Maggi Dawn » prayers

how to lead prayers

maggi dawn — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 09:29:22 +0000

While I was away I came across this excellent book. How to lead Intercessions by Doug Chaplin. It’s simple, direct and very very good. Includes tips, examples, and even a how-not-to example. Buy one for yourself or your team.

God in a life behind schedule…

maggi dawn — Wed, 14 May 2008 20:28:49 +0000

Increasingly, time pressures crowd out the leisurely pace that prayer seems to require. Communication with other people keeps getting shorter and more cryptic: text messages, email, instant messaging. We have less and less time for conversation, let alone contemplation. We have the constant sensation of not enough: not enough time, not enough rest, not enough exercise, not enough leisure. Where does God fit into a life that already seems behind schedule?

Philip Yancey, Prayer, p. 15

An old Irish Blessing

maggi dawn — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 21:33:00 +0000

May the road rise up to meet you.
May the wind always be at your back.
May the sun shine warm upon your face,
and rains fall soft upon your fields.
And until we meet again,
May God hold you in the palm of His hand.

on prayer

maggi dawn — Thu, 13 Sep 2007 13:10:00 +0000

"Prayer should be brief and pure, unless it happen to be lengthened by an impulse or inspiration of divine grace."
from the Rule of St Benedict

Francis Drake’s Prayer

maggi dawn — Sun, 17 Jun 2007 16:24:40 +0000

Here are some thoughts on one of my favourite prayers: Church Times – Prayer for the week.

Aled Jones and Francis Drake

maggi dawn — Sun, 29 Apr 2007 12:02:27 +0000

I had the great pleasure this morning of talking to Aled Jones on the Radio. I’m happy to find that he is as charming in real life as he seems in the public eye. We chatted about this and that, and then I got to say a few words about faith. This is (approximately) what I said:

We need certain things to survive – food, shelter, warmth. But we need something more than this to flourish as human beings – we need a dream, a sense of purpose. Of course, our dreams need to shift as we get closer to them – if your dream has already come true, it’s time to get a new one!

I think that this is mostly what we mean when we speak of God. To catch a glimpse of God is to know that there is something bigger than ourselves – something, or someone, beyond the horizon.

Sir Francis Drake, the first person to circumnavigate the globe, once prayed for bigger dreams. This is part of his prayer:

Disturb us, Lord,
when we are too well pleased with ourselves;
when our dreams have come true because we dreamed too little;
When we arrive safely because we sailed too close to the shore.

Disturb us, Lord, to dare more boldly –
to venture on wider seas where storms will show your mastery;
where losing sight of land, we shall find the stars.

Reading the Everyday

maggi dawn — Tue, 03 Oct 2006 14:43:04 +0000

John Davies on top form in Third Way this month. Challenging the seductive idea that we need to rebel against ordinariness and seek the extraordinary – in life and in faith – he looks at how, if we take the time to read the ordinary, the local, the unremarkable, there are riches of life to be found there. The link to a downloadable pdf of his article is on Urblog.

belief

maggi dawn — Sun, 16 Apr 2006 09:16:00 +0000

He finds me when I am not looking,
the soft footstep at the threshold of my senses

an embrace of apple blossoms humming with bees,
murmuring all languages that have ever been spoken

Oh quickened tongue made of light and earth,
voice of star and root, wave and leaf

He comes to me when I am not seeing,
the honey glow of light from behind the door

Here is the expectant coil of green beneath the snow,
beneath the burn, beneath the stone

Here is warm and sun on skin again after night,
after grief, after sorrow

from The Wicker Chronicles

the best prayer

maggi dawn — Fri, 07 Apr 2006 07:29:12 +0000

"The best prayer is the one in which there is the most love. Adoration, wordless admiration, that is the most eloquent form of prayer: that wordless admiration which contains the most passionate declaration of love."
Charles de Foucauld

pray for the best

maggi dawn — Fri, 17 Mar 2006 10:35:33 +0000

a friend sent me this motto today:

Pray for the best
Prepare for the worst

Whenever I get anxious, I sit myself down and say "What’s the worst that could happen?" Often the worst imaginable, even though it’s unpleasant, I know I could still survive, still deal with it somehow. And I know very well that most of the time what happens is not the worst. Ergo – I can cope. It will be alright.

Today I’m thinking the opposite – "What’s the best that could happen?" Maybe the best won’t happen either. But you never know your luck.