People's Prayers

Monday, April 22, 2024

Prayers of the People: Living Guide to Creation ~ 5th Sunday of Easter '24 Yr B

For Sunday, April 28, 2024; Readings: Acts 8:26-40, Psalm 22:24-30, 1 John 4:7-21,

John 15:1-8

Then the Spirit said to Phillip, “Go over to his chariot and join it.” So Phillip ran up to it and heard him reading the prophet Isaiah. He asked, “Do you understand what you are reading?” He replied, “How can I, unless someone guides me?” [Acts 8:29-31a]

The poor shall eat and be satisfied, and those who seek the Lord shall praise him: "May your heart live for ever!"...My soul shall live for him... [Psalm 22:25, 29a]

God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them. Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness on the day of judgment, because as he is, so are we in the world. [1 John 4:16b-17]

Jesus said to his disciples, "I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinegrower. He removes every branch in me that bears no fruit. Every branch that bears fruit he prunes to make it bear more fruit...Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me. I am the vine, you are the branches." [John 15:1-2, 4b-5a]

Spring is in full bloom in this part of the globe. The weekend cacophony of lawn mowers, weed trimmers, ATVs, and skateboards rises with the temperature. Gardeners are happily filling their wheeled carts with soil, compost, and mulch, cleaning away the debris of winter, preparing the earthen beds for planting, and pruning shrubs, bushes, and trees. The birds and local , migrating and local, the bird empty the hanging feeders with amazing speed.

Every gardener, even one with a single small plant, knows that good growth requires maintenance. Some plants, such as grapevines or fruit trees, need pruning to make them stronger and able to produce more and better fruit. Along with water, sunshine, and good soil, a gardener must constantly tend the pots, rows, fields, or orchards with care. Knowledge of weather, season, and region and climate growing zones is essential. The occasional frost warning creates a hurrying to protect still fragile plants for the next few weeks or longer.

As a gardener watches for signs of growth as well as of decline, we too, must constantly tend our relationship with Christ, finding ways to be more intentional about the spiritual growth of our souls, and, awareness of the overgrowth of the weeds of our distractions that lead us to the neglect of our inner growth and outer practice.

The First Letter of John reminds us that when we believe that the love God has for us through Jesus our Savior, God’s love is then perfected in us. It is with that perfected love within that we become the gardeners for growing God’s Kingdom on Earth.

In the Gospel of John for this week, Jesus tells us that he is the true vine and that God is the vine grower. Jesus calls us to abide in him as he abides in us, joined to him as His Branches on the Vine. We will bear much fruit if we seek to prune our inner deadwood to clear the way for new spiritual sprouting. But the fruit we bear is not for our own care and feeding ~ it is to be shared with others for their spirit-filled nurturing and growth. As we, the branches, grow stronger, we draw together as brothers and sisters in a community of faith, hope, and eternal love in and with Christ as our Vine. And the Holy Spirit is our constant Wisdom Guide through the sometimes fallow fields and barren orchards, in droughts and and flood and destructive fires. God Almighty as our ultimate Gardener/Vine grower gives us a continuous 24-hour Living Guide to Creation if we choose to see. Even if Autumn is the new season where you are, there is always much to do to prepare your inner garden for the winter ahead. Whatever the season, we find our strength in Christ who keeps our souls rooted to produce the fruit of the Divine for us all.

LET US, GOD’S PEOPLE, PRAY

Leader: ~ Jesus, Abundant Vine of Life, prepare our souls as the fertile soil that will bring forth the harvest of Your love and peace. Teach us to see, know, and nourish all people as our brothers and sisters, companion branches in God’s Holy Vineyard.

Infinite, Abiding Lord

RESPONSE: Guide us to perfect love

~ Jesus, Abundant Vine of Life, transform our complacence into compassion and ignite desire and courage within us, to stand in faith and act together for environmental justice, and for all who are denied economic, racial, and every justice issue for basic human need and respect that is refused, across this world and at national and local levels We pray especially for: add your own petitions

Infinite, Abiding Lord

Guide us to perfect love

~ Jesus, Abundant Vine of Life, comfort and heal all who are poor in health and spirit, and grant energy to all who give them care. We now join our hearts to pray for those in need… add your own petitions

Infinite, Abiding Lord

Guide us to perfect love

~ Jesus, Abundant Vine of Life, fill us with praise and gladness and hope as the souls of those we love and sent ahead, now live again sheltered in eternity by Your forever Heart. We pray especially for… add your own petitions

Infinite, Abiding Lord

Guide us to perfect love

~ Jesus, Abundant Vine of Life, we pause in this moment to offer You our other heartfelt thanksgivings, intercessions, petitions, and memorials… add your own petitions

Infinite, Abiding Lord

Guide us to perfect love

~ Jesus, Abundant Vine of Life, bless all who give their lives in service to Your Church, and walk with us even through sometimes fallow fields and barren orchards, as we seek the joy in knowing You are with us now in this brief life and forever in the next. We pray especially for: add your own petitions

Infinite, Abiding Lord

Guide us to perfect love

The Celebrant adds: Living God, Eternal Vine Grower, prune detachment and sin from our hearts to cultivate strong, dynamic, and fruitful branches that flourish, not wither, as we abide always in You. We ask this through Jesus, our True and Perfect Vine; and the Holy Spirit, our Wisdom Guide; who together with You, live and reign as One God forever and ever. Amen.

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Meditation in Eastertide ~ Monday, Week 4: Earth Mother?

Monday, April 22, 2024 ~ Earth Day in Earth Month

Monday in Eastertide, Week 4

An Oak Tree

Earth Day in Earth Month ~ April 2024

Do you know that even when you look at a tree and say, `That is an oak tree', or `that is a banyan tree', the naming of the tree, which is botanical knowledge, has so conditioned your mind that the word comes between you and actually seeing the tree? To come in contact with the tree you have to put your hand on it and the word will not help you to touch it...[and] if you have no relationship with the living things on this earth, you may lose whatever relationship you have with humanity.

~ Jiddu Krishnamurti*

Dear Creator God ~
Your precious Creation in all of its bounty is as equally important in the scheme of life as we humans are. You have given us plant life, sea life, creatures of the land, and all that our life requires to be sustained. Help me to stop and look, touch, hear, taste, and breathe in all the goodness that this Earth, our island home, has to offer. Help me know a tree, a flower, a bird, a fruit beyond its classification and name. Help me to know this Earth as more than just land, air, and bodies of water to support me. Help me to know it as a partner in life, mutually beneficial, living and breathing as I do and requiring as much of my participation and care in its health as I need from its participation in mine. Help me to pay more attention to the destruction of our Earth in so many ways including tearing down large parcels of trees to pave for unnecessary building for unnecessary profit, and its air and water by the convenience of the packaging we use, the trash islands in our oceans, the microplastics filling our bodies with the bottled water we drink, and the heat and fumes generated by our rabid consumption of fossil fuels.
Maybe, if we all learn to know that the dirt under our feet is as necessary to our life as are all the pretty creatures and lakes and oceans, we will not only take action for its better care, it will take better care of us. Perhaps in that way, more of us will see all of creation as necessary: wild, tame, cultivated, animal, mineral, and vegetable. And in those ways we will finally understand that every human on this Earth is also a partner in life, mutually beneficial, living and breathing as we do and requiring as much of us as we need from each of them. Maybe then, we'll have branched out and have a true relationship with humanity and our planet beyond just the names of a few people and a few trees. amen.

*Jiddu Krishnamurti, [1895-1986] a speaker and writer on matters philosophical and spiritual was born in British India and was influenced as a child by the Theosophical Society in Aydar. Sickly and sensitive as a child, considered vague and dreamy, he was deemed to be mentally backward and was regularly beaten at home and at school. His subsequent development as a writer and speaker is exceedingly remarkable. He disavowed allegiance to any caste or religion, mastered several languages and traveled the world lecturing and writing. He died in Ojai, California leaving a tremendously interesting legacy of writings and a fascinating biography.

Saturday, April 20, 2024

Meditation in Eastertide ~ Saturday, Week 3: ALL OF THEM ALL THE TIME?

April 20, 2024 ~ Saturday, Week 3

The bible is very easy to understand. But...[t]ake any words in the New Testament and forget everything except pledging yourself to act accordingly. My God, you will say, if I do that my whole life will be ruined. How would I ever get on in the world…

~ Søren Kierkegaard*

Jesus said, "The First Commandment is this: Hear O Israel: The Lord our God is the only Lord. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, with all your mind and with all your strength. The second is love your neighbor as [if it is] your self. There is no commandment greater than these."

~ Mark 12:29-31

Dear Jesus ~

I don't have any idea when I last examined my relationship with the Commandments. I know that I haven't stolen anything since I was a kid and got caught; well, ok a few pens from work here and there but that's all, really! I definitely have not killed anyone though maybe I've had a covet or two. But then You already know what I have and haven't done.

I go through each day, week, month, and year and just assume in the back of my mind that I'm doing reasonably ok as a Christian. Well, actually, I don't really think about it at all; I just wander through time doing everyday stuff and as life goes, and I do better on some days than I do on others. But, it's time, now, to look closer about how I truly and consciously know that I love God, how well or not that I love all of my neighbors and, how I act

upon that love. Oh Jesus, help me to Love all those neighbors that I can barely like some days (and could you please ignore how I feel about them on some other days as I work on this?). Give me the compassion, the empathy, the humility to live all that I profess to believe. It is a struggle, each and every day, to be intentional and conscious of being a Christ-Follower with all that You and I expect of me and all that represents to the world in these difficult, contentious, and fraught times. It's very hard work. So, please, please, I need all the help You can give me, and I will work at being better at Love with a capital L as in Love of, with, in, for, and by Christ. amen.

and we are also to Love:
Thy Hispanic Neighbor
Thy Hindu Neighbor
Thy Asian Neighbor
Thy Poor Neighbor
Thy Rich Neighbor
Thy Elderly Neighbor
Thy Teenaged Neighbor
Thy LGBTQIA+ Neighbor

Terrible Parent Neighbor
Thy Thoughtless Next-Door Neighbor
Thy Driver-on-the-Road Neighbor
Thy Cranky Neighbor

Thy Mentally Ill Neighbor

Thy Politically-Wrong Neighbor

and ALL of Thy Other Neighbors!

and help me to love Me, as You do.

*Søren Kierkegaard [1813-1855] was a Danish philosopher, theologian, poet, social critic and wrote extensively on Christian Ethics, psychology, and the philosophy of Religion. He often focused on personal choice and commitment and the art of Christian love. He was a strong critic of some of his philosopher contemporaries such as Swedenborg, Hegel, Goethe, and Hans Christian Anderson. It is impossible to distill his vast work into a small space as his work continues to influence the discussions of intellectuals and religious philosophers to this day. Fear and Trembling and Either/Or are two of his most well known works still being read today.

Friday, April 19, 2024

Meditation in Eastertide ~ Friday, Week 3 '24: Our Turn to Rise Again and Again

April 19, 2024 ~ Friday, Week 3

The mythical Phoenix

rising from the ashes of its previous life

I get knocked down

But I get up again

You're never going to keep me down

~ Chumbawamba**

If there is anywhere on earth a lover of God who is always kept safe,

I know nothing of it, for it was not shown to me.

But this was shown: that in falling and rising again

we are always kept in that same precious love.

~ Julian of Norwich*

Dear God of Skinned Knees, Bruised Egos, Grieving Hearts, Pain-Filled Bodies, and Damaged Souls,

I've been hit hard here and there ~ more than some, less than others ~ and then life goes on in its way until the next bump, or fall, or smack-down and I pick myself up, dust myself off, and life goes on again. Some days, though, I do have to fight back the not always fears of what's next while the world turns on its axis, the sun rises and sets, and the seasons change. I know You are here with me, I don't know how I would have gotten this far without You. And as long as I have breath within me, I will try to remember to turn to You in those inevitable times. But, could you give me a nudge now and then? Sometimes I need a shove to get myself out of the dark. Better yet, send me off to help someone else, there's always someone hurting far worse than me ~ then I'll get out of my own stuff and let Your light shine. amen.

*Julian of Norwich [1342-ca 1416], was an English Anchoress ~ a hermit who lived in, and was sometimes permanently enclosed in, a small cell attached to a wall of the church ~ whose life consisted of daily devotions, prayer, devotional reading, and writing. She is considered to be one of the most important mystics in all of Christianity. Her manuscript of Revelations of Divine Love - also known as the Short Text - is thought to be the oldest surviving book written in English by a woman. She is probably best known for her words that with God, "All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of things shall be well."

**Chumbawamba ~ a British Rock group, released their most popular song Tubthumping in 1997. Perhaps not the most elegant of tunes or lyrics, but their line above has always kept me going!

Thursday, April 18, 2024

Meditation in Eastertide ~ Thursday: Week 3: Who Will I Be Today?

April 18, 2024 ~ Thursday, Week 3

I can't go back to yesterday,
because
I was a different person then.

~ Lewis Carroll*

Was I a better or a worse person yesterday? What I know for sure is that today I have new experiences to reflect upon and a fresh perspective about now. Today might be a "normal" day filled with the routine and the ordinary but then one never knows what the world's news will be, what wonderful surprises will occur, or what difficulties great and small will arise. With all that comes with each day of living, who will I be today?

So, Dear God of All Possibilities, grant me the energy, curiosity, and persistence to explore all that this day offers. Let me accept all the busy-ness, relationships, moments of boredom, the stresses, the quiet, the noise, the laughter, the tears that this day may bring. I want to be aware of all the colors, the art, the music, and the characters that usually fade into the background in an everyday day. If it becomes an extraordinary day, I hope to have the reflexes to go with whatever comes. I want to be the best person I can be in every life circumstance. Mostly, I want to remember to be kind to everyone ~ and ~ my self.

As I lay my head down on the pillow at the end of it, help me sift through the moments where I found You most present. And, might there be a refreshing and peaceful sleep to follow? I'll need all that will empower and motivate the different person I will be tomorrow. amen.

*Lewis Carroll was the pen name of British born author, Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, best known for Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass, and a host of other children's stories and poems. A mathematics lecturer, he was also an avid photographer, wrote political pamphlets, and essays.

Wednesday, April 17, 2024

Meditation Moment in Eastertide ~ Wednesday, Week 3: Morning, Open Eyes. First Thought?

April 17, 2024 ~ Wednesday, Week 3

For each new morning with its light,

For rest and shelter of the night,

For health and food, for love and friends,

For everything Thy goodness sends.

~ Ralph Waldo Emerson*

Holy Creator of Dawn, Noonday, Sunset, and Night,

How I often I open my eyes upon waking and my first thought is to go through the day ahead with my agenda of things to do, places to go, and people to see without taking a moment to recognize the blessings of my life. I'm always quick to complain, whine, or moan to You and yet while I might remember an exclamation of "Thank God!" when something dramatic occurs (such as the birth of a child, an improvement in health, or a disaster averted), I'm less likely to remember to breathe a small prayer of thankfulness for waking to another day of life, for the light of this day, and for the stars of this night.

Whatever the circumstances of my daily life, I always have small moments for which I can be thankful. All I have to do is learn to remember. It's easy enough on Sundays to remember to be thankful for the Resurrection or the Nativity of Your Son, but please help me, Lord, to add thankfulness into my daily life many times, if only in small ways. While I'm not suggesting that You are the Do-er of all things, I do want to acknowledge the parts of Creation that impact me in positive ways as a thanksgiving for the miracle of life itself.

Lord of Heaven, Lord of Life, Lord of All, thank You for this moment, right now! amen.

*Ralph Waldo Emerson [1803-1882] was a noted lecturer and leader of the Transcendentalist Movement of the mid-19th century. With a Unitarian background and Harvard Divinity School education, he came to champion the belief in the inherent goodness of people and nature, and, particularly, that only from truly self-reliant and independent people can genuine community be formed. A well-traveled and well-written life, Emerson forms the backdrop of American intellectual pursuits and long collegial relationships with contemporaries such as Oliver Wendell Holmes, Henry David Thoreau, Walt Whitman, Henry James and other literary luminaries such as Samuel Taylor Coleridge, William Wordsworth, and Thomas Carlyle. His work resonates to this day and speaks to much of our current experience and dilemmas.

Photo by Christina Brennan Lee, one Easter Sunday Morning in Rice, Virginia

Tuesday, April 16, 2024

Meditation in Eastertide ~ Tuesday, Week 3: Differently Blind

April 16, 2024 ~ Tuesday, Week 3

Believe, when you are most unhappy,

that there is something for you to do in the world.

So long as you can sweeten another's pain,

life is not in vain.

~ Helen Keller *

Dear God ~ Straight up, I need Your help! I do my best to be a helpful person to family, friends, and even strangers (unless their driving is driving me nuts ~ I keep working on that). But the part that is hard is remembering to remember others when I'm feeling down and when I'm on top of the world. Help me find a way to look outside of myself regardless of what is happening in my life. In the ordinary moments of life, reaching out my hand to another is easy. It is in the difficult times that I want to be thoughtlessly thoughtful, to hold my hand out to someone who needs me more than I need to think about myself. Helen Keller, who gave new meaning to the word Visionary, saw and heard far more than I do with all of my senses intact. Please give me a hand with my being differently blind and too hard of hearing when I’m too busy with me, myself, and I. Thank You, as always. amen.

*Helen Keller [1880-1968] was born a healthy girl in Tuscumbria, Alabama and at 19 months old she contracted an illness that left her deaf and blind. The story of her extraordinary journey and that of her teacher, Anne Sullivan, has been depicted in the play and film "The Miracle Worker." An internationally known author, political activist, and lecturer, she was the recipient of numerous honors including the Presidential Medal of Freedom by Lyndon Johnson, elections to the National Women's Hall of Fame and the Alabama Women's Hall of Fame. She was the first deaf/blind person to earn a Bachelor of Arts degree upon graduation from Radcliffe. Her life and work are iconic in framing the concept of overcoming obstacles and as an ardent advocate on behalf of others.

Click here to see Helen and her teacher Anne: How Helen Learned to Speak