Prayers of the People: Nourishing Words,10th Sunday after Pentecost

for Sunday, August 2, 2015, 10th Sunday after Pentecost,  Year B, Readings: 2 Samuel 11:26-12:13a, Ps 51:1-13, Eph 4:1-16, John 6:24-35

           Then David's anger was greatly kindled against the man. He said to Nathan, "As the LORD lives, the man who has done this deserves to die; he shall restore the lamb fourfold, because he did this thing, and because he had no pity"...Nathan said to David, "You are the man!  [2 Samuel 12:5-7a]

           I [Paul],...beg you to lead a life worthy of the calling to which you have been called...But each of us was given grace according to the measure of Christ's gift...The gifts [God] gave were that some would be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ...  [Ephesians 4:1a, 7, 11-12]

           Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you....Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty."  [John 6:27, 35]

           David, oh David, God saw. You were mightily punished many times over ~ we've only just seen the beginning. But God never left you, always loved you, and you finally saw your sin with woeful clarity.
           It's wonderfully easy to read this ancient drama/morality tale and feel smugly comfortable that this isn't about me. But David reacts to Nathan's story as I might - and have done - when confronted with a story about or a behavior of someone else that causes a sudden and righteously angry reaction in me that equally suddenly recognizes moments of my own sin upon which I must sincerely reflect. Create in me a clean heart, O God [Ps 51:10] is a prayer that comes to my regretful mind in those times. (Other translations use pure in place of clean.)
           Paul begs us to lead a life worthy of the calling and it is Jesus who brings earthly appetites into focus for us now, in our own time, in our own lives. I remind myself again that the Bible is more than "then" it is also "now." All that happened then is happening now, the dreadful things, the lovely things, the boring things, and the long lists of things ~ look at headlines any day of the week. Jesus has given us the directive of what to take with us and what to leave behind on our Journey to Eternal Life. By him we are fed and led. Through him we are redeemed. All we need to do is believe it and then live into our belief by all that we do, by following Jesus. Jesus is our manna from Heaven, our Bread of Life. Truly nourishing words.
          

LET US, GOD’S PEOPLE, PRAY

Leader:  ~ O God of Loving-Kindness, You know the truth deep inside of us, from our best to our worst actions, and all that lies thoughtlessly in between. Create clean hearts in us again and renew Your right spirit within us, that we may lead the worthy lives to which we are called.

 Jesus, Bread of Life

RESPONSE: Feed us with the joy of Your saving help again

~ O God of Loving-Kindness, grant us the courage to speak the truth in love to all who hold authority in this community, in this nation, and on this earth, and help our words stem the tide of greed and violence. We pray especially for: add your own petitions

                                    Jesus, Bread of Life

                                    Feed us with the joy of Your saving help again

~ O God of Loving-Kindness, deliver all who live in the throes of chronic illness, depression, or addiction, and comfort those who love them. We now join our voices to pray aloud for those in need…add your own petitions

                                    Jesus, Bread of Life

                                    Feed us with the joy of Your saving help again

~ O God of Loving-Kindness, bind the wounds of those who grieve, as You rejoice with all who now live again in Your bountiful Spirit forever. We pray especially for: add your own petitions

                                    Jesus, Bread of Life

                                    Feed us with the joy of Your saving help again

~ O God of Loving-Kindness, we pause in this moment to offer You our other heartfelt intentions and petitions, aloud or silently…add your own petitions

                                    Jesus, Bread of Life

                                    Feed us with the joy of Your saving help again

~ O God of Loving-Kindness, empower those who have gifts as apostles, spiritual teachers, and pastors, who equip us to do the work of ministry, and build up the Body of Christ. We pray especially for: add your own petitions

                                    Jesus, Bread of Life

                                    Feed us with the joy of Your saving help again

The Celebrant adds: Eternal LORD, kindle in us the desire to turn to You each day, and to give ourselves to the work of heaven that endures beyond our mere human existence. We ask through Jesus, our Divine Sustenance, and the Holy Spirit, our Heavenly Counselor, who together with You are One God, for all infinite, imperishable time. Amen.

Requests for prayers or meditations for this space or private use may be sent to Leeosophy@gmail.com. All compositions remain the property of the owner of this blog but may be used with attribution as long as they are not sold or charged for in any way.

Prayers of the People, Of Land and Sea, 9th Sunday after Pentecost

for Sunday, July 26, 2015, Pentecost 9, Year B  Readings: 2 Samuel 11:1-15, Ps 14, Eph 3:14-21, John 6:1-21 

          The LORD looks down from heaven upon us all, 
to see if there is any who is wise,
if there is one who seeks after God. 

[Psalm 14:2]

          I pray that...you may be strengthened in your inner being with power through his Spirit...that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith...that you may have the power to comprehend...what is the breadth and length and height and depth...[of] the love of Christ...that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.  [Ephesians 3:16-18]
          A large crowd kept following [Jesus]...they sat down, about five thousand in all. Then Jesus took the loaves, and when he had given thanks, he distributed them to those who were seated; so also the fish, as much as they wanted...When evening came, his disciples got into a boat, and started across the sea...It was now dark, and Jesus had not yet come to them. The sea became rough...[and] they saw Jesus walking on the sea and coming near the boat, and they were terrified. But he said to them, "It is I; do not be afraid."  [John 6:2,10b,16-20]

            How, when one is the adored King with unlimited power and significant appetites, having everything you want at your fingertips or within finger-snapping distance, does one keep that power in check, the appetites moderated, and the ego from trying to control the world? If you're King David, apparently not very well. But God was watching...And Paul's prayer from prison reminds us, and himself, too, that God has the power to grant us inner strength when we are grounded in the love of Christ through our faith. Although the faith exhibited by the disciples who followed Jesus wasn't always perfect, the people following all of them knew by the signs of his actions who he was. Even as Jesus walked across the water to the boat - he still  had to tell them not to be afraid. 
           All of us fail at faith, ego-moderating, and appetite suppressing. Even Jesus got angry - righteously so, perhaps, but still...And God is watching, knowing our hearts even more than we do at times, and loving us anyway. Stop, breathe, and pray, every now and then, to be rooted and grounded in love, to try and understand in some small way what is the breadth and length and height and depth of our Creator's gift of this life and the next. Whether feeding the 5,000 on the mountainside or strolling across the Sea of Galilee on foot, God through Jesus and the Holy Spirit, by the power of the work within us is able to accomplish abundantly far more than all we can ask or imagine from the heavens to the universe, on land and at sea.

LET US, GOD’S PEOPLE, PRAY

Leader:  ~ Faithful and Merciful God, You give us the freedom to be all that we are and do all that we do yet You know us deep in our hearts. Strengthen our inner beings that we may be rooted in Your love and reflect the eternal fullness of You in our daily lives.

Most Nurturing Lord

RESPONSE: Make haste to feed our souls and calm our fears

           

~ Faithful and Merciful God, in You lies the strength to enable the deliverance of all Your people from prejudice, poverty, and war. Help us to bring our voices to all who govern on this earth, in our nation, and in our community.  We pray especially for: add your own petitions

Most Nurturing Lord

                                    Make haste to feed our souls and calm our fears

~ Faithful and Merciful God, free the hearts, minds, and bodies of those who suffer from illness, despair, or anxiety and give rest to all who give them care. We now join our voices to pray aloud for those in need: add your own petitions

Most Nurturing Lord

                                    Make haste to feed our souls and calm our fears

~ Faithful and Merciful God, rescue the hearts of all who are lost in the whirlwind of grief as you lift the precious souls of our loved ones to the bliss of life everlasting. We pray especially for: add your own petitions

Most Nurturing Lord

                                    Make haste to feed our souls and calm our fears

~ Faithful and Merciful God, we pause in this moment to offer You our other heartfelt intentions and petitions, aloud or silently…add your own petitions

Most Nurturing Lord

                                    Make haste to feed our souls and calm our fears

~ Faithful and Merciful God, grant unlimited wisdom to all who lead us in Your church, as together we sail the unpredictable waters of life on our journey to You. We pray especially for: add your own petitions

Most Nurturing Lord

                                    Make haste to feed our souls and calm our fears

The Celebrant adds: Gracious, Gracious, Loving God, endow us with spiritual vision to know the miraculous breadth, and length, and height, and depth of Your nourishing presence in our lives. Teach us to see how to bring the world to You. We ask through Christ Jesus, our mystical healer, and the Holy Spirit, our comforter in affliction, who together with You live and reign as One God now and forever.    Amen.

Requests for prayers or meditations for this space or private use may be sent to Leeosophy@gmail.com. All compositions remain the property of the owner of this blog but may be used with attribution as long as they are not sold or charged for in any way.

Prayers of the People: House Hunting? 8th Sunday after Pentecost

for Sunday, July 19, 2015, Pentecost 8, Year B, Readings: 2 Samuel 7:1-14a, Ps 89:20-37, Eph 2:11-22, Mark 6:30-34, 53-56 

          ...[T]he word of the LORD came to Nathan: Go and tell my servant David: Thus says the LORD: Are you the one to build me a house to live in?... [T]he LORD declares to you that the LORD will make you a house. [2 Samuel 7:4b-5,11b]  [emphasis added]

          ...[In] Christ Jesus...is our peace...he has made both groups into one and has broken down the dividing wall...thus making peace, and might reconcile both groups to God in one body...you are citizens with the saints and also members of the household of God, built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the cornerstone. In him the whole structure is joined...you also are built together spiritually into a dwelling place for God.
[Eph 2:13a-14,16a,19-21a,22]

            In the weeks since the murders at Mother Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina, more than half a dozen African-American houses of worship were burned, countless debates and confrontations over the Confederate flag, the Supreme Court has upheld the constitutionality of gay marriage while various and sundry states and counties threaten non-compliance. A sticky provision of the Affordable Care Act was also deemed constitutional and the Court has, as well, sustained the legality of certain drugs used for the execution of prison inmates. That's certainly not all that has happened but it is all just in this country since mid-June. There are natural disasters, wars, terror attacks, ethnic cleansings, religious persecutions, debt crises, famine, etc., etc., every day in this world. People losing houses in devastating ways, or at least, their footing they once thought was sure. And for every "us" there is a "them” and how can we trust “them” if they’re not “us”? 
           How do we take it all in; how do we fix it; how do we reconcile? We have to start at home. No easy answers here, but lots of ideas about reconciliation are available in churches, other faith communities, in non-profit and other organizations. Gather some of your "us" and hear some thoughts and then work on gathering some of your "them"...it's not easy to break down dividing walls, to calm the hostility between us. When all feels lost, let's pray together, us and them.  Jesus is always a good beginning place, the foundation of our spiritual household. Let "us" find our way, with at least some of "them", to truly follow Him, and some peace will come, so that, at least in one small pocket of this difficult world, we can make that house a home, a dwelling place for God.            
           As the hymn says:  

Christ is made the sure foundation,

Christ the head and cornerstone,

chosen of the Lord, and precious,

binding all the Church in one;

holy Zion's help for ever,

and her confidence alone.

[Hymn 518, The Hymnal 1982]

LET US, GOD’S PEOPLE, PRAY

Leader:  ~ God of Promise and Peace, as we work to break down the walls that divide us and reconcile ourselves as one body, You sent us Christ, as our Shepherd, to be the new cornerstone in the foundation of Your eternal household.

LORD of Compassion and Healing

RESPONSE: You are the rock of our salvation

~ God of Promise and Peace, Help us find the words to move the hearts and souls of those who hold authority in our city, in our country, and in all of the governments of this world, to eliminate hostility, hopelessness, fear, and famine. We pray especially for: add your own petitions

LORD of Compassion and Healing

                                    You are the rock of our salvation

~ God of Promise and Peace, surround and relieve the suffering of those in chronic pain, lost in the grip of depression, or trapped in addiction, or homelessness. We now join our voices to pray aloud for those in need…add your own petitions

LORD of Compassion and Healing

                                    You are the rock of our salvation

~ God of Promise and Peace, embrace the hearts of the grieving as we commend those we love to You, as citizens with the saints, to live again in everlasting joy. We pray especially for: add your own petitions

LORD of Compassion and Healing

                                    You are the rock of our salvation

~ God of Promise and Peace, we pause in this moment to offer You our other heartfelt intentions and petitions, aloud or silently…

LORD of Compassion and Healing

                                    You are the rock of our salvation

~ God of Promise and Peace, guide all who are anointed in Your service as they shepherd us along life’s uncertain roads, and journey with us to life eternal in You. We pray especially for: add your own petitions

The Celebrant adds: Holy and Living God, grant us the faithfulness to live as Your spiritual dwelling in this life, and rest in the knowledge that we will abide fully in You in the next. We ask through the mercy of Christ Jesus, the cornerstone of our souls, and the Holy Spirit, the sacred breath of peace, who together with You reign as One God, now, forever, and always.  Amen.     

Requests for prayers or meditations for this space or private use may be sent to Leeosophy@gmail.com. All compositions remain the property of the owner of this blog but may be used with attribution as long as they are not sold or charged for in any way.

Prayers of the People: Music, Singing, Dancing, 7th Sunday after Pentecost

for Sunday, July 12, 2015, 7th Sunday after Pentecost,  Year B, Readings: 2 Samuel 6:1-5, 12b-19; Ps 24, Ephesians 1:3-14, Mark 6:14-29    

             David danced before the LORD with all his might...So David and all the house of Israel brought up the ark of the LORD with shouting, and with the sound of the trumpet. [2 Sam 6:14-15]

          When his daughter Herodias came in and danced, she pleased Herod and his guests; and the king said to the girl, "Ask me for whatever you wish, and I will give it." [Mark 6:22]

          Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, just as he chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world...In him you also, when you...had believed in him, were marked with the seal of the promised Holy Spirit; this is the pledge of our inheritance toward redemption as God's own people, to the praise of his glory.
[Ephesians 1:3-14]

           Bringing the Ark of the Covenant to his own city has King David leaping and dancing in the procession with sheer joy and giving generous gifts of meat, bread, and a cake of raisins to all the people of Israel who have gathered together for this momentous event. (The ecstasy and glory of the happy journey expressed in this reading does leave out a puzzling piece that is between the verses we are given for today ~ that of the sudden demise of Uzzah. But you can read that for yourself...) 
           Later on in the story of Israel comes Herod Antipas, a son of King Herod the Great, now the local ruler in Galilee. The famous dance of his daughter left him and his guests so well pleased and entertained that Herod promised her anything and she got the gift mommy told her to ask for, served up on a platter.  
               But Paul, in this letter to Ephesus while cooling his heels in a Roman prison, is singing a different tune. This reading is one long sentence in the original and may well have contained parts of a hymn that the locals would have known. Paul tells the Gentiles and Jews who believed in Jesus, that it is God's purpose for all to be united, as God's own people, living holy and blameless lives through the redemption of Christ. We are forgiven our trespasses, sealed by the Holy Spirit, and our life's purpose is to live in obedience and for the praise of God's grace and glory, with our hope in Christ. In so doing, we will reap the reward of our inheritance, life eternal in the Kingdom of God. No doubt there will be music, singing, and dancing then, and, some great gifts!

LET US, GOD’S PEOPLE, PRAY

Leader:  ~ Holy and Mighty God of Glory, free us from all greed, envy, and contempt; purify our hearts to receive and live into Your gospel of salvation.

 LORD Everlasting

RESPONSE:  Help us set our hope on Christ      

~ Holy and Mighty God of Glory, grant wisdom and insight to all who hold authority in this world, our nation, and our community. Guide their actions toward mercy, justice, and peace for all of God’s own people. We pray especially for: add your own petitions

LORD Everlasting

                                    Help us set our hope on Christ

~ Holy and Mighty God of Glory, lavish your healing grace on those struggling with chronic pain or the devastation of a difficult diagnosis, and give strength to all who give them support. We now join our voices to pray aloud for those in need…add your own petitions

LORD Everlasting

                                    Help us set our hope on Christ

~ Holy and Mighty God of Glory, calm the tears of those who mourn as the lights of those we have sent ahead, now shine more brightly in Your presence.  We pray especially for: add your own petitions

LORD Everlasting

                                    Help us set our hope on Christ

~ Holy and Mighty God of Glory, we pause in this moment to offer You our other heartfelt intentions and petitions, aloud or silently…

LORD Everlasting

                                    Help us set our hope on Christ

~ Holy and Mighty God of Glory, we give You great thanks for those who have heard and believed Your word of truth, who have studied, prayed, and have been chosen to bring it to us. We pray especially for: add your own petitions

LORD Everlasting

                                    Help us set our hope on Christ

The Celebrant adds: God of Presence and Promise, from within Your mysterious will is the gift to us of every spiritual blessing, and the inheritance of redemption through Your Holy Son. Grant us each the will to pledge ourselves to the praise and glory of Your name through every word and action of our earthly lives. We ask through Jesus the Christ, our Savior and Redeemer and the truth and love of the Holy Spirit, who together with You, reign as One God, now and for eternity. Amen.

Requests for prayers or meditations for this space or private use may be sent to Leeosophy@gmail.com. All compositions remain the property of the owner of this blog but may be used with attribution as long as they are not sold or charged for in any way.