Tuesday Prayer Blogging

Christ mandala
Nalini Jayasuriya
Sri Lanka

A Prayer for Deliverance

O God, your glory blazes with the light of love and justice, your righteousness and your mercy flow together as one mighty stream: May we who beseech deliverance from violence, oppression, and degradation be purged within of their roots—of fear, envy, powerlessness, anger, resentment, the lust for revenge and the desire to hurt—and of the blindness and willfulness which beset our best intentions; that we may not act with violence, neither oppress nor degrade any of your creatures, but may strive for justice and peace among all people, and respect the dignity of every human being; for Jesus’ sake. Amen.

This prayer expands a petition from Form I of the Prayers of the People and concludes with the final vow of our Baptismal Covenant. Imagery is drawn either explicitly or allusively from Hebrews 12:29 (and Eliot’s complex vision of fire in “Little Gidding”), Amos 5:24, Ezekiel 34:26, Psalm 2:6-7, Ezekiel 47, Revelation 22. The themes of fire and water mingle in the Orthodox liturgies of the Feast of the Theophany.
--the BB

Lord, have mercy

Entsündige mich mit Isop, daß ich rein werde; wasche mich, daß ich schneeweiß werde.

Ímé én vétekben fogantattam, és bûnben melengetett engem az anyám.

Purea ahau ki te hihopa, a ka ma ahau; horoia ahau, a ka ma ke atu i te hukarere.

Curăţeşte-mă cu isop, şi voi fi curat; spală-mă, şi voi fi mai alb decît zăpada.

Окропи меня иссопом, и буду чист; омой меня, и буду белее снега.

Asperges me hyssopo et mundabor; super nivem bealbabor.

Purifícame con hisopo, y seré limpio;
lávame, y seré más blanco que la nieve.

'Shame' hardly does it justice. But it is a start. How does the country, the state, cleanse itself of the pollution of Cheneyism?

--Josh Marshall

Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.

V. Favorably with mercy hear our prayers;
R. O Son of David, have mercy upon us.
V. Both now and ever vouchsafe to hear us, O Christ;
R. Graciously hear us, O Christ; graciously hear us, O Lord Christ.

The Officiant concludes

Let us pray.

We humbly beseech thee, O Father, mercifully to look upon our infirmities; and, for the glory of thy Name, turn from us all those evils that we most justly have deserved; and grant that in all our troubles we may put our whole trust and confidence in thy mercy, and evermore serve thee in holiness and pureness of living, to thy honor and glory; through our only Mediator and Advocate, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

[From the Supplication, BCP 1979]

--the BB