People's Prayers

Monday, October 6, 2025

Prayers of the People, In the Beginning, 1st Sunday of Season of Creation

For Sunday, October 12, 2025, Readings: Genesis 2:4-9, 15-25; Psalm/Azariah 1:1-22 ~ Canticle of the Three Young Men;* Hildegarde von Bingen,** John 1: 1-14

Welcome to the Season of Creation!

The Season of Creation originated in the Anglican Church of South Africa in 2008 and is designed for us to explore our faith from a Creation perspective. We are to realize our place in the order of God’s creating and to see and act upon the need to care for our entire life—support system— the air we breathe, the water we drink, the soil in which we grow our crops—not merely humanity, but our total environment, as it pertains to ALL life.

From the early days of the Season of Creation at The Episcopal Church of Sts. Andrew and Matthew [www.ssam.org], we established that “the primary aim of the events of the season is to enable adults and youth to celebrate and experience the inextricable link which binds together the destinies of all of God’s creatures.” It is a moment of pause to remind ourselves that God calls us to see “what great dangers we are in by our unhappy divisions” and for us to renew our commitment to making real the biblical vision of the earth at unity with itself. It is a vision of human beings of all races, backgrounds and walks of life in local communities and among the nations of the earth, living together in love and peace with justice for all. "As disciples of Christ, we are called through our Baptismal Covenant, to be instruments for the healing of our broken world," and with a renewed commitment to personal and communal prayer and action.

We will use Biblical and other readings that pertain to the specific theme of each of the 6 weeks. The texts of the alternate readings used will follow the prayers on this page.

We open this Season "In the Beginning." Our inspiration begins with Professor Wangari Maathai, [1940-2011], a Kenyan environmental and political activist, Member of Parliament as Assistant Minister for Environment and Natural Resources, she was educated in the United States and in Kenya. In 2004, she was the first African woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize. She was honored for "her contribution to sustainable development, democracy and peace." Professor Maathai described the Book of Genesis as "the book for environmentalists." And she said, "If we had been created on Tuesday, there would have been nowhere for us to stand! God, with infinite wisdom, waited until the last day!"

Week One's Theme is: In the Beginning

In place of a Psalm this week, we are using The Prayer of Azariah which is contained in the Apocryphal Books of most but not all Bibles. This piece is from an addition to the Greek translation of the Book of Daniel. It is placed in Daniel Chapter 3 in the Greek texts and in the Septuagint edition at the end of Daniel after 12:13 following after the prose stories of Bel and the Dragon, and of Susanna. The Three Young Men, gifted and handsome youths are better known to us from Hebrew, by the names given to them during the Babylonian Exile, by Nebuchadnezzar’s Chief Eunuch, Shadrach, Meschach, and Abednego. The Greek Septuagint, their Hebrew names are pronounced in Greek as Ananias, Azarius, and Misrael.

*PSALM CANTICLE OF THE THREE YOUNG MEN [The Prayer of Azariah 1:1-22]:

¹And they walked about in the midst of the flames, singing hymns to God and blessing the Lord. ²Then Azari′ah stood and offered this prayer; in the midst of the fire he opened his mouth and said:

³“Blessed art thou, O Lord, God of our fathers, and worthy of praise;
    and thy name is glorified for ever.
⁴For thou art just in all that thou hast done to us,
    and all thy works are true and thy ways right,
    and all thy judgments are truth.
⁵Thou hast executed true judgments in all that thou hast brought upon us
    and upon Jerusalem, the holy city of our fathers,
    for in truth and justice thou hast brought all this upon us because of our sins.
⁶For we have sinfully and lawlessly departed from thee,
    and have sinned in all things and have not obeyed thy commandments;
⁷we have not observed them or done them,
    as thou hast commanded us that it might go well with us.
⁸So all that thou hast brought upon us,
    and all that thou hast done to us,
    thou hast done in true judgment.
⁹Thou hast given us into the hands of lawless enemies, most hateful rebels,
    and to an unjust king, the most wicked in all the world.
¹⁰And now we cannot open our mouths;
    shame and disgrace have befallen thy servants and worshipers.
¹¹For thy name’s sake do not give us up utterly,
    and do not break thy covenant,
¹²    and do not withdraw thy mercy from us,
for the sake of Abraham thy beloved
    and for the sake of Isaac thy servant
    and Israel thy holy one,
¹³to whom thou didst promise
    to make their descendants as many as the stars of heaven
    and as the sand on the shore of the sea.
¹⁴For we, O Lord, have become fewer than any nation,
    and are brought low this day in all the world because of our sins.
¹⁵And at this time there is no prince, or prophet, or leader,
    no burnt offering, or sacrifice, or oblation, or incense,
    no place to make an offering before thee or to find mercy.
¹⁶Yet with a contrite heart and a humble spirit may we be accepted,
    as though it were with burnt offerings of rams and bulls,
    and with tens of thousands of fat lambs;
¹⁷    such may our sacrifice be in thy sight this day,
    and may we wholly follow thee,
    for there will be no shame for those who trust in thee.
¹⁸And now with all our heart we follow thee,
    we fear thee and seek thy face.
¹⁹Do not put us to shame,
    but deal with us in thy forbearance
    and in thy abundant mercy.
²⁰Deliver us in accordance with thy marvelous works,
    and give glory to thy name, O Lord!
Let all who do harm to thy servants be put to shame;
²¹    let them be disgraced and deprived of all power and dominion,
    and let their strength be broken.
²²Let them know that thou art the Lord, the only God,
    glorious over the whole world.”

For more information on the Apocryphal Books, here is one interesting source of information: https://www.bartehrman.com/apocrypha/

** Second Reading, Hildegarde von Bingen: Glance at the sun. See the moon and the stars. Gaze at the beauty of earths’ greenings. Now, think, What delight God gives to humankind with all these things. All nature is at the disposal of humankind. We are to work with it. For without it we cannot survive...The fire has its flame and praises God. The wind blows the flame and praises God. In the voice we hear the word which praises God. And the word, when heard, praises God. So all of creation is a song of praise to God.

Hildegarde von Bingen, now St. Hildegard was born 1098, Böckelheim, West Franconia [Germany]—died September 17, 1179, Rupertsberg, near Bingen; canonized May 10, 2012; feast day September 17) was a German abbess, visionary mystic, and composer. In 2012 she was proclaimed a doctor of the church, one of only four women* to have been so named. She is revered as a patron saint of musicians and writers. [From Brittanica online] Her music is still being used today and some can be found on YouTube with this link and by searching her name to find more: https://youtu.be/HYzPR0nwcmY

*The other women saints named Doctors of the Roman Catholic Church are Teresa of Avila, Catherine of Siena, Therese of Lisieux.

All compositions remain the property of the owner of this blog but may be used with attribution and edited for local use as long as they are not sold or charged for in any way. For more information or comments, contact: Leeosophy@gmail.com

Prayers of the People: One out of Ten ~ 18th Sunday after Pentecost '25 RCL Yr C

For Sunday, October 12, 2025 ~ Readings: 2 Kings 5:1-3, 7-15c; Psalm 111, 2 Timothy 2:8-15,

Luke 17:11-19

But his servants approached and said to him, "Father, if the prophet had commanded you to do something difficult, would you not have done it? How much more, when all he said to you was, 'Wash and be clean'? So he went down and immersed himself seven times in the Jordan, according to the word of the man of God; his flesh was restored like the flesh of a young boy, and he was clean. [2 Kings 5:1-14]

…the Lord is gracious and full of compassion…The works of his hands are faithfulness and justice; all his commandments are sure. [Psalm 111:4b; 7]

Remind them of this, and warn them before God that they are to avoid wrangling over words, which does no good but only ruins those who are listening. [2 Timothy 2:14]

Then Jesus asked, "Were not ten made clean? But the other nine, where are they? Was none of them found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?" [Luke 17:17-18]

In the reading from 2 Kings, servants asked Naaman if he might have agreed immediately to the healing ritual that Elisha prescribed if the activity had been more difficult. After all, a mighty warrior only does difficult tasks of great importance, not simple and ordinary things. Perhaps we, as ordinary mortals, feel the task of truly living into our faith through taking time to stop doing to just be in a few moments of personal prayer or reading over the previous Sunday Scriptures, or a page in a daily booklet of meditations, is just easy enough to get to sometime later on. We escape into checklists of giving money and attending church services as doing our basic duty, with perhaps a volunteer activity here and there. But in moments when we are looking for inspiration or feel a need to look beyond the ordinary, we often wander off to another river, rather than one before us. Once there we may not realize until too late that we are in over our heads by the lures of this temporary world, and yet, for now, swimming to God’s shore seems too easy.

We in this country fail, in epic proportions, to avoid wrangling over words,

especially in the midst of political or human divisions, attempting to out shout and out insult one another on social media, however muted or even anonymous we feel behind the computer or phone screen. We also fail to understand the reality that such arguing changes no minds, causes one’s own trenches to become deeper, and only ruins those who are listening [2 Timothy 14] as well as the one wrangling. But, of course, who of us will listen to the arguments of anyone we have already decided is wrong? Are we all ruined and in exile from one another and from God? The Letter to Timothy brings our focus back to do our best to present ourselves to God in all that we are, say, and do.

In the Gospel reading, 10 lepers who begged Jesus for healing were told to present themselves to the priest. After they did and realized they were all healed, they all went on their merry ways ~ except this foreigner. Only 1 out of 10, the Samaritan foreigner, turned back, in faith, to thank Jesus. How often do I forget to give thanks ~ true, sincere thanks for spiritual and other healing gifts to my soul?

For me, the readings this week seem to particularly mirror where I see my own conscious and unconscious behaviors and responses to upsets in my body, mind, and/or spirit. I am all-too-often in self-imposed exile from God. I do my own wrangling over words and thoughts, ignoring the wonders of Creation around me, complaining to myself about all the injuries from others (real and imagined), and celebrating only myself when wellness or some other good fortune occurs. Time to get out the NO WHINING banner, return from the exile I chose to choose again to be in the faith-filled life where I am planted, remembering why and for Whom I was created. Remembering that in the exercise of the faith I claim, I don’t need to be a mighty warrior saving the world, nor a self-absorbed couch potato drowning in hollow entertainment. Now is the time to realize that I don’t require my faith to be too difficult to acknowledge, to live in, or for me to be grateful. It is past time for my faith to be conscious again and to present myself to God in Christ, each day, directly, and through all that I think, do, and say. Now and always it is time for me to remember to whom I am faithful so as to be one who immediately turns to Christ in thanksgiving for all things great and small.

LET US, GOD’S PEOPLE, PRAY

Leader: ~ Eternal God, shine again in the darkness that covers us in times of hardship and when we distance ourselves from You. Restore our conscious faith, that we may always give You thanks for healing us, in ways known and unknown, as we walk each day toward our salvation in Christ.

Gracious, Compassionate Lord

RESPONSE: We return to You with thanks and praise

~ Eternal God, open the eyes of the souls in all who hold political authority on and over the land and sea and in the air across your diverse Creation. Guide them to see you in every human face, every grain of sand, every field and star and ocean, and especially in themselves. Fill them with the desire to govern in all good faith, justly, and humbly. We pray especially for: add your own petitions

Gracious, Compassionate Lord

We return to You with thanks and praise

~ Eternal God, heal and comfort the spirits of those laid low by illness or life circumstance, and grant resilience for all who give them care. We now join our voices to pray aloud for those in need… add your own petitions

Gracious, Compassionate Lord

We return to You with thanks and praise

~ Eternal God, may echoes of sweet memory quell the pain of earth-bound grief, as the souls of those who’ve left this life, now soar in the peace and glory of everlasting life in Christ. We pray especially for… add your own petitions

Gracious, Compassionate Lord

We return to You with thanks and praise

~ Eternal 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

We return to You with thanks and praise

~ God of Eternity, we give thanksgiving for Your loyal servants anointed to re-awaken us to the wonders of all Your great deeds and marvelous works, and who guide us to our true place within You. We pray especially for: add your own petitions

Gracious, Compassionate Lord

We return to You with thanks and praise

The Celebrant adds: Lord of Life from before the Beginning to beyond Infinity, release us from wrangling over words that do no good but only ruin ourselves and those around us. Fill us with continuous awareness, praise, and delight for the Divine Good in all You have wrought, that propels us to faithful action, and prepares us for the perfection of life in Your eternity. We ask through Jesus, our Merciful Healer; and the Holy Spirit, Your Still Small Voice; who together with You are our One and Almighty, God of all Creation. Amen.

Monday, September 29, 2025

Prayers of the People: Testimony ~ 17th Sunday after Pentecost WLWC* ‘25 Yr C

For Sunday, October 5, 2025; Readings: Isaiah 52:7-10, Psalm 118:14-26, 1 Peter 1:10-12,

John 4:27-30, 39-42

How beautiful upon the mountains for the feet of one who brings good news, proclaiming peace, proclaiming salvation…the Holy One of Old has comforted God’s people…all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God. [Isaiah 52:7, 9b, 10b]

The Mighty God is my strength and my might and has become my salvation…The Merciful God has punished me severely, but to death did not hand me over. Open to me the gates of righteousness, that I may enter through them and give thanks to the Fount of Justice. This is the gate of the Living God…This is the day that the Creator of All has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it…[Psalm 118:14, 18-20a, 24]

It was revealed to the women and men who prophesied that they were serving not themselves but you all, in regard to the things that have now been announced to you through those who brought you the good news—gospel—by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven… [1 Peter 1:12]

…The disciples of Jesus came while [he was speaking to the woman at the well…The woman left her water jar and went back to the city and she said… “Come and see a man who told me everything I have ever done! Might he be the Messiah?” Many Samaritan women and men from that city believed…because of the woman’s testimony…and said, “no longer because of your report…we ourselves have heard and…this is truly the Savior of the world.” [John 4:27, 39, 42]

We begin this last week of using Dr. Gafney’s* Lectionary with her opening words in her section of “Preaching Prompts”: In the multifaceted tradition of the Black Church when one has survived difficult and or dangerous times, events, and circumstances, including death and disease, it is common to say, “She’s got a testimony.” The community of the prophet writing as Isaiah are the survivors of the Babylonian captivity. With God showing undiminished power in the restoration of these people and their return to Zion, their testimonies about God as Liberator remain as the bedrock of our faith, unchanged to this day.

The Psalm, then, is the liturgy of return. It, too, is a testimony of one who has been delivered as an individual, beyond the usual idea of the Israelite return as a corporate action.

The writer of 1 Peter’s testimony is reminding us that given the extraordinary length of time of the Israelite exile, liberation became merely a faint hope of an unfulfilled promise, but the promise was fulfilled and salvation was accomplished. And yet, in our times, we wonder, given all the oppression, real and being attempted, in our current life and world, can we hold our faith that our liberation and salvation will come?

So enters the Samaritan Woman at the Well. Last week we looked at the beginning encounter between her and Jesus. An amazing moment for Jesus to be speaking with a Samaritan let alone a Samaritan woman who held her own as the conversation began. Then Jesus recounted episodes of her life to her astonishment. When we left off last week, she said that she knew that the Messiah is coming and “he will proclaim all things to us. Jesus said to her, ‘I am, the one who is speaking to you.’” [John 4:25-26] In this week’s reading she has left her water jar to go into town and tell the people what he has said to her. Remember, this is a woman who has had 5 husbands and is currently living with a man who is not her husband. We do not know the details, we can surmise that her reputation may be at least slightly less than sterling given her relationships past and current, and, there’s the thing that she’s a woman, after all, which also lessens her credibility significantly. Yet her faith in him was so strong she went straight to her community and said, “He told me everything I have ever done” and with such conviction that “many Samaritan women and men believed” her. They themselves went to meet Jesus and asked him to stay with them, and he did for two days and many more believed in him. Her testimony brought the others to Jesus, and no doubt they brought others after their time with him. SHE became a preacher of the Gospel, an evangelist bringing the good news to her Samaritan neighbors. No doubt some weren’t impressed but many were. It is the way of the faith journey. God comes to us in many and various ways. We are told that God liberates and saves and perhaps we expect great miracles to happen when sometimes that transformation of life and circumstance becomes a quiet moment of a change in our attitude toward faith. The car still has issues, the rent is due, the kids are sick… yet there is a long slow deep breath in, through a moment of a “help me” prayer, that feels like rescue enough to go another day.

In the Revised Common Lectionary for this Sunday, we hear again the parable of the mustard seed. A tiny capsule of nature that grows into an enormous tree providing its fruit and shade and leaves and branches for humankind’s use with food and shelter for our Creator God’s other creatures.

As was the Woman at the Well, we each are tiny capsules of nature. We are also preachers of the Gospel by the testimony of our words and actions. Even the faintest hope of an as yet unfulfilled promise is faith enough to grow on, to share, and to hold onto, to celebrate in times of light and joy, and to curl up with in darkness and grief until the light returns. Every life is a testimony to the power of our Creator. What shall we do with it?

LET US, GOD’S PEOPLE, PRAY

Leader: ~ Living God, Fount of Justice, fill our hearts with the blessed comfort of your eternal Presence, and instill in us the courage to be a living testimony for you our Creator, Redeemer, and Sanctifier, as the foundation and cornerstone of our very existence.

O Merciful God

RESPONSE: Our strength and our salvation

~ Living God, Fount of Justice, we pray to you for the removal of evildoers and perverted judgment from the chambers of all who govern on this Planet, in this Nation, and in this Community. Bestow upon all victims of violence, poverty, bigotry, and war crimes, the fullness of your righteousness, justice, and relief. We pray especially for: add your own petitions

O Merciful God

Our strength and our salvation

~ Living God, Fount of Justice, give ease to all who live with distress in body, mind, or spirit, and give physical and spiritual rest to all who give them care. We now join our hearts to pray for those in need… add your own petitions

O Merciful God

Our strength and our salvation

~ Living God, Fount of Justice, may the joy of our loved ones, now freed from earthly bondage, shine brightly in immortal life, through the light and glory of the Risen Jesus. We pray especially for: add your own petitions

O Merciful God

Our strength and our salvation

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

O Merciful God

Our strength and our salvation

~ Living God, Fount of Justice, we lift up in thanksgiving all who are ordained to bring us the good news of your Salvation and Grace. With the Holy Spirit’s guidance, may they proclaim the Gospel that illuminates your purpose and prospers our souls. We pray especially for: add your own petitions

O Merciful God

Our strength and our salvation

The Celebrant adds: Generous One, remind our impatient hearts to seek moments to rejoice in every day that you create, in difficult as well as easier times. Inspire us to nurture the fragments of faith within our souls that gather our thoughts and words into positive and generous action for all we meet. We ask through our Savior Jesus, our Christ; and the Holy Spirit, the Prompting Voice within us; who together with You are One God, now and forever. Amen.

*Readings for our Parish to this point in Year C have been 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. We give great thanks for this time with her work for Year C of the Lectionary cycle. 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/

Join us next week, October 12, 2025, as we begin our 7 Week Season of Creation.

We return to the Revised Common Lectionary on the First Sunday of Advent

for Year A, beginning November 30, 2025

Prayers of the People: One Tiny S.E.E.D. ~ 17th Sunday after Pentecost '25 RCL Yr C

For Sunday, October 5, 2025, Readings: Habakkuk 1:1-4, 2:1-4; Psalm 37:1-10, 2 Timothy 1:1-14,

Luke 17:5-10

The wicked surround the righteous – therefore judgment comes forth perverted….For there is still a vision for the appointed time...it will surely come…Look at the proud…their spirit is not right in them, but the righteous live by their faith. [Habakkuk 1:4b, 3a,c; 4]

Take delight in the Lord…Commit your way to the Lord and put your trust in him… [Psalm 37:4a, 5a]

…I remind you to rekindle the gift of God that is within you...for God did not give us a spirit of cowardice, but rather a spirit of power and of love and of self-discipline. [2 Timothy 1:6-7]

The Apostles said to the Lord, "Increase our faith!" The Lord replied, "If you had faith the size of a mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, 'Be uprooted and planted in the sea,' and it would obey you." [Luke 17:5-6]

Habakkuk is irritated. He will not give up his complaint until he gets God’s answer and he does! The very descriptive language of his frustration speaks directly to our own times and the answer he gets is clear if not exactly a swift resolution. The Psalm appointed for today is a perfect follow up: Have patience, keep on track, do good, commit to and trust in God, for evildoers shall be cut off in the appointed time, wait for it.

And so while we are waiting, it is, certainly and always, the Gospel, with a little help from the 2nd letter to Timothy, that gives us our focus – the apostles, with relatable human impatience, ask Jesus to "Increase our faith!" Jesus reminds them, and us, that all we need is faith the size of a mustard seed and we would be able to command whole trees to uproot themselves and be replanted in the sea. These are metaphors whose underlying meanings are worth pondering, however strangely mixed – did you stop and wonder: why would we plant a mulberry tree in the sea?

Moving on, there are many varieties of mustard seeds across the many regions of the Earth, and those Jesus speaks of are nearly as small as the period at the end of this sentence, yet they hold within themselves the ability to produce enormous trees. No magic intended here, just nature as created. But thinking of something so tiny taking such deep root and growing so large can guide our understanding of the potential in our own imperfect faith. Whether in days of seeming uprooted-ness and feeling all at sea, or in times of feeling securely well planted, we are reminded by these readings that we have all that we need within us. We aren’t called to understand how or why it all works, just to believe that it does and it will.

How great our own eternal future if we merely remember the good treasure, our holy calling, the grace that has now been revealed through the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus. How wonderful to know that when we seek to rekindle the gift of God that is within us, the fertile seeds of faith and trust have already sprouted in us with the help of the Holy Spirit.

It is also important to remember that having “true faith” doesn't mean freedom from doubt. And when the doubts creep in, don’t panic. Wanting to have faith is enough, and even wanting to want to have faith is enough. Those times are examples of having faith if seemingly less than robust to us than what we think we observe in others. We are opening ourselves for the Spirit to till the ground of our beings just by the wanting.

Accept as naturally human that in this life there are moments of distance, occasions of dark nights and gray days. Trees need pruning now and then and so do our souls. Some of those times are longer than others and it is in such times, as the Psalmist tells us, we are to be still before the LORD and wait patiently. Write a list for yourself, adding or deleting from time to time, of ways to encourage yourself to spend some time with the Sunday readings. Consider some ideas and ways of how to pray a bit more or a little more often, if only just breathing in and out with the name of Jesus on your lips, in your mind, and in your heart, perhaps you’ll remember to say a simple thank you for the food on your table at mealtimes. All the while our work of faith, present or awaited, goes on in small and ordinary ways, as in even a slightly cared-for garden. No worries about how large or small a faith seed you have. Our level of faith isn't meant to be quantified, only recognized for its power, for its sufficiency, for its enough-ness that will bring us to our spiritual fulfillment in and with God's grace and purpose, in God's appointed time. Just as watching and enjoying any planted seed grow in a windowsill pot, or a large expansive garden, one tiny seed of faith nurtured with even a single word of prayer as simple as “help,” offering caring words and actions toward others, reading a quote or paragraph or more of an inspiring source can produce Soul-filled Energy Every Day. Just by imagining it, you are planting your One Tiny S.E.E.D.

LET US, GOD’S PEOPLE, PRAY

Leader: ~ God of Mercy, Grace, and Peace, may we allow our tiny seeds of faith to renew our right spirits, rekindle the gift of You living within us, and place our trust and hope in You.

Lord of Salvation

RESPONSE: We commit ourselves to You

~ God of Mercy, Grace, and Peace, we pray to you for the removal of evildoers and perverted judgment from the chambers of all who govern on this Planet, in this Nation, and in this Community. Bestow upon all victims of violence, poverty, bigotry, and war crimes, the fullness of your righteousness, justice, and relief. We pray especially for: add your own petitions

Lord of Salvation