Prayers of the People: Unexpected Dinner Guest ~ 3rd Sunday of Easter '24 Yr B

For Sunday, April 14, 2024, Readings: Acts 3:12-19, Psalm 4, 1 John 3:1-7, Luke 24:36b-48

  And by faith in his name, his name itself has made this man strong, whom you see and know; and the faith that is through Jesus has given him this perfect health in the presence of all of you. [Acts 3:16]

   Many are saying, "Oh, that we might see better times!"...You have put gladness in my heart...for only you, Lord, make me dwell in safety. [Psalm 4, 6a, 7a, 8b]

   You know that he was revealed to take away sins, and in him there is no sin. No one who abides in him sins...Everyone who does what is right is righteous, just as he is righteous. [1 John 3:5-6a, 7b]

     ...Jesus himself stood among the disciples and said to them, "Peace be with you"...Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures, and he said to them, "Thus it is written, that the Messiah is to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things." [Luke 24: 36b, 45-48]

      How much easier it was for the Disciples when Jesus returned fully alive again, and able to speak to and eat with them, answer their questions in person, and explain the plan. In those "simpler times" all they really had to deal with was fear for their lives in an adverse political climate, uncertainty in their futures, and the continuing disbelief and wonder of what they were actually experiencing.

       So much for simpler times. There are so very many today, in this country and around the globe, who are facing daily violence and lethal persecution just for being who they are and what they believe, without having a visible Jesus in their midst. And who of us are certain about what the future holds; a future that could change dramatically and instantly? 

      We can only rely on the Scriptures to tell us how things were so that we also may try to believe as the original disciples did. Yet given our familiarity of the readings, how much do we hear and think about now? How can we bring those Scriptures alive and into our consciousness anytime, anywhere, any season? 

      The season of Eastertide, joy-filled as it is meant to be, abounds with reminders of our responsibility for ongoing repentance. Repent is such a bristle-y word ~ didn't we finish with that in Lent? Short answer, no! The word has been loaded with negative and fearful connotations for millennia. It quite simply means to turn toward, a change of mind. Anglican Bishop, Author, and New Testament/Early Christianity Scholar tells us that when we fail to reflect God’s image, “The technical term is sin, whose primary meaning is not “breaking the rules” but “missing the mark, failing to hit the target of complete, genuine humanness…the gospel…calls us to obedience, contains the remedy: forgiveness, unearned and freely given…” Metanoia is the word from the Greek for repentance but far richer. Rooted in metamorphosis or transformation, it calls us to stop, turn around and follow the path through the Light of Christ.

      Whether we are complacent, distracted, or knowingly neglectful, we all turn away from the call of Jesus and the attention to our faith from time to time, briefly or for longer periods. After a while, something may trigger a tiny longing that may grow deeper into wanting to reconnect for the soul-fulfillment of faith and worship. Perhaps a death in the family or among friends, a personal diagnosis, or a sudden realization of our own aging and mortality, or something as lovely as Christmas or Easter through the eyes of a child. How then to turn toward Christ once more?

      Here's a quick first step, an easy prayer-form. It may even sound trite but no one but you need know. Simply call out the name of Jesus and he's there, with you, immediately. 

     That's it ~ and, you can even sing it! Pick out a love song in rock, soul, rap, heavy metal ~ whatever suits you. Any love song can be directed to Jesus. Some of you might know the lyrics to that old James Taylor song: Just call out my name, and you know wherever I am, I'll come running, to see you again! Click here to sing your prayer: James Taylor - You've Got a Friend and he'll be there, yeah, he'll be there. And what you feel inside will show outside and that will be your witness and your proclamation that repentance is the key to the forgiveness of our sins, leading you to turn toward Christ with strengthened faith, trust, and a new spiritual lease on life. Winter, Spring, Summer, or Fall! Invite Jesus to join you for a meal! You may, unexpectedly find He’s already with You. By the way ~ He likes broiled fish.

LET US, GOD’S PEOPLE, PRAY

Leader:  ~ Jesus, our Christ and our Peace, as You stood among the disciples then, You stand among us still calling us to the actions of hope and love that will purify our souls. Release us from the doubts and temptations that lure us from Your presence that, by our repentance and relationship, we may dwell in the spiritual safety of Your love and forgiveness.

                                                       O Lord of Wonders

RESPONSE:                 Strengthen our faith and trust         

~ Jesus, our Christ and our Peace, as they chart the course of our lives on our Planet, in our Nation, and in our Community, infuse our elected, appointed, or self-declared leaders, with wisdom, compassion, and the ways of justice, truth, and mercy. Fill us with the courage and grace to know that You are in our hearts as we hold them accountable. We pray especially for: add your own petitions

                                                       O LORD of Wonders

                                                       Strengthen our faith and trust

~ Jesus, our Christ and our Peace, calm the fears and pain for all suffer through physical or emotional illness, addiction or despair, and grant respite to those who provide support. We now join our hearts to pray for those in need… add your own petitions

                                                       O LORD of Wonders

                                                       Strengthen our faith and trust

~ Jesus, our Christ and our Peace, ease our grieving hearts and minds with the knowledge and comfort that those who have joined You in the glory of Resurrection, now dwell in the eternal gladness and freedom of Salvation. We pray especially for… add your own petitions

                                                       O LORD of Wonders

                                                       Strengthen our faith and trust

~ Jesus, our Christ and our Peace, we pause in this moment to offer You our other heartfelt thanksgivings, intercessions, petitions, and memorials… add your own petitions

                                                       O LORD of Wonders

                                                       Strengthen our faith and trust     

~ Jesus, our Christ and our Peace, our leaders in Your Church today give witness to the truth of Your words and the fullness of life in following Your call to us. Energize our hearts to listen as their message engage us with new fervor to stride confidently and reverently into each day together, proclaiming You by thought, word, and action. We pray especially for: add your own petitions

                                                       O LORD  of Wonders

                                                       Strengthen our faith and trust

The Celebrant adds:  God of the Beginning, the Now, and of All that is to Come, raise us as You resurrected our Christ, into the faithfulness of heart, mind, and soul in all of our thoughts, words, and actions that lead us to the glory of life everlasting with You. We ask through the name of Jesus, our Risen Savior; and the Holy Spirit, our Sanctifier; who together with You reign as One God, forever and ever. Amen.

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Meditation in Eastertide ~ Monday, Week 2: Selah?

April 8, 2024 ~ Monday in Eastertide, Week 2

Psalm 61:4

Let me abide in your tent forever, 

find refuge under the shelter of your wings. Selah

          In the gold, the silver, and the rare colors found in elaborate calligraphy in the artful and prayerful Illuminations from the ancients, to the archaeological and scholarly explorations of language and history in the context of its time, to one's own mystical and personal relationship with the Bible ~ whether in a particular book, a chapter, a verse ~ we, who engage with it, may find a light on our path, a resonance within ourselves, and often, more questions than answers.     

        There have been, are now, and will be innumerable studies of the texts, resulting in many more interpretations, much more knowledge, and fresh understanding and yet, with all the work of highly educated researchers, linguists, and religious scholars, professors, and world class preachers of varying denominations and cultures, Christian and non-Christian alike, there is one tiny little word that no one, ever, anywhere has completely defined:  Selah. 

        Selah is found 71 times in the Psalms and 3 times in the book of Habakkuk. There are many theories about it ~ it may be a musical direction, a liturgical pause, perhaps it is meant to connect thoughts. It occurs at the end of some verses and most often at the end of the psalm itself. 

        You won't find it at all in the psalms section of the American Book of Common Prayer, or in the New Zealand Prayer Book, or even in some Bible printings. But it is in most Bibles. And it is a mystery. We simply don't have an absolute definition.

        Does it really matter? We can use it as a pause for reflection, to stop and listen to how a particular passage or phrase reverberates within us. We can pass it by without any thought or action. As a North Carolina United Methodist Minister, James Howell, says, "I find myself fond of the fact that we don't really know. We never master the Bible, and I suspect God chuckles a bit when we're befuddled. When we join that angelic host for worship in heaven...then we'll get it and do the 'Selah' thing ourselves."  

Holy and Mystical Lord God of Heaven,
        In this season of Eastertide, I want to find Your Voice in the small words as well as the grand, in the quiet as well as the thunder, in the commonplace as well as the extraordinary. As we continue to explore all the facets of The Resurrection in its own time, I pause, reflect, and wonder what it means to me in my own. May I remind myself to look for You through your Word in every form, in every way, in every day and, to discover many times over, in this and all seasons of my earthly life, the illumination of them and for myself. And when the day moves too quickly with too many to do's, help me to stop, listen, receive, breathe in, hold, breathe out; then slowly in, hold, and out again with: Ahhh, Selah! amen. 
      

 

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Meditation in Eastertide ~ Saturday in Easter Week: But Can You Say It? '24

April 6, 2024 ~ Saturday in Easter Week

John 21:15-19

 

   When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my lambs.” A second time he said to him, “Simon son of John, do you love me?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Tend my sheep.” He said to him the third time, “Simon son of John, do you love me?” Peter felt hurt because he said to him the third time, “Do you love me?” And he said to him, “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my sheep. Very truly, I tell you, when you were younger, you used to fasten your own belt and to go wherever you wished. But when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will fasten a belt around you and take you where you do not wish to go.” (He said this to indicate the kind of death by which he would glorify God.) After this he said to him, “Follow me.”  

 

    Jesus says, to me and to you, Do you love me? I'm not sure if I have ever thought about this passage in terms of Jesus directing that question to me. I grew up with the little song Jesus loves me this I know... I have heard sermons, read meditations (and written a few) about how Jesus loves us so much that he... but how much do I/We love Jesus? I've fed his "sheep" through volunteer work, and employment. I've contributed money to charitable organizations, donated clothing and household goods, I go to Church and participate in a variety of ministries, I repeat all the necessary syllables of familiar prayers regularly. Yet what are my conscious thoughts relating to all of these? Have I said silently or out loud: Jesus, I love you?

 

Living, Loving, Lord,

    Too many times, even most of the times, ok ALL the times I pray to You I'm asking for You to give me, do for me, do for them, help me with... Today I've finally heard you ask Peter if he loves you. Like me, more often than I want to admit to me, I take it for granted, as Peter, of course I love You; You know that. And just like being in a human-to-human relationship when I know but I just want to hear the words, it dawns on me at last, I must say the words without the tag line after of gimme, gimme, gimme.  Jesus, I.Love.You.  amen.

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Meditation in Eastertide ~ Friday in Easter Week: Being Prayed Not For, But "In" ' 24

April 5, 2024 ~ Friday in Easter Week  

~ Kallistos Ware* 

 Prayer of the heart is prayer of the total person, body, soul, and spirit. But since the heart is the place of the Divine indwelling, prayer of the heart is praying, in which it is not only I that speak, but it is the prayers which Christ and the Holy Spirit are saying within me. Those who attain prayer of the heart have the experience of being prayed in.     [emphasis added]

Lord and Spirit of my Heart ~

   It's true, then. I have felt You here, within me, but I was afraid to recognize You, to acknowledge You, and I have also denied to myself that I have felt You. It hasn't happened often but I would like it to happen again, and, more often. 

   The times of my life when I have needed the most comfort have sometimes been the most difficult to enter into prayer. And sometimes the happiest times distract me from praying my thanksgivings. I'm working on all of that and I ask You ~ I invite You ~ to come into my heart, my soul, and all of me and help me to discover again all that deep prayer can do with, for, and in me. Pray in me, please, and let my heart and soul feel full of You.  amen.

 

*Timothy Ware [1934-2022] of Bath, England was raised in the Anglican Church and read classics and theology at Magdalen College, Oxford.  In 1958 at age 24 he affiliated with the Eastern Orthodox Church. After much travel in Greece and a significant amount of time at the Monastery of St. John of Patmos and elsewhere, he was ordained to the priesthood and tonsured [shaving all or part of one’s head] as a monk in 1966.  At that time he received the name "Kallistos."  He was later consecrated bishop and his career path led him to be a Lecturer in Eastern Orthodox Studies at Oxford University, a position he held for 35 years before retirement.  He authored many books and articles on the Orthodox Christian faith.

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Meditation in Eastertide ~ Thursday in Holy Week: 56 Years Ago Today '24

April 4, 2024 ~ Thursday in Easter Week

    A genuine revolution of values means, in the final analysis that our loyalties must become ecumenical rather than sectional. Every nation must now develop an overriding loyalty to mankind as a whole in order to preserve the best in their individual societies.

   This call for a worldwide fellowship that lifts neighborly concern beyond one’s tribe, race, class and nation is in reality a call for an all-embracing and unconditional love for all men. This often misunderstood and misinterpreted concept has now become an absolute necessity for the survival of man. When I speak of love, I am speaking of that force which all the great religions have seen as the key that unlocks the door which leads to ultimate reality. This Hindu-Muslim-Christian-Jewish-Buddhist belief about ultimate reality is beautifully summed up in the First Epistle of Saint John:

Let us love one another: for Love is of God:

and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God.

He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love…

If we love one another, God dwelleth in us,

 And his love is perfected in us.*

    And, 56 years ago today, that hateful day of your murder, again we pray: Lord of All There Is, Seen and Unseen, bring us all in Your Human Family together ~ to know, to see, to understand, to accept and honor that we are ALL of Your Creation: all races, tribes, nationalities, ethnicities, religions, physical abilities, mental acuities, gender identities, sexual orientations, heights, weights, languages, etc. Guide us constantly to know and accept that we are better for one another together than fighting against our common interests apart, rewarding false prophets and power mongers who are damaging the lives You have given us to live, from where we each are to across this country and the entire planet. We ask through the memory and spirit of The Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and through Your Son, Jesus our Christ. amen

*From Dr. King’s final book: Where Do We Go From Here: Chaos or Community, Chapter VI, The World House, Beacon Press, Boston Massachusetts, Copyright 1968 by Martin Luther King, Jr. Copyright renewed by Coretta Scott King, Dexter King, Martin Luther King III, Yolanda King, Bernice King. All rights reserved.

 

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Meditation in Eastertide ~ Wednesday in Holy Week: Gifting '24

April 3, 2024 ~ Wednesday in Easter Week

Acts 3:1-10

    "One day Peter and John were going up to the temple at the hour of prayer, at three o’clock in the afternoon.  And a man lame from birth was being carried in. People would lay him daily at the gate of the temple called the Beautiful Gate so that he could ask for alms from those entering the temple. When he saw Peter and John about to go into the temple, he asked them for alms. Peter looked intently at him, as did John, and said, “Look at us.”  And he fixed his attention on them, expecting to receive something from them.  Peter said, “I have no silver or gold, but what I have I give you; in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, stand up and walk.” And he took him by the right hand and raised him up, and immediately his feet and ankles were made strong. Jumping up, he stood and began to walk, and he entered the temple with them, walking and leaping and praising God. All the people saw him walking and praising God,  and they recognized him as the one who used to sit and ask for alms at the Beautiful Gate of the temple, and they were filled with wonder and astonishment at what had happened to him."

   Jesus, our Christ ~ 

     as Peter, John, and the other Apostles began to discover and accept the gifts given them by You through the Holy Spirit, help us to discover and accept and use the gifts we each have from You. Few if any of us would believe that we could heal someone physically without the gift of an education for becoming a medical doctor or nurse. But a simple hello, a smile, or asking a person if we may say a prayer with them at their bedside when they are ill, remembering to say a simple blessing over our food before eating even if alone, done in Your name whether out loud or silently, are gifts we can use in any moment of life without a formal education. I know, yet must regularly work to remember, that gifts I give, no matter how small or seemingly insignificant, are gifts received. 

    Guide us, O Lord of us all, to stop at the top and bottom of each hour, to consciously breathe in Your Presence that is always available to fill our minds, our hearts, and our souls. As we breathe out, let us send Your Grace to fill the world around us, to bless all we meet and pass by, to the neighbors just beyond our windows and to those beyond our reach. May each breath remind us of You as we give the gift of Your healing love, more by how we live our lives than by the words that we speak. amen. 

 

~Take a moment today to read the fairly short chapter of 1 Corinthians 12:1-27 to know again the Gifts of the Spirit given to us. If you don’t have a Bible at hand, click here: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1+Corinthians+12&version=NRSVUE

 

 

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Meditation Moment in Eastertide: Tuesday in Easter Week ~ Are Your Eyes Open Yet? '24

April 2, 2024 ~ Tuesday in Easter Week

Luke 24:13-14, 30-31, 35 

      Now on that same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem and talking with each other about all these things that had happened....When he was at table with them he took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. Then their eyes were opened, and they recognized him; and he vanished from their sight...Then they told what had happened on the road, and how he had been made known to them in the breaking of the bread. 

      "If only..." is a frequent refrain for all of us who wish we had done things differently, or the pandemic had not happened, or the weather was ___ [fill in the blank]. Mostly, though, I think most of us have yearned, with some desperation at times, for that if only I could see, talk to, or touch them one more time moment. As for the death of one loved deeply, I can say from my own acute experiences that yes, much time does soften the punch and shock of loss, and it is then the memories become ever more important with the hope and desire to believe that they are still present with us. It is with that understanding that we enter this segment of Luke’s Gospel about two little-known disciples of Jesus.

      We read about two regular guys walking down the road to Emmaus talking about the strange events of the prior few days. This other guy shows up and seems unaware of these events and their importance. They, surprised he didn’t know, explain it and then invite him home to dinner. Suddenly the stranger is hosting the meal and even more suddenly, as he blesses and breaks the bread, he vanishes. In an instant their eyes were opened as never before and when they realized who He was, they rushed to tell the others what they experienced.     

      Let us remember from this day, that at any time and any place when we tear a piece of bread, especially when it has been blessed by spoken words or silent intention, whether we are alone or with another, to know Christ in the breaking of the bread. More than a memory, Christ is a living presence within us. As we travel the road of this life, wherever it takes us, when we call upon His name we know we are in His love. When we stay consciously in His love and our thoughts and actions are guided by His Truth, this Road will lead us Home.

     Risen Lord Jesus, our constant Companion on the Road to Everlasting Life, Your brutal death saves us all from the futile ways of sin, and we are born anew through Your Resurrection. Reinvigorate our dedication to walk through this life clean in heart and humble in soul by following Your Truth, to live in and act through genuine love for others and ourselves, and to set our faith and hope in God. We ask through You, the Living Enduring Word; and the Holy Spirit, Sanctifier of our Souls; who together with our Impartial Creator, reign as One God, always, forever, eternally. Amen. 

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