Prayers of the People: The Fullness of Empty: Easter Day '19 Yr C

For Sunday, April 21, 2019, Easter Sunday, Yr C, Readings: Acts 10:34-43, Psalm 118:1-2, 14-24; 1 Corinthians 15:19-26, John 20:1-18

  Peter began to speak to Cornelius and the other Gentiles: “I truly understand that God shows no partiality, but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him…” 

[Acts 10:34-35]

  I will give thanks to you, for you have answered me and have become my salvation. The same stone that the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone…On this day the Lord has acted; we will rejoice and be glad in it. 

[Psalm 118:21-22, 24]

 For since death came through a human being, the resurrection of the dead has also come through a human being…so all will be made alive in Christ. [1 Corinthians 15:21, 22b]

  Then the disciples returned to their homes. But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb...Jesus said to her, “Mary!”…Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord”; and she told them that he had said these things to her. [John 20:10-11a, 16a, 18]

             Alleluia! Christ is Risen! Easter Day is the most joyous day in the Christian year. While Christmas is lovely and inspiring in its own way, it would be no more than a pagan celebration of the winter solstice without the miracle of the Resurrection. Our Liturgical journey has taken us through the 40 somber days of Lent, and in this Holy Week, we re-enacted the Last Supper with the humility of foot-washing, walked the Stations of the Cross, and experienced the mournful desolation of Good Friday. And now we arrive at the most potent symbol of Christianity - the Resurrection of Christ, our Messiah. The bells and flowers, the alleluias, triumphal music, and soaring voices all proclaiming that Jesus, the Christ, IS Risen.

           Before we turn to brightly colored baskets filled with chocolate bunnies, hard-boiled eggs with shells dyed in multiple and vibrant hues, marshmallow chicks, and jelly beans, before the ham or turkey or roast has finished in the oven and all settle into the feast, let us take a moment to review the brief and shining life of the man for whom the face of the world was changed forever, Jesus of Nazareth. 

            The infant humbly born was celebrated instantly by angels and shepherds alike. A neighboring group of exotic Kings or Wise Men traveled far to honor and worship the One whose Star was a sign for them of a new King in Jerusalem. The current King, Herod, wasn't pleased and so Joseph, warned in a dream, took Mary and Jesus to safety in Egypt and while we aren't specifically told, we are given to believe they returned sometime after Herod's death. We get a glimpse of him at Passover, lost and found in the Temple at about age 12 keeping the Rabbis on their theological toes. The timeline loses him until his cousin John, the Baptizer is prophesying his coming and ultimately baptizes Him. He is about 30 and from his 40 days in the wilderness preparing for his ministry, it is a swift and politically fraught period of about 3 years. His teachings upset the theocratic structure of the ruling Judaic leaders who had compromised their own souls to keep a semblance of power during the Roman occupation. Their devious plots to upend his miraculous healings, his preaching and teaching of compassion, peace, cooperation, justice, and mercy in the hearts of his followers ultimately resulted in their seeming success, a politically manipulated murder of a small-town, would-be prophet. But of course, 2000+ years later, Christ is in still our midst.

           We worship, study, and pray to follow the Christ who teaches us to this day that our salvation leads us to eternal life if we but follow him. And now, in our time as then, and in all times since, we must also be wary of the false prophets whose shiny exteriors denigrate the very essence of the message of Jesus. Take care to turn away from the sorcerer who can tantalize with completely anti-Gospel charm and lead us astray as quickly as those who cheered with waving palms and loud Hosannas for Jesus' arrival on Palm Sunday and shouted in cold blood "CRUCIFY HIM" only a few short days later. 

          We find the fullness of our souls in the empty tomb. Christ is within us and we are marked as his own forever. Let us shout ALLELUIA, CHRIST IS RISEN! And, let us stay the course, in our own brief sojourns in this life, of the truth and love of his Gospel.

LET US, GOD’S PEOPLE, PRAY

Leader:  ~ Living Christ, Risen in Glory! By rising from human death, You have brought us to the dawn of a new Creation to be made alive in You. Grant us to seek the strength of humility for ourselves through You, die to sin each day, and mindfully choose You as the cornerstone of our earthly life.  

                                          Radiant Lord of Life                 

RESPONSE:      Alleluia! You ARE Risen, indeed!            

~ Living Christ, Risen in Glory! Resurrect Your Truth and Your Love in all of us who claim faith in You, especially those who govern in all places across this Earth, this Country, and this Community. Inspire us and our leaders to provide mercy, justice, and respect for the least of our companions in this brief mortal journey. We pray especially for: add your own petitions

                                         Radiant Lord of Life

                                         Alleluia! You ARE Risen, indeed!

~ Living Christ, Risen in Glory! Restore hope to the hopeless and faith to the fearful, soothe the suffering and grant stamina to all who serve You in others.  We now join our voices to pray aloud for those in need…add your own petitions

                                         Radiant Lord of Life

                                         Alleluia! You ARE Risen, indeed!

~ Living Christ, Risen in Glory! Lift the veil of grief from all who mourn as our loved ones now dance in the limitless joy of eternal life with You. We pray especially for: add your own petitions

                                         Radiant Lord of Life

                                         Alleluia! You ARE Risen, indeed!

~  Living Christ, Risen in Glory! We pause in this moment to offer You our other heartfelt thanksgivings, intercessions, petitions, and memorials, aloud or silently…add your own petitions

                                         Radiant Lord of Life

                                         Alleluia! You ARE Risen, indeed!

             

~ Living Christ, Risen in Glory! May Your Resurrection be the source of unbounded elation that overflows in all who are anointed to guide our spiritual paths and enliven our desire to be renewed as Your own forever. We pray especially for: add your own petitions

                                         Radiant Lord of Life

                                         Alleluia! You ARE Risen, indeed!

The Celebrant adds: Alleluia! Our Lord is Risen! Holy Jesus, excite our hearts and minds, and transform our souls with the miracle of Your return from the dead. Infuse our consciousness with Your Immortal Presence that our thoughts, words, and actions begin and end in You. We ask through You, our Savior Glorified; and the Holy Spirit, the Fire of our Faith; who together with our Luminous Creator, are One God, now and forever.

All compositions remain the property of the owner of this blog but may be used with attribution 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: The Palms before the Storm ~ Passion Palm Sunday Yr C '19

For Sunday, April 14, 2019, The Sunday of the Passion, Palm Sunday, Yr C, Readings: Luke 19:28-40, Isaiah 50:4-9a, Psalm 31:9-16, 

Philippians 2:5-11, Luke 22:39-23:49-56

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             [Jesus said] "Go into the village...and as you enter you will find tied there a colt that has never been ridden... [Luke 19:29a]

         Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied himself...humbled himself... 

[Philippians 2:5-7a,8a]

        Pilate, wanting to release Jesus, addressed [the people] again, but they kept shouting, Crucify, crucify him. A third time he said to them, "Why,  what evil has he done? I have found in him no ground for the sentence of death...But they kept urgently demanding with loud shouts that he should be crucified; and their voices prevailed." 

[Luke 23:20-23]

      Then about an hour later still another kept insisting, "Surely this man was also with him...But Peter said, "Man, I do not know what you are talking about!"…At that moment…the cocked crowed…Then Peter remembered the word of the Lord…”Before the cock crows today, you will deny me three times.” [Luke 22:59-62]

      Palm Sunday and Passion Sunday are at once separate and also one commemoration. The recounting of the procession with palm branches celebrates Jesus' triumphal entry into Jerusalem. The Passion narrative develops the details of his Last Supper, the betrayal by Judas, and the machinations of the Chief Priests whose local standing and power among the Jews and Rome were clearly threatened by this acclaimed and unorthodox prophet and miracle-worker.

       His arrival created quite a stir. To this day in the Palm Sunday processions our hymns and shouts with "Hosanna" ["Hoshana" in Hebrew], praise to God with great elation, are as exuberant as when Jesus was greeted by the throngs that lined the road from Bethany to Jerusalem. They sang and shouted Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord [Ps 118: 26].  Cloaks and branches on the pathway for Jesus were a sign of the highest honor. The palm was the symbol of triumph and victory in the Greco-Roman culture of the times. The donkey or colt was itself a deliberate choice of Jesus sending the disciples to specifically retrieve it. The prophet Zechariah says in the Old/Hebrew Testament: Rejoice greatly, O daughter, Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter, Jerusalem! Lo, your king comes to you; triumphant and victorious is he, humble and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey [Zechariah 9:9]. Jesus was accused later in the week of proclaiming himself "King of the Jews," yet riding into the city of Jerusalem on a donkey would have been a known and understood symbol that he was coming in peace, as one would do to show a peaceful arrival rather than a warrior King riding in on a grand horse, bent on war.

       All these elements were carefully noticed and recorded by the Roman occupiers and the Sanhedrin, the Jewish Council, who had its own police force and trial court and who set the deadly wheels of what is to come in motion. How easy, it seems, to go from enthusiastic cheers of the crowd to the politically manipulated yet equally enthusiastic and malevolent jeers by the same people mere days later. 

        The tone is set for this new journey through Holy Week in our own times of political machinations, violence, crowd wrangling, and manipulation. It is time for me to acknowledge to my innermost self the moments of my own betrayal of Jesus through denial in thought, word, action, or plain inaction. Turning away from the unpleasant, the insincere, and especially the dangerous is safer and less stressful in the short run, but, going with the flow by participation or neglect reaps far more tyranny and destruction than standing up to oppression. 

        Dr. Martin Luther King said it best, "A time comes when silence is betrayal." That time came for Peter, that time is now for us. We, together, are the voice and power of Christ’s love in times of Palms and in the ensuing Storms. Let us always sing HOSANNA in the name of Jesus, our Redeemer Lord.

LET US, GOD’S PEOPLE, PRAY

Leader:  ~ O Jesus, our Lord, arouse us out of a mere re-reading to know now the sudden joy of Your arrival in our midst, and to feel the shudder in a few short days as beguiled minds turn to riotous, politically-manipulated, and deadly betrayal. Inspire us in this day, and every day, to experience the breadth, the depth, and the power of Your love, and to never deny You within ourselves or to another.

                                                        Jesus, our Christ             

RESPONSE:                   We commend ourselves to You

~ O Jesus, our Lord, we turn to You for the courage to require that all who hold or seek office in the governments of this Earth, this Country, and this Community be exemplars of principled justice, mercy, and peace. We pray especially for: add your own petitions

                                                       Jesus, our Christ

                                                       We commend ourselves to You

~ O Jesus, our Lord, in Your loving-kindness make Your face to shine upon those who suffer through chronic pain, distress in spirit or in life, and refresh all who give them care. We now join our voices to pray aloud for those in need…add your own petitions

                                                       Jesus, our Christ

                                                       We commend ourselves to You

~ O Jesus, our Lord, fill the hearts of all who mourn with the comfort of the joyful and jubilant welcome those we love have received in their new and eternal life. We pray especially for: add your own petitions

                                                       Jesus, our Christ

                                                       We commend ourselves to You

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

                                                       Jesus, our Christ

                                                       We commend ourselves to You

             

~ O Jesus, our Lord, may each of those who lead us in Your Church be granted the tongue of a teacher and the humility of Your human likeness, as they guide us all to stand up together with faith and trust in You. We pray especially for: add your own petitions

                                                       Jesus, our Christ

                                                       We commend ourselves to You

             

The Celebrant adds: Lord God in Christ, agitate our spirits and provoke our desire to seek Your mind in all that we do. Urge us to empty ourselves of all that draws us away that we may find our true and everlasting life in You. We ask this of You, our Hope and our Redeemer; and the Holy Spirit, the Sanctifier of our Souls; who together with the Almighty Creator is One God, now and forever. Amen.

All compositions remain the property of the owner of this blog but may be used with attribution 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: Forget to Remember ~ 5th Sunday in Lent Yr C '19

For Sunday, April 7, 2019, 5^th Sunday in Lent, Yr C, Readings: Isaiah 43:16-21, Psalm 126, Philippians 3:4b-15, John 12:1-8

PLEASE NOTE: The Google+ platform is going away in early April and if you wish to follow the blog you can subscribe by email (anonymously) on the blog itself in the upper right corner. Thanks for reading! Feedback is appreciated on the comment link on the blog or at Leeosophy@gmail.com.

                               Thus says the LORD, who makes a way in the sea, a path in the mighty waters...Do not remember the things of old. I am about to do a new thing; now it springs forth... 

[Isaiah 43:16, 18-19a] 

             The LORD has done great things for us, and we are glad indeed. [Psalm 126:4] 

            For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things...in order that I may gain Christ, and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own...but one that comes through faith in Christ...this one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on... [Philippians 3:8b-9, 13b-14a]

                     Six days before the Passover...Mary took a pound of costly perfume made of pure nard, anointed Jesus' feet, and wiped them with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume...Judas Iscariot...was a thief. [John 12: 1a,3, 4a, 6b]

       In the readings for this Sunday, Isaiah and Paul don’t so much remind us that we are to forget the old ways as things are being made new, but tell us directly that we must look and move – straining forward as Paul says – to what lies ahead. We are given a way and a path with our faith that guides us to the eternal life we are promised if we keep our eyes on the prize.

      We are nearing the end of our journey through Lent but much awaits us in the approach to Easter. While we know what is coming, obviously those reclining and serving at the home of Lazarus that night did not. A seemingly small moment at a gathering of friends, not so much in our ordinary times, was quite enough to kick off the deadly series of events that changed the world forever. The tension is building as if in a novel. Every thought and phrase expressed reveals a clue to what is coming – as if we didn't already know. Six days before Passover Jesus came to Bethany ~ a scant two miles' walk to Jerusalem. Mary, sister of Martha and Lazarus, anoints his feet with an expensive perfume made of nard, the cost of which sets Judas off and the Gospel writer is very clear about the thieving Iscariot's character and coming betrayal. 
     The fragrant nard itself is symbolic. It was customary for the household to prepare for the feet of the guests to be washed as a practical and hospitable welcome. This particular perfume, however, was worth a fortune, as much as or more than a year's wages for an average worker and this gesture might have seemed quite excessive to anyone by normal standards. This anointing is to us, if not to them, also a symbol of the Kingship of the not yet Resurrected Christ. Jesus was clear that Mary's act of love meant more than mere hospitality; it was a foreshadowing of his soon to come death and burial. The ritual of burial involved precious spices and oils and the anointing of the body always began with the feet. 
     Pay close attention to the readings ahead. God is about to do a new thing again and there is much to hear differently and to learn anew.

     Yes, in our day and time we know what is coming, yet let us forget to remember and go forward into all that lies ahead through Easter and beyond, as if it were new and now, to rediscover and be anointed by our faith yet again.

LET US, GOD’S PEOPLE, PRAY

Leader:  ~ O Lord, our Way and our Path, restore the fortunes of our souls as we renew our faith, and press on in this life toward the goal of answering Your heavenly call.

                                                     O God in Christ Jesus                                                       

RESPONSE:                  By our faith You anoint us

~ O Lord, our Way and our Path, guide the hearts and minds of all who govern across this world, this nation, and this community, toward principled, ethical, and humane legislation to revitalize every aspect of Your Creation. We pray especially for: add your own petitions

                                                       O God in Christ Jesus

                                                       By our faith You anoint us

~ O Lord, our Way and our Path, kindle hope in all who are poor in body, mind, or spirit, and to all who give them care. We now join our voices to pray aloud for those in need…add your own petitions

                                                       O God in Christ Jesus

                                                       By our faith You anoint us

~ O Lord, our Way and our Path, may those who are grieving be consoled in knowing that all now returned to the prize of life in You, are celebrated with heavenly shouts of joy. We pray especially for: add your own petitions

                                                       O God in Christ Jesus

                                                       By our faith You anoint us

~  O Lord, our Way and our Path, 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 in Christ Jesus

                                                       By our faith You anoint us

             

~ O Lord, our Way and our Path, enliven the spirits of those chosen to lead and accompany in this mortal journey toward eternity, sharing with us the joy of being Christ's own, even in the darkest of times. We pray especially for: add your own petitions

                                                       O God in Christ Jesus

                                                       By our faith You anoint us

             

The Celebrant adds:  Almighty and Eternal God, release us from the false piety of righteousness, and pride in mere earthly achievement. Awaken us to the freedom of knowing and living each day in Christ and the power of His Resurrection. We ask through Jesus, our Anointed Christ, and the Holy Spirit, Your Fragrant Breath, who together with You are One God, forever and ever. Amen.

All compositions remain the property of the owner of this blog but may be used with attribution 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: Finding Home ~ 4th Sunday in Lent '19 Yr C

For Sunday, March 31, 2019, Sunday in Lent, Yr C, Readings: Joshua 5:9-12, Psalm 32, 2 Corinthians 5:16-21, Luke 15: 1-3, 11b-32

PLEASE NOTE: The Google+ platform is going away in early April and if you wish to follow the blog you can subscribe by email (anonymously) on the blog itself in the upper right corner. Thanks for reading! Feedback is appreciated on the comment link on the blog or at Leeosophy@gmail.com.

   The Manna ceased on the day [the Israelites] ate the produce of the land… [Joshua 5:12a]

            Happy are they whose transgressions are forgiven, and whose sin is put away...Great are the tribulations of the wicked; but mercy embraces those who trust in the LORD. [Psalm 32:1, 11]

     If anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away...All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ...So we are ambassadors for Christ, since God is making his appeal through us; we entreat you on behalf of Christ be, reconciled to God. [2 Cor 5:17a, 18a, 20]

     But we had to celebrate and rejoice, because this brother of yours was dead and has come to life; he was lost and has been found. [Luke 15:32]

               In this reading from Joshua, the Israelites have finally found home. After wandering through the trials and uncertainties of the desert, where they were provided with the daily arrival of manna for sustenance, God brought them through. Even after the significant transgressions of their ancestors, they found themselves in the land of Canaan where the old manna was no more as they now ate of the new produce of the land.
          Paul tells us that when we find our way to Christ, who is gifting us with the ministry of reconciliation  from God, we become a new creation: everything old has passed away. Further, we are now ambassadors for Christ. In returning to the joy of forgiveness, we are the vessels God uses to appeal to the lost in spirit and the displaced in faith to return and be reconciled with God.

        Luke's Gospel gives us the grumbling Pharisees and Scribes complaining of Jesus' dinners with sinners, and so he told them about the Father, Lost Son, and Angry Brother, also known as the parable of The Prodigal Son. Of course, everyone everywhere knows this one very well.

       For a fresh perspective try a role-play experience with it by choosing one of the 3 characters to inhabit. Read it aloud as if you are the lowly son and discover his feelings of hunger, fear, regret, and other emotions that may surface before and after he humbles himself and returns home. Then read aloud again as the welcoming father; know his tears of joy and relief at seeing his lost son appear in the distance and then discover the father’s feelings about his elder son’s frustrations. Once more, as the elder brother. Who of us cannot appreciate his feelings of betrayal, anger, jealousy. He's been steadfast and true and who gets the glory - little spoiled brother! How might the father’s love and compassion for both of his sons create a new and reconciled home?

       As with the Israelites and the Prodigal we are new, again and again, when we return to Christ and repent of our sins ~ not in despair but in the joy of finding cleansing and wholeness, feeling true of heart. We have each taken the role of that father, that son, and that elder brother in one form or another in our lives. Yet God always welcomes us home and always celebrates our return, no matter how many times we wander off as if we can manage everything on our own. In the happiest times let us take care to remember that God in Christ is still walking with us. In the darkest times of life amid loss, regret, or hopelessness, God always knows us and forgives us. God is never the one who leaves. Even when we can't forgive ourselves, we are forgiven and redeemed by God ~ so, if God can forgive me, who am I not to forgive myself? However, we cannot find what we do not look for. Seek and the L ST will soon be FOUND, everything old [will have] passed away. God in Christ will celebrate and rejoice when we who get lost, return to be reconciled and forgiven. Our forever Home is just there for the finding.

LET US, GOD’S PEOPLE, PRAY

Leader:  ~ O Lord, Most Faithful, by You and through Christ we are found, forgiven, and reconciled when we seek Your mercy in faith and trust. Help us to truly embrace our calling as Ambassadors for Christ, welcoming all who feel lost to find themselves in You.  

                                                       Loving, Patient God                                                          

RESPONSE:                 We make our prayers to You

~ O Lord, Most Faithful, infuse the leaders of our Planet, our Nation, and our Community, with the wisdom and understanding to govern all Your people with honesty, integrity, and compassion. We pray especially for: add your own petitions

                                                       Loving, Patient God

                                                       We make our prayers to You

~ O Lord, Most Faithful, restore hope and wholeness to all who are seriously ill, addicted, or homeless, and peace for all who give care. We now join our voices to pray aloud for those in need… add your own petitions

                                                       Loving, Patient God

                                                       We make our prayers to You

~ O Lord, Most Faithful, soothe the hearts of those who mourn, as all of Heaven rejoices that those lost to mortal existence, are now found with new and eternal life. We pray especially for: add your own petitions

                                                       Loving, Patient God

                                                       We make our prayers to You

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

                                                       Loving, Patient God

                                                       We make our prayers to You

             

~ O Lord, Most Faithful, grant all who are called to be anointed in Your service, continual refreshment in Your instruction to guide us always to You. We pray especially for: add your own petitions

                                                       Loving, Patient God

                                                       We make our prayers to You

             

The Celebrant adds:  God of the Lost and of the Found, release us from the bits and bridles of earth-bound snares to be reconciled in Christ as a new creation. Spare us from all that we think we deserve to find ourselves home again with You, in this life and the next. We ask through Jesus, our Compassionate Savior, and the Holy Spirit, the Sanctifier of our Souls, who together with You, are One God, now and forever. Amen. 

All compositions remain the property of the owner of this blog but may be used with attribution 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: Fruitless? ~ 3rd Sunday in Lent Yr C '19

For Sunday, March 24, 2019, 3^rd Sunday in Lent, Yr C, Readings: Exodus 3:1-15, Psalm 63:1-8, 1 Corinthians 10:1-13, Luke 13:1-9

PLEASE NOTE: The Google+ platform is going away in early April and if you wish to follow the blog you can subscribe by email (anonymously) on the blog itself in the upper right corner. Thanks for reading! Feedback is appreciated on the comment link on the blog or at Leeosophy@gmail.com.

                (Fig Tree painting by Yvonne Ayoub)

    There the angel appeared to [Moses] in a flame of fire out of a bush...the bush was blazing, yet it was not consumed...When the LORD saw that he had turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush..."...Remove your sandals...for the place you are standing on is holy ground." [Exodus 3:2, 4b, 5b]

                     My soul clings to you, your right hand holds me fast. [Psalm 63:8]

            [O]ur ancestors...all ate the same spiritual food and all drank...from the spiritual rock that followed them, and the rock was Christ...Do not become idolaters as some of them did... [1 Corinthians 10:1b, 3b, 4b, 7a]

     "Do you think that because these Galileans suffered in this way they were worse sinners than all other Galileans? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all perish as they did"..."A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard; and he came looking for fruit on it and found none. So he said to the gardener...Cut it down!" [The gardener] replied, "Sir, let it alone for one more year, until I dig around it and put manure on it. If it bears fruit next year, well and good; but if not, you can cut it down."  [Luke 13:2-3, 6-7b, 8]

       Limited or Endless? What possibilities does life hold today? Have I simply decided that I can’t or is it merely that I won’t? That is, my finite mind has decided what I can and cannot do and so no extra thought required. I comfortably go through the day, the week, the month with the same old mindset of poor tragic me or even YAY, Fabulous ME, and everything in between. I can sigh away in the desert of my sameliness or boast of my successes and post it all on Facebook. And isn’t it always just a bit of a shock when someone challenges our personal and most-knowledgeable perspectives? Who knows better than me, especially about me? The lessons for this week remind us that even the most humble of us need to have our consciousness raised.

       Moses is overwhelmed before the burning bush when he realizes God is speaking directly to him. Raised as a prince of Egypt yet knowing and clinging to his Hebrew roots, keeping sheep was the job he knew how to do quite comfortably, no extra thought required. Now God was giving him a task beyond his self-imagined abilities – Who am I to go to Pharoah? One can only imagine the reluctance of Moses, with a speech impediment among other seeming limitations, to go back to face Pharoah with outrageous demands. But God knew Moses better than Moses. And God assured him over and over and over that God was always present.

      Paul tells us that God gave those brought out of Egypt by Moses all the spiritual food and drink they needed and yet, though filled with God's grace and goodness, many failed God through intentional sin and were struck down. By those being struck down we are given one example of discounting God’s instruction. Christ is the rock, says Paul, the Messiah that guides us all if, IF, we are open to the possibilities that not everything will be comfortable in this life. What are the oppressive pharaohs we have created for ourselves, the idolatry of limit that we use to stunt our own spiritual growth? The key is: God through Christ is always present to help if we choose to seek it.

      Jesus says that just because some Galileans suffered doesn't mean they were worse people than others and reminds the listeners - and us - to repent, to turn to God. Will we be spared hardship and suffering in this life? No, but intentional contrition and penitence, consciously walking towards God in what we say and do is what we are called to in this human existence. Even when we slip off the track, there is limitless forgiveness and patience with God in Christ once we awaken and acknowledge our frequent failures.

     The owner of the vineyard reprieves the fig tree and the gardener will work hard to save it from destruction. The tree will have to respond to the nutrients, the food and drink in order to be saved. Christ is our persistent gardener always tilling and toiling to give us endless possibilities for eternal life. How will I respond ~ can I turn my heart and mind to Christ?  What won’t I give up or change? Will my journey be fruitful or fruitless? 

LET US, GOD’S PEOPLE, PRAY

Leader:  ~ O God, our God, our souls were seeded with Your Divine Plan before our birth, and Christ provided us with the spiritual food and drink to bring us to full flower. Fill us with the saving joy of ongoing repentance, that prunes our unhealthy branches, so as to bear the ripe fruit of Your love.

                                                       O Lord of Loving-Kindness                                                                 

RESPONSE:                   Our Constant, Eternal Helper

~ O God, our God, root us deeply in Your Holy Ground that we may not add to or be consumed by the violence and hatred of race, religion, gender, ethnicity, and so much more, that damages any of Your children. We pray for all who govern in this World, in this Nation, and in this City, to lead us out of inhumanity and injustice, especially: add your own petitions

                                                       O Lord of Loving-Kindness

                                                       Our Constant, Eternal Helper

~ O God, our God, nurture the hope of all who suffer with chronic pain, debilitating anxiety, or a frightening diagnosis, and revive the spirits of their caregivers. We now join our voices to pray aloud for those in need…  add your own petitions

                                                       O Lord of Loving-Kindness

                                                       Our Constant, Eternal Helper

~ O God, our God, gather the grieving under the shadow of Your wings, as our faithful departed live again with contented souls, joy on their lips, and life everlasting in You. We pray especially for:  add your own petitions

                                                       O Lord of Loving-Kindness

                                                       Our Constant, Eternal Helper

~  O God, our 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 Loving-Kindness

                                                       Our Constant, Eternal Helper

             

~ O God, our God, we give You thanks for all those anointed as the gardeners of our spiritual formation. Grant them the tools to cultivate our hunger and thirst to reach for and cling to You and allowing Your work within us to sprout. We pray especially for:  add your own petitions

                                                       O Lord of Loving-Kindness

                                                      Our Constant, Eternal Helper

             

The Celebrant adds: Lord God of the Past, the Present, and Forever, release us from the idolatry of the oppressive pharaohs we create for ourselves, that turn our souls away from Your constant Presence. Renew our eagerness to seek and follow Your instructions, that we may thrive in Your faithfulness as Your right hand always holds us fast. We ask through Jesus, the Rock of our Salvation; and the Holy Spirit, the Blazing Flame of our Faith, who together with You are One God, now and forever. Amen.

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