Prayer of St.Francis

Peace Rose - photo by Kosebamse

O Lord, make me an instrument of Thy peace,

Where there is hatred permit that I bring Love,

Where there is offence, that I bring pardon,

Where there is discord, that I bring union,

Where there is doubt, that I bring faith,

Where there is error, that I bring truth,

Where there is despair, that I bring hope,

Where there is sadness, that I bring joy,

Where there is darkness, that I bring light.

O Master, allow it that I do not seek so much

To be consoled as to console,

To be understood as to understand,

To be loved as to Love,

For it is in giving that we receive,

In forgiving that we are forgiven

In dying that we resurrect to Life Eternal.

                                                                            Amen

After the shooting on the beach in Tunisia, the beheading in France and the bombing of the Mosque in Kuwait this is all I can think of to say.  Humankind, what are we doing?

He suffers not.

 House Sparrow photo by Mkummerer

He suffers not a Sparrow's fall, they say..

He is Omnipotent and full of Wonder.

Do these little ones look up and ponder

About their sparrow claws and sparrow limbs today?

Does He remark their place?  When they are found.

Does Glory shine around?

Jonni Stratton-Brooke  -  December 1984

Father's Day

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy Name.
Thy kingdom come.  Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread,
And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us,
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever and ever.
Amen

                                                           Book of Common Prayer 1928

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Gracious Spirit, Master, Lord of Light and Love,
Allow the stream of your Holy Spirit to flow through all creation,
Grant that we may partake of you Love, Light, Peace and Healing;
Enable us to forgive, in Love, all our wrongs and all wrongdoers.
Guard and guide us as we unite with you,
For we are Spirit now and seek to be at one with the soul of the universe.
In Love and Peace.
Amen 

                                                                                          R.E.B

Inner Healing

  People may find, perhaps for a time, and very often it is matter of complaint, that they try to attend and cannot; they say the Psalms over with their lips, but their minds are all the while upon their own troubles
  Thus they seem to feel to themselves, and they are tempted to say, 'What good is this worship doing me?'  But if they persevere they will find, bye and bye, that all their wounds have been healing secretly.
  It may be, their seeming weariness is a trial, by which the enemy is permitted to vex them, and if they resolutely refuse to give way to it, it may cease altogether, and they may find, even in this world, what a joyful and pleasant thing it is to be thankful.


John Keble (1792-1866) English clergyman and poet, one of the leaders of the Oxford Movement.
               Keble's feast day is kept on 14th. July and a commemoration is observed on 29th.March.

Sweet Star of Hope

Sweet star of hope,so clear and bright,

shine on and cheer my yearning sight,

how dark the world would be to me,

did I not gaze sweet star on thee.

A foretaste of the realm divine,

is given forth by rays of thine,

shine on sweet star above my way, 

and guide me to the perfect day.

When sombre clouds obscure the light,

and all is wrapped in shades of night,

my eyes can pierce the gloom around,

until thy radiant beams are found.

A foretaste of the realm divine,

is given forth by rays of thine,

shine on sweet star above my way,

and guide me to the perfect day.

When fades the light of friendship's smile,

when love and faith no more beguile,

and o'er the earth we blindly grope,

how welcome is thy light, sweet hope.

A foretaste of the realms divine,

is given forth by rays of thine,

shine on sweet star above my way,

and guide me to the perfect day.

by W Dexter Smith Jnr.  (1842-1909)   American songwriter.

Wedding Day

Stained glass window of symbols of marriage at St.Blasius Church, Mosbruch.

Photo by Reinhardhauke.

The fountains mingle with the river,

And the rivers with the ocean.

The winds of heaven mix forever

With a sweet emotion;

Nothing in the world is single;

All things by a law divine

In one spirit meet and mingle

Why not I with thine?

by Percy Bysshe Shelley  (1792-1822)

Today my great-niece Valerie Shexnayder will be married to Austin DeArmond in Louisiana.

Statements of Intent

I have no one thing left to hold me,
No tie, no blood familiarity,
No mark upon my head, no forelock, no race.
I am colourless, odourless and unclassified,
I am flawless,
Prime

My estates are entailed, my baggage packed,
And discarded,
My money changed and my gold coined.
I have no memory
And no hindsight,
No alliance, no allegiance.
I own nothing, I owe nothing,
I am clear,
Transparent.

I have broken the circle
And stepped the line;
I have burnt the bridge
That brought me to this shore,
My trail ends here, confronted by this sea.
I shall step, I will not be diverted,
I will leap, I will not be dismayed,
I shall thrust, I cannot be harmed or hindered now;
I am winged,
Unfolding.

I am willing.
I shall take nothing
And follow nothing,
Only the unperceiving, burning line.
I will move and I will motivate,
I will bring light
Into the dark places,
And burn there as a beacon,
I will not be extinguished.
Without conceit or concealment,
With hope and trust alone,
I am truly and totally
Ready to go.
   
                                                   by John Edmonstone

I have had the above in my scrapbook since the 1980's but the only reference I can find to a John Edmonstone is to the scientist who taught taxidermy to students in Edinburgh University including Charles Darwin. Whether this is by that John Edmonstone I do not know.