Prayer For Artists
Maker of heaven and earth, all your creatures, animate and inanimate, stand before you.
In Christ, who stands at the center of creation, we see how mysteriously well-pleasing it is to you.
In Christ, the mediator of the whole world, we see how broken it is.
In Christ, the firstborn of creation, we discover its final destiny: new creation!
May we take pleasure in your creation as you take good pleasure in it.
May we care for the earth as you lovingly care for it.
And may we offer up all the creative work of our hands in praise of you, in service of our neighbor, and in anticipation of that day when the cosmos shall be made forever alive.
In the Triune Name.
Amen.
May morning be astir with the harvest of night;
Your mind quickening to the eros of a new question,
Your eyes seduced by some unintended glimpse
That cut right through the surface to a source.
May this be a morning of innocent beginning,
When the gift within you slips clear
Of the sticky web of the personal
With its hurt and its hauntings,
And fixed fortress corners,
A morning when you become a pure vessel
For what wants to ascend from silence,
May your imagination know
The grace of perfect danger,
To reach beyond imitation,
And the wheel of repetition,
Deep into the call of all
The unfinished and unsolved
Until the veil of the unknown yields
And something original begins
To stir toward your senses
And grow stronger in your heart
In order to come to birth
In a clean line of form,
That claims from time
A rhythm not yet heard,
That calls space to
A different shape.
May it be its own force field
And dwell uniquely
Between the heart and the light
To surprise the hungry eye
By how deftly it fits
About its secret loss.
Lord, remember your artists. Have mercy upon them and remember with compassion all those that reflect the good, the ill, the strengths and the weaknesses of the human spirit.
Remember those who raise their voices in unending song, those who pour their souls into music loud and soft.
Remember those who put pigment to surface, carve wood and stone and marble, who work base metals into beauty, those building upwards from the earth toward heaven.
Remember those who put thought to paper by computer and by pen; the poets who delve, the playwrights who analyze and proclaim, the dreamers-up of narrative, all those who work with the light and shadows of film.
Remember the actors moved by Spirit and dancers moving through space.
Remember all these artists whom you have placed among us, for are they not, O Lord, the fellows of your inspiration? Do they not, Lord God, bring to your people great proof of your divinity and our part in it?
Remember your artists and show them mercy and compassion that they may do the same and so uplift all your people. That they may cry forth your praises, as we do here.
Amen! Amen! Amen!
Almighty God, You are the Divine Artist. I come to You with humility. I thank You for the talent that You have lent me. I thank You for the skill that You have made me learn. I thank You for the vision of art that You have made me see. And most of all, I thank You for the gift of life that You have entrusted to me.
Heavenly Father, please continue to enlighten me, with pure and modest ideas. Please help me share this talent to others; take my hand and guide me to draw and create beautiful things; hold me and let me see more of those wonderful scenes to photograph; touch and inspire me to design with fresh ideas so others can see; and feel your goodness through my work of art; deliver me from evil works and guide me to the right path.
Dear God, as an artist, I turn myself to You through my projects and ideas, let me be Your instrument to spread Your Holy Name all these for You and Your Son Jesus Christ Our Lord.
AMEN.
Deliver us from the service of self alone,
that we may do the work You have given us to do,
in truth and beauty and for the common good,
for the sake of the One who comes among us
as One who serves.
Amen.
Bless the creators, O God of creation,
who by their gifts make the world
a more joyful and beautiful realm.
Through their labors
they teach us to see more clearly
the truth around us.
In their inspiration
they call forth wonder and awe
in our own living.
In their hope and vision
they remind us
that life is holy.
Bless all who create in your image,
O God of creation.
Pour your Spirit upon them
that their hearts may sing
and their works be fulfilling.
Amen.
O God, whom saints and angels delight to worship in
heaven: Be ever present with your servants who seek through
art and music to perfect the praises offered by your people on
earth; and grant to them even now glimpses of your beauty,
and make them worthy at length to behold it unveiled for
evermore; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Bless the creators, O God of creation, who by their gifts make the world a more joyful and beautiful realm.
Through their labors they teach us to see more clearly the truth around us.
In their inspiration they call forth wonder and awe in our own living.
In their hope and vision they remind us that life is holy.
Bless all who create in your image,
O God of creation.
Pour your Spirit upon them that their hearts may sing and their works be fulfilling.
Amen.