Matterofprayer: A Year of Everyday Prayers – February 5, 2015
Pillars of Creation
photo credit – NASA – European Space Agency
Hubble Space Telescope
A Canticle of Praise and Prayer
For those of you following at home, here is an update on Bella, the sweet girl who is the daughter of a friend of the office manager at my church. She had an operation on a brain tumor yesterday. The lab results are in: benign! Bella is aware, responsive and smiling! Thanks be to God. Now the rehab and recovery. Thanks so much for prayers and good thoughts.
I thought today’s prayer suggestion from the book Prayer and Temperament was so appropriate, given today’s situation. The suggestion was to read Daniel 3:26-90, meditate and pray on it, and write my own canticle of praise to God as a response. (Yes, I know Daniel 3:26-90 is only found in Catholic editions of the Bible. The book I am using as a prayer guide for these two weeks before Lent begins is co-written by a Catholic priest.)
While giving God thanks and praise for God’s encouragement, comfort and support for Bella and her family at this serious time, I want to follow the prayer suggestion, as written.
This canticle from Daniel has a great deal to say about the natural world. I don’t usually think about the wide world, and what it contains. But—didn’t God make the world, too? (Rhetorical question.) Yes, I can look at this prayer suggestion in the light of an “assignment.” Or, it can focus my gaze on the glories of God’s creation. Not being much in the habit of writing out my prayers, I thought this was an excellent idea! Here goes.
Praise be to the God of creation, the One who spoke and the world came to be.
Let the four-footed ones make merry! Let the winged ones flap together!
Let sea creatures glide, insects buzz, reptiles hiss—all lift praise together!
Praise be to the God of all creatures, the One who called all things good.
Let the forest and field lift their leaves! Let the wastelands and wetlands rejoice!
Let rocks and rubble roar, sand and cinders sigh aloud—all lift praise to You, God!
Praise be to the God of inventive ingenuity, of endless creativity!
Let the creative sense within mortals give praise! Let both intellect and emotion rejoice!
Let community and crowd, families and folks all lift praise with many voices!
Praise be to the God of earth and sky, of sea and dry land, the One who is over all!
Praise be to the God who brought order out of chaos, the One who made me and you.
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