Cantica Gaudia

Ordinary Time, Late Summer: Wednesday Noonday Prayer

Opening: Be on your guard, stand firm in the faith, act bravely; do every thing with love.

Psalm: All the earth shouts for you!
We serve you joyfully
Come into your presence
With thanksgiving songs

We know you intimate as all
Know we come from you
Are you
Your people, flock of your pasture, wholly yours

As we enter your gate with thanksgiving songs
Enter your court with chants of praise
We offer all our thanks
And heap blessings on your unsayableness

For you are goodness
Endless kindness
Truthfulness now
And throughout the generations

Reading: Last night, God posted on the tavern wall a hard decree for all of love's inmates, which read:

"If your heart cannot find a joyful work, the jaws of this world will probably grab hold of your sweet ass."

The Lord’s Prayer

Abba our God,
Whom the heavens disclose,
May your name be held holy,
Your authority come.
May your longing be fulfilled
As in heaven, so on earth.
Give us today the bread of tomorrow,
And cancel our debts
As we have already forgiven our debtors.
Do not draw us in
To sinful enticement,
But set us free
From the grip of evil;
For authority and power and glory
Are yours alone, for ever.  Amen.

Prayer: Lord God, help us to live out your gospel in the world. We pray for those who do not know your love, that they would be wooed by your goodness and seduced by your beauty. Form us into a family that runs deeper than biology or nationality or ethnicity, a family that is born again in you. May we be creators of holy mischief and agitators of comfort... people who do not accept the world as it is but insist on its becoming what you want it to be. Let us groan as in the pains of childbirth for your kingdom to come on earth as it is in heaven. Help us to be midwives of that kingdom. Amen.

Going Forth: Wherever we go, may the joy of God the gracious be with us. Wherever we go, may the face of Christ the kindly be with us. Where we go, may the compassing of the Spirit of grace be with us. Wherever we go, the presence of the Trinity around us to bless and to keep us.