Published 7-25-11     The Religion Network publishes every Monday

ON TODAY'S SITE:
Martin Buber, Book of Common Prayer, Gail McCoig Blanton,
Amish proverb, Susan J. Erickson, Eileen Elias Freeman
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Mauna Kea Sunset by Kristin Bowman                  All rights reserved

Rabbi Shmelke did not want to interrupt his studies for too long a time,
and so he always slept sitting up, his head resting on his arm. In his
fingers he held a lit candle which roused him when it guttered and the
flame touched his hand. When Rabbi Elimelekh visited him and recog-
nized the power of the holiness which was still locked within him, he
prepared a couch for him and with great difficulty persuaded him to lie
down for a little while. Then he closed and shuttered the windows. Rabbi
Shmelke slept until broad daylight. It did not take him long to notice this,
but he was not sorry he had slept, for he was filled with a hitherto un-
known sunny clearness. He went to the House of Prayer and prayed before
the congregation as usual. But to the congregation it seemed that they had
never heard him before. They were entranced and uplifted by the manifest
power of his holiness. When he recited the verses about the Red Sea, they
gathered up the hems of their kaftans for fear the waves towering to the left
and right might wet them with salty foam. Later Shmelke said to Elimelekh:
"Not until this day did I know that one can also serve God with sleep."



From "Tales of the Hasidim,"
by Martin Buber
Schoken Books, 1991

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O Lord, support us all the day long, until the shadows lengthen
and the evening comes, and the busy world lies hushed, and the
fever of life is over, and our work is done. Then in thy mercy
grant us a safe lodging, and a holy rest, and peace at last.


From the Book of Common Prayer: 1979

________

Lullaby of Promise

Soothe me with a lullaby of promise;
Rock me, singing certainties of rest;
guarded with a strong and valiant angel,
cradled in Your love and sweetly blessed,
pillowed in a beam of Heaven's light,
covered by soft mercy through the night.

- Gail McCoig Blanton

From "Bedside Prayers,"
by June Cotner
HarperSanFrancisco,1997

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Photo by Stephen Bowman                  All rights reserved

Let Sleep Come

Now is the time to light the vesper candles of

the soul

for their flame shall illuminate this sacred

place.

Now is the time to rest in the indigo blue

arms of the earth

for the earth shall support and embrace you.

Now is the time to dry the tears of the day

for the Spirit shall comfort and console you.

Now is the time to offer thanks for the

blessings of this day

for the Spirit shall receive and honor your

graciousness.

Now is the time to hear the lullaby of wind

over the land

for you shall be rocked in the soothing

of its rhythm.

Now is the time to close your eyes and let

sleep come

for the Spirit shall keep tender vigil through

the night.


- Susan J. Erickson

Excerpted from "Bedside Prayers,"
by June Cotner
HarperSanFrancisco, 1997