A moment of contemplation for yourself or on behalf of others on everything from the life-altering to the mundane.


Prayer: A conversation with The Higher Other who lives within each of us. An invitation to vent, to re-think, to ask, and to rest.

Tuesday, October 22, 2019

Prayers of the People: Our Common Humanity ~ 3rd Sunday in the Season of Creation '19

For Sunday, October 27, 2019, 3rd Sunday in the Season of Creation*, Readings: Mother Theresa**, Psalm 133, Abbess Hildegard of Bingen***, Luke 18:9-14


            Whether you are a Hindu, a Muslim, or a Christian, how you live your life is the proof that you are fully God’s or not…Our works of charity are nothing but the overflow of our love of God from within… [Mother Teresa]

       How very good and pleasant it is when kindred live together in unity! [Psalm 133:1]

       [The earth] is in so many ways fruitful; all creation came from it, yet it forms not only the basic raw materials for humankind, but also the substance of the incarnation of God’s son. [Abbess Hildegard of Bingen]

     The tax collector…was beating his breast saying, God, be merciful to me, a sinner!…for all who exalt themselves will be humbled, but all who humble themselves will be exalted. [Luke 18:13-14]

        We are truly all in "this" together ~ this life, this planet, right now. Mother Teresa was quite clear when she said, how you live your life is the proof that you are fully God’s or not. Love must undergird our lives and be as normal to us as living and breathing. Too often, especially in these fraught times, we look at "others" as different from ourselves by skin color, nationality, religion, political views, sexual orientation, life circumstance, or merely because someone lives in a different part of the world, the country, or the community. How easily we dismiss, and worse, completely reject those who aren't one of us. Suddenly "they" become one of them, not to be trusted or valued as the full human person God created, and in God's own image.
        The Psalmist speaks simply with profound truth: How very good and pleasant it is when kindred live together in unity! How very sad and tragic it is that we set ourselves, within our self-limited chosen circles, as above another individual or group as if our opinions, or neighborhood, or economic circumstance, or political views are the only ones that matter.
        The Abbess Hildegard fills us with an astounding and breath-taking concept when she tells us that from God’s creation of the Earth we each contain not only the basic raw materials for humankind, but also the substance of the incarnation of God’s only son. Jesus is truly in our DNA! And, it’s even in “them.”
       In Luke, Jesus tells the disciples about those who put themselves above others in the pride of their spiritual accomplishments with contempt for those they deemed beneath them. The self-exalted ones will not be justified as are those who are humbled by awareness of their own sin.  
       The ways in which we care for each other ~ all others in our common humanity ~ with the love as God has exhorted us to give, will be a measure of the depth (or shallowness) of our own love for God. To prosper only ourselves and our us may carry us in this short temporal existence but we will not achieve the ultimate reward in eternal life.

         Humility is difficult to achieve. When you think have it, you've lost it in that instant! I must paradoxically pray for humility and to not know that I have it. I am called to seek to become united with God through prayer, which is the germinating power for our words and actions to be works of true charity, in the overflow of our love for God from within ourselves.  It is time to relinquish marking my personal milestones and simply keep putting one foot in front of the other, making each and every breath a prayer for our individual and common humanity.

LET US, GOD’S PEOPLE, PRAY

Leader:  ~ Most Gracious Parent, Creator of Our Entire Human Family, keep us mindful that when we step from our everyday places and people, we are each the other to someone else. Help us to humbly unite with You in prayer, that our words and actions are as works of true charity, in the overflow of our love for You from within ourselves.  
       
                                                       O God of Earth and Heaven                                              
RESPONSE:                    For Your Mercy, we pray

~ Most Gracious Parent, grant us each and all, in our many shapes, sizes, colors, races, ages, economic status, and genders, the ability to be Your true voice in action. Let us challenge all in governments across this planet, to work together to achieve the peace, for all we kindred, to live together in unity. We pray especially for: add your own petitions

                                                       O God of Earth and Heaven
                                                       For Your Mercy, we pray

~ Most Gracious Parent, comfort all who are burdened with serious illness, addiction, and/or emotional distress, and fill those who give them care with energy and peace. We now join our voices to pray aloud for those in need… add your own petitions 

                                                       O God of Earth and Heaven
                                                       For Your Mercy, we pray
          
~ Most Gracious Parent, in the midst of sorrow for our temporary loss, we give joyful thanksgiving for the glorious welcome of our loved ones into Your eternal kingdom.  We pray especially for… add your own petitions

                                                       O God of Earth and Heaven
                                                       For Your Mercy, we pray

~ Most Gracious Parent, we pause in this moment to offer You our other heartfelt thanksgivings, intercessions, petitions, and memorials, aloud or silently… add your own petitions
  
                                                       O God of Earth and Heaven
                                                       For Your Mercy, we pray
                     
~ Most Gracious Parent, we give You thanks for all who are chosesn to show us by Word and example, in prayer and preaching, how to live in this life, and who walk with us on the path leading to You. We pray especially for: add your own petitions

                                                       O God of Earth and Heaven
                                                       For Your Mercy, we pray
                                                                                                       
The Celebrant adds: God of the Hungry and the Privileged, Lord of those Raised High and those Laid Low, grant us the joyful yet solemn awareness that we each physically, and spiritually, bear within us the very substance of Your Incarnate Son. Let us each be the seeds that germinate the power of Your love, bear the fruit of unity among us, and intentionally seek to be fully Yours in every day. We ask through the Compassion of Jesus our Christ and the Wisdom of the Holy Spirit, who live and reign with You as One God, every day, every way, always, and forever. Amen. 

* The Season of Creation originated in the Anglican Church of South Africa and was formalized in 2008. It is designed for us to explore our faith from a Creation perspective. Click here for more information about: Season of Creation ~ In The Beginning

**A READING FROM THE WORD OF MOTHER TERESA:

Whether you are a Hindu, a Muslim or a Christian, how you live your life is the proof that you are fully God's or not. Loving must be as normal to us as living and breathing, day after day until death. To understand this and practice it we need much prayer, the kind that unites us with God and overflows continually upon others. Our works of charity are nothing but the overflow of our love of God from within. Therefore, the one who is most united with God loves her neighbor most.    
From Everything Starts With Prayer, White Cloud Press, Ashland, OR, 1998

***Reading #2: Abbess Hildegard of Bingen

          The earth is at the same time mother; she is mother of all that is natural, mother of all that is human, she is the mother of all, for contained in her are the seeds of all. The earth of humankind contains all moistness, all verdancy, all germinating power. It is in so many ways fruitful; all creation came from it, yet in forms not only the basic raw materials for humankind, but also the substance of the incarnation of God’s son.



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