrant all people the food they need today.
\nForgive me when I fail, and
\nhelp me forgive those who fail me.
\nMay I not be tempted by evil or wrong-doing —
\nmay your love watch over me, and over us all.<\/p>\n

–a traditional Jewish prayer, adapted by early Christian communities, and further adapted by Dan Harper<\/p>\n

Next, a short prayer that uses phraseology from pseudo-Paul’s alleged second letter to the Christian community at Thessalonika. I found a version of this in the old hymnal <\/em>We Sing of Life, by Vincent Silliman, where it is credited to <\/em>A New Prayer Book, 1923. I adapted it further.<\/em><\/p>\n

May I go forth into the world in peace,
\nand be of good courage,
\nand hold fast to what is good,
\nreturning to no person evil for evil.<\/p>\n

May I strengthen the fainthearted
\nand help the weak,
\nand be patient with all persons,
\nloving all living beings.<\/p>\n

So may I rejoice in life,
\nand give thanks for that which is good.<\/p>\n

— adapted from A New Prayer Book and 2 Thessalonians 5.14-18<\/p>\n

Finally, I got this old chestnut from Rev. Helen Cohen, minister emerita of First Parish, Lexington, Mass. I traced it to the old children’s hymnal, <\/em>Beacon Song and Service Book, but I believe it’s older than that. At the request of someone in this congregation, I tracked down the likely scripture references contained in this prayer.<\/em><\/p>\n

May the truth that sets us free,
\nAnd the hope that never dies,
\nAnd the love that casts out fear
\nBe with us now
\nUntil the dayspring breaks,
\nAnd the shadows flee away.<\/p>\n

— adapted from the Christian and Hebrew scriptures (John 8.32, Romans, John 4.18, Song of Solomon 2.17)<\/p>\n

I’m thinking these short prayers will be useful both for Unitarian Universalists who are Christian, and those who have rejected Christianity. I’d be interested to hear your reactions.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I’ve been working on a booklet containing prayers, meditations, graces, words for lighting a chalice, and affirmations, to send home with families that have children or teens at home. One challenge has been to come up with copyright-free materials that today’s Unitarian Universalist families are likely to use. Another challenge has been to come up […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[217,72],"class_list":["post-191","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-meditation","tag-bible","tag-prayer"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.danielharper.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/191","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.danielharper.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.danielharper.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.danielharper.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.danielharper.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=191"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.danielharper.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/191\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6714,"href":"https:\/\/www.danielharper.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/191\/revisions\/6714"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.danielharper.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=191"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.danielharper.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=191"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.danielharper.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=191"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}