a prayer for the New Year (reprised for 2014)

Hey friends-- I wrote out this prayer and posted it at the very beginning of 2011.  I read it again this morning on the brink of 2014.   

As many of you know, I haven't posted in quite a while--I've had my hands full.  This past year has been a challenging one for us, and so these words feel very real and alive to me.  I re-posted it in the hope that this could be fuel for your own prayer for the new year, and that brilliant HOPE will be very much alive for all of us!


God I give You
last year
with its close calls
rescues
traps and sorrows
collapses and renewals
crises and joys
stains and scars

and I hope somehow
I lived it well
in Your wise eyes.

I give You this new year
with all its bright and shine
caution and hope
I lift it high up to You now
when it has barely broken the horizon

take it up into Your hands
along with my soul
look them over with Your keen eye
trim away the chaff
the chaos
the reticence
and re-fire me to go
poised at the gate
fueled with hope
blackened with the burn marks from last year
but rich with the hard-won lessons
and ready to go again
as the planet is ready
for a new revolution around the sun

there is much to learn
adventures to welcome and not to fear
as I step onto Your proving ground
knowing You post Your angels everywhere
and that the same providence
that guided me through the last wild ride
is all still there
ever aware
on the watch
and worthy of my second-by-second trust.

O God
say the word
I'm ready to go
into the rising New Year
even though
my knees might be shaking
a little
from the old one.

whoa

He has shown you, O man, what is good. 
And what does the LORD require of you?
To act justly and to love mercy
and to walk humbly with your God.  
  Micah 6:8

------

whoa

what if

the whole thing
is just to

show up

with a buoyant
peaceable
spirit

and do something
you do well

something that makes the lives of others

somehow
better

and then
the next day

do it again

hymn to the wild sky

At 5 this morning I watched a summer storm power up and race across our backyard--a front row seat to a huge show, a display that I usually miss because I'm focused on something else.  I wrote this poem with one eye on the sky and one eye on our ancient roof, hoping the storm would stay out where it belonged. :-)  

hymn to the wild sky

our Father in heaven
i am watching Your power 
written in bold dark clouds across the sky 
right to left, driven by wind  
water plummeting from the heights
feeding the bursting thirsty foliage 

no sirens
no warnings

but a charged-up sky is sparking and seething
the wrestling of lightning and wind
torrential window rattling chest pounding 
deep earth rumbling
and big sky splitting open

this fierce dance of the high atmosphere 
appears wild and chaotic to us
but it is in fact
obedient to laws
that You wrote 
on the expanse of the cosmos
at the moment of creation

Let there be--
and it is

You show off Your vibrancy in such a storm
You rouse the heavens and shout for joy
for life
the exuberance of a Creator
expressing Your existence in a burst of furious love
I AM
You bellow 
and the earth responds with life

(except
for we
sophisticated
humans
with our headphones on)

how is it 

that outside
the Voice of God thunders 
separated from our flesh by an eighth of an inch of glass
and we bury that Voice 
we little minds gazing at our screens
sucking in 
prefabricated ideas 
human invention 
promotion
and radiation

while just three feet away
the world is being oxygenated
created and recreated
by a Mind so much greater than our own

?

healing the space

Saying it, breathing it, receiving it...

healing the space

Your light is coming up

Your pure light diffusing into this space

dark words and fears losing their power

evaporating

giving way to healing

the dawn pouring its new oil into loved ones as they sleep

any and all toxins retreat

scattering

as my soul opens skyward 

reaching for Your Holy Spirit 

Lord let the dark old story

scrawled on these barren pages

be rewritten 

in Your bright new ink

Lord here we are 

here we are

breathing You in

opening our pores to Your grace

courage is coming

we feel it building

spirits lift even in our sleep

deep calling to deep

our cells cry to you 

stretching upward

grasping for Your restoration

YES

YES we will be healed

YES this space

that we walk sleep eat and dream in 

will be cleansed

we will stand again

smile a deep smile

and lift our souls up to Your brilliant Light

all will be well

all will be well

give You this day

A prayer to invite God into everything...

give You this day

come Lord Jesus

into my focus
into my awareness
into my sensibilities
my fears

my ability to love
my resolve to act

come Lord Jesus

into my pace
my breathing

into my mind
sharpen it

into my decisions
guide them surely

into my body
tune it

into my perception
attune it

into my eyes
brighten them

into my my conversations
season them

into my faith
make it solid

into my senses
make them vibrant

into my center
make it hold

into my affections
make them true

into my attention
steer it

let me sense
You breathing inside of me

let me submit
to Your guidance system

let me respond
fluidly
to Your spark of inspiration

let me live this day
animated by You
quickened by You
given fresh oxygen from You

for I am Yours
willingly
joyfully
and
with a great exhale

i give You this day

back again

the birch tree in the backyard
was a branchless
skeletal white trunk
just a few short summers ago
written off for dead.

yet here it is!
bursting, re-thriving
green fireworks erupting
wildly resurrected for yet another year
the green fuse of life
re-routes itself
reconfiguring
forging new pathways to the light...

the reports of its demise
were greatly exaggerated

Hold On: for Boston 4/15/13

I wrote the song Hold On the day of September 11, 2001, as events were unfolding with ferocity.  In the vacuum that brought New York, and all of us, to our knees in those days, gasping for breath, the question arose in the throats of many of us, "where does God fit into all this?" This song was my way of dealing with it.  

Now, in the wake of Boston 4/15/13, I was stunned to realize how much this song speaks to the current tragedy.   I'm re-posting Hold On in hope that it might in some way be a comfort to those who are reeling from the events of the past couple of weeks.

Link to recording of "Hold On"

hold on

despite the devastation now
beyond the things I'll never understand
God I'm reaching for Your hand
beyond the questions hanging here
despite the awkward silence in the air
I believe that You're still there

and I'll hold on to the Voice that calls my name
hold on to the Heart that feels the pain
hold on to the promise that remains
hold on

and I'll hold on to the Hand that gently guides
hold on to the strength that's left inside
the shreds of belief that just won't die
hold on

the gift of one more day begins
the act of breathing out and breathing in
the will to start again
one more day to serve, to give
to reach beyond the wreckage and to live
to respect the sacred gift

hold on though the world is not the same
hold on to the God who'll never change
hold on to the fragments of your faith
hold on

hold on and believe the Holy One
and know that His justice will be done
hold on to the Kingdom yet to come
hold on

and just hold on for the world is turning still
despite every tremor we will feel
hold on for eternal life is real
hold on

and just hold on though the mountains fall apart
the pieces of hope left in our hearts
will hold us until the healing starts
hold on

just hold on.


©2001 Greg Ferguson.  

prayer for the new

Lord God 

don't let this year be

a mere copy of last year

breathe your Spirit into this year fresh

give it the color and heat of Your intent

the radiance of Your vision

the fire of Your love

the power to carry out Your dream

swiftly and strongly

let this year shine like a brilliant sun

and let us thrive 

in its light

watchful eye

i'm on the lookout for the holy
for the numinous
it's everywhere
but is best caught in the lowest of light
when the distractions of our world
are hidden for a time
dormant for a few hours

then the watching souls
who are awake
get an opportunity to catch
the faintest of a glimpse
a vibe the inner senses detect
a stillness beyond stillness
a light that broods over the earth
in the earliest dawn
or the deep dusk

then i hold my breath

then the holy comes out to play

and maybe
just maybe

God will speak