People's Prayers

Monday, June 17, 2019

Prayers of the People: These Little Piggies Went Swimming ~ 2nd Sunday after Pentecost '19 Yr C

For Sunday, June 23, 2019, 2^nd Sunday after Pentecost, Year C, Readings: Isaiah 65:1-9, Psalm 22:18-27, Galatians 3:23-29, Luke 8:26-39

I was ready to be…found by those who did not seek me. I said, “Here I am…to a nation that did not call on my name. I held out my hands to a rebellious people, who walk in a way that is not good, following their own devices.

[Isaiah 65:1-2]

Be not far away, O Lord; you are my strength; hasten to help me. [Psalm 22:18]

There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female, for all of you are one in Christ Jesus. And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to the promise. [Galatians 3:28-29]

Now there on the hillside a large herd of swine was feeding; and the demons begged Jesus to let them enter these. So he gave them permission. Then the demons came out of the man and entered the swine, and the herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake and was drowned. [Luke 8:32-33]

Why is there never a herd of scape-pigs around when you need one? Well, of course they really are all over as it's so very easy to jump on the closest group of "THEM" to blame for whatever demon(s) or demonic activities have surfaced. Of course, if Jesus were to cast the demons into the swine today, he would be overwhelmed with a huge backlash from bacon addicts.

When this Gospel appeared in the previous Year C readings for which I wrote in 2016, it was just after the horrible tragedy at Orlando which, itself, was just a year after the jolting tragedy at Charleston. Would that we could point to all being much improved in the world, in this country – how do we count the times and ways of horror-filled and hate-filled events just since then? How do we move always forward, standing faithful and strong in the face of such ongoing misery here and around the world?

The Psalm used in 2016 was Psalm 42 which I commend to your reading. The psalmist is in lament, depressed, mocked, and yet for all his despairing he is still speaking to God, in memory of a time when God felt closer. He also speaks in hope as if feeling and knowing somehow ~ by faith? ~ that the time will come again when he will give God thanks. This time, in Psalm 22, although the beginning is also a lament, we are beginning with the later part in which the Psalmist, still beset by fear of anguish to come, is filled with the hope of God’s nearness and, as a guide to worship, gives us reasons to praise the God who answers prayer and cares for all who turn in God’s direction. We, too, must turn toward God when all is frightening yet also when things are well and joyful to give thanks – how easy it is to forget then.

Paul reminds us that we are all one in Christ and still children of Abraham. Jesus tells the man freed of demons, at the end of this week's Gospel, Return to your home, and declare how much God has done for you. Quite a contrast to the usual lament of Why have you [God] forgotten me? How, indeed, do we declare how much God has done for us in the midst of what has been done to so many in our midst? Let us take the time to breathe, clinging to hope and to each other. We are marked as Christ's own in Baptism, either through water or desire. Let us be still and listen for God in the silence of our souls, let us open our hearts to smile with the giggles of children, and be alight with the joy of sunrise breaking through a long dark night. Let us claim our faith, through prayer and by action ~ however tenuous in the difficult times ~ believing in the power of God to guide us through until we can at last praise the Lord, stand in awe, and give glory. Let us be released from those little piggies of doubt, greed, anger, hatred, and fear and send them over the cliff for an eternal swim – calm down, bacon lovers, just speaking metaphorically.

LET US, GOD’S PEOPLE, PRAY

Leader: ~ O Lord, our God, teach us, again, to always know Your Presence within us without seeking, as we are Your children through faith, all one in Christ Jesus, and heirs of Abraham according to Your Promise.

Faithful, Loving God

RESPONSE: We give You glory and praise

~ O Lord, our God, You are our strength as we stand before the rulers and regimes on this Earth, in our Nation, and in our Community. Hasten to help us in pressing for leaders to turn from governance by their own devices to walk a better way towards justice, mercy, and peace. We pray especially for: add your own petitions

Faithful, Loving God

We give You glory and praise

~ O Lord, our God, shelter the hearts and minds and bodies of those tormented by the demons of chronic pain, addictions, or mental illness, and sustain the love and patience of all who give them care. We now join our voices to pray aloud for those in need… add your own petitions

Faithful, Loving God

We give You glory and praise

~ O Lord, our God, ease the burden of bereavement as our loved ones now awaken to the bliss of life ever after in the peace of Christ. We pray especially for: add your own petitions

Faithful, Loving God

We give You glory and praise

~ O Lord, our God, we pause in this moment to offer You our other heartfelt thanksgivings, intercessions, petitions, and memorials, aloud or silently… add your own petitions

Faithful, Loving God

We give You glory and praise

~ O Lord, our God, we raise up before You all who have been chosen to lead us in Your Church, who baptize us as Christ’s own forever, who bring us Your Word and Sacraments, and who teach us to declare all that You, our Triune God, have done for us, in us, and through us. We pray especially for: add your own petitions

Faithful, Loving God

We give You glory and praise

The Celebrant adds: Most High God, Creator of All Humankind, release us from any and all unholy possession by that which keeps us from turning to You. Guide us to the path of Your peace within us, filled with faith and compassion, proclaiming Your Name by all that we are and all that we do. We ask through Jesus, our Teacher of Love in Action; and the Holy Spirit, the Spark that ignites our Souls; who together with You are One God forever and ever. Amen.

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Monday, June 10, 2019

Prayers of the People: One for All and All are One ~ Trinity Sunday '19 Yr C

For Sunday, June 16, 2019, Trinity Sunday, Year C, Readings: Proverbs 8:1-4, 22-31; Psalm 8, Romans 5:1-5, John 16:12-15

Does not Wisdom call, and does not understanding raise her voice? [Proverbs 8:1]

O Lord, our Governor, how exalted is your Name in all the world? [Psalm 8:1]

Since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ; and we boast in our hope of sharing the Glory of God....we also boast in our sufferings…that produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given us. [Romans 5:1-5]

When the Spirit of Truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth…and declare to you the things that are to come…All that the Father has is mine. For this reason [the Spirit] will take what is mine and declare it to you. [John 16:13a,c; 15]

One part of the human condition is the occasionally obsessive need to be rational about the irrational, that is to make sense of out of what we don't understand so that we can find something of value or usable in it. Great thinkers and ponderers, researchers and scientific minds alike, seek to grasp the ungraspable and define the indefinable. We often strive to know what is unknowable and explain the unexplainable, or at least contain the concept in some mortal definition box. And there is nothing more irrational, indefinable, or ungraspable than the theologically and intellectually mysterious Christian concept of The Trinity, One God in Three Persons. All manner of councils, creeds, arguments, and conjectures have sought to develop a workable, understandable, useful definition out of a non-scriptural but closely held doctrine of many Christian faith communities to which many simply choose not to believe because it cannot be contained in a comfortable box.

This is the Sunday which sends many practiced and learnéd preachers running for the list of available surrogates to fill in so as to dodge those unanswerable questions. The group of lessons appointed for today are, as usual, not terribly helpful in expounding upon what we, of those particular Trinitarian groups, attempt to understand or, at least, accept without question. That said, the passage from Paul's Letter to the Romans gave us a sort of taste of the workings of our co-equal and co-eternal^*, and consubstantial (of one and the same substance, essence, or nature), whole and entire God. In John's Gospel, Jesus, still in his pre-Pentecost Farewell Discourse in this reading, is explaining to the disciples how they will soon understand all they need to know through the coming of the Holy Spirit. They must have been nearly cross-eyed after all they had experienced in the prior month.
With the millions of pages of commentaries, books, treatises, etc., available on Google, wiki-places, and untold thousands of websites, and the innumerable hours of sermons we've attempted to listen to (or write), 2 millennia later we're still trying to put the pieces and Persons of the Trinity together in a way that helps us to explain to ourselves, let alone others, what it is that we believe. Step back, take a breath, some things are simply not simple. Mystery is just that. Faith is a mystery ~ outside of any and all types of boxes ~ as is the Peace that passes all understanding. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; Creator, Redeemer, Sanctifier; One for All and All are One. AMEN. Alleluia!

*One of my favorite ways to attempt a workable sense of the Trinity – gender language aside – is through a piece of a 6th century creed from Dublin known as Tírechán’s Creed ~ when speaking of God it says:

He has a Son who is co-eternal with himself;

and similar in all respects to himself;

and neither is the Son younger than the Father,

nor is the Father older than the Son;

and the Holy Spirit breathes in them.

And the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit are inseparable.

And, there's this:

LET US, GOD’S PEOPLE, PRAY

Leader: ~ Holy and Blessed Trinity, as Almighty Creator and Lord of All, as Lord of Revelation and Salvation through Christ Jesus, and as Lord and Giver of Truth and Life through the Holy Spirit: You embody the eternal mystery of One God in Three Persons. Fill us with the courage and conviction to open to the love You have poured into our hearts that we may live as Your vessels of faith in action.

O God of Grace and Glory

RESPONSE: To You, O Lord, we pray

~ Holy and Blessed Trinity, let Wisdom raise her voice in calling for the ethical and moral character necessary in all the leaders of this world, this country, and this community, giving hope in action for universal justice, mercy, and peace. We pray especially for: add your own petitions

O God of Grace and Glory

To You, O Lord, we pray

~ Holy and Blessed Trinity, grant endurance and optimism to all in continuous suffering of body, mind, or spirit, and vigor to those who give support. We pray especially for: add your own petitions

O God of Grace and Glory

To You, O Lord, we pray

~ Holy and Blessed Trinity, relieve the anguish of those in mourning, as You delight in the arrival of the souls of the Faithful, returning Home for new life everlasting. We pray especially for: add your own petitions

O God of Grace and Glory

To You, O Lord, we pray

~ Holy and Blessed Trinity, 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 Grace and Glory

To You, O Lord, we pray

~ Holy and Blessed Trinity, continually replenish the stores of spiritual discernment for all who inspire our explorations of faith. We give You special thanks and ask for Your continuing Grace and Blessings for all of our Faith Communities as we go forth ever together in faith and in Your service. We pray especially for: add your own petitions

O God of Grace and Glory

To You, O Lord, we pray

The Celebrant adds: Triune God of the Heavens, the Earth, and All that is Known and Unknown, You are our Complete and Infinite Source of Faith, Love, and Hope. Urge our earth-bound hearts to seek higher fulfillment as heirs and proclaimers of Your eternal Truth in this life, exalting Your Name in all the world. We ask through Jesus, our Redeemer, and the Holy Spirit, our Sustainer, who, co-eternal and co-equal with You, reign as our One True God, forever and ever. Amen.

Monday, June 3, 2019

Prayers of the People: Faith on Fire! ~ PENTECOST! '19 Yr C

For Sunday, June 9, 2019, Pentecost, Yr C, Readings: Acts 2:1-21, Psalm 104:25-35, 37; Romans 8:14-17, John 14:8-17, (25-27)

When the day of Pentecost had come, the disciples were all together in one place. And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house...Divided tongues, as of fire...rested on each...All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability. [Acts 2:1-4]

You send forth your Spirit, and they are created; and so you renew the face of the earth. [Psalm 104:31]

When we cry, "Abba! Father!" it is that very Spirit bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ... [Romans 8:13b-17b]

Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me...If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you forever. This is the Spirit of Truth...he abides in you, and he will be with you...Peace I leave with you...Do not let your hearts be troubled... [John 14:11a, 15-17]

From a Greek word meaning “fiftieth” is derived the word "Pentecost." In Judaism, Pentecost is the holiday of Shavuot or The Festival of Weeks, celebrated seven weeks, or the 50th day, after the first seder of Passover. It commemorates God's giving of the Law to Moses on Mt. Sinai. In Christianity it is the 50th day, or 7 weeks, after Easter, 10 days after Christ’s Ascension.

The disciples of Jesus, perhaps still struggling with their understandings of and ongoing roles after the Crucifixion, Resurrection, and Ascension, gathered together most likely for the comfortably familiar Shavuot remembrance and feast. Then, as we are told, suddenly from heaven came a rush of violent wind and just as suddenly tongues of fire appeared above their heads and each one immediately began speaking in a different language. From that moment they were able to spread the word of God in Christ across the world with the Holy Spirit granting each voice in each language the precise interpretation of Christ’s saving words and instructions ~ in context of culture, place, and time, not merely by repetition.
In this fiftieth day from the most recent celebration of Easter, we are again and always called to know that we are filled with the Holy Spirit, called to live into the belief in Christ that we claim or want, and, to keep the Commandments whose giving on Mt. Sinai we may also commemorate on this day as our life principles.
On this Birthday of the Church^*, let us claim our heritage as children of God and use the language of love to be as Jesus has shown us to be. Let the teachings of Jesus not only be our governing rules but also our method and practice of daily living. In our times of suffering and our times of joy and in our times of everyday routines, let us breathe deeply and receive the power of the Holy Spirit to untrouble our hearts and fill us with the Peace of Christ, the peace that passes all understanding; the peace of our own spirits that reaches out and gives peace to another’s.

Today is the day to stop merely knowing the story. Today is the day to start feeling the Spirit – to be amazed and astonished! We have the Spirit within us and God’s grace and the love and Salvation of Christ for just the wanting of it. Let us rejoice and be glad and joy-filled, and alive in it! After all, what else is faith, and this life, for?

^*Also known as the Birthday of the Church, Pentecost marks the official beginning of the ministry of the Apostles beyond their local area and into the broader world. The descent of the Holy Spirit in the form of tongues of fire imbued them, and each of us by extension, with extraordinary gifts to bring the message of Jesus by word and example into all facets and phases of our Christian life.

LET US, GOD’S PEOPLE, PRAY

Leader: ~ Abba, Redeemer, Advocate, awaken us again to the fire of Your Spirit and the Peace of Christ within us. Untrouble our hearts that we may feel the rush of heavenly breath, rejoice in Your Presence, and bless You with our souls.

Spirit of the Living God

RESPONSE: Fall afresh on us

~ Abba, Redeemer, Advocate, inspire us to speak in the language of Your Truth to the leaders of this Earth, this Country, and this Community, as the voices of those crying in the wilderness of poverty, war, intolerance, and injustice. We pray especially for: add your own petitions

Spirit of the Living God

Fall afresh on us

~ Abba, Redeemer, Advocate, cool the fevers of critical illness, despair, or deprivation of those in desperate need, and energize all who give them care and support. We now join our voices to pray aloud for those in need… add your own petitions

Spirit of the Living God

Fall afresh on us

~ Abba, Redeemer, Advocate, infuse Your care and comfort into the hearts of the mournful, as the souls of all who have reached the shores of Heaven, now rise and dance in Your everlasting joy and glory. We pray especially for: add your own petitions

Spirit of the Living God

Fall afresh on us

~ Abba, Redeemer, Advocate, we pause in this moment to offer You our other heartfelt intentions and petitions, aloud or silently… add your own petitions

Spirit of the Living God

Fall afresh on us

~ Abba, Redeemer, Advocate, amplify our Spirit-given abilities, that together with those we choose to lead us in Your Church, we may be steadfast in our journey and the actions of our lives sing as praise to the Lord, our God. We pray especially for: add your own petitions

Spirit of the Living God

Fall afresh on us

The Celebrant adds: God All-Knowing, guide the Spirit of Pentecost to set our souls ablaze once again, that we may keep Your commandments, do greater works, and live as joint heirs of Your eternal kingdom. We ask through Jesus, our Redeemer Christ, and the Holy Spirit, the Sacred Fire in our souls, who together with You reign as One God, now and for eternity. Amen.

Monday, May 27, 2019

Prayers of the People: We are All, Together 7th Sunday of Easter '19 Yr C

For Sunday, June 2, 2019, 7th Sunday of Easter, Year C, Readings: Acts 16:16-34, Psalm 97, Revelation 22:12-14; 16-17, 20-21; John 17:20-26

...With Paul and Silas...we were going to a place of prayer...[Then the jailer] said, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?" They answered, "Believe on the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household."...He and his entire household rejoiced that he had become a believer in God. [Acts 16:16, 30-31, 34b]

Light has sprung up for the righteous, and joyful gladness for those who are truehearted. [Psalm 97:11]

It is I, Jesus, who sent my angel to you with this testimony for the churches. I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star." [Revelation 22:16]

Jesus...looked up to heaven and said... "I ask not only on behalf of these, but also on behalf of those who will believe in me through their word, that they all may be one...so that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them. [John 17: 1a, 20-21a, 26b]

This recounting of Paul’s imprisonment is intriguing as it isn’t the typical story of being imprisoned for proseltyzing or performing miracles. On the way to a place of prayer, his miracle in a particular slave for which her owners lost money landed him and Silas in jail. Just as those imprisoned with them heard Paul and Silas praying and singing hymns to God, an earthquake loosed the chains that bound them all and yet the prisoners stayed inside despite the opened doors. The jailer and his family were instantly converted to faith in Jesus and baptized.

Faith is the primary element of any religious practice and for Christianity and other theological traditions, prayer is the backbone of faith. Sometimes, however, prayer comes ahead of belief through the longing to have the kind of faith observed in others, as with Paul’s jailer. It has been said that the mere desire to have faith is, in itself, an expression of faith. Tentative exploration of prayer may also occur in the search for the meaning of grief at an age when the onset of mortality becomes one’s reality.

Without faith, “christian” becomes a mere empty label. Yet without sincere and frequent prayer, faith itself is unfulfilled; it has limited direction and action. The whole of John 17 is Jesus' prayer before he leaves the disciples to carry on without him, but it isn't just about himself or the disciples at hand. It is also about us. Jesus speaks of those who will believe in me through their word.

Now, as we end this Easter season, it is an excellent time for me to examine the state of my faith and, particularly, how I pray. Do I simply repeat familiar syllables in the liturgical rituals, is prayer only a way to call out for help when I want or need something for myself or someone else? Or, do I thoughtfully, and intentionally, make time to truly and sincerely pray in faith to build my relationship with God? Even during desert times when God feels absent, prayer keeps connecting me to God in Christ and the Holy Spirit who are already within me.

There are innumerable volumes of books written on various forms and schools of prayer, many worth exploring. If prayer seems difficult, intimidating, or mysterious, a simple way to begin is just to have a conversation with God, taking comfort with and confiding in your closest confidante ~ the Person who knows you better than you know yourself. There are no right words, no correct procedures, just everyday words in sincerity and faith, even if you think sometimes that your faith is wavering or weak. A plain, quiet help me, Lord can open your heart, and in turn your soul, to the experience of even a mustard seed amount of faith.

Jesus shows us the way of prayer ~ it strengthens faith, draws us together in community, and gives us blessings and hope. Prayer is, quite simply, the most perfect conversation we can ever have. Any time, any place, any way - aloud, silently, written, poetic, scattered, rambling. There is always an interested non-judgmental Listener. Prayer is the opportunity, in faith, to place cares, woes, hopes, dreams, thanksgivings, contrition, into the Heart of God. Let us pray without ceasing [1 Thessalonians 5:17] to our bright morning star, drinking deeply from the water of life. In prayer, we are complete, we are known, we with God are all, together.

LET US, GOD’S PEOPLE, PRAY

Leader: ~ O Savior Christ, You are the bright morning star of Creation, loved from before the world was founded. Draw us into the prayer of faith that binds us to You and to each other, to all be as one, complete in the eternal love of God.