[Uucf-bible] Lenten Citations and Prayers: First Two Weeks

[RevRonRobinson at aol.com]

In addition to the Lenten meditations by Wallace Robbins, we include  here 
weekly Lenten citations and prayers taken from the American Unitarian  
Association 1956 Lenten Manual "My Heart Leaps Up" by the Rev. Dr. Frank O.  Holmes, 
who was minister emeritus at Unitarian churches in both Oklahoma City  and 
Jamaica Plain, MA. These cover from Ash Wednesday to this coming Sunday.  More will 
come.  


Ash Wednesday: Tell me truly, Ahura, as to prayer, how it should be to one  
of you. O Mazdah, might one like thee teach it to his friend such as I  
am.--Zoroastrian Gathas. Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal  
life?--Gospel of Mark
Prayer: Divine Spirit, who art forever urging me to ask that I may receive,  
and to seek that I may find, bless me this day that I may hunger and thirst  
after righteousness. Amen.
 
First Thursday: God be merciful to me a sinner.---Gospel of Luke. 
Prayer: Move me, Lord, to reach beyond my present grasp; to acknowledge the  
vision of the better person I would become, and the nobler world I would help  
create. Amen.
 
First Friday: Shun the brush and shun the pen, Shun the ways of clever  
men.--Alfred Noyes
Prayer: Not in forced gaiety, or frightened cleverness, or timid evasion,  
would I seek my way in life. Let me face the world with the full powers of my  
mind, that with all those powers I may learn to live and rejoice. So shall I  
discover true lightness of heart and peace of soul. Amen.
 
First Saturday: At the end of the day I hasten in fear lest thy gate be  
shut; but I find that yet there is time.---Tagore
Prayer: When I complain that life is short, and that I have too much to do,  
remind me that my imagination can travel with a speed greater than that of  
light, and that it requires only the fraction of an instant for me to act with  
courage, or to begin speaking with kindliness. Let me make the most of the  
present hour and day, having faith that in the future, too, there will be time  
for the growth and work of the soul. Amen.
 
First Sunday: I was glad when they said unto me, Let us go into the house  of 
the Lord. Psalm 122
Prayer: Grant me the wisdom to belong to the worshipping community of  
mankind; to unite with my neighbors in the exaltation of thanksgiving; to offer  to 
life my response in word and song; to find my peace in the large confidence  
and companionship of Thy Church. Amen.
 
First Monday: Consider that but a few years ago you were not in the world  at 
all, and that you did not exist...The world had already lasted such a long  
time, and it had no news of us.---St. Francis de Sales.
Prayer: Creative Spirit, the evidences of Thy greatness are present in the  
order and intricacy of the world about me, and also in the mystery of my own  
being. Accept now my thanksgiving for the delight of life, and for the  
opportunity, this day, to share in its beauty, service, and joy. Amen. 
 
First Tuesday: Thou, Almighty Father, has created all things; both food and  
drink hast thou given unto men to enjoy, that they might give thanks unto  
thee.---Prayer of Thanksgiving, Didache, 2nd cent. Give us this day our daily  
bread.--Gospel of Matthew
Prayer: As one among the creatures of the earth, I, too, must eat to live.  
Without food my body would perish within a period of days; without water I 
would  die in hours. Let me then be humble before this fact that, since my birth, 
the  sustenance required for my existence has not been lacking. Let me eat my 
food,  not greedily, but gratefully. And let my dream be of a worldwide 
community in  which the human and divine love shall be evident in the opportunity of 
every man  to earn and enjoy his daily bread.
 
Second Wednesday: The eye cannot say unto the hand, I have no need of thee.  
First Corinthians. I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Psalm 139
Prayer: I am awed, Lord, by the energy and subtlety of the forces that made  
possible my being. Even this moment I am alive because a vast community of  
nerves and sinews, muscles and bones and specialized organs, are united in a  
significant order. Even when I am unaware, sleeping or waking, this order is at  
work, maintaining my being and making for the increase of my strength. Let  
me show my thankfulness by the worth of the aims to which this miracle  of my 
body is devoted. Amen.
 
Second Thursday: May we live in the world as in thy great house.--Church  
School Prayer
Prayer: I wonder before the tenacity of life's hold upon this otherwise  
bleak and barren earth; the way in which the moss finds its crevice in the  rock, 
the bird the corner for its nest in the tree. Grant, Lord, that I may  return 
my thanks for the spot of earth where I find safety. And may I be  concerned 
to do my part in the human community so that every man have his place  to lay 
his head. Amen.
 
Second Friday: In the handiwork of their craft is their prayer.  Ecclesiastes.
Prayer: Grant me imagination, Lord, to see the usefulness of the work to  
which I am called and of which I am capable. I would give thanks for whatever  
place I hold in the world's productive life. And may I remember that whether the 
 task is paid or unpaid, conspicuous or obscure, as long as it serves men's  
need, and I perform it cheerfully and well, it will bring me honor in Thy 
sight,  and peace in my mind. Amen.
 
Second Saturday: Nor is the least a cheerful heart, That tastes those gifts  
with joy. Addison.
Prayer: For the delight of the eye in seeing, and of the ear in hearing;  for 
the sensations of taste and touch and smell with which my day to day  
experience and even my necessary labor are made pleasurable; for the  satisfaction of 
the mind which comes to me through today's thought and  effort and 
companionship: I would give Thee thanks. Amen.
 
Second Sunday: When you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray  
to your Father who is in secret.--Gospel of Matthew
Prayer: Give me courage, Lord, to belong to Thy Church; to share my faith  
with others, and to draw upon their insight and hope; to learn a language of the 
 spirit which there men can speak and understand; to let my mind be 
enlightened  and my heart be moved by the larger conscience and vision of aspiring  
mankind. Amen.  
 

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