Prayer, day 2674

Lord, we are your children:
accept our prayers and praises
as we lift them before you.

Spirit of Life and Light,
move over our hearts and our souls
as you moved over the waters of creation.
Blessed Jesus,
trace a message of love upon us with your fingertips,
inscribe upon us the gospel of love,
that all who sees us know the beauty of You.

May we let your love heal us,
may we relax into the embrace of your Eternal Compassion,
grateful and content like a child sleeping
on her mother’s shoulder.

Protect all those in the path of storms,
those that rampage within and without,
and gather beneath your sheltering wing
all those for whom we pray.

Amen.

Prayer, day 2673

Let all creation sing a song of praise to you, O Love Divine,
for we depend upon your mercy.

Give us discerning hearts, Merciful God,
to do your will in our lives today,
for we are your hands in the world.
Imbue us with the energy we need
to meet today's challenges,
for we know that you are the source of all power.
Blessed Savior, govern our hearts and minds
and help us to persevere,
just as you never give up on us
even when we stumble.

Guide, guard, and protect those for whom we pray this day.

Amen.

Prayer, day 2672: For Ascension Day

(For Ascension Day)
Blessed Lord Jesus,
you are our Shepherd and Savior:
remember all those for whom
you lived and died and rose again.

Help us to spread your message
of love, service, sanctity, and compassion
throughout the world
by our words and our deeds.
Help us to be a testimony to justice and peace,
and bind us together
in the name of love, amity, and charity.

Send the Holy Spirit to empower us
to serve the weak and outcast
and to make disciples of all who seek you.

Through your example, let us unfailingly act
with love and mercy,
even to those who set themselves against us.
Let us always be witnesses to your truth,
and servants of your truth.

Lifting our eyes to heaven,
where you are enthroned in glory,
we lift our prayers and petitions before You, Lord Christ,
especially for those we now name.

Amen.

Prayer, day 2671

Let us bow before the Lord of Life,
with gladness and joyfulness of heart:
Alleluia!

We know that no power 
in heaven or on Earth
can separate us from your love, O Holy One:
your grace is everlasting.

Lord Christ,
forgive us our failures of heart;
strengthen us to love fully,
each breath a prayer,
each footstep a step toward holiness.

Make us a joyful, loving people,
that your glory in the world be revealed
in the compassion and care we have for all living things.

Let us seek reconciliation
over vengeance and enmity,
following the example of our Savior Jesus
as loving disciples.

Lift us up, Blessed Lord,
hold us within the hollow of your heart:
for your mercy is wide as the sea.

We lift up our loved ones,
our thanksgivings and our concerns, O God:
bless and keep them as we pray.

Amen.

Prayer, day 2669

(Inspired by Psalm 30)
In the midst of struggle and heartbreak, O God,
you abide with us,
and set your kiss upon our hearts.

The Holy One lifts us up
and calls us to strength and courage,
for your faithful love is neverending,
O Savior and Redeemer,
who shares our joy as well as our pain.

You, O Merciful, Life-giving One,
are our sanctuary and our home;
make us true disciples,
aflame with your love
and filled with your Holy Spirit.

May we set out from your altars
rededicated to embodying your peace and justice,
and bearing your light to all corners of the world.

Sealed by your promise of mercy, Lord Christ,
we ask your blessing
as we dedicate ourselves to your Way.
Gather within your embrace
all who call out to you,
and grant your peace to those whom we lift before you

Prayer 2668

Most Merciful One,
we lift our hearts to You in joy
and sing out our praise:
gather us within the bounds of your mercy,
and center our hearts on You, we pray.

May we live lives worthy of you, O God,
and let our lives testify
to the beauty of your love,
active and healing
in the shattered places of the world.

May we let the Spirit lead us
into faithfulness, integrity, and hope,
that we may generously proclaim the year of Jubilee
against the forces of division and oppression.

Make us fertile fields
for the seeds of your truth to take root, Lord Christ,
and make us verdant fields,
rejoicing with your abundant grace,
tended tenderly by your healing hand.

Precious Savior, take us by the hand and lead us,
and place the comfort of your blessing
upon all those for whom we pray.

Amen.

Accompanied by Love: Sermon for the Sixth Sunday in Easter A

In 1939, an incredible cinematic masterpiece burst onto movie screens all over America and all over the world. It was called The Wizard of Oz. The story of a simple, orphaned Kansas farm girl named Dorothy who was taken up in an enormous tornado to a land beyond the rainbow enchanted millions. And those millions needed to be enchanted. The entire world was in the grip of the Great Depression. The evils of totalitarianism, militarism, and fascism were sharpening their fangs and claws over much of Europe and Asia.

Transported from her dull gray world to a land of vibrant hues of yellow, red, and green, all Dorothy wanted was to go home—to her familiar life, even if it had been filled with hardship and misunderstanding. It was a longing that resonated with everyone whose lives had been changed by the worldwide economic downturn. Dorothy was Everyone. The story of her adventure offered hope for those suffering under the challenges and trials of that time.

There was promise embedded in this fanciful story. Even as Dorothy longed for home, she also kept and gained friends who accompanied her on her quest to find the person who supposedly had the power to return her to her home. Her little dog represented loyalty. The tin man, the lion, and the scarecrow represented wisdom, courage in the face of fear, and compassion. And they walked alongside her, loyally being willing to lay down their very lives to protect her from danger. Along the way, they defeated a malevolent presence, the wicked witch, and her minions.

Yet what they learned in the end was the most powerful magic of all. Dorothy learned that her power to return home resided within herself all along—she just needed to be strengthened and supported as she embraced her own abilities. She found out she had advocates and companions who championed her when she needed it most. And when she did return home, home seemed more loving and beautiful than she had previously imagined. But it wasn’t that home had changed. It was that Dorothy had been changed—changed by assurance of the steadfast love and companionship of her friends along the way.

Today in our gospel, Jesus too realizes that his disciples are afraid they will be orphaned, abandoned, unable to find their way home. And Jesus offers his followers the assurance that they too, will have an abiding advocate to remain with them always and to lead them to new knowledge about themselves and their abilities to see the world through eyes of hope. That advocate would be a teacher, a comforter, a companion. We know that advocate as the Holy Spirit.

Many of us have a sort of misunderstanding and even possibly aversion to the Holy Spirit. I know I did, growing up in Oklahoma, especially after my mom took me to some charismatic churches. A charismatic church is one that professes to invite speaking in tongues, prophecy, and other so called spiritual gifts. I know that this kind of worship is uplifting for many people. But as a small child, having a lot of adults all around me shouting, screaming, and dropping to the floor in a faint absolutely terrified me. I thought about those “tongues of fire” over the disciples’ heads in the Pentecost scene from Acts, and said a quick “No thank you” to God when it came to the Holy Spirit, at least. And so I spent a large part of my youth afraid of the Holy Spirit, mistakenly believing that the Holy Spirit’s work within a person was more like a possession or invasion and less like cooperation, a sparking of potential, and teaching.

In other words, I wonder if too often we have equated the Holy Spirit with the tornado that carries Dorothy away from all that she knows and loves. Instead, we need to see the Holy Spirit as being like Dorothy's companions on the yellow brick road: loyalty, wisdom, courage, and compassion.

Because that is exactly what Jesus is promising here. And the use of the word “Paraclete” is helpful, for its English translations are gentler, and comforting: Advocate. Comforter. Helper. This holy presence will remain and sustain us after Jesus’s ascension. The gift of the Holy Spirit in our lives reminds us that there is more to Easter than just the empty tomb. That resurrection isn’t just a moment in time but an ongoing reality and promise to us as Christians that eternal life is rooted in the present, not some distant future. And it is always, ALWAYS rooted in love. Love as an action and a force of life, not as a mere emotion.

As noted in the very first verse in our gospel today, Jesus links love and obedience to commandments together; love is the mark of obedience and discipleship. As Galatians 5:22-23 reminds us, the gifts of the Spirit are love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control. The presence of any of these characteristics can be seen as a sign that the spirit of God is present and active in a person or a place. Symbols used in the Bible to depict the Holy Spirit include wind, flame, a dove, pillars of clouds and fire, and, in 1 Kings 19: 12 a “still small voice.”

In fact, that reminder is important. Too often, we think of the flames bursting out over all the disciples’ heads at Pentecost, and of the Spirit seizing control of someone and possessing them, like when we’ve seen depictions of people speaking in tongues. And so we fear the Holy Spirit—its power, its unpredictability from images like those.

But the gifts of the Spirit are all gifts that comfort rather than frighten or threaten a loss of control and independence. These are gifts which call us even deeper into ourselves, so that we may be empowered to continued Jesus’s work in the world. It is the Spirit that empowers Paul to give his great sermon at Athens that we heard in our first reading. It is the Spirit that gives him the wisdom to appeal to them not through castigating them or trying to frighten them. Paul knows he is in the center of learning and reason in the entire known world.

We have a lot in common with those Greeks. We worship all kinds of things— power, money, beauty, youth, celebrity being the most common in our culture. We see each one of these things as a highly desirable commodity, often one we are willing to risk our very lives or souls to obtain, when really they are a responsibility. And frankly that is our greatest challenge in this time of pandemic. We are hearing too much about people proclaiming, angrily and sometimes violently, their rights. And yet each right comes with an equally compelling responsibility—otherwise, chaos and destruction ensue. 

How can we recover the sense of community necessary for our mutual flourishing in this time of pandemic? What if we circled back to those gifts of the spirit again? 

What if we resolves to be motivated not by anger, ignorance, and self-defeating self-interest, but instead by

Love
Joy
Peace
Patience
Kindness
Goodness
Faithfulness
Gentleness
Self-control

Think of those gifts as filters and checks on the selfishness of those who insist in their rights regardless of the impact those rights have on others. We must meet the challenges of this time not with fear, resentment, anger, or lashing out. Instead, imagine how our world could change, even beyond the challenge of this pandemic, if instead, we rooted all our actions in love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control.

We have an opportunity right now to examine the parts of our lives before this pandemic that didn’t work, and dedicate ourselves to making our society better. Times of upheaval can be times of blessing if we use them to critically examine places where we were told we had to accept the inequalities and injustices of the times in which we lived as the cost for our own comfort. And that is okay to some people so long as it is other people who are suffering. But Jesus calls us to stand for true justice and peace for all. Jesus calls us to be an advocate for those who have no voice.

That’s why “Paraclete” may be a good synonym for us to get used to using when we talk about the Holy Spirit. The literal meaning of Paraclete is itself comforting—para means “alongside” and kaletos mean “to call.” In other words, the Paraclete is a tangible reminder of a leader who walks alongside us in empathy, in support, in sharing all our burdens—and who strengthens us to be able to be advocates and strengtheners for others, too. The leadership exhibited by Jesus and reinforced by the Holy Spirit is non-hierarchical. It’s balanced and compassionate. When have we ever needed such a model more than in a time such as this?

Jesus promises us an Advocate in the Paraclete—but other meanings of the word include Counselor or Helper. In the other mentions of the Paraclete in the Farewell Discourse, Jesus further defines the functions of the Holy Spirit to include teaching, reminding, abiding, and testifying to the truth of Jesus. The Paraclete is also not the property of an individual, but is sent to continue creating community. This is why the Church is mentioned in the section of the Nicene Creed that deals with the Holy Spirit.

God knows, many of us wouldn’t turn down the offer of an advocate to promote our cause, especially in times such as this. And to make sure we feel comfortable with the advocacy being offered, we are reminded that the Holy Spirit is ANOTHER Advocate to abide with us—the first Advocate is Jesus.

In our gospel today, one of the most touching things Jesus says about the Spirit is that she is sent to us so that we would not imagine ourselves abandoned, or more pointedly, as orphans. Any of us and those around us are struggling with that feeling right now. Those are important words for those of us living 2000 years after Jesus’s physical and historical life ended even in the best of times—and this time of uncertainty and fear only strengthens our tendency to lose faith in the love of God when times are in crisis. The Spirit is a powerful way we experience God’s presence, especially in times of turmoil or uncertainty—in other words, right now in the midst of this ongoing pandemic.

Jesus’s words in our gospel today speak to us precious comfort as we, just like those disciples, hang suspended between real and imagined and dreaded losses. That’s why we need to hear that God is always accompanying us—especially in times of fear and anxiety. We need to remember that Jesus is God’s way, truth, and life, as we heard proclaimed last week—especially in this time when some people profit off of truth-denial and fear-mongering. Instead, the Holy Spirit gives her powerful witness to a leadership model that does not seek to enforce the leader’s will, but walks alongside others in love, compassion, and empathy.

This is a time for us to call the Holy Spirit alongside us and lead us into wisdom, courage, and compassion. Not just for our own sakes, but for the sake of each and every person whose life we may inadvertently touch. In welcoming the life-giving power of the Spirit into our lives, we, like Dorothy, can be empowered to fight the forces of fear and greed that endanger all of us, and instead be empowered and encouraged to walk alongside each other—especially those who are vulnerable. 

Come, Holy Spirit. Strengthen us to be people who joyfully bear each other’s burdens, and who proclaim the comfort of truth in the name of love. United in love, we know you can lead us all home.

Amen. 

Preached at the 10:30 service broadcast online on Facebook Live from St. Martin's Church, May 17, 2020.

Readings:
Acts 17:22-31
Psalm 66:7-18
1 Peter 3:13-22
John 14:15-21

Prayer 2667, the Sixth Sunday in Easter: In gratitude for the Paraclete (Inspired by John 14:15-21)

Blessed Jesus, Companion and Savior,
we lift our hearts to you in worship:
may we center our lives on your commandment
to love one another as you love us.

We thank you, Almighty One,
for seeing us the Paraclete,
the Advocate,
so that we would continue to know you,
and know that you intercede for us
in all our trials and anxieties.

May we welcome the Holy Spirit into our lives,
and welcome the sweets and fruits of her presence:
love,
joy,
peace,
patience,
kindness,
goodness,
faithfulness,
gentleness,
and self control.

May we open our spirits and our minds
to hear You, O Living God,
still speaking to us through the Spirit,
to your ongoing revelation and creation
in the universe and within our hearts.

Lead us, O Spirit of Truth,
and deepen our knowledge of the Way of Love.
Grant your comfort to all who seek You, O God,
and extend the wings of your mercy over your children
who turn to you for strength and aid.

Amen.

Prayer, day 2666

We rise to center our life within You, Most Holy One:
let us kindle a song of praise within our souls,
and gather together in prayer and and faithfulness.

Plant our spirits firmly with the garden of your grace, O God,
that our roots may go deep in hope,
and we may stand upright in the company of the faithful,
nourished by your Word.
You lift up our heads when they are bowed down, Lord Christ,
and answer us from your dwelling-place
within our deepest heart.

May we embrace each other as You have embraced us,
O Shepherd of Our Souls,
and serve each other with grateful and humble hearts.

Spirit of the Living God,
pour out the power of love within us
and consecrate us to witness boldly
to your wisdom and truth.
Make your countenance to shine upon on, O Lord,
and grant your blessing and protection to those we remember before You.

Amen.

Prayer, day 2665: Inspired by the Beatitudes in Matthew

(inspired by Matthew 5:1-10)
O God, You bless us in every moment, and uphold us by the strength of your Love: hear our prayer, for our hope is in You.
Bless those who work as your servants, for they have fixed their hearts upon salvation in each moment.
Bless those who are gentle and kind, for they draw others to You through their witness.
Bless those who hunger for a just society, for they seek to build the kingdom of God.
Bless those who demonstrate mercy and forgiveness, for they live out a life of Love and Charity.
Bless those who are innocent and childlike, for their hearts are always open to You.
Bless those who spread peace in their wake, for they call us to live as better people and children of your household.
Bless those who suffer for their faith, for their resolve will never be shaken.
Bless those who cry out to You, for they know that God will fulfill all their needs.

Amen. 

Safe Upon the Rock: Speaking to the Soul, May 14, 2020

In this morning’s daily office, we hear these petitions and hopes from Psalm 71:

1 In you, O LORD, have I taken refuge; *
let me never be ashamed.
2 In your righteousness, deliver me and set me free; *
incline your ear to me and save me.
3 Be my strong rock, a castle to keep me safe; *
you are my crag and my stronghold.
4 Deliver me, my God, from the hand of the wicked, *
from the clutches of the evildoer and the oppressor.
5 For you are my hope, O Lord GOD, *
my confidence since I was young.
6 I have been sustained by you ever since I was born;
from my mother’s womb you have been my strength; *
my praise shall be always of you.

There have been many times when I have read these words aloud over beloved ones lying sick, at home or in hospital rooms. But this week they had new resonance for me. Today we hear those words just after the close of International Nurse’s Week, which runs every year from May 8-12. This year, International Nurse’s Week ends on the 200^thanniversary of the birth of Florence Nightingale, the great pioneer whose dedication and example not only helped elevate the field of nursing in the western imagination but also who helped professionalize the practice of modern nursing and public sanitation. 

Ms. Nightingale’s bravery in being willing to be deployed to the heart of the conflict in the Crimean War of 1853-1856 brought her large-scale adulation. Yet her emphasis on nursing not only as a emphasis on sanitation but on caring for the emotional and spiritual needs of her patients is what made her work and example truly legendary. Her tireless dedication to her patients gave her the nickname “the Angel of the Crimea,” as she not only revolutionized the standards of cleanliness in hospitals , but even organized libraries  and classrooms for patients who were not simply abandoned to lie in their own misery under her and her nurses’ care.

In this time of pandemic, nurses and other front-line workers are likewise being lauded as heroes for their bravery and steadfastness in tending to the ill, especially those infected with COVID-19, and rightly so. But, as we are reminded in reports from the front line such as this one from PBS, nurses are often the mainstays of spiritual care at the end of life, more now than ever when family, chaplains, and clergy are usually forbidden to be physically present with the ill. It is their resolute presence and faithfulness that breaks through our own feelings of helplessness and bleakness in the face of this worldwide crisis- fearless even when they lack the protective gear they need

As I personally witnessed a few weeks ago when one of my own parishioners lay gravely ill in an isolated ICU, nurses are often ones holding phones and tablets up to patients’ ears so that their loved ones can speak to them, sometimes for the final time. It is nurses and nurses’ aides who hold patient’s hands even when all treatments have been exhausted, and who stand in the breach for all of us who cannot safely attend to our loved ones in hospitals or nursing care facilities. It is nurses who read emailed cards, prayers, and reassurances from family and friends to the ill lying silent on their ventilators, and it is nurses who personally bear the grief engendered by the spiritual and emotional toil of confronting wave upon wave of desperately ill patients, some of whom had been vigorous and full of life mere days ago.

We call them heroes, and we are right to do so. But we also are called to bear witness to their very real resilience as spiritual warriors, of their strength in embodying that holy love-in-action and fierce protectiveness enshrined in psalms like Psalm 71, and in accepting the responsibility we have to be willing to support their embodiment of  the compassion and empathy of a God who accompanies us in all our anxieties and griefs.

May we make these words not just a prayer of supplication and lament for the ill, but of personal thanksgiving for the caregivers. May we be inspired by their bravery to demand better support and resources for medical staff and patients, breaking down edifices that leverage scarcity for profit in an unholy strategy that in times like these results in avoidable suffering and expanded risk to the most vulnerable and exposed among us. May we honor their sacrifice by doing all that we can to flatten the curve of infection as an act of hopefulness and defiance in the face of fear, in imitation of their own rejection of the concept of “acceptable losses” being put forward in some quarters. 

As we pray these words today, especially in this time of pandemic, may we give thanks for those who serve as spiritual warriors and comforters in the valley of the shadow of death, embodying the indomitable love and steadfastness of God in human form. Their steadfastness affirms the power of life and love in testimony greater than any found in any pulpit, sanctuary, or chancel. It is these nurses and medical staff who make present and real the steadfast love of God drawn from their own inner reserves of empathy and fortitude likewise implanted in them by God for times such as these, holding us all safe upon the rock of resilience. 

This was first published on Episcopal Cafe's Speaking to the Soul on May 14, 2020.

Prayer 2664: Inspired by Matthew 6:25-34

Consider the lilies...

God of Abundance,
to You we sing alleluia!

We praise You, Lord Christ,
as You gather us within the embrace of your mercy,
and shower us with gifts in each moment.

You adorn our lives with beauty,
and gather us tenderly within your love:
may we give back that love to others,
and rejoice at the evidence of your life-giving truth
woven throughout creation.

Help us to remember, O God,
that even storms can bring life,
calling the earth to greening and flourishing
as a sign of your abundant gifts to us.

May we face the cares of this day
with confidence and trust,
knowing that you bestow upon us
all we truly need,
and nourish us by your constant love.

May we hear your call to wisdom and generosity
and turn our lives to the Way of Love,
testifying through our lives
to the glory of your mercy and care,
O Creating and Nurturing One.

Extend the shade of your compassion
over all who turn to You in need or worry,
and envelop within your peace, O God,
all those for whom we pray.

Amen.

Prayer 2663: Inspired by Matthew 6:19-24

O God Our Shepherd,
we praise you with open hearts,
our arms spread wide to receive your light.

May we treasure the lives of others
as much as our own,
cherishing our mutual heritage as your children,
forswearing exploitation and greed
that would cause the suffering of another.

Against the forces of death
and abuse of the powerless
may we ever stand united as your disciples,
seeking justice and integrity
in the name of the love You so freely give, O Most High.

Blessed Jesus,
may we walk in the paths of righteousness and mercy
you laid out before us:
the way of everlasting life, honor, and charity
that alone offers healing in a hurting world.

Merciful God, in your tender compassion
gather us within your generous heart
and strengthen us by your Spirit of Wisdom and Hope
as we pray.

Amen.

Prayer 2662: For Unity

God of the Sparrow, God of the Wren,
God of the Honeybee toiling with purpose
among the blossoming fields,
pitch your tent among us today,
and lead us into holiness, empathy, and truth.

Abiding One,
may we make your wisdom our nourishment;
may we be led by compassion against fear,
and live into unity with each other.
May we bear each other's burden with generous hearts,
and, strengthened by your love and constancy,
resist the death-normalizing ways of fear and faithlessness.

May we care for each other with one accord,
and testify to the power of your hope, O God.

Comfort the weary and strengthen the healers,
O Merciful One,
and grant the blessing of your Spirit
to all who turn to You in supplication,
especially those we now name.

Amen.

Prayer, day 2661

Loving God,
spread the tent of your protection over us today.
Guide us with your loving, almighty hand
that we may walk in your paths with integrity.

We fervently thank you for our abundant blessings:
help us to spend our time numbering them
rather than our worries.

Bring us within your enclosure,
that we may abide with You forever,
rejoicing that we are your own.
Embrace us, Loving One,
despite our manifold faults,
for we seek to be worthy of You.

Let our lives sing out a testimony
of your love and faithfulness,
your compassion and your forgiveness.

Help us to speak in love, never in anger
 help us to act with charity and forthrightness
to all we meet today.

Hear our prayers as we remember these,
your beloved children,
in their petitions, needs, and thanksgivings.

Amen.