Hope and Death

Tuesday, March 22, 2022

Lorenzo Scott – Girl Standing in the Midst of Heaven

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INVOCATION

Spirit, come. Fill us with hope. 

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CLOUD OF WITNESS

I often lay in bed at night and think about death. Actually, if I’m being honest, I worry about it.

So today,  I decided to explore my worry so that I could make peace with dying.

Of course, I hope for a long and well-lived, intentional life guided that’s by love—but I also hope for a death that is equally balanced with a good life. 

Here’s a wonderful word of hope about death from Father Richard Rohr: 

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And here’s another word of hope about death from Cynthia Bourgeault:

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And here’s one more good word of hope about death from Thomas Keating:

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WORD OF HOPE

There is hope in the blessing of dying. After all, there’s a reason that God ushered us from the Garden of Eden before we could take a bite from the Tree of Eternal Life. In doing so, God preserved death a gift for us.

There is hope in death—something more than new, but an unfathomable beginning. 

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CANTICLE

Meditation on Hope and Love in a Time of Struggle by Alice Anacheka-Nasemann

In a world so filled with brokenness and sorrow
It would be easy to lose ourselves in never ending grief,
To be choked by our outrage
To be paralyzed by the enormity of suffering,
To feel our hearts squeeze tight with hopelessness.
Instead, this morning, let us simply breathe together as we hold our hearts open.
Breathing in as our hearts fill with compassion
Breathing out as we pray for healing in our world & in our lives.
Breathing in, opening ourselves to the transforming power of love
Breathing out as we pray for peace in our world & in our lives.
Breathing in as we hold hope in our hearts
Breathing out as we pray for justice in our world & in our lives.
May we know our strength
May we be filled with courage
May our love flow from us into this world.
Breathing in, we are the prayer
Breathing out, we are the healing
Breathing in, we are the love
Breathing out, we are the peace
Breathing in, we are the hope
Breathing out, we are the justice
May we know our strength
May we be filled with courage
May our love flow from us into this world.
Amen, blessed be, may it ever be so.

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BENEDICTION

May we filled with hope from our next breath to our very last.