The Ignatian Spirituality thing wasn't really jiving for me, and yesterday when I went to the site for the prompt I couldn't get in for a while.
So I am here to say that instead I am doing my private thing, and also writing prayers from Rachel Hackenberg's prompts.
I started the latter before Lent, actually, and the first prayer I wrote was so personal I didn't feel I wanted to publish it on the blog. But it was very, very powerful! So, I may not publish everything I write...but I will try to write about the process.
Here's today's prompt, read on my phone as I headed to a potentially difficult meeting. It gave me a rush of courage! that was only second to knowing that some praying folks had my back, too.
***
Today's reading to prompt our prayers is Isaiah 10:21 (NRSV):
"A remnant will return, the remnant of Jacob, to the mighty God." The
prophet Isaiah foreshadows warring years for Jerusalem and a scattering
of the people, but he also claims with hope that a remnant of the
Israelites will be saved from the destruction in order to rebuild the
nation. Despite all that will be lost, those who remain will be Israel's
good news.
Many of us have experienced moments of devastating
loss. Sometimes we've known long seasons of loss, when it feels that
life is stripped bare and hope is a word only for the privileged. Life
breaks us into pieces. To those seasons of our lives, Isaiah brings
amazing good news: God only needs pieces to rebuild the whole. God can
replenish a fire-devastated forest with just a few seeds, and God is
fully capable of renewing life with just a few remnants.
In your
prayer-writing today, observe the devastated or broken places of your
life with God, and pray for God's blessing and renewal upon the
remnants. (My writing is here: http://rachelhackenberg.com/lent-2-3/)
***
God,
There was a cataclysm of loss one day
in the very same room that feels so scary today.
I thought you had left me, then.
Today, I needed to remember that I lived through that.
In fact, I found my voice in it.
I learned to say, "What's the worst they can do...kill me?" (with the certainty that it wasn't going to go that far!)
I found grace in the love and support of others there,
the same as I did today.
I found confidence to remember my voice and speak.
I held my head up and walked through it.
When I forget to ask your help, I am broken and alone.
Today, I walked on.
With your help, I can continue to walk.
