Hope Grows at the Edges

Sunday Collect – March 27

Look well to the growing edge! All around us worlds are dying and new worlds are being born; all around us life is dying and life is being born. The fruit ripens on the tree, the roots are silently at work in the darkness of the earth against a time when there shall be new leaves, fresh blossoms, green fruit. Such is the growing edge! It is the extra breath from the exhausted lung, the one more thing to try when all else has failed, the upward reach of life when weariness closes in upon all endeavor. This is the basis of hope in moments of despair, the incentive to carry on when times are out of joint and men have lost their reason, the source of confidence when worlds crash and dreams whiten into ash. The birth of a child — life’s most dramatic answer to death — this is the growing edge incarnate. Look well to the growing edge! —Howard Thurman, The Growing Edge 

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COLLECT

A recap/summary of the week’s prayers and contemplations

MONDAY
We celebrated female guests hosted by the podcast On Being with Krista Tippetts—and, appreciated the hope that each of their conversations inspired with our Monday Whatever list. 

TUESDAY
We found hope in the blessing of death, seeing the process of dying not as an ending but as an unfathomable new beginning with teachings from The Center for Contemplation and Action.

WEDNESDAY
We acknowledged both the woes and the beatitudes of blessings that Jesus shared. 

THURSDAY
We discovered that the moon has much to teach us about hope – mainly that hope isn’t a solitary or singular act.

FRIDAY
We let our hope overflow with praise and worship led by Kirk Franklin.  

SATURDAY 
We looked back and returned to places of hope in our weekly examen. 

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THE LORD’S PRAYER

Francis Macnab from The Historical Jesus Goes to Church

Dear One, closer to us than our own hearts, 
farther from us than the most distant star, 
you are beyond naming.

May your powerful presence become obvious
not only in the undeniable glory of the sky, 
but also in the seemingly base and
common processes of the earth.

Give us what we need, day by day,
to keep body and soul together, 
because clever as you have made us,
we still owe our existence to you.

We recognize that to be reconciled with you, 
we must live peaceably and justly with other human beings, 
putting hate and bitterness behind us.

We are torn between our faith in your goodness
and our awareness of the evil in your creation,
so deliver us from the temptation to despair.

Yours alone is the universe and all its majesty and beauty.
Good caring presence within us, around us, and above us, 
hold us in a sense of mystery and wonder.

Let the fullness of your goodness be within us and around us.
Let all the world know your ways of caring and generosity.
May we find we have all we need to meet each day without undue anxiety.

Please overlook our many stupidities—
and please help us to release everyone from their stupidities.
And, may we all know that we are accepted.

Strengthen us that we will reach [to be our] best,
always with the faith to rise above
the ugly realities of our existence.

We celebrate the gifts you have given us:
the rich kingdom of life’s possibilities,
and the power to do good,
and the triumphs of good,
and the moments when we have seen 
the glory and wonder of everything.

You are life’s richness.
You are life’s power.
You are life’s ultimate meaning.

Amen.