Poems and Prayers

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POEMS AND PRAYERS

Open a Bible







Light a candle

OPENING SONG
The Lord's Prayer






READINGS IN TEXT OR VIDEO

TEXT


FROM THE BIBLE

Matthew 6:9-13 (New International Version)

9"This, then, is how you should pray:
" 'Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
10your kingdom come,
your will be done
on earth as it is in heaven.
11Give us today our daily bread.
12Forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
13And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from the evil one.[a]'

Footnotes:

1. Matthew 6:13 Or from evil; some late manuscripts one, / for yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.

FROM SWEDENBORG

Spiritual Experiences (Odhner) n. 81

81. While I was praying the Lord's Prayer, my hands were folded and unfolded by a manifest force. Also, the words seemed to be lifted up, and mental glimpses of the contents imparted [cf. 128a].* [Hands; Prayer; Words, Expressions; Glimpse (Look)]
* See Experiences Spirituales, Vol I, p. xxxi, locus 8.

Arcana Coelestia (Potts) n. 2535

sRef John@12 @27 S0' sRef Gen@20 @7 S0' sRef Luke@3 @21 S0' sRef Luke@9 @29 S0' sRef John@12 @28 S0' sRef Luke@9 @28 S0' 2535. He shall pray for thee. That this signifies that it will thus be revealed, is evident from the signification of "praying." Prayer, regarded in itself, is speech with God, and some internal view at the time of the matters of the prayer, to which there answers something like an influx into the perception or thought of the mind, so that there is a certain opening of the man's interiors toward God; but this with a difference according to the man's state, and according to the essence of the subject of the prayer. If the man prays from love and faith, and for only heavenly and spiritual things, there then comes forth in the prayer something like a revelation (which is manifested in the affection of him that prays) as to hope, consolation, or a certain inward joy. It is from this that to "pray" signifies in the internal sense to be revealed. Still more is this the case here, where praying is predicated of a prophet, by whom is meant the Lord, whose prayer was nothing else than internal speech with the Divine, and at the same time revelation. That there was revelation is evident in Luke:
It came to pass when Jesus was baptized, and prayed, that the heaven was opened (Luke 3:21).
In the same:
It came to pass that He took Peter, James, and John, and went up into the mountain to pray; and as He prayed, the fashion of His countenance was altered, and His raiment became white and glistening (Luke 9:28-29).
In John:

[below is the video version, followed by the text of the 2 poems]

Have you any joy
but of God's bestowing?
Have you any refuge
but in Him?
Though the world destroy
does not He remain?
Can He who gave the seed
forget His children's need?
sow in vain?

Oh, be still, be patient,
learn to pray,
and wait for wisdom, knowing,
nothing can stop the seed from growing,
nothing of men's devising,
can stop the run from rising,
hinder its course, or speed.
No Let Him, uncompromising,
lead each in His own way,
till in the dawn's first shitening,
the Truth bursts forth like lightening --
brings day!

Alice Very


On Reading the Word

Daily as I read
A familiar phrase will
Suddenly drop deep --
As into a well of stored rain,
Resound with new meaning
As it strikes the quiet tension
Of my listening mind,
And send out from its plumbed depths
Concentric circles, degree outreaching ,
Of plusing, vibrant life,
The outmost reflected back to its origin
By the very stony walling in
Of my limitations.
Then it lies still again,
No sign of change,
But from henceforth
My spirit will be lifted to a new level
Almost imperceptibly.

Carolyn A. Blackmer

© 2006, Swedenborgian Community
11 Highland Ave.
Newtonville, MA 02460

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