People's Prayers

Monday, August 19, 2024

Prayers of the People: About the Bread ~ Proper 16, 14th Sunday after Pentecost '18 Yr B

For Sunday, August 25, 2024; Readings: 1 Kings 8:[1, 6, 10-11], 22-30, 41-43; Psalm 84,

Ephesians: 6:1-20, John 6:56-69

Hear the plea of your servant…O hear in heaven your dwelling place; heed and forgive. [1 Kings 8:30a, c]

Happy are the people whose strength is in you! Whose hearts are set on the pilgrims' way…No good thing will the Lord withhold from those who walk with integrity. O Lord of Hosts, happy are they who put their trust in you. [Ps 84:4, 11-12]

Put on the whole armor of God…Pray in the Spirit at all times in every prayer and supplication. [Ephesians 6:11a, 18a]

Jesus said, "Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me, and I in them..." When many of his disciples heard it, they said, "This teaching is difficult; who can accept it?"...[But Jesus said to them] "It is the spirit that gives life; the flesh is useless. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life." [John 6:56, 60, 63]

Several weeks ago we read of David dancing happily through the streets leading the Ark of the Covenant to his own City. Last week we opened the story of Solomon ascending David's throne with God's continuing love. This week Solomon completes the journey his father began in seeing the Ark brought home to Jerusalem, proclaiming to all assembled that "there is no other God like you" who keeps the covenant and steadfast love for all.

The Psalmist, speaks over and over about the joy of dwelling in the House and Courts of the living God, the Lord of Hosts. A tiny phrase points us in a definite direction when it says hearts are happy when set on the pilgrim's way as those who travel through a desolate valley will find it a place of springs. Paul exhorts us to shield ourselves from all that could turn us away from God, and to Put on the whole armor of God for strength and to pray in the Spirit at all times in every prayer.

This week we also come to the end of the Farewell Discourses of Jesus telling his followers to "eat my body and drink my blood." This piece of the paschal mystery is so difficult to comprehend that many of those who were following Jesus in his time walked away because of it. Yet many stayed and struggled and today we each reconcile ourselves to this idea in various ways. Some Christians believe in Transubstantiation at the time of the consecration, that the bread and wine on the altar become, mysteriously and mystically, the True and Actual Body and Blood of Christ. Others accept the consecration as metaphor, or, symbolic representation. Some denominations have no "communion" service at all but rely solely on preaching the Word. But the question remains, why are there so very many references about BREAD in the bible?

Bread* is one of the oldest foods to be "made" from other ingredients ~ even just flour and water can render some form of it. Leavening, or yeast, is what gives us the bread that westerners are most familiar with. It is nutritious enough to sustain a diet of "bread and water" for quite a long time [though for myself, it’s the homemade bread that is more sustaining than the store-bought that is rife with unpronounceable and questionable preservatives and additives]. Bread has been called the "Staff of Life," a staple food for most of the people in the world and would have been understood in Jesus’s time as simply basic to everyday life. His graphic language is what is most confounding but hearing it in plain and simple terms, when we consume the bread and the water, they are in us, feeding our bodies. When we consume the bread and wine as the body and blood of Christ ~ however one accepts the form as actual or symbolic ~ it represents Christ within us as he tells us we are in him. It is our spiritual sustenance to nourish us on our earthly journey, our pilgrimage, that culminates in eternal life through salvation. Consuming the small piece of consecrated bread and wine in the Eucharist, is, for me, a literal physical connection to an abiding spiritual Presence.

And, finally in the Gospel of John, Jesus asks the Twelve if they wish to also turn away and Peter says, "Lord, to whom can we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and know that you are the Holy One of God." From those times to our times, we are still seeking to understand, to strengthen our faith, to travel the path to God in our own way and with each other. We struggle with questions and doubts and confidence in our faith. We are pilgrims.

The Oxford dictionary defines pilgrim as: a person who journeys to a sacred place for religious reasons and offers the synonyms: worshiper, devotee, believer, traveler, wayfarer. It isn't necessary to physically travel, we can make progress as a pilgrim in our spiritual journeys wherever we are through prayer and contemplation, in worship and through Communion with fellow journeyers in the Eucharist and/or spiritual companioning. But just as in travel, sometimes there are delays and detours, yet with determination, eventually the destination is reached. Prayer, perseverance, desire, and longing to be part of God's Household is all it takes ... but it is easier if we go together. As the old hymn from John Bunyan, author of the 1678 Pilgrim’s Progress, concludes: Since, Lord, Thou dost defend us with Thy Spirit, We know at the end, shall life inherit. Then fancies flee away! I'll fear not what men say, I'll labor night and day to be a pilgrim.**

Let us put on the Armor of God, eat our Bread, and continue on our sacred path.

*A little more about bread: According to one source, bread is mentioned more than 490 times in the Bible, appearing in both the Hebrew [Old] and Christian [New] Testaments. The first appearance is in Genesis 3:19 as God explains the consequences of “the fall” to Adam. One of the most interesting pieces, for me, is the Hebrew word for bread which is lechem [lek hem]. Another interesting Hebrew word is beit [bate] which in English is beth and is the word for house. We see that often in local synagogue names such as Congregation Beth Shalom and Congregation Beth Emeth. Beth Shalom is more than House of Peace. In addition to peace, shalom means completeness, well-being, restoration, and more. Emet[h] translates to truth, faithfulness, firmness. Now when I put Beith lechem together it is house of bread. In English, it becomes Bethlehem, where, our Bread of Life was born.

**To listen to an unusual and beautiful rendering of Bunyan's hymn, click here: Steve Parsons: To Be A Pilgrim

LET US, GOD’S PEOPLE, PRAY

Leader: ~ Living God, our Sun and our Shield, strengthen our faith that we may reflect Your steadfast love in all that we do. Help us on our pilgrim way to pray in the Spirit at all times; lead us to seek and find springs of joy in the midst of desolation, and to know and follow Christ’s words of eternal life.

O Lord of Hosts

RESPONSE: We put our trust in You

~ Living God, guide us to stand firm and proclaim the Gospel of peace and justice to all who hold authority over the governments of this World, of this Country, and of this Community. Let us take up Your Truth and walk with the integrity that we expect and require of our leaders. We pray especially for: add your own petitions

O Lord of Hosts

We put our trust in You

~ Living God, breathe fresh hope into the spirits of all who are weighed down by serious illness, desperation, or addiction, and lift the hearts of those who give them care. We now join our voices to pray aloud for those in need… add your own petitions

O Lord of Hosts

We put our trust in You

~ Living God, ease our sorrows with the comfort of knowing that those we have sent ahead to You, now transcend all earthly woes, and live forever in the newness of life, holy and eternal. We pray especially for: add your own petitions

O Lord of Hosts

We put our trust in You

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

O Lord of Hosts

We put our trust in You

~ Living God, You have gifted us with disciples who do not turn away but give their daily lives to Your service, guiding us through Word and Sacrament. As Christ abides in us and we in Him, we join and journey together toward the threshold of Your Eternal House. We pray especially for: add your own petitions

O Lord of Hosts

We put our trust in You

The Celebrant adds: Oh God of Grace and Glory, hear our plea and draw us together to clothe ourselves in Your armor of faith, being nourished by the Holy Food and Drink of Christ. With Your helmet of salvation and belt of truth, we can resist all evil, as we seek to live forever in You, rejoicing beyond all time. We ask through Christ Jesus, the Holy One; and our Life~Giving Spirit; who together with You, reign as One God, now and forever. Amen.

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Monday, August 12, 2024

Prayers of the People: In Every Bite of Life ~ Proper 15 13th Sunday after Pentecost '24 Yr B

For Sunday, August 18, 2024; Readings: 1 Kings 2:10-12, 3:3-14; Psalm 111,

Ephesians 5:15-20; John 6:51-58

[T]he LORD appeared to Solomon in a dream...and God said, "Ask what I should give you." Solomon said..."Give your servant...an understanding mind...able to discern between good and evil..." [1 Kings 3:5, 9-10]

The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom; those who act accordingly have a good understanding; his praise endures for ever. [Psalm 111:10]

Be careful then how you live, not as unwise people but as wise, making the most of the time...So do not be foolish but understand what the will of the Lord is... [Ephesians, 5:15-16a, 17]

Jesus said, "I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats of this bread will live forever...This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like that which your ancestors ate, and they died. But the one who eats this bread will live forever." [John 6:51a, 58]

In the Hebrew Testament readings thus far, the tumultuous life of David has ended and he has now gone to sleep with his ancestors. Solomon, second son of David and Bathsheba, succeeds as heir to his father’s throne. God loved David deeply and easily transferred that love to Solomon and, in a dream, God asked what Solomon wanted. Solomon’s response, perhaps surprising to us but very pleasing to God, was to ask for "an understanding mind" or, in other words, wisdom, rather than the expected great wealth or even the death of his enemies. Solomon wasn't always a paragon of virtue but he started out well.

Of course, being intelligent isn't the same as having wisdom. We are told that Solomon also asked specifically for "discernment between good and evil" and that is a key element of wisdom. Following the “good” is the way of the wise. Following the evil may seem an intelligent move to some as the way of the shrewd, but it isn’t wise, and more importantly, it’s only a short-term strategy. Evil ends with a mortal wound, the death of one’s self.

The psalmist tells us that "the fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom" but "fear" isn't meant as we use it today as "to be frightened of." Rather it meant to have respect for, reverence, or, to be in awe. It should be easy to reverence and be in awe of our God whose work is full of majesty and splendor with eternal righteousness, and who is gracious and full of compassion; and even more so because our God has sent redemption to his people. The redemption is in Christ who is the new manna from heaven that revives and saves us from the deathly wounds we too often inflict upon ourselves.

Paul urges caution in this life and is quite direct in telling us to live wisely. He reminds us to "make the most of the time" we have and not "be foolish” by being caught up in mere earth-bound pleasure. Anyone who has watched a child grow, or sees how quickly the pages of the calendar turn, understands the increasing speed of years passing in this human time. As my grandmother used to say, "The days may be long, but the years are short."

Christ is not only the true food and true drink for eternal life, this Living Bread fills us with divine purpose NOW, in this life, as preparation for the next. It is time to remember to be in awe of God again, to discover our own beginning of wisdom. Once we wise up and follow on the path that Christ leads, then our renewable faith, especially in a community of believers, will help keep us on track. When we stop on the path or turn in a different direction, we can become lost and spiritually hungry. The best way to continually renew our faith and satisfy our soul’s hunger is to access the spiritual sustenance of the new manna, to eat of the Living Bread from Heaven that is Jesus, in every bite of life. Whether you are connecting with Jesus through a formal Communion in Church, through a visit from a lay or clergy Eucharistic Minister, or reach to him through prayer, he tells us: Whoever eats of this bread will live forever. Now is a good time to begin again.

LET US, GOD’S PEOPLE, PRAY

Leader: ~ Holy and Living God, let our hearts sing with the constant melody of gratitude for Your gift of Jesus as our Bread of Eternal Life. Guide us that our every action is in harmony with Your Will and in the name of our Lord Christ, the Son of Man.

Gracious, Compassionate Lord RESPONSE: Grant us wisdom with our faith

~ Holy and Living God, as Solomon requested, so do we ask of You to grant an understanding mind and the ability to discern and choose good over evil, for all who hold or aspire to governing authority across this Planet, in our Nation, and in our Community. We pray especially for: add your own petitions

Gracious, Compassionate Lord

Grant us wisdom with our faith

~ Holy and Living God, grant hopeful relief to all who suffer in body, in spirit, or in life circumstance, and times of rest to those entrusted with their care. We pray especially for: add your own petitions

Gracious, Compassionate Lord

Grant us wisdom with our faith

~ Holy and Living God, as loved ones fall to sleep with their ancestors, with joy, through Your redemption, they awaken in the joyful courts of heaven to new life forever after. We pray especially for: add your own petitions

Gracious, Compassionate Lord

Grant us wisdom with our faith

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

Gracious, Compassionate Lord

Grant us wisdom with our faith

~ Holy and Living God, we offer our whole-hearted thanksgiving for those You have chosen to inspire us by Your Word, to consecrate the precious Body and Blood, and to guide us in the work You have given us to do. We pray especially for: add your own petitions

Gracious, Compassionate Lord

Grant us wisdom with our faith

The Celebrant adds: Almighty and Righteous God, fill us with the Spirit to live wisely now and with Divine purpose, that in our brief time on this earth, we will continually prepare to be raised to eternal life. We ask through Christ Jesus, our Living Bread of Heaven; and the Holy Spirit, our unending Source of Wisdom; who together with You reign as One God, for all time, now and forever. Amen.

Tuesday, August 6, 2024

Meditation Moment: Mystery, Miracle, and Dazzling Milestone, August 6, 2024

For Tuesday August 6, 2024: Mystery, Miracle, and Dazzling Milestone

Okay so there’s The Nativity of Jesus, his Baptism, Crucifixion, Resurrection, and Ascension…hmm are we missing one significant event in his life?

Well, let’s go ‘way back to when Moses was having his Divine encounters. When he came down from Mt. Sinai with the two stone tablets, he had no clue at first that his face was so radiant the Israelites could barely look at him without being nearly blinded. After he told them what God had given, he put a veil over his face, and repeated that act after each time he met with God when he returned to tell what God had said (Exodus 34:29-35).

Today the Church Calendar marks the other significant Feast in the life of Jesus and his disciples, The Transfiguration. As with Moses and the stone tablets, the Transfiguration of Jesus is at once mystery, miracle, and milestone. Jesus became a dazzling, shining, glowing, gleaming, shimmering beam of radiant glory! A momentary, visible metamorphosis. At the top of the mountain, Jesus becomes the connection, the conduit between human and divine ~ between God and us. Then, another cloud of God in Glory overshadowed them and again, God spoke to say, as at his baptism, “This is my Son, my Beloved…” and most importantly for Peter, James, John, who were present, and for us: “…listen to him!” These particular kinds of clouds in which God is present, are known in Judaism as the Shekinah [sheck-in-ah] ~ a feminine Hebrew word for a name of God. It also translates to "settling or dwelling of the Divine Presence."

The Transfiguration was a miracle of God in which Jesus was not the one performing but the one receiving. We don't know if Jesus knew this moment was coming when he took several of his disciples to the mountain to pray. His three companions were certainly blasted awake from the sleepiness that was about to overtake them when suddenly, at the top of the mountain, Jesus was in a near-blinding all-encompassing cloud, when the temporal and eternal sparked a dazzling display of transcendent, Majestic Glory, all in the sight of those disciples who then bore witness to the spectacular event. Moses and Elijah appeared, representing the Law and the Prophets, spoke with Jesus about his coming departure at Jerusalem, and quickly vanished. Luke, in the original Greek, carefully chooses exodus as the word to describe the coming departure of Jesus. Through this new Exodus, the departure of Jesus in death and resurrection, a new order, that of the Messiah is established, leading God's people out of the bondage of sin and into the true and eternal Promised Land of the Kingdom of Heaven.

The Transfiguration is a critical piece in the significant events in the life of Jesus. The others are as mentioned above. It is at this moment that Christ is confirmed by God as His Chosen to those present. The mission of the disciples is then fully inaugurated in their own minds and they spend the rest of their lives in Christ's service, spreading the Gospel. It is this moment, in this spectacular cloud, that the Reign of Christ, our King, begins. It is this moment, now, that we must emerge as if from a cloud to listen, to learn, and to live into the Reign of Jesus by our thoughts, our words, and our actions. God knows we are marked as Christ's own forever. It's time that we know it again. As we enter the Cloud of Glory with the disciples, we emerge with hearts and souls shining with Christ’s radiance to guide us in the fullness, in the emptiness, and in the ordinary-ness of life here and now in Christ’s Kingdom on Earth, until the time to cross into the Forever Kingdom of Heaven.

O Lord, our God, You enjoin us to listen Your Beloved Son who told us do not be afraid. Strengthen us to know the Radiant Christ in our hearts, striving to follow Your Law in faith, with courage and conviction. We ask in the name of the Resurrected Jesus; and the Holy Spirit, Your Divine Voice; who lives and reigns with You as One God, forever and ever. Amen.

To read the Gospel accounts see Matthew 17:1–8, Mark 9:2–8, Luke 9:28–36, and it is also referred to briefly in 2 Peter 1:16–18.

We don’t actually know where the Mount of Transfiguration is. Mount Tabor has a Church commemorating the event on its summit at 2000 feet. Mount Hermon is nearly 10,000 feet in elevation so it might have been there. As with so many Holy Land events, locations are often merely oral tradition, legend, and supposition. But let us breathe deeply into the story as told, to imagine, experience, and listen to him!

Monday, August 5, 2024

Prayers of the People: Taste and See ~ Proper 14, 12th Sunday after Pentecost, '24 Yr B

For Sunday, August 11, 2024; Readings: 2 Samuel 18:5-9, 15, 31-33; Psalm 130,

Ephesians 4:25-5:2, John 6:35, 41-51

The king was deeply moved, and went up to the chamber over the gate, and wept; and as he went, he said, "O my son Absalom, my son, my son Absalom! Would I had died instead of you, O Absalom, my son, my son!" [2 Sam 18:33]

If you, Lord, were to note what is done amiss, O Lord, who could stand? For there is forgiveness with you…I wait for the Lord; my soul waits for him; in his word is my hope…for with the Lord, there is mercy; with him there is plenteous redemption... [Psalm 130: 2-3a, 4, 6b-7a]

Be angry but do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger...Put away from you all bitterness and wrath and anger and wrangling and slander, together with all malice, and be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ has forgiven you. [Ephesians 4:26, 31-32]

Jesus said, "I am the bread of life.” Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in my will never be thirsty…Very truly, I tell you, whoever believes has eternal life…This is the bread of life that comes down from heaven so that one may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats of this bread will live forever... [John 6:35, 47-48, 50-51a]

For me, forgiveness and hope are the over-arching themes of this week's readings. Without filling in the many and nearly salacious details of earlier chapters, we begin with yet another small piece of David's tangled story that violently ends the lust, intrigue, and betrayal by his sons Amnon and Absalom. Although there is barely a taste of it over a few weeks of the Sunday lectionary, the life of David takes us from triumph to tragedy, with power and love amidst anger and hatred, revenge, and grief. As the sun sets on this dynamic and dramatic kingship, forgiveness is the repeating core element of God's relationship with David, and with us ~ God forgives David; David forgives Absalom; and God forgives us all. A key ingredient is, as with each of us, that while God saw all of David's deeds and misdeeds, God continued to love him and yet there was no escape from punishment and pain for this very human king.

The Psalmist gives voice to the anguish of the depths yet holds on to the hope of God's word, that for those who follow, there is plenteous redemption.

How about this news: not just a wedding shower plaque or a meme on Facebook, it was Paul who gave us that familiar phrase don't let the sun go down on your anger. Though he does give us permission to be angry ~ whew, because it's hard not to be at times ~ we are not given license to sin because of it, and we are strongly admonished to put away the by-products of anger ~ bitterness, wrath, and malice. It's not easy to be tenderhearted and forgiving when someone has broken your trust and your heart or worse. Yet again we see that God, through Christ, forgives them and us. And as someone else wisely said, if God forgives, who am I not to?

In our "real time" of now, it is easier than ever to be goaded into explosive anger by political, religious, and nearly any other subject when there are vicious, reactionary, or merely polarizing opinions voiced on any media outlet you can name. My God-given life is 'way too short to feed the frenzy and be frenzied by the feed. I want to change my anger into positive energy and direct it toward solutions to genuine problems rather than to just add more unproductive trash talk. I want to grow my faith.

Forgiving can be very difficult emotional and soul work and, in some circumstances, it may feel unrewarded. Yet taking a step forward in working to forgive is also an act of faith, however shaky it feels. As the Prayer of St. Francis says, "It is in pardoning that we are pardoned." Pastor Max Lucado said beautifully, "Forgiveness is unlocking the door to set someone free and realizing you were the prisoner!" Remembering that faith, as small as a mustard seed, or, in the case of Jesus as our Eternal Life-Giving Bread, faith as small as a grain of wheat, is how we begin to forgive another. An act of mercy we give to one is also received by us. Forgiveness given for another brings us closer to forgiving ourselves for our actions/thoughts/judgments, etc., that we keep deeply hidden within us.

Forgiveness is a work in progress, like life itself. As we work to fill our souls with faith in Christ, He, as our eternal Bread of Life, will be our Guide to free us from the useless prison of an angry or bitter heart.

Let us inhale the sweet fragrance of salvation and hope, and exhale all that drains our good intentions away. May we remember that as we pray for ourselves to be forgiven, we are called to forgive those who sin against us to be forgiven in the same way as we forgive them. Let us feel and know and radiate and savor the Divine Nourishment that is simply waiting for us to reach out to taste and see as we grow and bloom with faith, love, and hope forever.

Jesus tells us no fewer than six times in this Gospel reading, that He is our salvation, our bread of eternal life ~ do we hear it, do we know it, do we believe it yet? Through him, by God, we are forgiven everything, if we only just believe. Then faith will truly change our lives.

LET US, GOD’S PEOPLE, PRAY

Leader: ~ Lord of Mercy, grant us the patience to overturn our own bitterness, wrangling, and self-serving wrath, even if only in thought, and to know our own sin more quickly than another’s. Guide our hearts to be kind and forgiving, to live in love, and to believe in and feed on the Bread of Life.

God of Plenteous Redemption

RESPONSE: Let us forgive as we are forgiven

~ Lord of Mercy, fill us with Your Truth to speak peace-filled words that give grace to those who hear. Let us join together to turn righteous anger into positive energy for the work of Christ across this Planet, this Country, and this Community. We pray especially for: add your own petitions

God of Plenteous Redemption