Hear our voice, O Lord, according to your faithful love.
| 2 Kings 5.1-15 | Psalm 43 | Luke 4.24-30 |
"Fields of Ukraine", by Vera Kavura, 2022.
As a break from choral singing, this, which has exactly nothing to with Lent!
J.S. Bach. Oboe Concerto in F major BWV 1053r. Emma Black and the Netherlands Bach Society.
from: Carmen Bernos de Gasztold. Prayers from the Ark. Translated from French by Rumer Godden. Illustrated by Jean Primrose. London: Macmillan, 1963.
Noah’s Prayer
Lord,
what a menagerie!
Between Your downpour and these animal cries
one cannot hear oneself think!
The days are long,
Lord.
All this water makes my heart sink.
When will the ground cease to rock under my feet?
The days are long.
Master Raven has not come back.
Here is Your dove.
Will she find us a twig of hope?
The days are long,
Lord.
Guide Your Ark to safety,
some zenith of rest,
where we can escape at last
from this brute slavery.
The days are long,
Lord.
Lead me until I reach the shore of Your covenant.
Amen.
The Prayer of the Owl
Dust and ashes!
Lord,
I am nothing but dust and ashes,
except for these two riding lights
that blink gently in the night,
colour of moons,
and hung on the hook of my beak.
It is not, Lord, that I hate Your light.
I wail because I cannot understand it,
enemy of the creatures of darkness
who pillage Your crops.
My hoo-hoo-hoooooo
startles a depth of tears in every heart.
Dear God,
one day,
will it wake Your pity?
Amen.
May God our Redeemer show us compassion and love. Amen.