People's Prayers

Monday, October 16, 2023

Prayers of the People: In the Pretty Good of Betterness ~ 21st Sunday after Pentecost Yr A

For Sunday, October 22, 2023, Readings: Isaiah 45:1-7, Psalm 96:1-9(10-13), 1 Thessalonians 1:1-10,

Matthew 22:15-22

I form light and create darkness, I make weal and create woe; I the Lord do all these things.

[Isaiah 47:7]

Sing to the Lord a new song; sing to the Lord all the whole earth. Sing to the Lord and bless his name; proclaim the good news of his salvation…Worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness…He will judge the world with righteousness and the peoples with his truth. [Psalm 96:1-2, 9a, 13]

For the word of the Lord has sounded forth from you...in every place your faith in God has become known...how you turned to God from idols, to serve a living and true God... [1 Thess 1:8a, 9b]

The Pharisees went and plotted to entrap Jesus in what he said...But Jesus, aware of their malice said, "Why are you putting me to the test, you hypocrites? Show me the coin used for the tax." ...Then he said to them, "Give therefore to the emperor the things that are the emperor's, and to God the things that are God's." [Matthew 22:15,18-21]

We are in the early part of what is known as Second Isaiah now. The Book of Isaiah, according to scholars ancient and modern, begins with Chapters 1-39 and are attributed, for the most part, to a man known as the Prophet Isaiah. As with other Old/Hebrew Testament Books under individual names, the oracles and sayings have been arranged in an order that pleases those who edited them, that is, not necessarily chronologically or direct quotes. The words themselves may be in part from the individual or from a compilation of what was said about or, as one commentary says, in the tradition of , insofar as what he might likely have said or written. The early chapters of Isaiah were probably written beginning in the year 740 BCE when Jerusalem was still standing. Second Isaiah, whoever he may have been, wrote what is essentially noted to be Chapters 40-55, at least 100 years later, in the mid-sixth century as we count down to the Year 1 CE. So what is happening here is that the Persian King Cyrus is nearly ready to release the captives from the Assyrian destruction of Jerusalem. The Assyrians are long gone, the original captives are also gone except for the children now parents or even grandparents but who know the stories of their homeland and their God.

So what we’re hearing in the words of this newer Isaiah is God saying the punishment that triggered their captivity is nearly over and God is explaining what he has done by anointing Cyrus to subdue nations. Now God will open the doors so that you will know that it is I, the Lord the God is Israel who calls you by your name. And while Cyrus knows little or nothing about the Hebrew God, he is still doing God’s work by allowing the exiles of Judah to return home. This is also reflected in the joy of the Psalm. The God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Ishmael is at work as one God of the WHOLE Earth, as WE are part of today. We ~ Christians, Muslims, and Jews ~ are ALL Children of Abraham. And just to finish a thought, Third Isaiah will come along in Chapters 56-66, a few decades later.

Paul, in his joint letter to the Thessalonians with Sylvanus and Timothy, is reminding us through them to recognize and live into our deep relationship with God with our trust and faith, to feel the power of the Holy Spirit within us. Each breath we take comes from God and that awareness gives us the willingness, however tentative at times, to begin to act upon it. The more we are conscious of living our faith, the more faith grows, and our prayer and action become a truer reflection of the image of God that we already are.

The subtle twist in the Gospel lesson of Jesus and Caesar's money is often lost, much like the obscurity of an inside joke that only works when everyone "gets it." Remembering that this passage takes place just after the triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday to cheers and high excitement, provides a heightened sense of tension in this week of weeks in Christ’s brief human experience. We already know what is ahead in only a few short days. On the surface, this seemingly casual exchange appears as a teaching on the separation of Church and State but wait… As so very often happens, Jesus is turning the tables on those almost-smart-enough Pharisees.

Instead of falling into their trap, he caught them in his. The coin with the Emperor Caesar's image also contained an inscription that proclaimed the divinity of Caesar. While the coin was the mandatory currency by the occupying Romans, for the Jews the image alone was clearly as blasphemous as the inscription regarding divinity. All Pharisees would know that from the prohibitions in both Genesis and Exodus against graven images and proclamations of divinity other than the God of Abraham. While the coins were required in everyday life, especially for paying Roman taxes, anyone on Temple grounds with such a coin in his pocket would be guilty of the very serious offense of blasphemy. That's why there were money changers at the Temple to exchange Roman money for an acceptable coin for Jewish offerings, coins that contained no human or animal images.

The Pharisees' disciples were expecting Jesus to uphold the coin, perhaps even on Temple grounds, and then they could proclaim him as a blasphemer. No such luck. When Jesus tosses off the "Give therefore to the Emperor the things that are the emperor's, and to God the things that are God's," the Pharisees' disciples were amazed because they suddenly knew the joke was on them. It has been suggested that perhaps, in his quietly subversive way, Jesus was hinting about a payback to Caesar as in "Give to Caesar what he deserves?"

We are each individually created in the image of God and we are each called to give the currency of our selves to God's purpose. We might not feel that we are able to worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness, but if we are sincerely working at increasing our faith and improving our faithfulness, then we may attain to a status of worshipping God in the pretty good of betterness.

LET US, GOD’S PEOPLE, PRAY

Leader: ~ O Lord our God, we humbly ask You to re-awaken our faith through every breath You give us, to hear You call us by name and feel Your presence in the light and in the darkness. Keep us on moving toward You always, that we may serve You with joy, in the hope of Christ, by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.

Holy God, Living and True
Strengthen our faith and conviction

~ O Lord our God, no matter what coin we render to political power, our greatest currency is ourselves, who are made in Your image. Guide our actions, voices, and words in the houses of government in this Nation, in this World, and on the local streets and roads of our lives, to always reflect Your graciousness, forgiveness, and mercy. We pray especially for: add your own petitions

Holy God, Living and True
Strengthen our faith and conviction

~ O Lord our God, soothe and heal all who live in worry, hopelessness, and constant physical or emotional pain, and rejuvenate those who give them love and care. We now join our hearts to pray for those in need… add your own petitions

Holy God, Living and True
Strengthen our faith and conviction

~ O Lord our God, our hearts are full of love and thanksgiving for the lives of those You have called home to glory, who are now rejoicing in new life through Christ. We pray especially for… add your own petitions

Holy God, Living and True
Strengthen our faith and conviction

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

Holy God, Living and True
Strengthen our faith and conviction

~ O Lord our God, magnify Your presence in and through all who teach us Your Word, guide our Worship, hear our needs, and whose life work is to walk with us toward You. We pray especially for: add your own petitions

Holy God, Living and True
Strengthen our faith and conviction

The Celebrant adds: O God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Ishmael, keep us close in Your holy heart that we are reminded often of Your constancy, to ask often for Your favor, and to be conscious of how to serve You in every moment of this brief and mortal life. We ask through our Savior, Jesus the Christ; and the soul-filling Power of the Holy Spirit; who together with You, reign as One God now and forever. Amen.

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Monday, October 9, 2023

Prayers of the People: RSVP ~ 20th Sunday after Pentecost, ' 23 Year A

For Sunday, October 15, 2023, Readings: Isaiah 25:1-9, Psalm 23, Philippians 4:1-9, Matthew 22:1-14

On this mountain the Lord of Hosts will make for all peoples a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wines, of rich food filled with marrow…Then the Lord God will wipe away the tears from all faces, and the disgrace of his people he will take away from all the earth. [Isaiah 25:6, 8]

You spread a table before me in the presence of those who trouble me; you have anointed my head with oil, and my cup is running over. [Psalm 23:5]

...stand firm in the Lord...The Lord is near. Do not worry...but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace that passes all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. [Philippians 4:1b, 6-7]

The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding... He sent his slaves to call those who had been invited...but they made light of it and went away...Then he said to his slaves, 'The wedding is ready but those invited were not worthy'...those slaves...gathered all whom they found...But when the king came in...he noticed a man...not wearing a wedding robe...the king said...'bind him...and throw him into the outer darkness...' For many are called but few are chosen. [Matthew 22:1-14]

In these recent weeks of ever-growing unsettling news in our own country and across the world, the readings for this Sunday speak of cities in ruins, banquets, and the importance of proper attire. Isaiah starts us off with a prayer of praise to God after a great destruction that had been building for several prior chapters. On Mount Zion (“this mountain”) God is providing a great feast and will wipe away the tears from all faces. My favorite phrase in this comes at the end of verse 5: the song of the ruthless was stilled. Oh that we may yet live to know that peace!

A smaller more personal banquet comes in Psalm 23, also verse 5. We, of course, are each one a sheep of God’s pasture. This, as all psalms are attributed by some traditions to David himself, and surely, he or whoever authored it, thoroughly understood the nature of sheep and shepherding. The symbolism comes through the depth of each line that refers back to how to work with real-life sheep.* For example, sheep are inherently nervous creatures and are frightened to stampede by an apple dropping from a tree. The shepherd massages each sheep with oil to keep burrowing insects from infecting their eyes and to comfort them. They are terrified by fast flowing water and can only drink from water that appears to be still. The psalmist asks the Lord to lead him beside still waters and the lectionary’s timing for this could not be any better given the turbulent times in which we live. And we are each fed many times and ways from God’s own hand; and as we are marked as Christ’s own forever, in Baptism.

Matthew tells a Jesus parable of a king's wedding banquet where the guests declined and made light of the invitation. Even after a second invitation was issued, the invitees refused and killed the king's own messengers. The king destroyed them and their city as retaliation, but was still determined to fill the banquet hall and people out on the streets were all invited. I wonder if Jesus is using Isaiah again, his listeners would likely have understood this parable from that perspective.

The perplexing part is that one guest wasn't dressed properly infuriating the king who had him bound and thrown where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth (one of Matthew’s favorite phrases). And Jesus then tells us that many are called but few are chosen. I realize that trying to understand this allegory through the lens of my everyday life, I'm surely missing the point. Others who are more learned and wiser than me will likely have a clearer and more theological explanation, but what comes to me hearkens back to this week’s passage in Isaiah. We can be chastened or even frightened into submission and obedience even if that "obedience" is only from fear, half-hearted, and insincere. But if I dress my heart and soul with the proper attire of prayer and supplication with thanksgiving as Paul tells us, the peace of God that passes all understanding, will guard my heart and my mind in Christ Jesus. The more I pray and continue to work toward an honorable, just, and pure mindset, the more of God's peace I will receive, through both the most difficult and the most delightful days of my short temporal existence.

Upon self-reflection, I re-discover too many empty distractions in my life that call me away from the ultimate invitation. By my own lack of attention, willfulness, or laziness, I am making light of the purpose for which I was created, dismissing the gift of being called and chosen. Avoiding the temptations of the something shiny syndrome is no easy task for this imperfect mortal. As I ponder these readings God’s great forgiveness and restoration, and what is an appropriate wardrobe to meet the Divine, I realize how now is always a good time for me to RSVP in prayer ~ Dear God, I accept! I have the directions, and THANKS for inviting me and encouraging me to put down my phone more often than I pick it up. Keep reminding me, please, and I'll accept again and again and yet again.

*I commend to you a lovely little book titled, A Shepherd Looks at Psalm 23 by W. Phillip Keller who once was a real-life shepherd. He unpacks line by line all that the psalm speaks of in relation to how a shepherd cares for sheep each as God cares and (tries to) lead us.

LET US, GOD’S PEOPLE, PRAY

Leader: ~ Most Merciful Lord, grant us the courage to disavow worship of shiny distractions to stand firm in Your always present love. May we humbly accept Your continuing invitation to be joined with You through our prayer and supplication with thanksgiving.

O God, our Peace
RESPONSE: Guard our hearts

~ Most Merciful Lord, visit Your saving help upon us to slow the ruin of cities and lives, and that we may successfully prevail upon political leaders to act with restraint, in justice, and great consideration for what is right for the health and safety of all on our Planet, in our Country, and throughout every village, town, and city in Your Creation. We pray especially for: add your own petitions