People's Prayers

Monday, December 11, 2023

Prayers of the People: Restoration ~ 3rd Sunday of Advent, WCLWC*, '23 Yr B

For Sunday, December 17, 2023, Readings: Genesis 20:1-7, 9, 11-12, 14, 17; Psalm 147:1-7, Acts 16:1-16,

Mark 1:29-45

And now, restore the man’s woman for he is a prophet and will pray for you and you shall live…Then Abimelech took flocks and herds and enslaved women and men and gave them to Abraham, and returned to him his woman Sarah…And Abraham prayed to God and God healed Abimelech and his woman and also healed the women enslaved to him so that they gave birth. [Genesis 20:7, 14, 17]

Praise the Living God! How good it is to sing praise to our God…The Architect of Heaven builds up Jerusalem, and gathers the outcasts of Israel… She heals the brokenhearted, and binds up their sorrows... [Psalm 48:1a, 10]

…an enslaved girl had a spirit of divination…But it bothered Paul, who turned and said to the spirit, “I order you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her.” And it came out that hour. [Acts 16:16, 18]

Now the mother of Simon’s wife was in bed with a fever…Jesus came and lifted her up taking her by the hand. Then the fever left her and she ministered to them…when the sun was setting they brought to Jesus all who were sick or demon-possessed…And Jesus cured many who were sick with various diseases and cast out many demons… [Mark 1:30-32]

Welcome to Advent, the readings for this Sunday are below* and for a description of the unusual readings we are using for Advent, click the link here to read the introduction:

https://prayersofthepeople.blogspot.com/2023/11/prayers-of-people-new-advent-ure-begins.html

On this Third Sunday of Advent, we light the rose-colored candle to symbolize the joy and anticipation of Christ's birth which is now in sight. In the Anglican/Episcopal Church tradition there is an informal title of "Stir Up Sunday" because the opening Collect [a prayer that collects or gathers the themes of the day or service] begins with the phrase: Stir up your power, O Lord... And there are some local customs that accompany the day in various places.

The message of this day and week is "Gaudete," [gow-day-tay] from the Latin for rejoice and it gives us a slight respite from some of the more penitential aspects of this sacred Season and a preview of what is to come, as in the Gospel of Luke 1:28, And the angel came to Mary and said, “Rejoice favored one! The Most High God is with you.” Of course the readings that precede next week’s Gospel have a differing presentation of “rejoice.” Perhaps Abraham and Abimelech also rejoiced at God’s intervention in a difficult misunderstanding between them. The Psalmist was also in a rejoicing sort of mood with the instruction to Praise the Living God! Although the message from Acts is far more penitential in its discussion of Paul and Silas being beaten and put into stocks in a prison, it precedes a miracle that brought some who were imprisoned with them asked about the salvation of Jesus. The Gospel of Mark also offers the miracle of Jesus’ healing and curing so many, the restoration of their health then spreading the “good news” of Jesus farther and wider.

At this time of year, for children, of course, it is the dazzle and glitter and haze of lights and sparkle, gifts from Santa and his magic reindeer, or Father Christmas, who "make the season bright." The music and decorations often bring smiles for those of us fortunate to have memories of ourselves or our own children with wide eyes on Christmas morning.

For us as adults, this week is also a sobering moment to consider all those near to and far from us, who are suffering in the world from the ravages of war and domestic or other terrorism, the effects of devastating fires, the still terrible conditions of recent hurricanes and earthquakes, or for those who live in abject poverty, among many more hardships, and the now annual arrival of flu, COVID, RSV, with their attending miseries of fear, isolation, further infection and/or death for so many.

Yet now is the time to remember how to experience the true joy of Christ's first coming. “Celebration,” in a culture of excess, offers us an opportunity to look beyond the artificial trappings, fun and exciting as they are, and seek to find the authentic message. Now is the time to seek restoration and rejoicing in Faith, finding the true reason for the season that carries over into our every day of living. Take on a renewed commitment to a personal message of and from the Christ, especially in this translation of Mark 1:41: Moved with compassion, Jesus stretched out his hand and touched [Me]and said, “I do choose. Be restored!”

*Readings for Advent this year are from The Rev. Dr. Wilda [Wil] Gafney, Womanist biblical scholar, and is 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 and translator of its biblical selections. Learn more about her and her work at her website: https://www.wilgafney.com/

For Advent III, December 17, 2023:

Genesis 20:1-7, 9, 11-12, 14, 17: Abraham journeyed toward the region of the Negeb and settled between Kadesh and Shur and he sojourned in Gerar. 2. Now Abraham said about his woman, Sarah, “She is my sister.” 3. Then God came to Abimelech in a dream at night and said to him, “Beware! You are about to die on account of the woman whom you have taken; she is a married woman.” 4. Now Abimelech had not approached her so he said, “Mighty One, will you slay an innocent people?” 5. Did he not say himself to me, ‘She is my sister’? And she say herself, ‘He is my brother’? In the integrity of my heart and the innocence of my hands did I do this.” 6. Then God said to him in the dream, “I know myself that in the integrity of your heart you did this, and it was I myself who restrained you from sinning against me. Therefore I did not let you touch her. 7. And now, restore the man’s woman for he is a prophet and will pray for you and you shall live. But if you do not restore her, know that you shall surely die, you and all that is yours.” 9. Then Abimelech called Abraham and said to him, “What have you done to us? How have I sinned against you that you have brought upon me and my realm such great guilt? Things which ought not be done have you done to me.” 11. Then Abraham said, “It was because I thought, surely there is no fear of God in this place, and they will kill me because of my woman. 12. Also, she truly is my sister; she is the daughter of my father but not the daughter of my mother, and she became my woman.” 14. Then Abimelech took flocks and herds and enslaved women and men and gave them to Abraham, and returned to him his woman Sarah. 17. And Abraham prayed to God and God healed Abimelech and his woman and also healed the women enslaved to him so that they gave birth.

Psalm 147:1-7: Praise the Living God! How good it is to sing praise to our God; for God is gracious and a song of praise is a delight. 2. The Architect of Heaven builds up Jerusalem, and gathers the outcasts of Israel. 3. She heals the brokenhearted, and binds up their sorrows. 4. She numbers the numbers of the stars; giving to all of them names. 5. Great is our Sovereign, and abundant in power; her understanding is beyond measure. 6. The Faithful One lifts up the oppressed; she casts the wicked to the ground. 7. Sing to the Just One with thanksgiving; make melody to our God on the lyre.

Acts 16:16-24: One day as we were going to the place of prayer, we met an enslaved girl who had a spirit of divination and brought her masters a great deal of money by fortune-telling. 17. While she followed after Paul and us, she cried out, “These persons are slaves of the Most High God, who proclaim to you a way of salvation.” 18. This she did for many days. But it bothered Paul, who turned and said to the spirit, “I order you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her.” And it came out that hour. 19. Now when her master saw that their hope of financial gain was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and into the marketplace they dragged them before the authorities. 20. When they had brought them before the magistrates, they said, “These persons are disturbing our city; they are Judeans 21. and are preaching traditions that are not right for us to follow as Romans. 22. The crowd joined against them, and the magistrates had them stripped of their clothing and ordered them to be beaten with batons. 23. After they had laid many blows on them, they threw them into prison and commanded the jailer to keep them securely. 24. Receiving these instructions, he put them in the innermost cell and their feet he fastened in the stocks.

Mark 1:29-45: Immediately after [Jesus and the disciples] left the synagogue, they entered the house of Simon and Andrew, with James and John. 30. Now the mother of Simon’s wife was in bed with a fever, and immediately they told Jesus about her. 31. Jesus came and lifted her up, taking her by the hand. Then the fever left her and she ministered to them. 32. As it was becoming evening, when the sun was setting, they brought to Jesus all who were sick or demon-possessed. 33. And the who city was gathered around the door. 34. And Jesus cured many who were sick with various diseases and cast out many demons, and he would not permit them to speak because they knew him. 35. Now in the morning [of the day after Jesus healed Peter’s mother-in-law] while it was still dark, he got up and went out to a deserted place and there he prayed. 36. And Simon and those [the women and men] with him chased after Jesus. 37. And they found him and said to him, “Everyone is searching for you.” 38. Then Jesus replied to them, “Let us go on to the neighboring towns, so that I may proclaim the message there; for that is what I came to do.” 39. So Jesus went throughout Galilee, proclaiming the message in their synagogues and casting out demons. 40. Now a person with a skin disease came to Jesus begging him, and kneeling said to him, “If you choose, you can restore me.” 41. Moved with compassion, Jesus stretched out his hand and touched the person and said, “I do choose. Be restored!” 42. Immediately the skin disease left and the person was restored. 43. And after a stern warning, Jesus sent the person away at once 44. saying, “See that you say nothing to anyone; rather, go show yourself to the priest and offer for your cleansing what Moses commanded, as a testimony to them. 45. However, the person went out and began to proclaim it freely and to spread the word so that Jesus could no longer go into a town openly; rather he stayed out in the country and people came to him from every side.

LET US, GOD’S PEOPLE, PRAY

Leader: ~ O Living God, stir up our hearts with rejoicing in the sweet anticipation of the One who is coming. Release us from the captivity of sin; cause us to sing praise to You with delight, our gracious God.

O Living and Ageless God
RESPONSE: Our Guide and our God forever and ever

~ O Living God, keep us ever mindful of the struggles of Your people and Your Creation. Strengthen us to speak constantly to Earth-bound Leaders, globally and locally, that we all must persist in pursuing the restoration of justice, mercy, peace, health, and the abstention from evil acts. We pray especially for: add your own petitions

O Living and Ageless God
Our Guide and our God forever and ever

~ O Living God, grant relief to all who suffer with life-threatening disease, unemployment, and hopelessness; and lift the hearts of all who give support. We now join our hearts to pray for those in need… add your own petitions

O Living and Ageless God
Our Guide and our God forever and ever

~ O Living God, who heals the brokenhearted and binds up those with tears of sorrow, turn their hearts to joy for all who died now live again, restored to everlasting life in Christ. We pray especially for… add your own petitions

O Living and Ageless God
Our Guide and our God forever and ever

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

O Living and Ageless God
Our Guide and our God forever and ever

~ O Living God, grant renewal of the joy and the wisdom of Christ's healing message of compassionate restoration, to all who guide us in all their ministering to us through Your Word and Sacraments. We pray especially for: add your own petitions

O Living and Ageless God
Our Guide and our God forever and ever

The Celebrant adds: Jesus our Christ, teach us again and again, Your selfless ways of caring for all of God’s people. Call our hearts, our minds, and our souls to recognize humans of all sorts and conditions with great, or small, or unknown faith, as worthy of our care, our comfort, and our forgiveness as You would have us do. We ask through the Guiding of the Holy Spirit, and the Love of the Faithful One, our God, who together with You are One God, now and forever. Amen.

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Prayers of the People: I, too, Am One… ~ 3rd Sunday of Advent RCL '23 Yr B

For Sunday, December 17, 2023, Readings: Isaiah 61:1-4, 8-11; Psalm 126, 1 Thessalonians 5:16-24,

John 1:6-8, 19-28

The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me; because the Lord has anointed me; he has sent me to bring good news to the oppressed, to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and release to the prisoners... [Isaiah 61:1]

When the Lord restored the fortunes of Zion, then we were like those who dream. Then was our mouth filled with laughter, and our tongue with shouts of joy...Those who sowed with tears will reap with songs of joy. [Psalm 126: 1-2, 6]

Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances...May the God of peace himself sanctify you entirely; and may your spirit and soul and body be kept sound and blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. [1 Thessalonians 5:16-18a, 23]

There was a man sent from God whose name was John...[John] said, "I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, 'Make straight the way of the Lord,'" as the prophet Isaiah said. [John 1:6, 23]

[Stir up your power, O Lord, and with great might come among us... [Book of Common Prayer, Collect for the Third Sunday of Advent, US version, page 212]]

The message of this day and week is "Gaudete," [gow-day-tay] from the Latin for rejoice and it gives us a slight respite from some of the more penitential aspects of this sacred Season.

For children, of course, it is the dazzle and glitter and haze of lights and sparkle, gifts from Santa and his magic reindeer, or Father Christmas, who "make the season bright." The music and decorations often bring smiles for those of us fortunate to have memories of ourselves or our own children with wide eyes on Christmas morning. Though, I have to say, that an air-filled Grinch dressed as Santa on a neighbor's lawn doesn't quite call to my mind the "reason for the season" however well the original story ends.

Yet now is the time to experience the true joy of Christ's coming. “Celebration,” in a culture of excess in whatever ways muted in dire times and so it is an opportunity to look beyond the artificial trappings, fun and exciting as they are, and seek to find the authentic message.

The Baptizer's voice is back with us and he is a reminder that we must Make straight the way of the Lord, and, that it’s a two-way endeavor. As we level the path, removing the obstacles for Christ’s coming to us, we are also to sweep out the cobwebs of our hearts, minds, and souls to prepare ourselves to venture back on the Way. As Christ comes to us, so must we go to Christ.

There is One who is coming, the One who, as John told us last week, will baptize us with the Holy Spirit. Let us be hopeful, eager, and joyous for that coming. Let us not abandon God's call to be faithful, giving thanks in all circumstances, as God is faithful to us in the everlasting covenant. We can, indeed, pray without ceasing, for others and for ourselves, in thanksgiving, in petition, in intercession, in penitence, in adoration, and especially in oblation, the offering of ourselves for God's purpose and service.

The Psalmist tells us that when God restored the fortunes of those who returned from the long exile, they were like "those who dream." In the hope of Christ everlasting, the dream is always within if we choose to know and accept it.

Isaiah gives us a hopeful image when he writes, For as the earth brings forth its shoots, and as a garden causes what is sown in it to spring up, so the Lord GOD will cause righteousness and praise to spring up before all the nations. Plant your spiritual garden with care and intention. Nurture, weed, and feed it with prayer, with hope, and with peace. Even when we sow with tears, in Christ we will reap an abundance of everlasting Joy.

Now is the time to return from the exile of temporary shimmer and twinkle to glow and shine in the never-diminishing Divine Light. Now is the time to answer the question asked of John: “Who are You?” With the intentional, “I, too, am one crying in the wilderness for every one to: Come into the Joy!”

LET US, GOD’S PEOPLE, PRAY

Leader: ~ O Lord of Restoration, stir up our hearts with rejoicing in the sweet anticipation of the One who is coming. Release us from the captivity of sin; cause us to pray without ceasing, hold fast to what is good in Your sight, and magnify Your glory in our souls.

O God of Peace

Response: Sanctify us in spirit, soul, and body

~ O Lord of Restoration, keep us ever mindful of the struggles of Your people and Your Creation. Strengthen us to speak constantly to Earth-bound Leaders, globally and locally, that we all must persist in pursuing the restoration of justice, mercy, peace, health, and abstaining from evil. We pray especially for: add your own petitions

O God of Peace

Sanctify us in spirit, soul, and body

~ O Lord of Restoration, grant relief to all who suffer with life-threatening disease, unemployment, and hopelessness; and lift the hearts of all who give support. We now join our hearts to pray for those in need… add your own petitions

O God of Peace

Sanctify us in spirit, soul, and body

~ O Lord of Restoration, comfort those whose tears of sorrow reap fruits of joy for all who now live again, restored to everlasting life in Christ. We pray especially for… add your own petitions

O God of Peace

Sanctify us in spirit, soul, and body

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

O God of Peace

Sanctify us in spirit, soul, and body

~ O Lord of Restoration, encourage and energize our messengers of Christ's Good News, those dedicated and anointed as faithful witnesses of Your Word and Sacraments. We pray especially for: add your own petitions

O God of Peace

Sanctify us in spirit, soul, and body

The Celebrant adds: Our Savior Christ, who was and is and ever shall be, open us to allow John’s wilderness-voice to permeate our consciousness, through the noise and haze of dazzle and glitter, to joyfully prepare our lives and make straight the way for Your glorious return. We ask through the Unquenchable Holy Spirit, and our Eternal Creator, who together with You reign as one God, now and forever. Amen.

Tuesday, December 5, 2023

Prayers of the People: In the Naming ~ 2nd Sunday of Advent, WCLWC*, '23 Yr B

For Sunday, December 10, 2023, Readings: Genesis 16:7-13, Psalm 48:1-3, 9-14; Romans 10:9-13, Mark 1:14-28

And the messenger said, “Hagar, slave-girl of Sarai, from where have you come and where are you going?” And she said, “From my mistress Sarai am I fleeing.” The messenger of the Inscrutable God said to her, “Return to your mistress and subject yourself to her.” The messenger of the Wellspring of Life said to Hagar, “Greatly will I multiply your seed so they cannot be counted for multitude.” [Genesis 16:8-10]

Great is the Ageless God and greatly praised…Like your Name, God, your praise reaches to the ends of the earth. [Psalm 48:1a, 10]

For, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Sovereign shall be saved.” [Romans 10:13]

…there was in their synagogue [at Capernaum] a person with an unclean spirit, who cried out, “What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are, the Holy One of God.” But Jesus rebuked the spirit, saying, “Be silent, and come out!” Then the unclean spirit, convulsing the person and crying with a loud voice, came out. [Mark 1:23-26]

Welcome to Advent, a season of hopeful waiting, anticipation, and the beginning of a new Liturgical Year, Year B, in the three year cycle of Sunday readings. Think of it as a time to see and hear the same readings differently; or, in this space this Season, to different readings in new translations, newly. As with the immediately prior 7 weeks of The Season of Creation in my parish, in this new Season of Advent, I’ll use the usual Revised Common Lectionary on one blog space offering my sense of the readings and form of the prayers of the people, and, in this blog space each week, I am using The Women’s Common Lectionary for the Whole Church aka, WCL, by The Rev. Dr. Wilda [Wil] Gafney’s translations. I will post her translations for the current week below with a very brief bio and her website link.* Dr. Gafney’s text notes are informing me of new ways to understand an historical/cultural aspect of her translations, as well as theological. Dr. Gafney’s opening questions of the WCL Yr B ask, in part, What does it look like to tell the Good News through the stories of women who are often on the margins of Scripture and often set up to represent bad news…when women’s brutalization and marginalization are moved from the margins of canon…held in tension with the stories of biblical heroines and heroes…I do believe that my questions and perceptions invite women, men, and nonbinary readers to engage the scriptures in new ways [to] find themselves and their questions represented. Dr. Gafney uses gender-expansive translations and explicit feminine God language.

The Advent season, as does every Liturgical season of the Christian Church, brings a variety of symbols and rituals that aid our intentional prayer and reflection. The use of the Advent wreath was begun in the time of Martin Luther, the prime initiator of the Protestant Reformation in the 16^th century. How it is used differs among the many traditions that employ it. For most, now, there are at least four candles on a wreath of evergreen that is shaped in a perfect circle to symbolize the eternity of God. The lighting of the candles represents the coming of Christ with a different theme each week highlighting the four virtues Jesus brings to us: Hope, Love, Joy, and Peace. The Christ candle, in the center of the wreath, is lighted on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day to remind Christians that Jesus is the light of the world.

Last week Hope was the focus and this week it is Love and both candles will be lighted. Keeping Hope in and Love of Christ is a way to prepare ourselves and keep our own paths uncluttered in these unsettled, uncertain times.

A sense of love, is at first difficult to discern in the passage from Genesis when God’s own messenger is telling the fearful fleeing Hagar, slave-girl of Sarai, to return and subject yourself to her. In other words, go back to be further abused. Surely this is hard to hear by those in domestic violence situations in any translation. And, I’ve checked a few and some say submit, one says be thou meeked under her hands, and one paraphrase says Put up with her abuse. But finally we come to the heart of the matter. Dr. Gafney refers to the next message from The Fount of Life as an Annunciation, in fact, says Dr. Gafney, Hagar is the first woman in scripture granted an annunciation. Further, Hagar and Rebekah [Genesis 24:60] are the only women in the canon credited with their own seed/offspring as the language is usually reserved for men. Hagar is told her seed will produce offspring in numbers uncountable.

The Psalm’s translation, as all these readings, continues to showcase new and gender-less translations of God as in the opening verse Great is the Ageless God…and later the pronouns of herself, her, and she throughout.

In Romans and in other texts using “a woman or man” is such a simple yet notable change in the way we have heard these passages in most readings our whole lives. It’s hard to imagine that it was so hard to imagine doing this! But then, understanding oppression, however indirect let alone absolutely direct, usually escapes those who are oppressive, even those with better intentions.

And then we come to Mark’s Gospel after the arrest of John. Jesus is in Galilee gathering disciples who instantly drop everything and follow him ~ how hard is that to imagine?! Then after teaching in the Synagogue, Jesus rebukes an unclean spirit, and that opens up an awareness of him throughout the whole of the area around the Galilee who suddenly hear of this man of power as unclean spirits…obey him.

From her Text Notes for this week’s readings, Dr. Gafney points out several details of which we aren’t generally aware and rarely, if ever, taught. The Annunciation piece and the crediting of seed is one; and she speaks further and more explicitly about the abuse of Hagar. Further, in her Preaching Prompts, she discusses the importance of names in the ancient world in that to know a true name was to potentially have power over a person, a deity, or other supernatural entity. So Hagar naming God and having it accepted is extraordinary. Remember that “YHWH” was and still is in Orthodox Judaism and similarly in Orthodox Christianity is not permitted to be spoken as in what less orthodox denominations would express as “Yahweh.” And, Paul tells us specifically that what is given to all who call upon the name of Jesus is salvation. And, Dr. Gafney says, continuing the thread of power in a name, that in Mark, …the unclean spirit knows that Jesus has a name, an identity, beyond the one everyone knows so Jesus silences and expels it before it has a chance to tell what it knows.

What really is in a name? We inherit names, we choose others for ourselves, and often they are within a societal or cultural expectation. There may be legal ramifications of names and name-changing and outright rejection of those whose names and gender identification aren’t within the bounds of societal, religious, ethnic, or cultural demands. Children can be particularly, but far from exclusively, cruel in excluding others just by mocking their names.

We are taught early and continually that God knows us each by our name. What is now in the naming of God and others for you?

*Readings for Advent this year are from The Rev. Dr. Wilda [Wil] Gafney, Womanist biblical scholar, and is 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 and translator of its biblical selections. Learn more about her and her work at her website: https://www.wilgafney.com/

For Advent II, December 10, 2023:

Genesis 16:7-13: Now the messenger of the All-Seeing God found Hagar by a spring of water in the wilderness, the spring on the way to Shur. 8. And the messenger said, “Hagar, slave-girl of Sarai, from where have you come and where are you going?” And she said, “From my mistress Sarai am I fleeing.” 9. The messenger of the Inscrutable God said to her, “Return to your mistress and subject yourself to her.” 10. The messenger of the Wellspring of Life said to Hagar, “Greatly will I multiply your seed so they cannot be counted for multitude.” 11. Then the messenger of the Fount of Life said to her, “Look! You are pregnant and shall give birth to a son, and you shall call him Ishmael (meaning God hears), for the Faithful One has heard of your abuse. 12. He shall be a wild ass of a man, with his hand against everyone, and everyone’s hand against him; and he shall live in the sight of all his kin.” 13. So Hagar named the Living God who spoke to her: “You are El-ro’I”; for she said, “Have I really seen God and remained alive after seeing God?”

Psalm 48:1-3, 9-14: 1. Great is the Ageless God and greatly praised, in the city of our God is God’s holy mountain. 2. Beautiful in elevation, the joy of all the earth, Mount Zion, in the far north, is the city of the great Sovereign. 3. Within her citadels God has made herself known as a bulwark. 9. We contemplate your faithful love God, in the midst of your temple. 10. Like your Name, God, your praise, reaches to the ends of the earth. Your right hand is filled with Righteousness. 11. Let Mount Zion be glad, let the towns of Judah rejoice because of your judgments. 12. Go about Zion, go all around her; count her towers. 13. Set your hearts upon her ramparts; go through her citadels, that you may recount to the next generation: 14. For this God is our God, our God forever and ever. She will be our guide until we die.

Romans 10:9-13: If you confess with your lips that Jesus is Sovereign and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10. For with the heart a woman or man believes and is made righteous, and with the mouth a person confesses and so is saved. 11 Indeed, the scripture says, “one who believes in him will not be put to shame.” 12. For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek because the same Sovereign is sovereign over all and is generous to all who call on him. 13. For, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Sovereign shall be saved.”

Mark 1:14-28: Now after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God, 15. And saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the reign of God has come near; repent, and believe in the Gospel.” 16. And as Jesus passed along the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew throwing a net into the sea, for they were fisherfolk. 17. And Jesus said to them, “Follow me and I will make you fish for people.” 18. Then immediately they left their nets and followed him. 19. As he went a little farther, he saw James son of Zebedee and his brother John, who were in their boat mending their nets. 20. Then immediately Jesus called them and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the laborers and followed him. 21. And they went to Capernaum and when the sabbath came Jesus entered the synagogue and taught. 22. The women and men [in the synagogue] were astounded at his teaching, for he taught them as one having power, and not as the scholars. 23. Immediately after [Jesus finished teaching] there was in their synagogue [at Capernaum] a person with an unclean spirit, 24. who cried out, “What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are, the Holy One of God.” 25. But Jesus rebuked the spirit, saying, “Be silent, and come out!” 26. Then the unclean spirit, convulsing the person and crying with a loud voice, came out. 27. And the women and the men in the synagogue were all amazed, and they kept on asking one another, “What is this? A new teaching – with power! He commands even the unclean spirit, and they obey him.” 28. And his fame immediately spread throughout the surrounding region of Galilee.

LET US, GOD’S PEOPLE, PRAY

Leader: ~ All-Seeing God, so call our hearts that we contemplate Your faithful love each and every day in our waking, in our rising, and in our resting. May all that all we do be in service for and praise to Your name.

O Living and Ageless God
RESPONSE: Our Guide and our God forever and ever

~ All-Seeing God, our tumultuous world is rife with conflict through the dismantling of compassion and empathy by unbridled abuse of power and unrelenting greed. In this sacred waiting time, make Your Truth spring up from this Earth and fill all who govern across this Planet, with a fierce urge to comfort Your people by a renewal of mercy, righteousness, and peace. We pray especially for: add your own petitions

O Living and Ageless God
Our Guide and our God forever and ever

~ All-Seeing God, gather in Your arms all who suffer through illness, addiction, or despair; and bestow special grace upon those who provide support. We now join our hearts to pray for those in need… add your own petitions

O Living and Ageless God
Our Guide and our God forever and ever

~ All-Seeing God, calm the tears of all who grieve, as Heaven now celebrates each soul that has entered eternal bliss, away from earthly woes, into a peace beyond our understanding. We pray especially for… add your own petitions

O Living and Ageless God
Our Guide and our God forever and ever

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

O Living and Ageless God
Our Guide and our God forever and ever

~ All-Seeing God, energize and excite all who lead us in Your Church, that together in this Holy Season, we may re-ignite our faith-filled wonder and eager anticipation, turning our hearts, minds, and lives back to You. We pray especially for: add your own petitions

O Living and Ageless God
Our Guide and our God forever and ever

The Celebrant adds: Sovereign Jesus, fill us with such eagerness of faith that we are immediately willing to drop our nets of earthly acquiring, worrying, and other unnecessary human-ing to follow Your teaching, Your preaching, and Your path of and to Divine Loving. We ask through the Holy Spirit, our Heavenly Advocate; and the Divine Architect of all that is; who together with You reign as One God, forever and for always. Amen.