Dear All,
Another week of Eastertide & this week I seem to be coming across several pieces that come under the heading of DANCE!! They seem to be very appropriate for post-Easter & for Spring becoming ever more dominant. So we hope you enjoy them.
May the Lord bless you,
May the Lord protect you & guide you,
May his strength uphold you,
His light shine upon you,
His peace surround you,
His love enfold you.
May the Lord bless you,
The Lord bless you,
The Lord bless you.
May that blessing go with you through the week. (‘A Blessing’ from ‘Fire of Love’)
For anyone who might join us for ‘live’ Evening Prayer at Blessed Sacrament this coming week: we won’t be there on Tuesday 3 May – it is the day that we are closing our house in E. London & Christina & Teresa Ann move to join our Colchester group.
With our love & prayer
O ANTIPHONS FOR SPRING
O Midwife of Spring, Come!
Come encourage what needs to be born in us.
Draw us out of winter’s nurturing womb.
Teach us to believe in our unopened buds.
Accompany us into a world starved for new life. O Come!
O Seed Buried in the Soil, Come!
Come die to your seed-like condition.
Break through the darkness that has cradled your life.
Pierce the hard husk of all that we cling to.
Urge us to listen to the quiet sound of growing. O Come!
O Hidden Life Now Unveiled, Come!
Come, welcome guest.
Set free our reluctance to live fully and deeply.
Awaken us to the beauty that holds and enfolds us.
Open our eyes to all we can become. O Come!
O Spring Rising Out of Winter’s Arms, Come!
Come melt what is frozen in us.
Open the buds of our longing with your gentle breezes.
Soften the hard earth of our hearts with your rains.
Breathe warmth upon the cold places in us.
O Come! O Green Mantle of Creation, Come!
Come clothe us with the colours of spring.
Paint our fields and forests with your artist’s brush.
Leap into our lives with a lover’s enthusiasm.
Fill us with boundless energy and faithful hearts.
O Come! O Child of Resurrection, Come!
Come dancing out of winter’s gloom.
Enliven us with your radiant hope.
Lure us through the closed doors of doubt. Celebrate with us the wonder of risen life.
O Come! O Laughter of the Earth, Come!
Come laugh us out of our rigidity.
Lighten hearts grown weary with anxiety.
Send us out to the meadows to play like a child.
Rise up in our souls with lighthearted joy.
O Come! O Awakening Dawn, Come!
Come like the day star rising out of the east.
Come bearing the sparkling rays of your sunbeams.
Come carrying baskets of flowers and green-laced leaves.
Call forth blossoms sleeping in the garden of our lives. O Come!
Macrina Wiederkehr and Joyce Rupp
Born To Dance
Unless we are broken
woken,
we have yet to experience
the dance of new life
within
our unlived lives for so long
restless, persistent, aching
breaking into Dance.
Noel Davis – The Heart Waking
Unless You Lead Me
I cannot sing, O Lord, unless you lead me
And if you want me to sing for joy,
Then you must be the first to sing out your song
And I will follow you and sing right along,
Then, only then, Then, only then,
Then, only then, will I sing for joy!
Then, only then, will I sing for joy!
Lead me Lord in your joyful dancing.
I will follow in your dance of life.
Then all my living will be true to you,
My loving God.
Breige O’Hare