Fone responsive prayers

For when the phone call is the pastoral visit...


The Party Line

Call:  God, as we pray...
Response:  hear us and be with us.

We pray for this time together and give thanks for technology and the ability to meet safely.
We ask you blessing on our devices and ask for clarity and wisdom.

Call:  God, as we pray...
Response:  hear us and be with us.

We pray for our neighbours and give thanks for smiles and waves and the possibility of jokes.
We ask for humour and signs of joy and hope to be the infection that passes around most quickly.

Call:  God, as we pray...
Response:  hear us and be with us.

We pray for anxious times and ask for the ability to listen and ease one another by our connection of spirits.
May your Holy Spirit guide our listening and our speaking.

Call:  God, as we pray...
Response:  hear us and be with us.

We pray for those around us and those absent, as we find new ways of being your people,
May our lives and prayers become entwined in new and precious ways.

Call:  God, as we pray...
Response:  hear us and be with us

Now and always.
Amen.

Prayer for a relative in Aged Care

Dear God

I pray for .......

May kindness be the daily fare,

For all our loved ones in aged care.

May laughs continue while we are apart.

May life be full of music and art.

May words of wisdom flow free

And plans about for when we see

One another...

Again...

For some tea and cake.

I smile at the thought of the réunion of love,

Whether here on earth or in heaven above,

Who knows what will happen? I’m sure I don’t!

But I trust in You, Lord,

So please watch over ........

And thankyou for ....... in my life.

Amen

Prayer for grandma

Did you have a grandma, Jesus?
Did she ring you when you wanted to be playing?
Did she make you strange things?
Did she constantly ask you questions?
I hope you had a grandma like mine.
I can’t see her at the moment,
so I ask you to take care of her.
Can you give her opportunities to play games? - she likes that.
I know because she likes to play with me.
Please let my grandma be healthy and strong.
Remind her that she always tells be to eat veggies to make me healthy and strong,
So please give her an endless supply of green things - she thinks they’re great.

Dear creative God, if my grandma has the time because she can’t go out,
please remind her my favorite colour is (yellow),
just in case she gets bored and wants to knit or crochet.
Keep her safe and happy.
Amen.

Health Workers

I anxiously watch them. 
My anxiety is not just for the one I love. 
I am deeply anxious for them.
They try to comfort me with their professionalism and smiles,
But I can see their own anxiety, so I pray...


Healing God,
You called these amazing people
to serve in your great work.
Thank you.
Bless them in their service.
Give them deep restorative sleep
when they get a break.
Help them to keep laughing when they can.
Give them wisdom
in the difficult decisions
and the complexity of treatment.
May I always see their humanity
 and show my love and respect
for their dedication.

In these anxious times,
I pray for their families,
even as I know
they pray in their hearts
for my loved one.

Healing God,
Bring us all healing.
Amen

Evocation #72 It’s not my problem

Disabled kids on mats in Zimbabwe
Frozen babies in Syria
Lonely and ostracized Chinese in the apartment next door
- it’s not my problem

Homeless graduate returned from Korea
German exchangers seeking life’s meaning
Buddhist monk confronting fragility
- it’s not my problem

What is my problem?
Absence? Desertion? Loneliness?
Gratitude for what has been?
Hope for what might yet be?
Despair, the faithful companion, for now?
The weaving of contrasting threads
wraps around my hurting heart.
This tapestry disguises potential lost
and possibilities unnamed.
So I ask,
What is my problem?

© A A Koh-Butler, 2020

Evocation #71 Forgive Me - a personal psalm

Help, O Lord!
I have anger and hatred.
I wish pain upon the one who is evil.
The perpetrator of abuse upon my beloved deserves death!

Even as I think the thoughts and write the words
I hear your prayer
echoing in my ears and clawing at my heart:
Forgive us as we forgive others...
My vehemence is real
and it allows evil to continue to work away in my soul.

Heal me, O Lord!
Bring back the love that encompasses pain.
Bring back the desire for goodness to overcome evil.
I long for the innocence of life in a garden of delight.
I miss the Eden you created and was stolen away.

I am heartbroken
for the one who allowed evil to destroy love and relationships.
I am heartbroken
for the lack of awareness and the absence of confession.
I am heartbroken
for the words and actions left unsaid and undone.
I see images
of the acceptance of the deceiver,
infiltrating the circles of the vulnerable
And I weep.

Where are our priorities?
That we spend too much time being the institution
rather than Your People?
There is so much blessing and so much to be grateful for...
Forgive me in my un forgiveness.

© A A Koh-Butler, 2020

Evocation #70 I’m ok

You kindly ask: R U O K?
I’m ok...

If I say it enough times,
either you or I might believe it.

What is OK?
Perhaps OK is not longing for the death
that would take me to where my heart resides?
Perhaps OK is simply showing up?
Perhaps OK is getting showered and dressed
when I simply want to hide under the sheets.

OK is like AMEN.
So be it - it is so...
I’m ok, not because I feel it, but because I am trying to behave it.
OK is an act of faith.
When despair and sorrow catch my heart and mind,
I will behave as if life is OK.... Amen.

So it is, this blue time of sadness.
It is a time when I am glad to observe the joys of others,
When I smile at the laughter of others,
When I remember breathing.

So it is, this blue sky day.
It is a time when the clouds hover over my own soul,
when the sun shining on my friends comforts me
and holds my head above the drowning waters.

So it is, this blue note day.
It is a rhythm of pauses and rests,
When the melody is interrupted
and the dissonance of contrasts does violence to my sleep.

I am asked. I respond.
I’m doing ok.

© A A Koh-Butler, 2020