LOOKING FOR OPENING CLOSING PRAYERS

Hi all,

I am looking for wonderful, inspiring opening and closing prayers from great Mediums.

If anyone could help I would be greatful.

Would would the prayers be for? A meditation group, a healing session, a service, or something else?

Regardless of the situation, after a bit of practice all you need is the opening sentence and spirit will kick in with the rest :-)

The prayers would be for a spiritualist newsletter. I would like to share and bring prayers closer to people as Inspiration for them self,thats why I am looking for different ones. As well healing prayers. Its not so easy to find them (.

Prayer is the Soul reaching out to the Great Spirit, the words are immaterial. Our 'needs' are already known. Stand and allow Spirit to come forward and all will be well.

I seem to recall Silver Birch saying that set prayers were of little (if any value) and that what was spoken from the heart or even unspoken was more appropriate. I can see the need for some formal way to close a gathering however I recall hearing prayers before I became agnostic that sounded more like a lecture

As Wes says the key is what purpose the meeting is for. Avoiding repetition is vital and Lis is always trying to stop my repetitive style and improve the prayers.

Once you know the purpose of the prayer then try and let Spirit guide you each time. Running, as I do about 42 open circles a year means trying to get Spirit to give that many opening and closing prayers plus those on Sundays etc. Circle prayers are of course different to those for Sunday meeting and also for healing.

Maybe a better bet may be inspirational poems. I tried that a while back to the despair of the specific guide who turned up to help. Maybe I will try again if ever I get time. The only succesful poem I made up was a risque Limerick which took out first prize at a medieval banquet in Wales back in the 1970's. They thought the writer would not own up.....

Well Jim, we're waiting.

obiwan wrote:I seem to recall Silver Birch saying that set prayers were of little (if any value) and that what was spoken from the heart or even unspoken was more appropriate. I can see the need for some formal way to close a gathering however I recall hearing prayers before I became agnostic that sounded more like a lecture

Speaking of the most esteemed of trees, most Silver Birch books I've seen end each chapter with a prayer. That's as good a place as any to look for something formal to work with.

Some of Ella Wheeler Wilcox's New Thought poems are also a good place to look for inspiration look through some of tehse listed here.
http://archive.org/search.php?query=ella%20wheeler%20wilcox

Wes wrote:

obiwan wrote:I seem to recall Silver Birch saying that set prayers were of little (if any value) and that what was spoken from the heart or even unspoken was more appropriate. I can see the need for some formal way to close a gathering however I recall hearing prayers before I became agnostic that sounded more like a lecture

Speaking of the most esteemed of trees, most Silver Birch books I've seen end each chapter with a prayer. That's as good a place as any to look for something formal to work with.

Yes they do but I suspect they are extemporaneous not prepared.

What is the objective of the prayer that is being said? (genuine question)

Interesting Obi you have actually defined the basis on which the prayer should be set.

It is a little about setting the intent for what you are doing. Something that restates the purpose of the particular event which is about to occur.

I suppose my thoughts are that we let Spirit know that we are opening to work, what the intent we have for that work is (A Sunday meeting, development, healing etc), to ask politely for the help we need (even if we know it is their always), to seek protection while we work to contact only Spirit with the right intent and afterwards to give thanks for the help received (although we are aware they are always present),.

After every circle I run, talk I give, healing I do, every private reading, or mediumship demonstration I always offer my thanks to my guides and to Spirit. Before each activity I politely request their help and define my intent.

Call me old fashioned but I think that is also courteous to our unseen helpers and loved one's in Spirit.

Thanks Jim I think that is a good answer even for an agnostic like me

I think I prefer my thanks unrehearsed and from the heart

As for opening with a statement of intention I like this idea. I wonder if the word prayer has too many unpleasant connotation for some of us.

OK Hiorta I will publish the limerick in the a funny thing happened to me on the way to the forum thread. Remember I was under 30 at the time and did not know what Spiritualism was

hiorta wrote:Prayer is the Soul reaching out to the Great Spirit, the words are immaterial. Our 'needs' are already known. Stand and allow Spirit to come forward and all will be well.

Wes wrote:Regardless of the situation, after a bit of practice all you need is the opening sentence and spirit will kick in with the rest :-)

Dodo737 wrote:The prayers would be for a spiritualist newsletter. I would like to share and bring prayers closer to people as Inspiration for them self,thats why I am looking for different ones. As well healing prayers. Its not so easy to find them (.

I'm confused as to your intentions and what it is you hope to accomplish.
1. In church a healer, or someone on the platform (or in circle) may offer a prayer. That prayer is a heartfelt and personal or guided request to Spirit that is supplemented by the heartfelt energies that quantify and qualify the intent behind the words. At the same time, others in the room can harmonize with or ignore the prayer while sending their own requests and energies out to Spirit. Is this something you hope to catch on paper and send out to your readers?
2. What would constitute news? Spiritualists have been saying, and Jesus said it before us, that our thoughts can manifest physical effects in others. Now that scientific studies of spiritual healing are showing those words which we already knew to be true to be true, would that be news? If so, to who? (In other words, who will your readers be and what makes, or will make, this newsletter appropriate to their needs?)
3. Is what you really want to do got anything to do with bringing more love into the world? If so, does love come from the newsletter or the heart?

Although question #3 may seem sarcastic, I assure you I am just trying to understand what you want and maybe help you to clarify your thoughts so you can tell us what it is you really need.

You may want to check the dates on threads you reply to. This one seems to have been inactive for about five months. I am not suggesting there is anything wrong with your post but you may be wasting your time reopening the thread.

I shake my head in disbelief when anyone re-addresses old and inactive threads, especially so when the originator of the thread wrote only three postings on this website and the whole thread began 17 months ago.....

Better to start a new thread altogether is my suggestion.

Sorry mac,
I'm making newbie mistakes?!!

equal-spirit wrote:Sorry mac,
I'm making newbie mistakes?!!

Curious though.. if newspaper editors aren't asking for comments about the sinking of the Titanic (an inactive thread) would they still be publishing news about the Titanic?
Aren't there supposed to be archives for this sort of thing?

equal-spirit wrote:

equal-spirit wrote:Sorry mac,
I'm making newbie mistakes?!!

Curious though.. if newspaper editors aren't asking for comments about the sinking of the Titanic (an inactive thread) would they still be publishing news about the Titanic?
Aren't there supposed to be archives for this sort of thing?

It's not a problem I don't think, just that you may not get an answer from the original poster.

Thank you but no apology was expected.

When a thread has run its course on any website there's usually little more to discuss and sometimes the originator has left the website or is no longer interested in the subject.

It's more useful, I suggest, to start a thread with one main topic if a discussion is the aim - the simpler the better.

equal-spirit wrote:

equal-spirit wrote:Sorry mac,
I'm making newbie mistakes?!!

Curious though.. if newspaper editors aren't asking for comments about the sinking of the Titanic (an inactive thread) would they still be publishing news about the Titanic?
Aren't there supposed to be archives for this sort of thing?

Archives are fine but this is simply an online website and not a reference library. As for Titanic, newspaper editors are probably interested in filling their pages with whatever news story (not an online discussion thread) will interest their readers but that doesn't necessarily mean they're seeking comments about Titanic's sinking all those decades ago.

There has surely been more than enough comments on that disaster already.