Cantica Gaudia

Season of Easter: Monday Evening Prayer

Opening: The Lord is my strength and my song. Alleluia, alleluia!

Canticle: Seek the Lord who is still to be found:
Call upon God who is yet at hand.
Return to the Lord, who will have compassion,
To our God, who will abundantly pardon.
For my thoughts are not your thoughts, says the Lord.
For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
So my ways higher than your ways,
And my thoughts than your thoughts.
For as the rain and snow come down from heaven
And return not again but water the earth,
Causing the earth to bring forth and sprout,
Giving seed to the sower and bread to the hungry,
So shall my word be that goes forth from my mouth,
It shall not return to me empty,
But it shall accomplish that which I desire
And achieve the purpose for which I sent it.

Psalm: Upright hearts rejoice in you
For them praise comes naturally
They play gratefulness on the harp
Pluck it out on the ten-stringed lute
They sing you a new song
Lilted gracefully, irresistibly

For your word is upright
Your works are faithful
Uprightness and justice are the shape of your love
The earth is full of your kindness
The heavens are made of your word
And animated with your breath
You gather together the waters of the sea in heaps
And store them in the vaults of the deep
The earth is awestruck
And all that lives stands openmouthed
For in your speaking the unsayable word
All that is comes to be
Your saying bursts forth
And all holds fast

Glory to God, our Creator, to God’s most Holy Word, and to the Spirit, indwelling; as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forever.

Reading: Gamble everything for love,
If you’re a true human being.

If not, leave
This gathering.

Half-heartedness doesn’t reach
Into majesty.   You set out
To find God, but then you keep
Stopping for long periods
At mean-spirited roadhouses.

The Lord’s Prayer: Creator of all,
Alive in all things and greater than all things,
Your naming be held holy.
Your vision of our goodness be made manifest throughout the universe,
And your desires for us brought to fulfillment.
Give us that which is essential for our growth and work.
Offer forgiveness and healing to us as we forgive and heal those around us.
Protect us from unnecessary suffering and wasteful pain.
For all that is beautiful, strong and glorious has its roots in you
and expresses your will and your nature, which we share in, unendingly.  Amen.

Prayer: Like light dappling through the leaves of a tree
And wind stirring its branches,
Like birdsong sounding from the heights of an orchard
And the scent of blossom after rainfall,
So you dapple and sound  in the human soul,
So you stir into motion all that lives.
Let your graces of healing flow this night,
For our soul is wounded
And there is brokenness in our life.
Let your graces of healing flow, dear God,
For those whom we love are in need this night
And there are agonies in the life of the world.
There are agonies in the life of the world, O my soul,
And those whom we love are in pain.

Collect: God of deep soil and luxuriant growth; you call us from our shallow selves to find our depth in you: may we abide in him alone who can teach us who we are; through Jesus Chrit, the true vine. Amen.

Going Forth:  May the God of peace sanctify us wholly, and may our spirit, soul and body be kept sound and blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.