Prayer, day 1890: Holy Saturday

Almighty God, we wait in the darkness
before the dawn of your Son,
remembering and blessing him, now and forever.

In stillness the earth pauses,
and awaits the resurrection:
hear our prayers, O Comforter. 

We turn our faces toward hope,
awaiting the coming of the third day:
we know You share our sorrows and pain. 

Help us renounce the evils that chain us, O Lord:
roll away the stone of our hearts, we pray. 

Lord Christ, you prayed forgiveness for your enemies
even upon the cross:
help us so renounce vengeance and strife.


Bless those for whom we pray, O Merciful One,
and pour your comfort like a balm over them.

Amen.
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Image: Andrea Mantegna, Lamentation Over Christ, ca. 1475-1478

Prayer 1889: Good Friday

O God, 
for You alone my soul in silence waits.
Into your hands, O God, I place my spirit,
for I know indeed that You are my home and my shelter.
We turn to You, O Merciful One,
and remember the love you have embedded
in each breath we take.

Lord Christ, you took on the cross,
the point where darkness and light meet,
and opened your arms to embrace us eternally:
may we kneel at your feet and repent,
crucifying our fears, our divisions,
our callous indifference,
to live eternally in You.
Blessed Jesus, You are lifted up before us,
offering yourself in freedom to lay down your life
to overthrow the power of death:
may we take up our cross of love, and follow,
embracing the light of God.

Spirit of the Living God,
You sustain us in every moment:
abide within our hearts,
and grant your protection to those for whom we pray.

Amen.


Photo: The Crucifixion from the Passion side of La Sagrada Familia in Barcelona.

Prayer 1888: For Maundy Thursday

Almighty God, Ground of Our Being,
we turn to You in hope and gratitude,
centering ourselves in your grace and peace,
inviting your Spirit deeper into our hearts.

Blessed Jesus,

who on this night reminded us to serve each other humbly,
and care for each other as tenderly as you care for us,
strengthen us to be a community embodying your example,
where all are fed, cherished, and honored.

You showed us how to walk in love and faith, O Redeemer,
and You have made each of us precious in your sight:
may we therefore extend the bounds of our compassion
to love and protect each other in truth and in action.

May we remember that in all we do,
we are your representatives in the world:
your voice of forgiveness and reconciliation,
your healing hands among all in need,
your compassionate embrace of all who feel broken or lost.

Led by your example, Lord Christ,
and anointed by the Spirit,
may we take up our lives' true work:
to worship God in unswerving faithfulness,
standing in unity with all creation,
tearing down the edifices of injustice and oppression,
serving the weakest and most vulnerable among us
just as you laid down your life in ransom for all.

Fed and nourished at your abundant table, O Savior,
we ask your blessing and guidance as we walk in your Way,
and ask your protection upon those for whom we pray.

Amen.

Prayer 1887: Wednesday of Holy Week

Blessed Redeemer, abounding in mercy,
lift me up by your love,
that I may sing your praises from the depths of my heart.

Draw me deeper into the mystery of your grace, O Holy One,
for my soul longs for You.
Search me out and rescue me when I have gone astray,
for You are my Hope and my Shield.
May your Word be a lamp unto my feet,
and your grace a guide to my heart.

Hear me when I call to You,
and pull me from the shifting sands,
for You are ever tender in your care.
Give me a zeal to serve You by serving your gospel,
and a heart to love others as I love myself.

Loving One, be our companion in the way today, and every day,
and broadcast your blessing and your peace to all who seek You.

Amen.
782- adapted

Photo: birds in formation over the beach at Tambor, Costa Rica.

Prayer 1886: Tuesday of Holy Week

We bow before you, Lord Christ,
grateful for your mercy and loving kindness,
brought within the enclosure of your grace.

Gather us together as your priestly people,
consecrated by the Holy Spirit,
that we may rededicate ourselves to your gospel of reconciliation,
turning aside from all that is evil. 

Renew the strength of our hearts, O God,
that we may center ourselves in compassion,
embodying your healing presence in the world, O Savior.

We lift our prayers to you, O Holy One,
and ask your blessing upon these beloveds.

Amen.

Prayer 1885: Monday of Holy Week

O God, Almighty and Merciful One,
Guardian of Our Souls,
we ask your grace to rest upon us
as we turn our faces toward the Pascal feast.

May our faith deepen as we contemplate the cross,
and may we be made worthy
to claim the name of Christ as our own.

May we die to sin
and be born again into the hope of resurrection,
seeking reconciliation and renewal with all creation.

Lord Jesus, may we invite you deeper into our hearts today,
and dedicate ourselves to embodying your healing presence.

Holy Trinity, grant us peace
through the embrace of justice and mercy;
and envelop within your care all whom we now remember.

Amen.

Prayer 1884: For Palm Sunday

Lord Jesus Christ,
we gather together to praise your Name
with a glad shout of hope:
accept our prayers and praises as we worship you in unity.

Make us worthy disciples
to follow your way of loving, compassionate sacrifice, Lord,
that we may embody your example in the world.
May we serve You and each other, O God,
with humility and joy, grateful for all You have done for us.
Anoint us by your Holy Spirit
with wisdom and grace
that we may work for the reconciliation of the world.

Holy One, shine the light of your countenance upon us,
and all those for whom we pray.

Amen.


Photo: A view of the Pacific, framed by palm leaves.

Prayer 1883: For the March for Our Lives

O God, our Refuge and our Strength,
our Shield and our Redeemer:
We raise our voices to you,
grateful for your love
which has guarded us through the night.

Strengthen our resolve to work for peace,
and our determination to resist the forces of violence and death
that profit from division.
Our trust is in You, O Holy One,
who has called us to unity in the name of right,
upheld by the love You implanted in us.

Grant us courage and eloquence
against the power of the lie,
and against the ravening jackals who feed on fear,
that we may live in justice, security, and abundance.

Lord Jesus, You have called us into communion with each other:
let us live fully into your commandments
to love each other and love God
with our entire being.

Holy One, we give You thanks
for the children who lead us into hope,
and remind us to look for your divine image in everyone we encounter.
We ask also that you envelop within your loving care
all those whose needs we bring before You.

Amen.


Photo: Lenten crosses decorate the entryways of homes all throughout Costa Rica. I thought about the symboliss of this image as I was unable to participate in one of the Marches for Our Lives taking place all ove the US.

Prayer 1882

God of Glory, God of Grace,
You envelop us in arms of mercy:
We lift our hearts to you,
filled with thankfulness and praise.

Anoint us
with the power of the Holy Spirit
that we may walk in your light today,
turning aside from sin and selfish pride.

Grant us the wisdom to obey your commandments,
that we may live fully into our new life in Christ.
Lord, draw your protection over those we now name.

Amen. 

Photo: A double rainbow in the Cloud Forest at Monteverde, Costa Rica.

Prayer 1881

A song of wonder rises within our hearts
as we behold the works of your hand, O Creator:
May our prayers rise to you on the breath of morning.

Your love, O Lord, is as vast as the heavens,
yet we have sinned and strayed in willfulness and pride:
forgive, O Merciful One, forgive.

Grant us wisdom to discern your loving will in our lives,
that we may hold fast to your truth.

Gather within your embrace
all who call out in fear, sorrow, or pain,
and extend the awning of your blessing
over those we now name, as we humbly pray.

Amen.


Photo: A father and son walk along the beach in Tambor, Costa Rica, at dawn.

Prayer 1880

All creation bears your beauty,
Lord God of Hosts,
yet even the sparrow is upheld by your hand:
therefore we pray to You in awe,
praising your loving kindness.

Open our hearts,
and inscribe your love upon them, Blessed Jesus;
heal and purify us of fear and division,
that we may love each other with generous spirits.

Shepherd us in paths of justice and peace,
O Lover of Our Souls,
that we may love each other as You love us,
embodying your wisdom and shalom.

Grant us the will to serve You, Holy One,
and consecrate us by your Holy Spirit
to be holy and compassionate,
loving and true as your disciples.
Lord, we place ourselves within your hands,
and ask your blessing on those for whom we pray.

Amen.

Photo: A heron rises from the estuary near the Barcelo Tambor resort in Costa Rica.

Prayer, day 1879

Almighty God, Ruler of the Universe,
we come before You in gratitude for our many blessings,
redeemed by love and mercy.
Holy One, forgive us our sins,
and give us courage to turn away from evil, fear, hatred, and discord,
to serve your will in all things.
Give us wisdom to turn to You, Lord Christ, when we falter,
and remember You are with us always, living and true, calling to us in love.
Spirit of Truth, dwell within us,
that we may serve the One who gave his life as ransom for many.

Precious Savior, hold us in the hollow of your hand, and bless and keep those for whom we pray.

Amen.
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Prayer 1878

Most Merciful God,
morning spreads its beauty before us
as the earth awakens from its winter slumber,
as we marvel at the wondrous works of your hands
and your blessing of us with creation.

May we pull back the veil of our hearts,
and turn to true repentance for our sins,
that we may return to following Jesus,
our true advocate, Savior, and guide.
May we make our hearts a temple of your grace, O God,
and a holy habitation for Christ,
empowered by your Holy Spirit.

Hear the humble prayers of your people,
as we bring before You the cares and needs of your beloved children,
for we all stand in need of your comfort and strength.

Amen.

Prayer 1877: Fifth Sunday in Lent

Most Merciful God,
we join hands and hearts at your altar today
worshipping you in awe,
placing our lives in your hands.
Plant your love within our hearts, O Eternal Light,
that we may walk in charity and compassion all our days.
Help us to shed our hardness of heart, Lord,
and reject the ways of selfish pride,
remembering that you abide in us,
calling us to kindness and compassion.
Let us follow our Savior, who laid down his life for us,
and lift high the cross we are called to carry
as witnesses and children of God's mercy.
Blessed Jesus, sanctify and purify us,
that we may serve you in peace,
and press the kiss of your blessing upon those we now name.

Amen.

Photo: A Mom helps her little one tie a knot in a strand on a prayer quilt at Christ Church Cathedral. Recipients of prayer quilts then see and touch a token of the prayers being offered for them.

Prayer, day 1876: On St. Patrick's Day

(based on a prayer of St. Patrick)
Blessed Savior,
You are our armor in times of trouble:
hear our prayer.
Awaken in us a desire to love and praise You,
for You are our companion
in times of joy and in times of trouble. 

Guide us by your Strength, O God,
and preserve us by your Power,
that we may always walk before You. 
Instruct us by your Wisdom,
and protect us by your mighty Hand
as we seek to be your disciples. 
Direct us by your Way,
defend us by your Shield,
and send your angels to guard us night and day. 

Be with us,
before us, and in us, Holy Spirit,
and send us out with a zeal to serve You
with our whole heart. 

Fill us with a Holy Fire
to embody your gospel of love and forgiveness to friend and foe,
and place your blessing upon those we now name.

Amen.
1514, adapted from 785

Prayer 1875: Rooted in Love

Almighty God,
Creator and Sustainer of All Life,
we worship you and extol your wonders,
seeking our path within your mercy and grace.

Lead us into deeper wisdom, O Holy One,
that we may speak with love
as the spring and fount for all our words,
and the source of all their power.
Lord Christ, you reminded us that true courage
starts with the power of the heart--
to act from love,
the greatest of all your gifts.

Whatever knowledge, discernment, or faith we have,
guide us, O Christ,
to ground our gain in love,
that we may live for others,
and take up our lives to be shared with each other,
bought and consecrated as they have been by your love.

Lord, make us holy and steadfast in all our striving,
to live lives worthy of being called your children,
ransomed and delivered as we are
by love's restoring power.

Spread the table of your mercy and blessing before us,
and anoint us to take up our love today,
empowered by the Holy Spirit.
Comfort all those searching for peace,
soothe the sorrowing or afflicted,
and send your angels to guard and protect those beloveds we now name,

Amen.


Inspired by the daily office reading of 1 Corinthians 12:27-13:3.

Image: Wildflower and beetle, Osage Forest of Peace, Sand Springs, OK.

Prayer 1874: Living into Christ

Beloved Savior, we come before you
seeking your grace and compassion this day:
we long for the weight of your hand upon us
as we seek to live into your witness of reconciliation.

Awaken us to your presence within us, Lord Christ,
that we remember that in your incarnation,
you remind us of our true nature and work:
to heal the sick
to stand alongside the oppressed
to reconcile the lost
to honor the least of these
to walk humbly and ever closer with our God.

Blessed Jesus, you taught us to pray and to listen,
to embody wisdom, peace, and virtue,
breathing forgiveness and mercy
in the renewal of life, holiness, and hope for all:
Today, may we set our feet firmly in this pilgrim path.

Bless and strengthen us in determination, O Messiah,
as we seek to emobdy your light and truth,
and in your compassion pour out your comfort
upon those whose needs we bring before you.

Amen.

Prayer 1873: For courage and perseverance

Most Merciful God,
we thank you for bringing us together this day:
anoint us with the power of your Spirit,
and fill us with your light,
that we may do the work you have given us to do
and walk in wisdom and grace.

Lord, strengthen us to persevere in faith and love,
led by your gospel to be resolute and unyielding
in resisting the forces of evil, terror, and carnage.
Almighty One, make us bold to reclaim our power
to shape our communities
by the precepts of peace, justice, lovingkindness, and virtue.
Led by your Word, O Creator,
let us work together for the common good,
creating the Beloved Community you have called us to be,
where all enjoy the blessings of ease, contentment, and security.

Blessed Savior, draw within your merciful embrace
all who weep and grieve this day,
and grant your healing to those
whose bodies, minds, or spirits have been wounded by violence.
Holy One, stretch forth your hand that we may take it,
and draw within your protection all those for whom we pray.

Amen.

Image: 7,000 pairs of shoes were placed as a memorial on Capitol Hill on March 13, 2018, in remembrance of the more than 7,000 children who have been killed by guns since the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Connecticut on December 14, 2012. Photo by Paul Morigi for AP Images and Avaaz, the organization that installed the memorial. Today, March 14, 2018, marks one month since 17 were killed and scores wounded at the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, FL.

Prayer 1872

Almighty God,
we thank You for sheltering us through the night,
and watching over us with a love that never fades:
accept our prayers and praises,
and guide us in holiness this day.

Blessed Savior, you fed the multitudes in the wilderness:
likewise, you sustain us and nourish us
with the sweetness of your commandments,
which melt on the tongue like honey,
and revive and restore our souls.
May we follow in your path of compassion and healing today, Lord Christ,
and seek reconciliation and justice,
rooted in your abundant mercy living in our hearts.

We find our center within the shelter of your embrace,
O Blessed Trinity,
O Creating, Redeeming, Life-Giving One.
Consecrate us, O Holy Spirit,
as faithful witnesses to God's abundance
in all our journeys today.
Shine the light of your countenance, O Holy One,
upon all who call upon you in joy or trouble.

Amen.


Inspired by today's Daily Office reading from Mark 8:1-10.

Image: Spiral Galaxy from the Hubble Telescope.

Prayer 1871: Prayer of Confession

Holy, Holy, Holy Lord,
Creator, Sustainer, Redeemer,
we humbly stand before you,
seeking your will in our lives.

We confess our willfulness and stubborn waywardness;
our plundering of the vulnerable and defilement of creation
without concern for the damage inflicted.
Forgive, forgive, forgive, O Merciful God:
lead us to repentance,
away from our embrace of death, greed, and destruction.

Hollow out and purify our hearts
that they may be filled to overflowing
with your divine compassion and healing, Lord Christ,
living in the knowledge of your presence and grace.

Pour out upon us the abundance of your peace,
and give us the wisdom to choose love and mercy
as our crown and our shield.
Grant, we beseech You,
your unfailing comfort and strength to those we now name.

Amen.

Photo: Suspended in Ice, Creve Coeur Lake

So Loved: Sermon for the Fourth Sunday in Lent, Year B

We are here today to talk about blessings.

It may be hard to think about blessings on the day that Daylight Savings Time starts, when we’ve all been deprived of an hour of sleep, but here we are, we the proud, the brave, we who are planning on a nap later on today.

Last week we heard Jesus compare his body to the Temple, and we were reminded that God blessed and sanctified us in our bodies, too. In taking on our flesh, our human life, God continues to tear down the walls WE build to separate ourselves from God, and to remind us that God lives and loves within each of us right now, and through Jesus God keeps reaching over those walls and pulling us all over the top and never giving up on us.

In today’s readings, we hear about the blessings of light, of healing, and especially of love.

Light and darkness are important signs or symbols in John’s gospel, which makes sense, because they are important symbols to us. Our gospel today starts in the middle of Jesus’s conversation in the middle of the night, in the darkness, with a Pharisee named Nicodemus. Nicodemus comes in the night also because he lacks true understanding of who Jesus is, but at least he is straining toward the light. When Nicodemus first approaches Jesus, in verses we don’t get to hear to help us understand the context, it is clear that Nicodemus is drawn to Jesus. Nicodemus is beginning to be drawn to the light of Christ, for at that start of chapter 3, he states: “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who is coming from God; for no one can do these signs that you do apart from the presence of God.”

As a Pharisee and yet a seeker, Nicodemus is a man torn between two worlds, just as the church members in Ephesus were, and frankly much like many of us are. He recognizes the delicate situation he is in. Following Jesus will probably cost him everything that has been important to him thus far in life, including his reputation and position within society. And Jesus doesn’t make it easy for him, speaking and what must’ve seemed like riddles, as Jesus is prone to do throughout much of the Gospel of John, in particular. It must have been a long, humbling night for Nicodemus.

Yet thinking about being born to a new life in Christ is a fruitful metaphor. We are born with an abiding hunger for connection, and for meaning even from the time we are infants. Babies want to be embraced, and they want to be fed. God helps this along by making babies helpless and also adorable, which goes a long way toward making up for the smell. With our poor eyesight, as infants experience the world as infants mostly through out hearts, and our bellies. Babies get anxious when either of these are not full—and I am persuaded that frankly, those feelings of hunger, especially spiritual hunger, remains one of the driving forces in our lives—one that we ignore or misuse at our peril. 

Nicodemus feels a spiritual hunger, and rather than ignore it, he sets out to try to find what would fill it. And so, he is drawn to the light of Jesus. I wonder if many of us don’t identify with Nicodemus’s hunger, with his search for understanding that will lead to peace? It’s what we all want. Yet, another truth about sudden bursts of understanding is that they change you. They open you up in ways you hadn’t anticipated. And the knowledge Nicodemus and all of us are being asked to take hold of promises nothing less than to change the entire orientation of our lives, from inward to outward. We are being asked to embrace Jesus as our Savior, as the source of life—right now.

Our hunger for God within us brings us to this point, and calls us to repentance, to change. That change is scary. It means letting go of the familiar. But what will we gain?

How is a Christian’s life changed when he or she embraces Jesus as Savior? In our epistle, Paul states here that it is the difference between death… and life. We are asked to embrace our brokenness, and allow the light of Christ to wash over it. Paul equates sin with death and that can scare us as only Paul can—he’s really good at it. But when we are weighed down in a life of sin, we are dead to all the beauty of the world, and dead to living a life of love and faithfulness to something outside ourselves. And that means being honest about our own sinfulness, both individually and collectively.

As famed preacher Barbara Brown Taylor has noted, “We spend a lot of time in the Christian church talking about God’s love for sinners, but we sure do go to a lot of trouble not to be mistaken for one of them…. When we confess our sins here, we do not simply confess our own personal sins. We kneel and talk to God about the sins of all humankind—all the things we, as people, have done and failed to do, all the ways we have fled from the love of God because we are afraid to be seen, known, and changed.”

We are afraid to be seen.
We are afraid to be known.
We are afraid, especially, to be changed.

Yet all our fear aside, we ARE seen by God. We are known by God. Psalm 139 beautifully reminds us of this when it begins, “Lord you have searched me out and known me!” and goes on to recount God’s intimate love and intimacy with each of us. It’s the change thing that requires our active engagement. To fully step into the light of Jesus, we need to leave behind those things that tie us to darkness, and that, in the end, don’t nourish us.

Too often we concentrate on how we are separate from others, and fearfully seek to protect ourselves against the perceived threats that others may pose to us through competition in seeking to fulfill their OWN desires. This, to me, seems to be the ultimate crisis in our modern western society. For every passage like this, Paul also usually provides another passage reminding us that we are part of the Body of Christ and thus part of each other (such as 1 Corinthians 12-13). When we look at THOSE passages, we are reminded that the gospel of Christ is one of abundance: abundant mercy, abundant grace abundant kindness, and abundant healing. And that abundance is found within community, not against it.

As both our gospel and epistle attest, Christians are saved by faith and through grace, given to us by God’s immense love for us. We have not done anything to earn this salvation from death to life. And yet, Paul’s words attest to the abundance of God’s love—abundant beyond our imagining, especially. Listen to the words again! The description of God in our epistle is borne out in our gospel today. Paul states that “God is rich in mercy,” bearing us “great love” as we benefit from the “riches of his grace,” --even when we have completely rejected calls to repentance.

And here we see the blessing of healing that runs through all our readings, as well. Living as one of us, and dying as one of us, Christ in particular can reach into the shattered places in our spirits, and restore us from the shadow world in which we have lived into newness of life. Sometimes those wounds we bear were inflicted on us. Yet, other times, our own choices have wounded us. But God is always there.

Our psalm reminds us that God hears our cries in trouble, and reaches out to heal us. Sometimes, when we consider the pain our choices have brought ourselves and others, we cannot believe that God loves us that much. Yet our gospel addresses this too, in probably one of the most quoted verses of all time.

John 3:16 is probably one of the most quoted verses in all of scripture, but it is also an important link that holds together all of today’s readings. God’s gift of Jesus to the world, as God’s son, can draw those who truly see Jesus’s light to a life with God if they believe in Jesus—only through faith (vv. 16-17). Yet that same verse can be misused, and can become a magic talisman—kind of like that serpent on a pole in our first reading, which eventually was destroyed hundreds of years later, because the people had started worshiping it instead of seeing it as a reminder of when they had once again responded to God’s love with muttering.

One of my personal, petty frustrations is the commercial that sometimes come on TV with this goateed, jeans-wearing preacher intoning that, if you feel lost, all you have to do is pray something similar to the sentiment in John 3:16, and you shall be saved. And then presumably go about your business, having checked off that box to keep your soul from hell, but the implication is that nothing else is required. Our readings from Paul and from our gospel specifically make clear that merely stating a formula is NOT enough.

Too often, people use John 3:16 to talk about condemnation, or worse, to put off accepting God’s main blessing for us. Too often, people use it to focus on the afterlife, rather than talking about our lives right now. And that’s not the case: the English teacher in me wants to point out that Jesus is talking in the present tense.

Eternal life is within us right now. We don’t have to wait for it. But we do have to allow it to take root in our hearts and change us. The problem with the usual use of verse 16 is this: It reduces being a Christian to the fulfillment of a formula, and leaves out repentance and discipleship. That’s why John 3:17 must also be included to complete the thought: “Indeed, God did not send God’s Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.” Jesus then again identifies himself with light—light that enables us to see, and choose the path of salvation—not salvation in some distant time in the future, not eternal life some distant time in the future, but salvation—starting right now, right where we are.

That change leads us to this wonderful knowledge: that God’s presence is within us. We are called to open ourselves to that knowledge, acknowledging that we need God’s healing presence in our lives, and allowing that healing to work within us to change us. It means taking seriously the amazing gift of God’s love for us, as flawed and worn down as we can sometimes be, and let that light of that love pour over us. 

Eternal life starts right now. It starts with understanding ourselves as living—right now-- in the presence of God. Right where we are. God loved us in this way, that God gave us God’s only Son. And why? So that NO ONE feels hungry, or empty, or lost—so that everyone can have a whole and lasting life. That Son didn’t come into the world to condemn us, but to save us, and remind us of who we are: Beloveds of a God who loves us and longs for us so much that God continually reaches out to us, asking us to align ourselves with God’s economy of abundance, grace, and peace.

We are Beloved of God.

And as God’s Beloveds, we are called to bear God’s light into the world.

Amen.

Readings:

Numbers 21:4-9

Psalm 107:1-3, 17-22 

Ephesians 2:1-10

John 3:14-21

Notes:
(1) Barbara Brown Taylor, in “The River of Life,” in Home By Another Way, 36.

Images:
(1) Crijn Hendricks (1616-1645), Jesus and Nicodemus, from wikimedia.
(2) A random sports fan holds up the ubiquitous John 3:16 sign at a sporting event.
(3) Welcoming Jesus, statue at Mission de Carmel, California. Photo by Leslie Scoopmire



Preached at Church of the Transfiguration, Lake St. Louis, MO, on March 11, 2018 at 8:00 and 10:15 am.