People's Prayers

Monday, May 26, 2025

Prayers of the People: Through the Narrow Door ~ 7th Sunday after Easter WLWC* ‘25 Yr C

For Sunday, June 1, 2025; Readings: Acts 17:-22-18:4;; Psalm 149:1-6, Romans 16:1-16, Luke 15:18-30

“Athenians, I see in everything how devout you are. For passing through and regarding objects of your worship, I found an altar with the inscription, ‘To an unknown god.’ What, therefore, you all worship as unknown, this is what I proclaim to you: The God who made the world and everything in it…Sovereign of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by human hands. Neither is God served by human hands because of needing anything, since God gives to all life and breath and all things…God made all nations, all persons—women, men, and children—to inhabit the face of the earth and… ordered the seasons and the boundaries of their habitation, that they would search for God and perhaps reach for God and find God, yet indeed God is not far from any one of us. For ‘In God we live and move and have our being…’ [Acts 15:1b-28a]

Praise the Ageless God! Sing to the Breath of Life a new song, her praise in the congregation of the faithful…For the Ever-Present God delights in her people; she adorns those afflicted through poverty with liberation. [Psalm 149:1,4]

I commend to you all our sister Phoebe, a deacon of the church in Cencherae, so that you may receive her in Christ as is worthy of the saints, and stand by her in whatever thing she may need of you, for she has been a benefactress of many, and of myself as well. [Romans 16:1-2]

Jesus said now then, “What is the Majesty of God like? And to what should I compare it? ¹⁹It is like a mustard seed that a person took and sowed in their garden, and it grew and became a tree, and the birds of the heavens made nests in its branches.” ²⁰ And Jesus said again, “To what should I compare the Mystery of God? ²¹ It is like yeast that a woman took and folded in with three measures of flour until all was leavened… Struggle to enter through the narrow door; for many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able… There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth… Indeed, some are last who will be first, and some are first who will be last.” [Luke 13:18-21, 24, 28a, 30]

The reading from Acts this week is long in excerpt and longer in the text itself. It begins with Paul standing in the center of the Areopagus (ah-reeoh-PAYgus), which for some context, is a rock formation just outside of Athens in Greece. It has a very interesting history and I encourage you to look it up. Indeed a prominent place from which to address the Athenians, Paul reminds them and us that God is the reason for the world and everything in it. The sentence that particularly struck me is The God who made the world and everything in it…Sovereign of heaven and earth…does not live in temples made by human hands. [emphasis added]. The pairing of that sentence with the list of names in the reading from Paul to the Romans is a reminder to us all that our “Ever-Present” God exists within the community of faith, however and wherever it is dispersed, the community of the faithful is still connected with and in God’s Presence anywhere and everywhere. Creation is our “Church.” The buildings humans have erected for worship are a convenience for gathering in community to celebrate our Creator, our Redeemer, and our Sanctifier; and, within it (and outside of it) as the Psalmist reminds us, we are to sing a new song of praise in that congregation of the faithful.

The Gospel gives us two brief analogies in the description from Jesus of the Majesty and Mystery of God. The mustard seed is familiar. I had a necklace of a yellow mustard seed encased in a small glass orb when I was school-aged. Much later, on a visit to Israel, I encountered mustard seeds significantly smaller, the size of tiny flakes of black pepper from a grinder. Either one or many different types of seeds purchased for a home garden can see the exponentially and unimaginably greater size of God’s Majesty than the seed. And the Mystery of how some granulated fungi creates the lift in bread is well beyond us, at least those of us who aren’t chemistry majors. A further analogy might be that the seed’s use is visible and outward as we can see the growth of the plant rising from the ground, while the yeast’s affect is not visible alone until it is mixed into the flour. Both are transformative as we observe the majestic rise of a stalk of corn or experience the mystery of the flutter of love within one’s heart.

As for Jesus’s advice to “Struggle to enter through the narrow door…” let us regroup back into the passage from Acts 17:30 ~ At one time God overlooked ignorance; now God commands all women and men everywhere to repent. Repent meaning to confess one’s sins but also to turn toward God and walk in the footsteps of Jesus. It isn’t a one and done moment in time but an ongoing, life-lasting “struggle” at times. Extra points for sincerity, especially with true intent and effort to change.

In giving us a glimpse of the Majesty and Mystery of God, Jesus also points us to the Movement and Magnificence of God. The entry door may be narrow, but if we drop the heavy pounds of anger, judgment, conceit, the 7 deadlies, etc., through the exercise of prayer, care, the love of Christ and so on, we can slim our burdens well enough to slip through that narrow, but always open, door to eternal life.

LET US, GOD’S PEOPLE, PRAY

Leader: ~ O Ageless God, through giving life and breath to us and to all around us as your offspring, and for creating this earth to inhabit with its seasons of life, it is truly in you that we live and move and have our being. May we have the courage to make you known to all on our path of living, through our words of greeting and actions of kindness.

O God, Ever-Present

Response: Seed our hearts with your leaven of love

~ O Ageless God, direct the hearts of those who lead this and all nations of your Creation. Open the souls of those who choose harm, to hear, to change course, and to enact plans that ensure justice, peace, and the basic necessities of human life for every woman, man, and child. We pray especially for: add your own petitions

O God, Ever-Present

Seed our hearts with your leaven of love

~ O Ageless God, hear the prayers and heal the bodies and minds of all who suffer through illness, anxiety, or hopelessness, and grant compassion and empathy to all give support. We now join our hearts to pray for those in need… add your own petitions

O God, Ever-Present

Seed our hearts with your leaven of love

~ O Ageless God, shine the light of Your Presence on all grieving hearts, as those we have sent ahead, have entered your sacred gates of heavenly peace and life everlasting. We pray especially for: add your own petitions

O God, Ever-Present

Seed our hearts with your leaven of love

~ O Ageless 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 God, Ever-Present

Seed our hearts with your leaven of love

~ O Ageless God, as we rejoice in you, our Maker, let us rejoice also for those anointed and ordained to serve in Your Church to bring us your Word and Sacraments, and walk with us in the love and way of Christ. We pray especially for: add your own petitions

O God, Ever-Present

Seed our hearts with your leaven of love

The Celebrant adds: O God of All There Is, our true Breath of Life, fill our spiritual lungs with a new song of praise for all you that have given us. Turn whatever our despair and anger may be, into positive energy to serve our human siblings and ensure the health of this planet and all beyond it. We ask through Christ Jesus, Resurrected; and the Holy Spirit, the Mother of Wisdom; who together with you are our One Living God, now and forever. Amen.

*Readings for our Parish in this Year C are from The Rev. Dr. Wilda [Wil] Gafney, Womanist biblical scholar, and the Right Rev. Sam B. Hulsey Professor of Hebrew Bible at Brite Divinity School in Fort Worth, Texas. She is the author of A Women’s Lectionary for the Whole Church Yr C, and others in her series, and translator of its biblical selections. I definitely commend her book for the complete readings, to Clergy and Laity, for her Text Notes, and “Preaching Prompts” whether or not you will use them in your Liturgies/Services/Preaching. There is much to learn from her work to inform every facet of our lives in Christ. To learn more about her and her work, see her website: https://www.wilgafney.com/

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Prayers of the People: We are One, Together ~ 7th Sunday of Easter ~ RCL Yr C

For Sunday, June 1, 2025, Readings: Acts 16:16-34, Psalm 97, Revelation 22:12-14; 16-17, 20-21;

John 17:20-26

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

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

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

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

The recounting of Paul’s imprisonment is intriguing as it isn’t the typical story of being imprisoned for proselytizing or performing miracles. On the way to a place of prayer, it was his miracle in a particular slave, for which her owners lost money, that landed him and Silas in jail. As those imprisoned with them heard Paul and Silas praying and singing hymns to God, an earthquake loosed the chains that bound them all and yet the prisoners stayed inside despite the opened doors. On this discovery, the jailer and his family were instantly converted to faith in Jesus and baptized.
    Faith is the primary element of any religious practice and for Christianity and other theological traditions, prayer is the backbone of faith. Sometimes, however, prayer comes ahead of belief through the longing to have the kind of faith observed in others, as with Paul’s jailer. It has been said that the mere desire to have faith is, in itself, an expression of faith. Tentative exploration of prayer may also occur in the search for the meaning of grief at an age when the onset of mortality becomes one’s reality.
    Without faith, “christian” becomes a mere empty label. Yet without sincere and frequent prayer, faith itself is unfulfilled; it has limited direction and action. The whole of John 17 is the prayer by Jesus before he leaves the disciples to carry on without him, but it isn't just about himself or the disciples at hand. It is also about us. Jesus speaks of those who will believe in me through their [and our] word.
    Now, as this Easter season is ending, it is an excellent time for me to examine the state of my faith and, particularly, how I pray. Do I simply repeat familiar syllables in the liturgical rituals and memorized formal prayers? Do I think to pray only when I want something? How do I thoughtfully and intentionally make time to truly and sincerely pray in faith to build my relationship with God? Even during times when God feels absent, and my soul is lost in a dry and empty desert, remembering that even a short prayer of few words can keep me connected to God in Christ and the Holy Spirit who are already and always within me.

There are innumerable volumes of books written on various forms and schools of prayer and many are worth exploring. If prayer seems difficult at times, a simple way to begin is just to have an everyday kind of conversation with God as one might take comfort with and confide in a close confidante. God is the Person who knows us better than we know ourselves. There are no right or special words, no correct procedures, just ordinary words in sincerity and even if only for the hope to have faith, or if/when we think sometimes that our faith is wavering or weak. A quiet help me, Lord can open our hearts and our souls, to the experience of faith even smaller than a mustard seed. However plain or plaintive, we will be heard.

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

LET US, GOD’S PEOPLE, PRAY

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