In The Silence, Name Me

by Ted Loder

Holy One,

   untamed

      by the names

         I give you,

in the silence

   name me,

that I may know

   who I am,

hear the truth

   you have put into me,

trust the love

   you have for me,

      which you call me to live out

         with my sisters and brothers

            in your human family.

Guide Me Into An Unclenched Moment

by Ted Loder

Gentle me,

Holy One,

into an unclenched moment,

   a deep breath,

      a letting go

         of heavy expectancies,

            of shriveling anxieties,

               of dead certainties,

that, softened by the silence,

   surrounded by the light,

      and open to the mystery,

I may be found by wholeness,

   upheld by the unfathomable,

      entranced by the simple,

         and filled with the joy

            that is you.

I Need to Breathe Deeply

by Ted Loder

Eternal Friend,

grant me an ease

to breathe deeply of this moment,

   this light,

      this miracle of now.

Beneath the din and fury

   of great movements

      and harsh news

         and urgent crises,

make me attentive still

   to good news,

      to small occasions,

         and the grace of what is possible

            for me to be,

               to do,

                  to give,

                     to receive,

that I may miss neither my neighbor’s gift

   nor my enemy’s need.

Lead Me Out of My Doubts and Fears

by Ted Loder

Eternal God,

lead me now

   out of the familiar setting

      of my doubts and fears,

   beyond my pride

      and my need to be secure

into a strange and graceful ease

   with my true proportions

      and with yours;

that in boundless silence

   I may grow

      strong enough to endure

         and flexible enough to share

            your grace.

Hear Me Quickly, Lord

by Ted Loder

Hear me quickly, Lord,

for my mind soon wanders to other things

     I am more familiar with

          and more concerned about

               than I am with you.

O Timeless God, for whom I do not have time,

catch me with a sudden stab of beauty

     or pain

          or regret

that will catch me up short for a moment

to look hard enough at myself—

     the unutterable terror

          and hope within me

and, so, to be caught by you.

Gather Me To Be With You

by Ted Loder

O God, gather me now

to be with you

as you are with me.

Soothe my tiredness;

quiet my fretfulness;

curb my aimlessness;

relieve my compulsiveness;

let me be easy for a moment.

O Lord, release me

from the fears and guilts

which grip me so tightly;

from the expectations and opinions

which I so tightly grip,

that I may be open

to receiving what you give,

to risking something genuinely new,

to learning something refreshingly different.

O God, gather me

to be with you

as you are with me.

Amen.