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.
Saturday, October 29, 2022
Meditation Moment: Apocalypse Then? For a US Election Season 2022
Monday, October 24, 2022
Prayers of the People: Up a Tree ~ 21st Sunday after Pentecost '22 Yr C
You are a hiding place for me; you preserve me from trouble, you surround me with glad cries of deliverance. [Psalm 32:7]
We must always give thanks to God for you...because your faith is growing abundantly, and the love of every one of you for one another is increasing. [2 Thessalonians 1:3b]
And then we have Zaccheus in the branches above the crowd, peering through the leaves. I always wonder what Mrs. Zacchaeus was thinking when she opened the door later. Did she give him that look – you know the one: seriously, THIS guy for dinner, and he invited himself? I'm sure she already knew what the neighbors were thinking being less than the popular couple on the block because of her husband's job. Yet here is Jesus calling Zacchaeus out of the tree – to the grumbling chorus of nay-sayers and finger-pointers – and telling him Salvation has come to this house...the Son of Man came to seek out to save the lost.
How easy it is to let go of the reminder in The Lord’s Prayer when we ask God to forgive us AS [in the same way that] we forgive others? And, also, that part of the Great Commandment to love your neighbor AS [if they are] yourself? Perhaps the words are so familiar and routine the impact of what we are saying is lost.
Through forgiveness we rid ourselves of the poison of resentment, allowing more love to flow through us to all we meet. NOT easy, but with one breath at a time improvement is possible. A small quiet act of kindness even in the face of serious defiance, rescues both of us, whether we see and know it in another or we don’t. In prayer, Jesus may not be seen walking by, but he's always with us whenever we feel lost, especially when we feel we’re up a tree.
Leader: ~ LORD of Hope and
Promise, as You know us better than we know ourselves, guide us to seek and recognize
You in others, to find You living deep within us, and to learn to rescue,
defend, and plead with more fervor for others than for ourselves.
~ LORD of Hope and Promise, renew us each day to persevere in prayer as we take action to kindle integrity, morality, and empathy in the Leaders of all governments across Your Creation. Instruct us all in the ways of Christ’s peace, that together we may find the path where peace will grow and spread beyond all barriers and borders. We pray especially for: add your own petitions
~ LORD of
Hope and Promise, lay Your healing hand upon those weary of pain or anguish in
this life, and hold fast to those who offer caring help. We now join our voices
to pray aloud for those in need… add your own petitions
~ LORD of Hope and Promise, lighten the darkness for the grieving, as our loved ones return Home to the eternal splendor and glory of new life in Christ. We pray especially for: add your own petitions
~ LORD of
Hope and Promise, we pause in this moment to offer You our
other heartfelt intentions and petitions, aloud or silently… add your
own petitions
~ LORD of Hope and Promise, refresh the courage and confidence of those anointed to call us to Your Holy Table, that our worship may be true, faithful, and pleasing to You. We pray especially for: add your own petitions
The
Celebrant adds: Lord
of Creation, Salvation, and Wisdom, grow our faith abundantly and increase
our ability to love one another as we are loved by You. Grant us the grace
to embody Your Presence and to serve the world together in Your name. We ask
through Jesus our Redeemer Christ; and the Holy Spirit, our Wisdom Guide; who
together with You are One God, now and forever. Amen.
Prayers of the People: The World at Peace ~ 4th Sunday in the Season of Creation '22
*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. We use Biblical and
other readings that pertain to the specific theme of each of the 7 weeks of the
Season. Alternate readings used are posted with asterisk.
Click here for more information about: Season of Creation ~ In The Beginning
LET US, GOD’S PEOPLE, PRAY
Leader: ~ Merciful, Saving Lord, revive our faith and nourish our joy, that the peace you speak overflows our souls and leads us to share with everyone, especially with those we deem difficult or unworthy. Guide us to remember Your ways, and learn to pray with more fervor for others than for ourselves.
~ Merciful, Saving Lord, search the faithfulness of us all, especially those who lead us in Governments globally and locally. Quell the ego-, greed-, and power- needs that obstruct the tranquility of all Your Earth, that we Lead us to where peace can grow and spread beyond all barriers and borders. We pray especially for: add your own petitions
~
Merciful, Saving Lord, lay Your healing hand upon those weary of the pain, anguish, or
fears of this life, and hold fast to those who offer caring help. We now join our
hearts together to pray for those in need… add your own petitions
~
Merciful, Saving Lord, lighten the darkness for those who grieve, as our loved ones
return Home to the eternal splendor and glory of new life in Christ. We pray especially
for… add your own petitions
~ Merciful, Saving Lord, we pause in this moment to offer You our other heartfelt thanksgivings, intercessions, petitions, and memorials… add your own petitions
~
Merciful, Saving Lord, bestow courage and confidence, in these trying times, upon those
anointed to call us to Your Holy Table for the spiritual renewal and fidelity
of faith, to serve the cause of peace in this world together. We pray especially
for: add your own petitions
The Celebrant adds: O Lord our God, pour Your
riches into our souls as we embody Your Presence within ourselves and as the
instruments of Your peace for all we meet. Teach us to bend the swords, spears,
slings, and arrows of rage and warring, into the tools that spring humanity
toward the Salvation and Glory of our inheritance from Christ. We ask through Jesus, our Redeemer; and the Holy Spirit, our
Counselor, who together with You are One God, now and forever. Amen.
**A reading from Thomas
Merton — Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander (Doubleday, 1966, p
181):
Peace is not something you fight for.
Perhaps peace is not, after all, something you work for, or “fight for.”
It is indeed “fighting for peace” that starts all the wars. What, after all,
are the pretexts of all these Cold War crises, but “fighting for peace”?
Peace is something you have or you do not have. If you yourself are at peace,
then there is at least *some* peace in the world. Then you share your peace
with everyone, and everyone will be at peace. Of course I realize that
arguments like this can be used as a pretext for passivity, for indifferent
acceptance of every iniquity. Quietism leads to war as surely as anything does.
But I am not speaking of quietism, because quietism is not peace, nor is it the
way to peace.
***The phrase this fragile Earth, our island home, is from Eucharistic Prayer C, in the US Episcopal Book of Common Prayer, 1979. See bcponline.org, page 370
Monday, October 17, 2022
Prayers of the People: The Human Family ~ 3rd Sunday in the Season of Creation '22 Yr C
Leader: ~ Most Gracious Creator of Our Entire Human Family, keep us ever mindful that we are each sometimes the other, creating and receiving suspicion and fear, when we step away from our familiar cultures and communities. May our eyes continually radiate Your Light, and our everyday thoughts, actions, and prayers reflect the overflow of our love for You from within ourselves.
O God of Our Human Family
RESPONSE: We serve Justice with Love and Courage
~ Most Gracious Creator, 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 Our Human Family
We serve Justice with Love and Courage
~ Most Gracious Creator, 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 pray especially for: add your own petitions
O God of Our Human Family
We serve Justice with Love and Courage
~ Most Gracious Creator, 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 Our Human Family
We serve Justice with Love and Courage
~ Most Gracious Creator, 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 Our Human Family
We serve Justice with Love and Courage
~ Most Gracious Creator, we give You thanks for all who are chosen 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 Our Human Family
We serve Justice with Love and Courage
The Celebrant adds: O God of the Hungry and the Privileged, O 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 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, so to love You and each other as we are to love ourselves. 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 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
Prayers of the People: The Race of a Lifetime: 20th Sunday after Pentecost '22 Yr C
LET US, GOD’S PEOPLE, PRAY
Leader: ~ O Lord in our midst, You call us by name to awaken our souls to Your presence. Keep us from wandering, forget our iniquities, and bring us to You in the time of healing and good.
~ O Lord in our midst, as our hope and our strength are set on You, grant us the fortitude to challenge all leaders in governments across this Planet, to work together to achieve the health of our Earth and the peace of living together in unity. We pray especially for: add your own petitions
~ O Lord in our midst, free the hearts bowed down in grief, as our loved ones now dwell in the loveliness of Your heavenly house forever. We pray especially for… add your own petitions
The Celebrant adds: Living, Loving Lord, sustain us in our
struggle to live humbly in Your sight, to free ourselves from the sin of
self-promotion, and to set our hearts on the pilgrim’s way. We ask through
Christ Jesus, our Savior; and the Holy Spirit, our Advocate; who together with
You are One God in Glory, forever and ever. Amen.
Monday, October 10, 2022
Prayers of the People: A Persistent Bother! ~ 19th Sunday after Pentecost '22 Yr C
I solemnly urge you: proclaim the message; be persistent whether the time is favorable or unfavorable...For the time is coming when people...will turn away from listening to the truth and wander away to myths. [2 Timothy 4:1b-2a, 3a, 4]
LET US, GOD’S PEOPLE, PRAY
Leader: ~ Watchful, Loving God, as we wrestle with the unjust judge inside ourselves, awaken us to Your strength within us, to carry and proclaim Your truth in our every thought, word, and action.
~ Watchful, Loving
God, arouse our inner courage, in this time of unending urgencies, to be
the persistent and bothersome conscience of all who serve in the halls of
government across this Planet, this Nation, and this Community, on behalf of
all Your people and the very Earth itself. We pray especially for: add
your own petitions
~ Watchful, Loving God, grant healing and hope to all who suffer in body, mind, or spirit, and revive the energy and dedication of all who serve their needs. We now join our voices to pray aloud for those in need… add your own petitions
~ Watchful, Loving God, grant divine comfort to those who grieve as You joyfully welcome, for all eternity, all to whom You gave first breath and received their final earthly sigh. We pray especially for… add your own petitions
~ Watchful, Loving God, we pause in this moment to offer You our other heartfelt thanksgivings, intercessions, petitions, and memorials, aloud or silently…add your own petitions
The Celebrant adds: O Lord
our God, quicken and embolden our faith that in all times, whether unfavorable
or good, we may persevere in learning and sharing through the Gospel message,
so that others will listen and walk with us in prayer and faith. We ask through
Jesus, Son of Man; and the Holy Spirit, the Persistent Voice within; who
together with You are One God, above all, forever and ever. Amen.