Rev. Vanessa Titang

Category: prayer

  • Rinse and Repeat

    Rinse and Repeat

    [A meditation for these difficult times]

    Get it I out,
    Cry it out,
    Yell to and at the heavens above
    (The divine knows exactly why and can assuredly take it).
    Things are neither right
    Nor fair,
    Let the tears wash over you,
    Inhale,
    Exhale–In and out,
    And get up,
    Rise to the challenge of fighting the good fight another day,
    And then another,
    But be sure to cry,
    Release,
    Let the tears condition your strengthening heart,
    Remain open to and receptive of love
    For this is how and why we do this;
    Breathe,
    Rinse and repeat.

  • A Prayer for Peace

    A Prayer for Peace

    I have been quiet as yet on the Palestine and Israel conversation being had globally amidst the violence of Hamas attacks and Israel’s response. This is not because I have no thoughts on the matter, but rather because from what I knew, I have not had enough to speak to what is currently happening. I have since done my research. And like so many, I am still lost by the tangle of helplessness my hands make, as I ask, “What can be done?”

    I am often frustrated at the prospect of resorting to prayers alone. Alas, that is not all that is being done in prayer – throwing up our hands. No, it is also a means of working through complex realities to discern what these frustrated hands can, in fact, do for the better, and to call on hope.



    A Prayer for Peace
    (10-16-2023)

    I pray for peace.
    I pray for the Palestinians wanting freedom in their homeland,
    For their safety,
    I pray for the Israeli people
    Too wanting safety in the home where they are,
    I pray for the means of peaceful resolution
    To complicated matters
    Only further complicated by more harm done,
    May the people of this holy place
    Find mercy and means
    Of coming together,
    In resolution
    For the human right
    Of peace.

  • Present Liminal Moment

    Dearest one,
    Welcome to an in-between;
    Do not fear,
    It in itself is not a terrible place,
    It is but a liminal moment
    You find yourself in now,
    Breathe,
    This is but another moment,
    In a string of moments,
    In a space, perhaps more obvious
    By rite or occasion,
    That makes this moment obvious;
    You may quake in the face of uncertainty,
    Of “what comes next?”,
    Or “what does one do next?”
    Again, breathe,
    This is but a moment
    After you have come through so many,
    And this too shall pass,
    This is all part of your individual journey,
    At this stage,
    Perhaps you are more aware,
    awake,
    woke;
    Be present,
    Here and now,
    One moment,
    One step,
    One breath at a time,
    Birth your new being through
    This liminal moment;
    In this present,
    May you find assurance,
    Stability,
    And be steadfast in your confidence
    In Spirit of life and love that too
    Shines forth light,
    To illuminate even
    Your darkest spaces
    With starlight.

    May it be so;
    Blessed be.

  • Fair

    Fair

    *A poem/reflection written in prayer on the challenge someone I know currently faces battling cancer.

    There is nothing fair
    About any of this,
    Of children
    That of which we are
    Left to fend for themselves,
    There is nothing fair about there being
    An unknown
    That is always shrouded in mystery;
    Without answers
    I can try to comfort you
    And try I will,
    I ask that you only take from it what you need,
    Here is what I believe:
    There is nothing “fair”
    About the suffering you endure
    And it is not an act of spite,
    By the Divine;
    The Divine
    —A spirit so grand and yet still seeing your lifetime in its uniqueness
    For the first time;
    Spirit, an entity timeless
    And endless
    Thus, always in flux;
    Knows even metamorphoses involve mutation,
    At levels, we can not perceive;
    The cosmos are so great and complex, and yet their workings are also part of and shaped by the microscopic;
    Spirit may stir the workings,
    Yet pain is but
    A byproduct,
    unintended,
    This we may never rightly understand;
    Breathe, dear one,
    It is not fair,
    Nor is it your fault,
    In this moment, I can do nothing to absolve your hurting,
    But I can be present
    With you,
    for you,
    Holding you in this temporal comfort of embrace,
    I can also say nothing,
    For words are meaningless,
    Being explained to one in a crucible;
    As much as I can
    I hold your pain
    In my heart
    In exchange with my love,
    Love that is also an unending
    Blessed gift of the Divine,
    always,
    And for all;

    And still damnit No,
    This
    is not fair.

  • White Water: Life

    White Water: Life

    The current is hard, love,
    The tide is high,
    The waves are choppy,
    But don’t lose yourself in the white water,
    And if you should
    Remember to go back,
    Go back;
    And rescue you,
    You too deserve
    To be believed,
    Loved,
    Appreciated,
    and Saved,
    This river of life is rough.

  • Prayer for Remembering Self Love

    Prayer for Remembering Self Love

    May we give ourselves
    The peace,
    The space,
    The tenderness,
    The love,
    The grace,
    We often willingly share with another;
    Spirit provides
    For those who do so,
    Also for oneself;
    Forget not the child within,
    Under layers
    Of time,
    The one closest to your heart,
    The one so close we often can not recognize them;
    Slow,
    To feel the beat,
    the love radiated,
    This love you have grown,
    For yourself, too

  • Infinitely Creating

    Spirit is love
    Spirit is All,
    All is Love.

    Everything happens for reasons
    All of which
    We cannot see
    cannot understand,
    cannot comprehend,
    Within the event.

    This
    is infinite creation,
    Everything is in flux;
    Spirit is never “done”.

    Spirit is change;
    Spirit is creativity;
    Spirit is balancing infinite infinities,

    But first Spirit is Love
    And thus creates;
    Creates, grows, and balances creation,
    Infinitely.

  • Chimes

    2.1.2023

    I hear the windchimes
    The wind it calls
    Reminds it is not lifeless
    But imbued with life itself
    Breath
    And breathing ancestors
    Still
    Chimes are their song
    Listen
    And know
    It is sung for you.

  • Bruxism (A Prayer for Hard Times)

    There is tension in my body;

    teeth are set on edge,

    This is how my body holds stress,

    carrying this heavy weight,

    That I’m not even aware of

    Until I feel it manifest:

    This pressure;

    Unrecognized burdens

    Are weighing

    And wearing

    Down bone and sinew,

    And I have nothing

    but

    to pray,

    Soul laid bare,

    My spirit needing release

    A vent for so much pressure,

    I am at times forgetful of this force in and around

    That thus allows me space for relief,

    Spirit!

    Here I lay down this weight,

    This anxious mind,

    Into your enveloping grace.

  • Prayer for an Angry Soul

    Prayer for an Angry Soul

    Angry soul
    may your poison be released,
    Let go,
    May peace wash over and soothe the aching,
    May the burning anguish in your core
    Be made cool,
    May pains in your heart be calmed
    Immerse your being in the safe still waters of peace,
    “Comfort me!” you cry,
    To open loving spirit
    May your anger subside.