A Shabbat Amidah Kavannah

I speak praise, hope and thanks.

I open my mouth, I open my heart.

I feel the Ancient Prayer:

Bless our inventive ancestors
Who have given us the
Jealous God of the Torah;
And the clever God of the Talmud;
And the Kingly God of our Siddur.
To this God we pray.

Bless our inventive ancestors
Who have given us the
The Unknowable God of the mystics;
And the rational God of the philosophers;
The haimish God of our grandparents.
To this God we pray

Bless our inventive ancestors
Who have given us the
The Daddy God of our childhood faith; 
And the nonexistent God of our young skepticism;

And now the complicated doubt-filled God-ness of our adult searching.

To this God, we pray.

Bless our inventive ancestors

Who have given us

God, the Everything;

God, the Everywhere;

God, the One-ness.

To this God, we pray.

With all our histories and memories, 
And with gratitude to all who came before us, 

Praising God, 
However we approach God
And even if we don’t,  
We pray.

What is God's Power?

Rambam says, 

If you can’t imagine God then you don’t exist.

There is nothing that is not God.

Bless Elohim, the Creator; the Created, Creating.

Sanctify God's Name:

How can a name be holy?

Why exalt a name?  

how do we name the Un-nameable?

And yet we’ve come up with so many, because we’re human and we need names.

It has made us so creative. 



Let us look from side to side, to see all these possibilities,

Perhaps then we will be able to comprehend

That which cannot be comprehended.

Or not.

All division is false, 

All superiority is delusion, 

All separation is temporary. 

Kadosh Kadosh Kadosh

We are blessed with many minds with which to imagine God

And many mouths to describe what we see.

Let us step into holiness.

Kadosh Baruch Hu, Blessed be the ONE-ness,

The Day is Holy

The world is filled with the Divine, we are surrounded!

Hear us, know us.

Love us, enjoy us.

Remember us, rouse us.

Forgive us, inspire us.

It is written:

The Seventh Day is holy

It is the day of the Great Rest.

Bless the Profundity of Shabbat, commanding us to take a nice afternoon nap.

We give service.

God of our strengths and our weaknesses,

God of our current understanding and our lack thereof,

We are in this glorious and troubled place

And we take responsibility for how it turns out.

And we are watchful for our opportunities to serve and build.

We’re listening. 

And who or what listens to us?



Blessed Fierce Mystery,  hear our voices.

We are so thankful. 

We give thanks for whatever love and kindness we have received

And even more for the love and kindness we have given.

We give thanks  for those who have forgiven us

And to those who have asked us for our forgiveness.

We give thanks  for the deep rest of Shabbat

And the exciting hope for the coming week

May we never take this for granted.

Blessed  HaMakom,  this place is so amazing.

We pray for Peace and Wholeness.

Let us make peace.


There is no other option.

Adonai Echad, with compassion for all who are in pain or who cause pain, bless us with the peace of wholeness that we may lead decent and ethical and happy lives and help others to do the same.

Open my heart:

Existing.

Creating.

Uniting.

Giving.

Learning.

Forgiving.

Building.

Thanking.

Enjoying.

May the words of my mouth and the thoughts of my heart be joyful truth.  

May the good things I pray for happen and, if not, 

May I never forget to hope.  

AMEN