Cantica Gaudia

Season of Epiphany: Sunday Noonday Prayer

Opening:   I was glad when they said to me, ‘Let us go to the house of the Lord.’

Psalm: When the Lord restored the fortunes of this people
It seemed to us like a dream
Then our mouth was filled with laughter,
And our tongues uttered shouts of joy.

Reading: This place is a dream.
Only a sleeper considers it real.
Then death comes like dawn,
And you wake up laughing
At what you thought was your grief.
But there’s a difference with this dream.
Everything cruel and unconscious
Done in the illusion of the present world,
All that does not fade away at the death-waking.
It stays,
And it must be interpreted.

The Lord’s Prayer: Holy One,
We honor your name.
Let the world know your justice
Here as everywhere.
Give us the food we need
For both the body and the soul.
Forgive us the wrongs we do
As we forgive the wrongs of others.
Keep us safe from the evil
At large or of our own making.
We trust you for you made us and
We are yours, now and always.  Amen.

Prayer: Lord, my heart is not large enough,
My memory is not good enough,
My will is not strong enough:
Take my heart and enlarge it,
Take my memory and give it quicker recall,
Take my will and make it strong
And make my conscious of thee
Everpresent, ever accompanying.  Amen.

Going forth: Thanks be to God!