THE COMPANIONS

COVER

It’s all so much easier than you think…

Wanting your own way,

you wandered into a country dark and strange…

Drifting, a memory stirred,

a dream shook you awake,

and you remembered –

the lights of home…

and you recalled –

your mother’s house,

and murmured softly to yourself,

I will arise.

 

Talitha Mathew, SCHC

India Chapter

Inklings, “The prodigal child”

 

 

THANKSGIVING: SUNDAY AND EVERY DAY

When we are bewildered in our prayer life by the enormity of the distress and suffering in the world, may we recall with thanksgiving the wise words of our dear founder, Emily Malbone Morgan, in one of her letters in 1923:

“Intercession for others brings them near to the heart of God who can help them, as we cannot.”

 

Eileen Clark, SCHC

Happehatchee Chapter

 

SIMPLICITY OF LIFE: MONDAY

I ask for one more thing, God.

Wake me up! Please!

Nudge me to notice the beauty, the love—

all that binds life together.

And direct my heart to the brokenness.

Help me to spend my strength on

restoring justice and peace in your world.

 

Barbara Diamond, SCHC

Maine Chapter

 

UNITY OF ALL GOD’S PEOPLE: TUESDAY

Creator God, guide us as we seek to see each person we meet as an individual, full of potential, each with a unique story.

 

May we see, hear, understand as you do. Help us to go deeper to fully appreciate each person.

Open our hearts, open our minds to encounter you

in each one we meet.

 

Make us aware of our own limitations, knowing we cannot succeed at this task without your help.

Guide us with your presence, your Holy Spirit surrounding us.

 

Treva McLaughlin, SCHC

Philadelphia Chapter

 

 

SOCIAL JUSTICE: WEDNESDAY

Holy God, you protected your son and his parents when they fled to Egypt as refugees. We ask you now to be present with and to protect the millions of refugees around the world—those in camps and those who have been able to relocate in new countries. Especially we pray for those who are living in countries like ours, where the spoken and written language are undecipherable, whose customs are strange, everything seems new. May their fears and anxieties quickly ease as they meet and get to know those who seek to be their friends and guides. Give wisdom, patience, and understanding to those who seek to be their friends and guides.

We ask this in the name of your refugee son, Jesus.

 

Edwina M. Simpson, SCHC

Ann Arbor Chapter

 

PEACE AND RECONCILIATION: THURSDAY

Emily Greene Balch, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1946, once wrote: “We have a long, long way to go. So let us hasten along the road, the road of human tenderness and generosity. Groping, we may find one another’s hands in the dark.” O God, may we who walk the Way of the Cross take one another’s hands and journey purposefully toward peace and reconciliation in our Society, the church, our communities, and the world.

 

Melissa Buckingham, SCHC

Philadelphia Chapter

 

 

GROWTH IN THE SPIRITUAL LIFE: FRIDAY

Creator God, guide and mold us to become like an old growth forest, deeply rooted, spiritually

interconnected to all creation; strong, resilient and life-giving. Help us to learn and practice daily your sacred instructions from our ancestors and the web of life, so that we grow in wisdom, harmony, and love.

 

Ann Smith, SCHC

Happehatchee Chapter

Based on Proverbs 3:18

 

 

PRAYERS PERSONAL AND GENERAL: SATURDAY

O Lord, help us to find a way to still the rage, anger, and violence that is rampant throughout this land. Soften our hearts that we hear those who cry out in need. Empower us to do our part to replace rage and anger with your reconciling love; in your Holy Name we pray.

 

Patricia L. Gaukler, SCHC

Lehigh Valley Chapter

 

A self is not something static, tied up in a pretty parcel and handed to the child, finished and complete. A self is always becoming.

 

Madeleine L’Engle, SCHC 1971-2007

 

 

DAILY COMPANION PRAYER, adapted

Your grace, O Lord, be with us all who walk along the way, that we may carry in our hearts your cross, with joy, each day. As you have died, may we too die, to self, and so to sin, conforming to your will for us, a holier life begin; and as you loved, so may we love, as you forgave, forgive; for only as you live in us shall we most truly live.

 

Janet Morgan, SCHC 1950-1997

 

Photo by Lois Blood Bennett. Hanging flower box at Adelynrood.