THE OCEAN OF LOVE: A praying without words reflection

At a recent Praying Without Words online gathering Beryl shared the following with us:

I stand.

I open myself to God.

I step into God's presence -

into the encompassing ocean of God's love.

I breathe in and out,

breathing in the mercy of God,

breathing out the pain of my sadness.

I am still,

at rest with God

who is deep within me

and all around me.

The author is unknown.

In response Joy Tobler wrote and shared the following two poems:

THE OCEAN OF LOVE

I have stood in the peace

of the ocean of God’s love;

but soon found myself

in the whirlpool of memories

which swirl with pain and anger,

far from God’s peace.

And yet His ocean of love

still surrounds me,

still calls to me to listen

to His voice of calm;

to put aside displeasure for the

pleasure of His forgiving love.

Lord, root me more firmly

in the peace of Your love,

that I might spread Your canopy of love

over those who have hurt me,

that the peace of Your reconciling love

may flow between us,

for our healing and Your glory.

THE ENCOMPASSING OCEAN

In the ocean of God’s love

I float, weightless:

the burden of sin and shame and sorrow

has gone to the depths,

swallowed by Christ’s redeeming love.

I float, upheld by the infilling

of God’s Holy Spirit:

the buoyancy of the breath

of His loving grace

lifting my heart and soul.

I float, at peace,

in harmony with the Creator

and His creation, then

step, surrounded still by

His encompassing love,

into the hurly-burly of daily life.

Hope and Prayers for Peace

As I write this many of us are metaphorically holding our breath, praying that a fragile ceasefire may come about in Gaza, that hostages will finally return to their loved ones and relief aid reach those who are starving. For two years we have lit a candle for peace in the Chapel at the Spirituality Centre, and for more than three and a half years we have prayed for peace in Ukraine. During that time we have also held in the Light and our prayers many other situations of conflict and violence, especially in the Sudan.

It's very hard to keep hoping and praying for peace as years pass and situations become more desperate. What is asked of us is faithfulness, and a willingness to not avert our eyes or our attention, but to keep speaking out and acting where we can to encourage those who seek peace.

These words from a poem by the Arab American poet Naomi Shihab Nye speak of the need to be able to hold both kindness and sorrow together in order to live in hope:

Before you know kindness as the deepest thing inside,
you must know sorrow as the other deepest thing.
You must wake up with sorrow.
You must speak to it till your voice
catches the thread of all sorrows
and you see the size of the cloth.
Then it is only kindness that makes sense anymore,
only kindness that ties your shoes
and sends you out into the day to gaze at bread,
only kindness that raises its head
from the crowd of the world to say
It is I you have been looking for,
and then goes with you everywhere
like a shadow or a friend.

You can read the whole poem on this website, alongside a poem by the Israeli poet Yehuda Amichai.

·        What kindness do you notice today?

·        What sustains you in times of sorrow?

Alison