Daily Primer — August 16, Travel from Iona to Glasgow, Scotland

I weave a silence onto my lips;
I weave a silence into my mind;
I weave a silence within my heart.

I close my ears to distractions;
I close my eyes to attractions;
I close my heart to temptations.

Calm me, O Lord, as you stilled the storm.
Let the tumult within me cease.
Enfold me, Lord, in your peace.

Florilegium is the Medieval Latin word for bouquet, or more literally flowers (flos, flor-) which are gathered (legere). The word florilegium was used to refer to a compilation of writings, often religious or philosophical. These florilegium are literary flowers—beautiful words/prayers/thoughts I have gathered.  During my sabbatical they will give me something to ponder each day. — PHL.

Waiting Lord, who laid in the silence and the darkness of an entombed Saturday.  You poured yourself out in self-sacrifice to redeem a world which neither understood you nor was grateful for your love.  Help us, who follow in your way, to know the power and peace of obedient sacrifice which does not need this world’s approbation but which grows instead from the heart of God.  Give us patience and courage that we too may trust in the inscrutable power of God’s love which is at work making resurrection where we see only death.  
You are the Lord of the Sabbath, who desires mercy and who restores us to life by rest.  We give thanks that on the Sabbath day God's love was at work in you bringing life from death.  “In returning and in rest is our salvation,” the prophet tells us.  Keep us this sabbath day and help us to grow in mercy and be restored.  Give us wisdom to know when to submit and rest from our labors and when your call to be merciful is urging us to help our neighbor.
As the sun rises high in the sky and the world is brightly illuminated, we are mindful that our lives are revealed to you always.  We know that the Lord brings to light the things now hidden in darkness and discloses the purposes of the heart.  So enlighten us with self-awareness, Lord,  and with a knowledge of your will, so that our faults can be easily discerned and we can repent and rededicate ourselves to your way.  Urged by your apostle to "lay aside the works of darkness and live honorably as in the day,"  we confess our sins and seek your forgiveness:

† For words ill-considered and rashly spoken . . .

† For thoughts inconsistent with the heart of Christ . . .

† For actions which have brought shame on us or pain to others . . .

† For emotional, physical, and intellectual laziness which looks on the needs of others in indifference . . .

† For all of the ways we fall short of being your faithful disciples . . .

Lord, Have Mercy.  
Christ, Have Mercy.
Lord, have Mercy.

Lord, accept the offering of our very selves as a living and holy sacrifice to you.  We thank you for the liberty given to us in Jesus, the Christ, which enables us to endure everything with patience, while joyfully giving thanks to the Father, who has enabled us to share in the inheritance of the saints in the light.  We feel your pleasure in our successes and rededicate our labors for the remainder of this day to your glory.  Make us courageous in acts of compassion, sagacious in words of encouragement, faithful in our friendships, and toward all cultivate in us a holy love, which shines forth like a beacon in this darkened world.  Amen.

God, who made the tomb of death into a womb of resurrection, we give thanks that you are sovereign of both the light and the darkness.  May your Spirit continue to meet us in the dark nights of our seeking and guide us into the new life you have prepared for us.  Lord of the tomb,  who did not shrink from the pain and abandonment of Good Friday nor the darkness and silence of the tomb of Saturday — help us who pray at this hour of gathering darkness to seek you and find courage to befriend the darkness even as we look ahead to the coming day of resurrection.  Grant us communion with you in holy darkness that restores us to health and emboldens us in compassion to go with others into their darkness, and there, speak of your great power to redeem.  In the name of the one who was crucified, laid in a tomb, and by the power of love broke the bonds of death — our Lord, Jesus, the Christ.
As the day turns from light to darkness, we gather in worship of you — the light of life — our “true sun and real day.”  Now we offer to you our prayers of thanksgiving for the gift of light:

† for shafts of sunlight on stormy days . . .

† for rainbows bridging heaven and earth . . .

† for the sparkle of dewdrops in morning sun . . .

† for luminaries of present and past whose lives point to you . . .

† for the crisp brilliance of a winter day . . .

As we enter into the deepening twilight we give thanks also for the gifts of the night.  Meet us, Lord, in the coming hours.  Preserve us from sin and console us in our anxiety.  May we, who experience your perfect love, cast off all fears and enter into the peace which surpasses understanding.  Grant us a holy night, and restful slumber, and peace at the last, in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.  Amen.