15 August 2021

Poetic Prayers: Where Cultures Meet

Poetic Prayers: Where Cultures Meet. Verna Ernestine Penn Moll. Road Town, Virgin Islands: Virgin Islands Millennium Committee, 1999.    ‘Poetic Prayers: Where Cultures Meet,’ was inspired when the author Verna Ernestine Penn Moll attended a spiritual retreat (sponsored by the St. Michael Church, Colchester, England, at Ringsfield in…., UK), which explored the spirituality of early Christian cultures.

Poetic Prayers: where Cultures meet was first published in the United Kingdom (UK) with commendations from the Reverend Stanley Withers of Leicestershire, UK, and the late Rev. Douglas O. Field of Halesowen, UK,  both of whom served in the Virgin Islands as Superintendent Ministers of the Methodist Church. A Millenium edition was published in 2000 with a foreword by the Reverend Edris O’Neal. The 3rd printing in 2014 was especially to coincide with the local Authors’ Exhibition at the 1780 Sugar Works Museum, Road Town, Tortola, BVI.

“These poetic prayers are relevant and refreshing, suitable for public and private use,”  according to one commentator.  Another said, “I commend these spiritual verses, some reminiscent of St. Francis of Assisi, some of the beauty of the Caribbean and the natural world but the predominant theme is the lightness of God’s touch on His children, allowing them to feel the warmth and breadth of His spirit guiding them.” The book was available at the Methodist Church Office in Road Town, Tortola at a cost of $10.00 usc. Sales from the Church Office benefited the Church’s publication fund. ‘Poetic Prayers: Where Cultures Meet’ is currently out of print.

Here are samplings of Poetic Prayers:

FILL ME TODAY

Lord, rise with me today

As you rise with the sun.

Lord, warm my heart today

That good deeds may be done.

Lord, stir my heart today

For the journey begun.

Spirit of God, Fill me today,

And always stay, I pray.

THE SOURCE

You are the spring of my beginning!

Keep welling-up in me

Please keep my outlets free.

You are the spring of my beginning!

Keep bubbling up in me

Let me go on flowing, flowing free.

You are the spring of my beginning!

Stir up your gift again

Create new words in me.

You are the spring of my beginning!

Keep bubbling truths of liberty

In me, in me, in me.

You are the spring of my beginning!

Keep truth flowing, flowing free

For now and all eternity.

 

WOODLAND HARMONY

May God reveal Himself

When in the woods I wander,

May I discover His nature.

May Jesus guide my way

When in the wilderness I stray

May I learn to pray.

May I feel the spirit

Of the woodland’s harmony

Descending like a dove on me.

THE LOVE OF GOD

I see the power of God

in the gentle ripple

on the sea.

I see the love of God

caring for the rose

and the lily.

I see the wisdom of God

in the ant’s routine

and in the queen bee.

COLLECTIVE GRIEF

I saw children

Little children,

Sweet and innocent lambs of God

Bearing crosses

High above their heads:

Little Simeons of our time

Passing through the valley

And the great shadow,

And Christ is crucified again!

GENTLE VOICES

Thank you for the voices

That fall as gentle dew

To quell the angry noises

Of international brew.

But there are other voices

That are homely and sincere,

To soothe the many bruises

That are familiarly near.

You are the Voice of voices

That falls on inner ear

And calms the frightful forces

And drives away our fear.

Dissolve My Thoughts

Lord, sometimes I feel uneasy,

I should be there, not here

Doing that, not this.

Pierced by the Paulian thorn

That would not be drawn,

Sometimes I feel broken-down.

But you had a taster, Lord,

For you were there

And left to come here

Burdens and insults to bear,

Emptying yourself to bear

The gift of peace.

And when you gasped for breath,

God gave strength again

To endure the pain

Inflicted by the cruel nail,

Strength that cried,

“Forgive! Forgive!”

So, dissolve my thoughts in yours, Lord

Wing them o’er land and sea

To turn some wounded soul to Thee!

 

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