Thoughts for Novermber 26-December 3

As promised, here is my fire poem...more thoughts on fire on later blogs....

Prayer Over the New Fire

Be for us…
A sacred fire…sanctifying us
A fire of compassion…warming us
A fire of forgiveness…healing us
A fire of purification…cleansing us
A fire of creativity…inspiring us
A fire of justice…summoning us
A fire of love…rekindling us
A fire of change…healing us
A fire of passion…empowering us
A fire of the Divine…illuminating us

O Fire of God, transform us
Burn away all hardness of heart,
Free, O set free the fire within us.
Break down the walls we have built.
Let your fire leap through our resistance
Over the walls of our hearts and out into a world
Yearning for transformation.


Happy begining of Advent. Be the light in the darkness.
Ms. Egan

Thoughts for Thanksgiving Week 11/20-11/27

I want to tell you all how proud of you I was at our Thanksgiving Prayer Service. You filled in where necessary, covered for each other, and were just wonderful. I hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday. I offer the following prayer for each of you. It is taken from Seasons of the Heart, by Macrina Wiederkeher. It is based on the first reading of our prayer service.

A Song of Thanksgiving

"I thank my God whenever I think of you, and every time I pray for you all, I always pray with joy for you partnership in the gospel from the very first day up to the present. I am quite confident that the One who began a good work in you will go on completing it untul the Day of Jesus Christ comes. It is only right that I should feel like this toward you all, because you have a place in my heart. " Philippians 1: 3-7

"It is important to celebrate with our friends the good things we see in our lives. Sometimes we forget to affirm the ones we love the most. We take them for granted. This prayer-song is dedicated to you, my students with hope that you will sing it to your friends also. Affirmation is a wonderful way of giving others hope."

"My heart procliams a feast
I have come to sing you songs.

I sing of your warmth
The steady glow of you friendship
keeps melting the ice in my heart
bringing light to the core of my being.
All too often I forget to tell you,
I won't forget anymore.

I sing of your conviction
you passion for the truth
Your daring spirit and your boldness
to give courage to my fear.
Your thirst for justice
calls forth my hidden prophet.
So often I forget to support you
I won't forget anymore.

I sing of your gentleness
a strength sometimes hidden behing firm conviction.
A strength I once couldn't see because of my own walls of fear.
Your gift is now out in the light.
The veils from my own eyes have been lifted.
I celebrate you gift of gentleness and encourage you to hold it dear.
I once forgot about its home in you.
I won't forget anymore.

I sing of your conversion
I celebrate God's love for you
And your constant coming home to that love.
I honor you ability to repent your willingness to examine your heart.
I celebrate your readiness to be transfomed.

I sing of your hope
You willingness to go on
when all seems to be crumbling not with eyes seeing all but with expectation of the promise.
I celebrate your hope
Your waiting for our God to fill up what is lacking in your life.
I promise to be part of your hope
and to stand on tiptoe beside you.
Sometimes I forget you need my there,
I won't forget anymore.

I sing of your love!
your life spilled out
that jar of perfume that is you
poured out over Jesus poured out over me and over all who pass your way.
Poured out joyfully at times reluctantly at times.
But poured out all the same.
I celebrate your love your emptying of self
Your life poured out I celebrate.
Sometimes I forget about your love.
I won't forget anymore!

And finally, I sing of your forgiveness! your loving me anyway.
I celebrate your patience
your patience with my forgetfulness my restlessness my walls of fear my noise my empty chatter my defences.

My promise not to forget again
is daring in this moment of recommitment
But my feet are clay.
My heart is broken and scarred in places
In the same heart I make promises
I break them.
And so, of course, we both know
I'll probably forget again
But I'm not afraid of forgetting
And that's because
I celebrate your forgiveness, your compassion, your love, your understanding.

My heart proclaims a feast.
I have come to sing you songs."

I hope you share Macrina's words with your family, friends, and those you love.

Ms. Egan

It great to give thanks ...

Its great to give thanks especially that Thanksgiving is this week, but I hope you all know that this is not the only time to give thanks to the Lord. Even through the times of pain and suffering, know that God might have a blessing in disguise. Do not be thankful of everything that's around you just because its thanksgiving. I mean you guys are still alive. Thank God everyday for another day that he has added in your lives. Thank him for his unconditional love and make it really mean something. Do not just say thanks because its a holiday. There's go many thing that a person can be thankful for everyday, and I hope you guys see that.

Thought for the Week of November 13th

What Can I Believe

O God, I am so fragile:
my dreams get broken,
my relationships get broken,
my heart gets broken,
my body gets broken.

What can I believe,
except that you will not despise a broken heart,
that old and broken people shall yet dream dreams,
and that the lame shall leap for joy,
the blind see,
the deaf hear.

What can I believe,
except what Jesus taught:
that only what is first broken, like bread,
can be shared:
that only what is broken
is open to your entry:
that old wineskins must be ripped open and replaced
if the wine of new life is to expand.

So, I believe, Lord:
help my unbelief
that I may have courage to keep trying
when I am tired,
and to keep wanting passionately
when I am found wanting.

O God, I am so frail:
my life spins like a top,
bounced about by the clumsy hands
of demands beyond my doing,
fanned by furies
at a pace but half a step from hysteria,
so much to do,
my days so few and fast-spent,
and I mostly unable to recall
what I am rushing after.

What can I believe,
except that beyond the limits
of my little prayers and careful creeds,
I am not meant for dust and darkness,
but for dancing light and silver starlight.

Help my unbelief
that I may have courage
to dare to love the enemies
I have the integrity to make;
to care for little else
save my brothers and sisters of the human family;
to take time to be truly with them,
take time to see,
take time to speak,
take time to learn with them
before time takes us;
and to fear failure and death less
than the faithlessness
of not embracing love's risks.

God, I am so frantic:
somehow I've lost my gentleness
in a flood of ambition,
loss my sense of wonder
in a maze of videos and computers,
loss my integrity
in a shuffle of commercial disguises,
loss my gratitude
in a swarm of criticisms and complaints,
loss my innocence
in a sea of betrayals and compromises.

What can I believe,
except that the touch of your mercy
will ease the anguish of my memory;
that the tug of your spirit
will empower me to help carry not the burdens
I have loaded on the lives of others;
that the example of Jesus
will inspire me to find again my humanity.

So, I believe, Lord:
help my unbelief
that I may have courage
to cut free from what I have been
and gamble on what I can be,
and what you
might laughingly do
with trembling me
for your incredible world.

Ted Loder Guerrillas of Grace: Prayers for the Battle
LuraMedia, San Diego, California 1984

Stress

It sounds as if stress is a big factor in your lives. Go to the senior night of reflections. College students will be there to give you some thoughts on managing stress. Then take one day over your long weekend and do something fun. Everyone appears to need a break. And don't forget your 2 minutes of prayer each day. It will make a huge difference.
Ms. Egan

Thought for the Day

"We have the opportunity many times a day, everyday, to be the one who listens to others, curious rather than certain. But the greatest benefit of all is that listening moves us closer. when we listen with less judgment, we always develop better relationship with each other. It is not that differences that divide us. It's our judgments about each other that do. Curiosity and good listening bring us back together."
Margaret Wheatley, Turning to One Another: Simple Conversations to Restore Hope to the Future

Please make sure one of your blogs this week is a reflection on this statement. Have fun.

Ms. Egan

Hello

I hope you all enjoy this experiment. I think is will be fun and informative