The Season of Letting Go!

Photo by SDE

O God of Autumn loveliness, we thank you for the many colors of our lives. We thank you for the rich hues of red, the promising hope of greens, the depth of the golds, and the well-worn browns.

We praise you for all of the life you have given us, the life we celebrate at this harvest time each year. Like the leaves of the trees, we ourselves have been blown around, toasted in the sun, and whipped by rain and storms. Yet, we stand as a testament to life well lived.

Your trees, O God, remind us of our letting go, our need to trust transformation, so that new life can come. Yet, like them, we resist the tearing, wrenching, pulling, and tugging.  We cling earnestly to our color and our home!

Release us, God of the Autumn, and free us so that the wind of your Spirit can fling us to the places we most need to go.  Bury us deep in places where we will find warmth.  Help us to find ourselves grounded in you.

As we look around in this harvest time, we celebrate the bounty all around us and deep within us.  May we be forever grateful for the plentitude!  May we be forever generous with all that is ours.  May we be forever willing to give of ourselves!

And as we journey towards this winter time, help us to always carry the spirit of springtime deep within us as a sign of hope!  We believe, O God of Transformation, that all of life is your belief and hope in us!  Ready our hearts, steady our hearts that we can respond fully in faith and love!

(Author Unknown)

September 18, 2022: Mary J. Novak Preaches for the 25th Sunday in Ordina...

A teaching of the season . . .

 

To let go does not mean to stop caring,

it means I can’t do it for someone else.

 

To let go is not to cut myself off,

it’s the realization I can’t control another.

 

To let go is not to enable,

but allow learning from natural consequences.

 

To let go is to admit powerlessness, which means

the outcome is not in my hands.

 

To let go is not to try to change or blame another,

it’s to make the most of myself.

 

To let go is not to care for,

but to care about.

 

To let go is not to fix,

but to be supportive.

 

To let go is not to judge,

but to allow another to be a human being.

 

To let go is not to be in the middle arranging all the outcomes,

but to allow others to affect their destinies.

 

To let go is not to be protective,

it’s to permit another to face reality.

 

To let go is not to deny,

but to accept.

 

To let go is not to nag, scold or argue,

but instead to search out my own shortcomings and correct them.

 

To let go is not to adjust everything to my desires,

but to take each day as it comes and cherish myself in it.

 

To let go is not to criticize or regulate anybody,

but to try to become what I dream I can be.

 

To let go is not to regret the past,

but to grow and live for the future. 

 

To let go is to fear less and love more

and

To let go and to let God, is to find peace!

Remember: The time to love is short.

 

“Letting Go Takes Love”, Author unknown

 

 

 

 

Falling into Autumn . . .

 

Poem: A Leaf Treader by Robert Frost

I have been treading on leaves all day until I am autumn tired
Lord knows all the color and form of leaves I have trodden on and mired
Perhaps I have put forth too much strength or been too fierce from fear...
I have safely trodden underfoot the leaves of another year
All summer long they were overhead more lifted up than I
To come to their final place in earth they had to pass me by
All summer long I thought I heard them whispering under their breath
And when they came it seemed with a will to carry me with them to death
They spoke to the fugitive in my heart as if it were leaf to leaf
They tapped at my eyelids and touched my lips with an invitation to grief
But it was no reason I had to go because they had to go...
Now UP MY KNEE to keep atop another year of snow.

The Wisdom and Gift of Creation!

 

Oh, Great Spirit,
Whose voice I hear in the winds
and whose breath gives life to all the world.
Hear me! I need your strength and wisdom.
Let me walk in beauty, and make my eyes
ever hold the red and purple sunset.

Make my hands respect the things you have made
and my ears sharp to hear your voice.
Make me wise so that I may understand
the things you have taught my people.

Let me learn the lessons you have hidden
in every leaf and rock.
Help me remain calm and strong in the
face of all that comes towards me.

Help me find compassion without being overwhelmed.
I seek strength, not to be greater than my brother or my sister,
but to fight my greatest enemy: myself.

Make me always ready to come to you
with clean hands and straight eyes.
So when life fades, as the fading sunset,
my spirit may come to you without shame.

Translated by Lakota Sioux Chief Yellow Lark in 1887

September 11, 2022: Laurie Cassidy, Ph.D. Preaches for the 24th Sunday i...

Prayer at a time of natural disasters . . .

 

IN OUR HEARTS

Compassionate Lord, we pray for those who have been devastated by recent natural disasters. We remember those who have lost their lives so suddenly. We hold in our hearts the families forever changed by grief and loss. Bring them consolation and comfort. Surround them with our prayer for strength. Bless those who have survived and heal their memories of trauma and devastation. May they have the courage to face the long road of rebuilding ahead.

We ask your blessing on all those who have lost their homes, their livelihoods, their security and their hope. Bless the work of relief agencies and those providing emergency assistance. May their work be guided by the grace and strength that comes from You alone.

Help us to respond with generosity in prayer, in assistance, in aid to the best of our abilities. Keep our hearts focused on the needs of those affected, even after the crisis is over. We ask this in Jesus' name.

Author Unknown