People's Prayers

Monday, October 24, 2022

Prayers of the People: The World at Peace ~ 4th Sunday in the Season of Creation '22

For Sunday, October 30, 2022; Season of Creation IV*, Readings: Micah 4:1-4, Psalm 127, Thomas Merton,** Matthew 5:43-48

[T]hey shall beat their swords into ploughshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not life up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore…[Micah 4:3b]

Unless the LORD builds the house, their labor is in vain who build it. [Psalm 127:1]

Peace is not something you fight for. Perhaps peace is not, after all, something you work for, or ‘fight for.’ Peace is something you have or you do not have. If you yourself is at peace, then there is at least *some* peace in the world. [Thomas Merton]

But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you…For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers and sisters, of what more are you doing than others? [Matthew 5:44,46-47]

*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

Week III's Theme is:

The World at Peace

The World at Peace. Of course! Who doesn't want it? Yet the concept is exponentially large and seems well beyond the scope of my abilities to achieve alone. It then remains a mere concept, too big to be a goal, and reduced to a conversational platitude. Or, is it? When you think of world peace how do you define it? Is it merely the end of all war on the planet or are there other considerations? A few formal definitions describe it as the absence of war, a cessation of hostilities, and/or tranquility. Whole armies are deployed ostensibly to end war ~ where am I in that? The words of Thomas Merton say it clearly: peace is not something you fight for…fighting for peace…starts all the wars. Well, when it’s put that way, it becomes even more clear that of course no army is deployed for peace but for power and control, domination, and subjugation. Tranquility, though, sounds a bit more personal. But a day doesn't go by when my anxiety and frustration levels aren't challenged by the local news, comments on social media, and I am highly intolerant of the intolerance of others as my blood pressure rises! And Thomas speaks to that also: 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. Ah, a small first step. Find peace within me, somewhere, breathing deeply regularly, stepping away from the noise of all that disturbs a tranquil moment. Listen for the birds, even when they’re fighting it calms me. The laughter of children makes me laugh; puppies and kittens and butterflies, and turtles sunning on a rock. Even in the depth of winter's cold heart, there is the peaceful quiet of a snowy day.

Breathe deeply again. The feisty, feckless, fuming, and fraying world is still there, yet within it I can find a small moment of inner peace that remains. That still small voice of God in Christ with the Holy Spirit is quietly, steadily, holding me fast, calling me to return often to listen and be filled and then to let it out so that I can offer at least *some* peace in the world. A smile, a kind word, some restraint in response to a severe difference of opinion ~ World Peace, it seems begins within me, at least in some ways. Let us each invite the Lord to build our house from within, that we may radiate God’s Eternal Light from the windows of our souls to all we meet, and continue to mingle our peace-filled breath with all the air that flows around this fragile Earth, our island home***.

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.

O God of Justice and Peace

RESPONSE: We turn our hearts to You

~ 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

O God of Justice and Peace

We turn our hearts to You

~ 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

O God of Justice and Peace

We turn our hearts to You

~ 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

O God of Justice and Peace

We turn our hearts to You

~ Merciful, Saving Lord, we pause in this moment to offer You our other heartfelt thanksgivings, intercessions, petitions, and memorials… add your own petitions

O God of Justice and Peace

We turn our hearts to You

~ 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

O God of Justice and Peace

We turn our hearts to You

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

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Monday, October 17, 2022

Prayers of the People: The Human Family ~ 3rd Sunday in the Season of Creation '22 Yr C

For Sunday, October 23, 2022, Season of Creation 3*, Readings: Mother Theresa**, Psalm 47, Alice Walker***, Matthew 22:34-40

Norman Rockwell

“The Golden Rule” 1961

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]

For God is King of all the earth; sing praises to our King, sing praises. [Psalm 47:6]

Praying–not a curse–only the hope that my courage will not fail my love. But if by some miracle, and all the struggle, the Earth is spared, only justice to every living thing (and everything is alive) will save humankind…Only justice can stop a curse. [Alice Walker]

You shall love the Lord Your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and will all your mind…You shall love your neighbor as yourself. [Matthew 22:37, 39]

We are truly all in "this" together ~ this life, on 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 whom we designate as not one of us. Suddenly "they" become one of them, not to be trusted or valued as the full human person God created in God's own image.

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.

Alice Walker minces no words describing the enormity of (their) crimes against humanity bringing such crimes from the global history of white colonization and the destructive privilege of wealth, to her people, her family, and her own experiences in our own times. Yet while outlining specifics for venting her justified rage, she suddenly turns us all to the stark necessities of saving our planet when she says So let me tell you: I intend to protect my home. Praying – not a curse – on the hope that my courage will not fail my love…only justice to every living thing (and everything is alive) will save humankind…Only justice can stop a curse.

Matthew’s Gospel reminds of us the words we think we know so well and utter easily and without deep examination of how we are to apply them in our everyday moments, especially in the most difficult circumstances: You shall love the Lord Your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and will all your mind…You shall love your neighbor as yourself. Love God with ALL YOUR/MY heart, soul, mind, and YOUR/MY Neighbor as myself. Too many of us may actually love God and our neighbors as we really do love ourselves: badly. Judgment, criticism, anger, mockery, even hatred, may be more of a mirror than we would like to admit.

The ways in which we care for each other ~ all others ~ and ourselves, with the love for God and our Human Family that Jesus has exhorted us to give, is 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 it is not the way of Jesus nor does it turn us toward the ultimate reward of eternal life.

The humility that Jesus exemplified is difficult to achieve and uncomfortable in an environment of excessive greed, selfishness, and disdain for the life of others and this planet. 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 achievements and live more simply, putting one foot in front of the other, making each and every breath a prayer and every step in love and with love and toward justice for our whole Human Family.

LET US, GOD’S PEOPLE, PRAY

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

***A Reading from Alice Walker: "When I have considered the enormity of (their)..crimes against humanity…Against women, Against every living person of color. Against the poor. Against my mother and my father. Against me. When I consider that they are a real and present threat to my life and the life of my daughter and the life of my people, I think....Let the earth marinate in poisons. Let the bombs cover the ground like rain. For nothing short of total destruction will ever teach them anything. And it would be good, perhaps, to put an end to the species..rather than let these wealthy white men continue to subjugate it, and continue their lust to dominate, exploit, and despoil not just our planet, but the rest of the universe, which is their clear and stated intention, leaving their arrogance and litter not just on the moon, but on everything else they can reach. If we have any true love of the stars, planets, and the rest of Creation, we must do everything we can to keep men like these away from them. They who have appointed themselves our representatives to the rest of the universe. They who have never met any new creature without exploiting, abusing or destroying it. They who say we poor and colored and female and elderly blight neighborhoods, while they blight worlds. However, just as the sun shines on the godly and the ungodly alike, so does our destruction of our environment. And with this knowledge it becomes increasingly difficult to embrace the thought of extinction purely for the assumed satisfaction of–from the grave–achieving revenge. Or even of accepting our demise as a planet as a simple and just preventive medicine administered to the Universe....Earth is my home–though for centuries white people have tried to convince me I have no right to exist, except in the dirtiest, darkest corners of the globe. So let me tell you: I intend to protect my home. Praying–not a curse–only the hope that my courage will not fail my love. But if by some miracle, and all the struggle, the Earth is spared, only justice to every living thing (and everything is alive) will save humankind. And we are not saved yet. Only justice can stop a curse." Excerpts from “Only Justice Can Stop A Curse,” in The Impossible Will Take a Little While, ed.Paul Rogat Loeb, Basic Books, New York, 2004

Prayers of the People: The Race of a Lifetime: 20th Sunday after Pentecost '22 Yr C

For Sunday, October 23, 2022; Readings: Jeremiah 14:7-10, 19-22; Psalm 84:1-6, 2 Timothy 4:6-8, 16-18;

Luke 18:9-14

Yet you, O LORD, are in the midst of us, and we are called by your name; do not forsake us...We set our hope on you... [Jeremiah 14:9b, 22b

How lovely is your dwelling place...Happy are those whose strength is in you...they will climb from height to height... [Ps 84:1, 5-6a]

I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. [2 Timothy 4:7]

I tell you, this man went down to his home justified rather than the other; for all who exalt themselves will be humbled, but all who humble themselves will be exalted. [Luke 18:14]

Jeremiah tries to ease the gloom and doom of our knowing our failures by reminding us that God is in our midst and calls us by name. I want to stay with that image and the resonance of that voice all along the route of my life, as I climb from height to height. Then, when I am finally at the Finish Line of Racing-While-Human, I am promised the full revelation of God’s glory. The lovely dwelling place of God is our ultimate destination and the Psalmist reminds us that we who find our strength in God are happy.

The Letter to Timothy continues the assurance that the Lord stands by us even though others desert us, and in graciousness, the writer also asks that those who didn't come to his aid not have their rejection counted against them. Oh, to be so humble!

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 Pharisee revels in his status of being above those he judges of lesser importance including the tax collector, and reports his own fasting and tithing. The tax collector is humble in his prayer for mercy, speaking to God for mercy as a sinner. Two different prayers, one of pretension and the other of penance.

Humility is difficult to achieve. When you think have it, you've lost it in that instant! As I continue the sprint through this life, I must relinquish marking milestones and simply keep putting one foot in front of the other, making each breath a prayer. When I listen for the still, small voice that calls my name, I can rest in the knowing that the Lord is with me always, even when I fall. I must be constant in keeping faith, knowing that my hope and strength rests in God. I paradoxically pray two prayers, one for humility and the second to not know if I have achieved it. In attending God in Christ, I’m far more able to resist the petulance that arrives with a false sense of superiority and pride. Jesus doesn't want us to be proud of our humility in this continuous and often contentious race of a lifetime.

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 God of gods

RESPONSE: For Your Mercy, we pray

~ 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 God of gods

For Your Mercy, we pray

~ O Lord in our midst, calm all who are in fear and heal all who are suffering in any part of life, as You grant comfort and care for those who serve others. We now join our voices to pray aloud for those in need… add your own petitions

O God of gods

For Your Mercy, we pray

~ 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

O God of gods

For Your Mercy, we pray

~ O Lord in our midst, 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 gods

For Your Mercy, we pray

~ O Lord in our midst, we give You thanks for all who are chosen to show us by Word and example how to finish the race of this life, keep the faith, and walk together to our home in You. We pray especially for: add your own petitions

O God of gods

For Your Mercy, we pray

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

For Sunday, October 16, 2022; Readings: Genesis 32:22-31, Psalm 121, 2 Timothy 3:14-4:5, Luke 18:1-8

Jacob was left alone and a man wrestled with him until daybreak…Jacob called the place Peniel, saying “For I have seen God face to face, and yet my life is preserved.” [Genesis 32:24, 30]

I lift my eyes to the hills; from where is my help to come? My help comes from the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth. [Psalm 121:1-2]

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]

" ...yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will grant her justice, so that she may not wear me out by continually coming." And the Lord said, "Listen to what the unjust judge says. And will not God grant justice to his chosen ones who cry to him day and night? ...I tell you he will quickly grant justice to them. And yet, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?" [Luke 18:5-7, 8]

We are God's people. And persistence is the order of the day. Jacob, in wrestling with the man until daybreak, is all of us wrestling with our innermost selves, the unjust judge within us, fearing our self-perceived failings and lackings. But as Jacob prevails despite a life-long wound to remind him so do we. For Jacob, as for us, it was less about the struggle and more about his capacity to withstand, to overcome obstacles and personal history, and to be preserved by God.

The Psalmist’s words bring us to the dawn of inner comfort as our help comes from the Lord and is always within us if we but remember to call out and to call on that inner strength.

The writer of 2nd Timothy calls us to be persistent, whether the time is convenient or not, to proclaim the message, and to be steadfast in the ministry to which Christ calls us, because people – including us – will wander away from the truth and believe whatever they like.

The parable that Jesus tells is a way to keep the disciples, and always us, from losing heart and abandoning prayer. The widow keeps up the good fight to the annoyance of the judge who believes he is an entity unto himself. We also stubbornly yield to the sense of singularity of our own stature or desires, with no apparent care or interest in the needs of others beyond our own, at times. Yet this widow – a woman with no husband was the least of the least in those days – kept coming before the judge, a bothersome, constant, squeaky wheel whose noise the judge could no longer ignore or endure. He grants her the justice she seeks but only in order to be rid of her. So, too will God hear us who cry – or rather, pray – day and night, though never to be rid of us. God’s Presence is always within, always available even in our struggles with doubt and the frustrations and injustices of daily life.

Jesus leaves us with that final disconcerting question: And yet, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth? How do we answer? By returning again, and again, and again to Scripture, to prayer, to patience, to giving and receiving support in a community of faith and discipleship, to carry out our ministries fully. Let us feel bothered if we wander away. Let us be bothered enough to listen, remember, and turn back to the Gospel Truth, each time we turn only to ourselves as judge. Let us be a bother in patience, persistence, inspiration, to all we meet. Let our faith bloom amidst the rocks and obstacles of this human sojourn. Oh, yes, do bother, persistently!

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.

O Lord, our Help

RESPONSE: Preserve us in faith and truth

~ 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

O Lord, our Help