People's Prayers

Monday, June 7, 2021

Prayers of the People: To See What We Cannot See ~ 3rd Sunday after Pentecost '21 Yr B

For Sunday, June 13, 2021; Readings: Ezekiel 17:22-24, Psalm 92: 1-4, 11-14; 2 Corinthians 5:6-10, [11-13], 14-17; Mark 4:26:34

Thus says the Lord GOD, I…will take a sprig…I myself will plant it…that it may produce and become a noble cedar. Under it every kind of bird will live; in the shade of its branches will nest winged creatures of every kind. [Ezekiel 17:22-23]

It is a good thing to give thanks to the Lord, and to sing praise to your Name, O Most High…The righteous shall flourish…and shall spread like a cedar of Lebanon…Those who are planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish in the courts of our God; They shall still bear fruit in old age… [Psalm 92:1, 11-13a]

We are always confident; even though we know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord – for we walk by faith, not by sight…For the love of Christ urges us on…[2 Cor 5:6-7, 14a]

With what can we compare the kingdom of God...It is like a mustard seed, which, when sown upon the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on earth; yet when it is sown it grows up and becomes the greatest of all shrubs, and puts forth large branches, so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade." [Mark 4:30-32]

As priest and prophet to the exiles in Babylon, Ezekiel gave hope of the restoration ahead to the hopeless and helpless. Not always an easy read, Ezekiel, according to an editor in an edition of the New Oxford Annotated Bible, brings an unparalled synthesis of the terrestrial and the celestial in Israel’s religion. Certainly, the earthly and the heavenly are present in this lovely image of God planting a cedar that will be noble, bear fruit, and all the birds will live and nest in this gift from God’s own hand. The Psalmist continues this theme of being planted and bearing fruit in old age.

Paul suddenly shifts our attention in his assertion in the beginning of this 2nd Corinthians passage, that “We are always confident…” I am far from confident in my faith at times. In retreating to the passage just before this one, I was able to find a bit of internal footing, that is, Paul tells us just before that we [are to] look not at what can be seen but at what cannot be seen; for what can be seen is temporary, but what cannot be seen is eternal. [2 Cor 4:18] It all seems very cryptic, but it then weaves into Paul's reminder this week that being at home in this earthly body, that is seen and also temporary, is life away from the Lord. We are called to seek our eternal, and not yet seen, home with our Lord God, to walk by faith, not by sight. In so doing, we rejoin the imagery of Ezekiel and the Psalmist as we become a new creation in Christ.

Jesus, who of course would know the writings of Ezekiel, carries it further in his likening the Kingdom of God to a mustard seed, a very tiny seed that grows into a shrub or tree so large that birds can nest in its branches. The parable of the mustard seed appears in the Gospels of Mark, Matthew, and Luke, and has always resonated with me, especially later on in Luke [17:6] and in Matthew [17:20] when Jesus says that all we need is faith the size of one of these very tiny seeds and mountains can be moved. Just how small is that exactly? Some varieties yield seeds the size of the period that ends this sentence. Only that much, or rather that little faith? Ok then, I can do that with a good heart and a little more confidence. Through noble cedars bearing fruit, birds of every kind nesting, mountains moving, tiny seeds that scatter and grow until the harvest ~ the love of Christ urges us on toward our home in the eternal Kingdom of God. All we have to do is keep our eyes on what we cannot see.

LET US, GOD’S PEOPLE, PRAY

Leader: ~ Master Sower, Creator of the Seeds of Life, You have given each of us the means to blossom into eternal life from our earthly existence. Grant us the willingness to consciously tend the ground of our beings to be the fertile soil to grow as a new creation in Christ.

O LORD, our God

RESPONSE: Help us walk by faith, not sight

~ Master Sower, Creator of the Seeds of Life, open the hearts and souls of all who govern in this world, whether by legitimate rule or reign of fear, and plant the sprigs of noble change needed to bring about the full and equal flowering of all Your people. We pray especially for: add your own petitions

O LORD, our God

Help us walk by faith, not sight

~ Master Sower, Creator of the Seeds of Life, cultivate healing in all who are weakened by severe illness, depression, or desperation, and re-invigorate all who give them care. We now join our hearts together to pray for those in need… add your own petitions

O LORD, our God

Help us walk by faith, not sight

~ Master Sower, Creator of the Seeds of Life, in the beauty and abundance Your Earth provides, we can merely glimpse and give continuous thanksgiving for the brilliance of eternal life, where those we love now live anew and thrive forever. We pray especially for… add your own petitions

O LORD, our God

Help us walk by faith, not sight

~ Master Sower, Creator of the Seeds of Life, we pause in this moment to offer You our other heartfelt thanksgivings, intercessions, petitions, and memorials… add your own petitions

O LORD, our God

Help us walk by faith, not sight

~ Master Sower, Creator of the Seeds of Life, enrich the special combination of humility in faith and spiritual confidence in those chosen to serve as leaders in Your Church. Guide them as they guide us to bloom vibrantly, in and for the love of Christ. We pray especially for: add your own petitions

O LORD, our God

Help us walk by faith, not sight

The Celebrant adds: O God, Most High, instill the wisdom within us each to know that however small and humble our beginnings, as we walk by faith and not by sight, we will reap the fullness of life eternal from the seeds of Your infinite love and grace. We ask through Jesus, our Christ, in whom all Creation is new; and the Holy Spirit, who enriches the roots of our souls; who together with You, are One God, now and for ever. Amen.

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Monday, May 31, 2021

Prayers of the People: The Family We Choose ~ 2nd Sunday after Pentecost '21 Yr B

For Sunday, June 6, 2021; Readings: Genesis 3:8-15, Psalm 130, 2 Corinthians 4:13-5:1, Mark 3:20-35

[God] said, “…Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?...Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this that you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent tricked me, and I ate.” [Genesis 3:11b, 13]

Out of the depths have I called to you, O Lord; Lord hear my voice…For there is forgiveness with you…wait for the Lord, for with the Lord there is mercy. [Psalm 130:1a, 3a, 6]

Yes, everything is for your sake, so that grace…may increase thanksgiving to the glory of God…So do not lose heart. Even though our outer nature is wasting away, our inner nature is being renewed day by day. [2 Corinthians 4:15-16]

The crowd came together again, so that Jesus and his disciples could not even eat. When his family heard it, they went out to restrain him, for people were saying, "He has gone out of his mind."…And he called them to him, and spoke to them in parables, “…And if a house is divided against itself, the house will not be able to stand.”…A crowd was sitting around him; and they said to him, "Your mother and your brothers and sisters are outside, asking for you." And he replied, "Who are my mother and my brothers?" And looking at those who sat around him, he said, "Here are my mother and my brothers! Whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother." [Mark 3:20-21, 23a, 25, 32-35]

Many years ago, I was a young military spouse living within Fort Benning, Georgia. A military base is self-contained and as complex, or more so, as any well-run city with all the usual infrastructures within its unique mission and industry. One of the more surprising elements when I first arrived was the special team of soldiers deployed daily to remove snakes hanging from the limbs of trees in the housing areas. With a hundred thousand+ residents that includes soldiers, families with children, and household pets, having snakes drop from trees is not ideal to say the least, especially as there are a few poisonous varieties. This memory surfaces whenever I hear the Genesis story of the tempting, trickster, dangerous serpent, often depicted in trees.

Snakes are mentioned over 80 times in the Bible as deceptive creatures that lure us with the promise we want to hear that something God has forbidden us is actually good. While I cannot imagine being lured by a snake in this life, insert shivers here, we cannot judge a snake by its scales. Eve and Adam in turn wanted to eat that fruit and gave into the temptation having received encouragement and permission from the serpent. It is important to remember that God had told them NOT to eat the fruit of that particular tree, but temptation snakes, er, sneaks up on us all. And after all, God created us with free will to choose our way. Our freedom of choice was a calculated risk on God’s part but then if we aren’t free to choose obedience to God, of what moral value would our obedience have?

Snakes in many guises are everywhere. We even call someone who sells potentially dangerous, medically untested remedies, a "snake oil salesman." Still today, advertised "snake oil" is a hugely profitable business and we all fall prey at one time or another, when the message, the promise, is just what we want to hear. And so it is in all facets of human life. We are drawn to those who promise that all difficulties and troubles will be resolved if only we buy the whole truckload of what they're selling. We line up against those who try to tell us that we are only looking at a mirage because we like our sales person better than theirs. We become that divided house that Jesus speaks of. And he would know about household division.

Even Jesus with his storied ancestry arrives in his home territory with less than a happy welcome from his family. Mary, his mother, and the brothers of Jesus think he's crazy and needs to be physically restrained. Perhaps Mary and her other sons were embarrassed by Jesus in the sight of others, for not following an expected career path. Most families I know or know of have tales about embarrassing or alienating relatives who have befouled the family tree and perhaps even been disowned. It is no easy feat to understand, support, and accept a member of the family who has gone in unexpected and inexplicable ways. And sadly, too often, a household divides. Jesus defines family for himself, and by extension for us, as those who do the will of God. And how are we to determine what is the will of God, and what is the True Source and not the snake oil? How do we choose to be part the family of Christ in addition to our own family and stand together when we each understand things so differently? We won't know for sure that we've made the right choices until ... And, until, whenever I feel I'm out on an uncertain limb of Christ's family tree, I go back constantly to my favorite prayer by Thomas Merton:

My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where it will end. Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so. But I believe that the desire to please You does in fact please You. And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing. I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire. And I know that, if I do this, You will lead me by the right road, though I may know nothing about it. Therefore, I will trust You always though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death. I will not fear, for You are ever with me, and You will never leave me to face my perils alone. ~ From: Thoughts in Solitude¸ Thomas Merton

LET US, GOD’S PEOPLE, PRAY

Leader: ~ Lord God Almighty, as by Your Will we were created with freedom to choose, guide our souls away from human serpents that would lead us by charm and guile down the tangled garden path of earthly wants. Renew our inner nature each day that we may seek and make good Your purpose in this life that prepares us for the next.

O God of Forgiveness and Mercy

RESPONSE: Hear our call to You

~ Lord God Almighty, infuse the leaders of this Planet, this Nation, and this Community with faith, principles, and strength of character. Lead their hearts to discern and implement Your wisdom for all Your people, that we may abide together in Your House, undivided, with no exclusions. We pray especially for: add your own petitions

O God of Forgiveness and Mercy

Hear our call to You

~ Lord God Almighty, heal and comfort all who struggle with chronic pain, addiction, and recovery, and enhance the stamina of those who give support. We now join our hearts together to pray for those in need… add your own petitions

O God of Forgiveness and Mercy

Hear our call to You

~ Lord God Almighty, we lift up with our love, all who have exchanged this earthly life for the glory, joy, and peace in the Divine Building not made with hands, eternal in the heavens with You. We pray especially for… add your own petitions

O God of Forgiveness and Mercy

Hear our call to You

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

O God of Forgiveness and Mercy

Hear our call to You

~ Lord God Almighty, refresh the vigor and vitality of those anointed to guide us, as together we navigate the time and tides of this temporal life, connecting our everyday lives and actions to You. We pray especially for: add your own petitions

O God of Forgiveness and Mercy

Hear our call to You

The Celebrant adds: O God of Grace and Glory, develop in us a spiritual thirst that seeks to be quenched only in service to Your Holy Will. Through Your enduring love and grace, let us strive to become mother, father, sister, and brother to every one who chooses to live in the sacred family of Christ. We ask through the steadfastness of Jesus, and the blessings of the Holy Spirit, who together with You, reign as One God, now and forever. Amen.

Monday, May 24, 2021

Prayers of the People: Heavenly Things ~ 1st Sunday after Pentecost, Trinity Sunday '21 Yr B

For Sunday, May 30, 2021; Readings: Isaiah 6:1-8, Psalm 29, Romans 8:12-17, John 3:1-17

In the year that King Uzziah died…The pivots on the thresholds shook at the voices of those who called, and the house filled with smoke…Then one of the seraphs flew to me, holding a live coal…touched my mouth with it and said, “…your guilt has departed and your sin is blotted out.” Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send…” and I said, “Here am I; send me!” [Isaiah 6:1a, 4, 6a, 7-8]

Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name; worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness…The Lord shall give strength to his people; the Lord shall give his people the blessing of Peace. [Psalm 29:2, 11]

For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God…When we cry, “Abba! Father!” it is that very Spirit bearing witness with our spirit…heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ. [Romans 8:14, 15b-16a, 17b]

“What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit…’You must be born from above.’” …”If I have told you about earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you about heavenly things?” [John 3:6, 7b, 12]

It’s so very difficult – ok, impossible – for us as mere mortals to wrap our brains around the mystical, mysterious concept of the Trinity, or in heavenly math-speak: 1 + 2 = One. Two out of the three persons of this, our Trinitarian God, are genderless although many refer to God as Father and some think of the Spirit as the feminine of Wisdom, or Sophia as it is written in Biblical Greek. While our human minds cannot possibly grasp the Trinity in its complexities, we still wrestle with how to reduce it to fit in a small box in our minds that we can pretend to understand. The mind naturally seeks to sort and file its collected data into usable bits amidst the consternation of those pieces that simply don’t fit the space allotted.

The Christian Trinity is, plainly and purely and simply, a mystery. Yet if it is able to be rationally explained there is no mystery and it can be easily dismissed. What is God-like in that? Some minds clamor for any mystery to be reducible and solvable to fit neatly into that file as in wanting to know the steps an entertaining magician uses to perform an illusion. Others are comfortably engaged in the wonder of the ways it is unfolding.

The mystery of the Trinity is nothing if not confounding. One God/Three Persons – separate yet one, equal with different roles that are ultimately the same, belief in one is meant to be belief in all and the One that is the same but different. “Stranger than we think and stranger than we can think,” to borrow from physicist Neils Bohr’s description of the Universe. Franciscan Richard Rohr tells us that some ancient mystics have suggested that we are called as an almost fourth person in the flow of God, as Jesus says later in John’s Gospel, …so that where I am you also may be. [John 14:3]

One of my favorite ways to attempt a workable sense of the Trinity – gender language aside – is through a piece of a 6th century creed from Dublin known as Tírechán’s Creed ~ when speaking of God it says:

He has a Son who is co-eternal with himself;

and similar in all respects to himself;

and neither is the Son younger than the Father,

nor is the Father older than the Son;

and the Holy Spirit breathes in them.

And the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit are inseparable.

Perfectly clear now, yes? Well, here’s another wrinkle someone else once wrote ~ I don’t remember who ~ that if your understanding of the Trinity is 2 men and a bird, it is time to rethink! If we can truly understand the mysteries of God, then that god, for me, is way too small. Only through faith can we believe in and answer the call of heavenly things.

LET US, GOD’S PEOPLE, PRAY

Leader: ~ Abba, Redeemer, Advocate, release us from our quest to reduce You and the vast mystery of faith to our human level of certainty and understanding. Grant us openness of mind, sincerity of heart, and willingness to come to You unknowing, allowing the wind of the Spirit, the redemption of Christ, and our birth from Above, to move through us in Your many and miraculous ways.

Most Holy Trinity

RESPONSE: In faith we answer Your call

~ Abba, Redeemer, Advocate, in a world where principle and integrity are obscured in the smoke of fear and confusion, let us answer “Here we are; send us” to seek Your Voice, speak with clean lips, and to bear witness for truth and justice in the halls of governments in our World, our Nation, and in our Community. We pray especially for: add your own petitions

Most Holy Trinity

In faith we answer Your call

~ Abba, Redeemer, Advocate, embrace and sustain the hope and faith of those bowed low by illness, addiction, or loneliness, and give comfort to all who give them care. We now join our hearts together to pray for those in need… add your own petitions

Most Holy Trinity

In faith we answer Your call

~ Abba, Redeemer, Advocate, we joyfully ascribe the glory due Your name as you receive those we love into everlasting life, in the beauty of holiness they have now achieved. We pray especially for… add your own petitions

Most Holy Trinity

In faith we answer Your call

~ Abba, Redeemer, Advocate, we pause in this moment to offer You our other heartfelt thanksgivings, intercessions, petitions, and memorials… add your own petitions

Most Holy Trinity

In faith we answer Your call

~ Abba, Redeemer, Advocate, we lift to Your care the souls and hearts of our Earthly Guides, ordained by You to walk with us, beyond the bindings of earthly things toward the glory of all things of heaven. We pray especially for: add your own petitions

Most Holy Trinity

In faith we answer Your call

The Celebrant adds: Creator, Savior, Sanctifier, grant us the blessing of Your peace as we accept the strength You have given us as joint heirs of Your eternal Kingdom. Expand and amplify our faith that its depth and constancy are revealed in the ways we answer Your call. We ask through each and all of the Three Eternal Persons in the sacred mystery of the Holy Trinity, who are One God, forever and ever. Amen.

Monday, May 17, 2021

Prayers of the People: We're On Fire! ~ Pentecost Sunday '21 Yr B

For Sunday, May 23, 2021, Readings: Acts 2:1-21, Psalm 104:25-35, 37; Romans 8:22-27,

John 15:26-27, 16:4b-15

When the day of Pentecost had come, the disciples were all together in one place. And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house...Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability. [Acts 2:1-4]

Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what is seen? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience…the Spirit helps us in our weakness…the Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words. [Romans 8:24b-27, 26]

You send forth your Spirit, and they are created; and so you renew the face of the earth. May the glory of the LORD endure for ever…Bless the LORD, O my soul. Hallelujah! [Psalm 104:31, 32a, 37]

Jesus said to his disciples, “When the Advocate comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth…he will testify on my behalf. You are also to testify because you have been with me from the beginning.” [John 15:26-27]

We are now at the 50th day after Easter, and the 10^th day after the celebration of the Ascension of Jesus. It is Pentecost – the word itself comes from the Greek for fiftieth – and it did not begin with the time of Jesus. In the Jewish calendar this ancient feast is Shavuot and follows 50 days after Passover. It celebrates the giving of the Law to Moses on Mt. Sinai.

This Jewish feast would have been another of the reasons that the disciples had gathered together. It may well have been comforting to be together in the familiar structure of this ancient feast. Of course, they were also waiting with some trepidation, no doubt, for the sign promised by the resurrected Jesus just 10 days before, in his last in-person teachings, when he said he would send them the Advocate, the Spirit of truth. It may well have been comforting to be together in the familiar structure of this ancient feast. What must each day have been like for them, individually and collectively? In only a few recent months they experienced praying – or failing to stay awake – with Jesus in the Garden, then his sudden arrest, Peter’s denial, the trial, the carrying of the cross through the City, and the violent execution of Jesus, his resurrection, then his ascension, to mention only a few details. I would think they would still be reeling in their own shock, grief, and fear trying to cope with these inexplicable turns of events. Now here they are gathered together again without quite knowing what is coming next, let alone when “it” would arrive. Perhaps in their remembrance of God giving Moses the Law, they also remembered the encounter Moses had with God in the burning bush. And then suddenly a sound like a violent wind and tongues of fire resting on them gave them more than good reason to be bewildered and amazed!

Today it's easy for us to be blasé, to know the story too well, to be immune to the thrill, the astonishment. Whatever the planning, hopes, and desires of the Liturgists, sadly and often it seems, that the wonder of it all has been lost, especially when not everyone is physically present in the Church.

So it is then, that today is the day to STOP knowing the story. Today is the day to START experiencing the Spirit – BE THERE, be amazed and astonished and bewildered! We have the Spirit within us, and God’s grace, and the love and Salvation of Christ merely for the wanting of it! Peter reminds us in the words of the prophet Joel, that when Christ returns, everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. And Jesus tells the disciples, from whom we follow on, that they/we are to testify on behalf of Jesus. The Gospels tell us how to do it, God filled our lungs with breath, and the Spirit gives us our voice.

Let us rejoice and be glad and joy-filled, and alive in it, after all, it's Pentecost and we're on fire!

Also known as the Birthday of the Church, Pentecost marks the official beginning of the ministry of the Apostles beyond their local area and into the known world to bring the message of Christ to all.

This day is known as Whitsun/Whitsunday in Ireland and the UK, a descendant of a Gaelic celebration from medieval or perhaps more ancient times.

LET US, GOD’S PEOPLE, PRAY

Leader: ~ Lord GOD, Almighty, pour Your Spirit upon us again! Bewilder us out of our distractions and detachment, fling us out of the ordinary into the stunning wonder and exquisite joy of the Holy Spirit within.