Cantica Gaudia

Season of Easter: Tuesday Evening Prayer

Opening: Let my prayer be set forth in your sight as incense, the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice.

Canticle: My soul rejoices in the Lord,
My spirit leaps before my God and savior,
Who favors his waiting servant.
Listen!
From now on, everyone will call me happy!
For the heavens did great things unto me,
Holy is his name
From this time and forever,
Mercy flows to those who fear him.
His strong arm spread,
He scatters the thoughts of arrogant hearts,
He snatches the powerful from high places
And lifts up the empty.
The hungry are fed delicious food
And the rich sent away with nothing.
His child Israel is clothed in forgiveness,
Just as he spoke to our fathers,
Abraham and his seed forever.

Psalm: Unnamable God, I feel you
With me at every moment.
You are my food, my drink
My sunlight, and the air I breathe.
You are the ground I have built on
And the beauty that rejoices my heart.
I give thanks to you at all times
For lifting me from my confusion,
For teaching me in the dark
And showing me the path of life.
I have come to the center of the universe;
I rest in your perfect love.
In your presence there is fullness of joy
And blessedness forever and ever.

Glory be to God, who made us, who bears our pain, and who loves us. 
As it was in the beginning, is now, and will be for ever.  Amen.

Reading: But then the moon 
comes up after all and with 
a glow bright enough to wake 
you through the bedroom 
curtains, 
the night outside, one 
vast luminous room beside which 
indoor rooms seem to belong to 
a preliminary, rudimentary 
dimension, 
and her there shining-- 
mother daughter friend anima mundi -- 
so still and low that it's almost as though 
you hadn't broken every vow you ever 
made in the wayside tabernacles 
of the universe. 
This time you go 
back to bed, close your eyes and head 
far into the dark, try to find a place to set 
up shop, see things only in the light 
love throws, doing away with 
mental fuss. 
Soon you're walking 
down an unfamiliar road in a nighttime 
countryside, hoping to come across a local 
acquainted with the lesser known 
lunar writings. 
Houses are few; 
everyone is asleep; the air suffused 
with a beautiful half-light whose source 
you can't place. You're strangely 
unafraid and in no hurry. 

The Lord’s Prayer: Seed and source,
Far in the distance and in our souls,
You are holy and make us whole.
May we perceive your divine will
That loved us into being
Help us to join your creative force
And let it prosper here.
Give us what we need to survive,
And release us from our transgressions
As we release others from theirs.
Keep us away from paths of destruction
And from those who would ruin what you have made,
For you are the matrix of life, love and wisdom,
Now and forever.  Amen.

Prayer: O Spirit of God, mighty river
Flow over me, in me, through me,
O Spirit of God, cleanse me,
Purify the channels of my life.
O Spirit of God, bear me along
With your flood of life-giving service.
O Spirit of God, mighty river,
Bear me down to the ocean,
The ocean of your love.

Collect: God of love, forgive us when we make a mockery of love by only speaking of love. Burden us with your embodied love so that our first response may be to love with our hands and feet. May our love take on the flesh you so humbly bore. Amen 

Going Forth: Live without fear: our Creator has made us holy, has always protected us, and loves us as a mother. We go in peace to follow the good road and may God's blessing be with us always. Amen.