Sacramental Living » Liturgy http://www.brianniece.com : worship/read/think/pray/listen/serve/live Thu, 10 Jun 2010 15:00:29 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0 Ash Wednesday Prayer http://www.brianniece.com/2010/02/17/ash-wednesday-prayer/ http://www.brianniece.com/2010/02/17/ash-wednesday-prayer/#comments Wed, 17 Feb 2010 14:51:08 +0000 Brian Niece http://www.brianniece.com/?p=570 Here is the prayer I’m praying this day:

Marked by Ashes

Ruler of the Night, Guarantor of the day . . .
This day — a gift from you.
This day — like none other you have ever given, or we have ever received.
This Wednesday dazzles us with gift and newness and possibility.
This Wednesday burdens us with the tasks of the day, for we are already halfway home
halfway back to committees and memos,
halfway back to calls and appointments,
halfway on to next Sunday,
halfway back, half frazzled, half expectant,
half turned toward you, half rather not.

This Wednesday is a long way from Ash Wednesday,
but all our Wednesdays are marked by ashes —
we begin this day with that taste of ash in our mouth:
of failed hope and broken promises,
of forgotten children and frightened women,
we ourselves are ashes to ashes, dust to dust;
we can taste our mortality as we roll the ash around on our tongues.

We are able to ponder our ashness with
some confidence, only because our every Wednesday of ashes
anticipates your Easter victory over that dry, flaky taste of death.

On this Wednesday, we submit our ashen way to you —
you Easter parade of newness.
Before the sun sets, take our Wednesday and Easter us,
Easter us to joy and energy and courage and freedom;
Easter us that we may be fearless for your truth.
Come here and Easter our Wednesday with
mercy and justice and peace and generosity.

We pray as we wait for the Risen One who comes soon.

Taken from Walter Brueggemann’s Prayers for a Privileged People (Nashville: Abingdon, 2008), pp. 27-28.

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]]> http://www.brianniece.com/2010/02/17/ash-wednesday-prayer/feed/ 0 Morning Canticle http://www.brianniece.com/2009/07/30/morning-canticle/ http://www.brianniece.com/2009/07/30/morning-canticle/#comments Thu, 30 Jul 2009 13:13:01 +0000 Brian Niece http://www.brianniece.com/?p=539 This is part of my morning prayer that I’ve repeated each morning this month. The repetition of this liturgy is doing something for me that is difficult to express. As part of my thanks to the Trinity, I share it with you, praying it might make your path a bit brighter:

Christ, as a light
illumine and guide me.
Christ, as a shield
overshadow me.
Christ under me;
Christ over me;
Christ beside me
on my left and my right.
This day be within and without me,
lowly and meek, yet all-powerful.
Be in the heart of each to whom I speak;
in the mouth of each who speaks unto me.
This day be within and without me,
lowly and meek, yet all-powerful.
Christ as a light;
Christ as a shield;
Christ beside me
on my left and my right.

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.

AMEN.

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]]> http://www.brianniece.com/2009/07/30/morning-canticle/feed/ 0 Lectionary Prayer for the Coming Week http://www.brianniece.com/2009/05/21/lectionary-prayer-for-the-coming-week/ http://www.brianniece.com/2009/05/21/lectionary-prayer-for-the-coming-week/#comments Thu, 21 May 2009 23:15:57 +0000 Brian Niece http://www.brianniece.com/?p=514 Ascension of the Lord Sunday – Year B
May 24, Year of Our Lord 2009

O God the King of glory, you have raised your only Son Jesus Christ with great triumph into your kingdom:  we beg you, do not leave us comfortless, but send your Holy Spirit to strengthen us and raise us to the place where our Saviour Christ is gone before, who is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. AMEN.Related Posts:

]]> http://www.brianniece.com/2009/05/21/lectionary-prayer-for-the-coming-week/feed/ 1 Prayer for the Week http://www.brianniece.com/2008/12/07/prayer-for-the-week-6/ http://www.brianniece.com/2008/12/07/prayer-for-the-week-6/#comments Sun, 07 Dec 2008 15:10:17 +0000 Brian Niece http://www.brianniece.com/?p=458 2nd Sunday of Advent
December 7, Year of Our Lord 2008

God of flaming truth and burning compassion, give us courage to turn to you with awe.  You are so holy, we are so common. You are so beautiful, we are so shabby. Enable us to turn, turn, turn!  Grant us grace to prepare the way for your coming.  As we embody righteousness and peace in an eternal kiss, may we see high ridges leveled, canyons filled up, a smooth path and level way for the Coming One.  As we turn to you, turn to us we pray, and in the light of your presence let us find our true love and worship.  We pray this through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit; one God forever and ever.  AMEN.Related Posts:

]]> http://www.brianniece.com/2008/12/07/prayer-for-the-week-6/feed/ 0 Prayer for the Week http://www.brianniece.com/2008/11/23/prayer-for-the-week-5/ http://www.brianniece.com/2008/11/23/prayer-for-the-week-5/#comments Sun, 23 Nov 2008 15:23:53 +0000 Brian Niece http://www.brianniece.com/?p=451 Reign of Christ Sunday
Sunday, November 23, Year of Our Lord 2008
Last Sunday of Ordinary Time

Christ our King, it is so right to give you thanks and praise always for all you do and all you are.  We give thanks for your immeasurable power at work in us to clothe us in compassion and righteousness, so that we might be fit for the kingdom which you prepared for us from the foundation of the world.  Grant us the grace to participate in that kingdom here on earth as it is with you.  We pray this through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit; one God forever and ever.  AMEN.Related Posts:

]]> http://www.brianniece.com/2008/11/23/prayer-for-the-week-5/feed/ 0 Prayer for the Week http://www.brianniece.com/2008/11/16/prayer-for-the-week-4/ http://www.brianniece.com/2008/11/16/prayer-for-the-week-4/#comments Sun, 16 Nov 2008 16:36:51 +0000 Brian Niece http://www.brianniece.com/?p=419 27th Sunday after Pentecost
Sunday, November 16, Year of Our Lord 2008

Merciful God, forgive us for trusting in ourselves more than you.  Show us your compassion, as we turn toward you again; remind us of your faithfulness and grant us the grace to risk our lives in you.  We like to take the reigns of life ourselves.  We can’t seem to consistently live out a cooperative faith.  But like Deborah and Barak, like the good servants our Lord spoke of, like the church at Thessalonica, fashion us to communally live in the light of the grace you have shed on us.  We pray this through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit; one God forever and ever.  AMEN.Related Posts:

]]> http://www.brianniece.com/2008/11/16/prayer-for-the-week-4/feed/ 0 Prayer for the Week http://www.brianniece.com/2008/11/02/prayer-for-the-week-3/ http://www.brianniece.com/2008/11/02/prayer-for-the-week-3/#comments Sun, 02 Nov 2008 16:14:59 +0000 Brian Niece http://www.brianniece.com/?p=368 25th Sunday after Pentecost – All Saints’ Sunday
Sunday, November 2, Year of Our Lord 2008

Creator and Redeemer of all souls, we have joy at this time in all who have faithfully lived, and in all who have peacefully died for the cause of your Kingdom.  We thank you for all happy memories and all living hopes; for the dear and holy dead who surround us like a cloud of witnesses and make the mystical union of your children home to our hearts.  By your saving grace, may we follow those who already inherit your promise.  We pray this through Christ Jesus our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit; One God, now and forever.  AMEN.

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]]> http://www.brianniece.com/2008/11/02/prayer-for-the-week-3/feed/ 1 Prayer for the Week http://www.brianniece.com/2008/10/26/prayer-for-the-week-2/ http://www.brianniece.com/2008/10/26/prayer-for-the-week-2/#comments Sun, 26 Oct 2008 14:10:51 +0000 Brian Niece http://www.brianniece.com/?p=362 24th Sunday after Pentecost
Sunday, October 26, Year of Our Lord 2008

Gracious Father, grant us the grace to go now, with courage in you.  My we declare the message of the Gospel which our Lord Jesus entrusted to us, and in wholehearted love for God and for others, share not only the message, but our very selves.  Most loving God, be our refuge; Christ Jesus lead us into love; Holy Spirit nourish the work of our hands and fill our days with joy as we go to love and serve the world.  We pray this through Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit; One God, now and forever.  AMEN.

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]]> http://www.brianniece.com/2008/10/26/prayer-for-the-week-2/feed/ 0 Book Comments: “Beyond Smells and Bells” http://www.brianniece.com/2008/04/19/book-comments-beyond-smells-and-bells/ http://www.brianniece.com/2008/04/19/book-comments-beyond-smells-and-bells/#comments Sat, 19 Apr 2008 11:24:20 +0000 Brian Niece http://www.brianniece.com/2008/04/19/book-comments-beyond-smells-and-bells/ I read “Beyond Smells and Bells: The Wonder and Power of Christian Liturgy” by Mark Galli yesterday. Quick read. This slim volume would be a great primer for discussion and understanding in local churches that are reclaiming a sense of mystery and wonder through the Christian liturgy.

I especially think of my vocational setting. Individualistic, consumeristic America; specifically a bit south of “Bible Belt” territory (and closer to the ocean). For those in a parish who might ask “Why do we receive Holy Communion every week?”, or “Why do we stand for the reading of the Gospel text?”, or “Why do we light so many candles?”, or “Why do we extend our hands for the Blessing?”, etc., this book is a good starting place for conversation.

In my faith community, we are attempting to reclaim corporate worship as the place and time we simply worship God and are shaped, formed to go about loving and serving. We believe the work of the people gathered is to let the liturgy (gathering, word, sacrament, sending) be the shaping and forming means.

If you use a liturgical format in your worship (for example: God calls, we gather; God speaks, we listen and respond; God acts, we give thanks; God sends, we go) this book should serve as a necessary touchstone for reaching some sense of communal understanding and appreciation.

SO TELL ME SOMETHING:
How do you experience the liturgy in your local church worship?

——

Brian Niece
www.brianniece.com
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