Prayer for the Seventh Sunday of Pentecost, July 11, 2021

 God, you rejoice with us in our celebrations and joys. How amazing that you long to give us a joyful, abundant life, so you can join us in it. It’s as if you are dancing in a circle with Christ and the Spirit, inviting us to throw off our insecurity and join you, widening the circle eternally. Or as if a DJ at a wedding, urging all to get up on the dance floor and join in you in those silly but oh so fun group dances.

Keep trying O God, when we instead sit in our chairs, concerned what others may think, or the “propriety” of such unbridled joy. Keep trying O God if we are one who would look at the others and state how unseemly it all is, or childish.

Give us the spirits to live our lives with the same joy as that person who jumps up on the dance floor first, has no rhythm, and dances exuberantly anyway, embracing fully the moment of community and joy.

For that is what you long for all your children, all people- to live exuberantly, with joy, together.

But we find that hard to do at times.

When we allow disagreements to become chasms, then build walls on each side to protect what is ours or “right,” open cracks in them. Create spaces where we can reach through, out to others, so we can listen and really hear what is behind those disagreements. Then lead us in a way to solutions that build community, not tear it apart. We think especially of our political leaders in Washington D.C. and our states.

It’s difficult to rejoice when times are difficult, even painful.  The Pandemic, the recent highlighting of the deep roots of racism in this county, the continuing assault on the environment that you charged us to protect, the protests and shootings: these stifle any inkling to celebrate. Help us embrace those moments of joy that are still there in spite of what is going on. Not so we deny the pain. but so we can join in righting wrongs until all your people have life and have it abundantly together.

At times, the joy you provide is more muted.  A quiet time with a loved one who is sick. Sharing memories with family while looking at pictures after the death of a loved one.  We rejoice in these joys O God, and seek your comfort, presence, and love for all who are experiencing the.

And when we need, bring your solace, your strength into our lives, embrace us so tightly in your love until we can throw off our jacket, and join in your Dance of love.

We lift all these prayers, as well as those of our hearts and spirits, in the name of the One who came to invite us to your Dance, Amen.

Prayer for Sunday July 4, 2021, Sixth Sunday of Pentecost

Holy One, today this nation celebrates the freedoms envisioned in the nation’s founding documents, giving thanks for where they incorporate your wisdom. We celebrate that they include the freedom to recognize where even those words may limit others’ rights. then to repent and change until everyone can live into the vision expressed by the words: “all… are created equal”, and that all have right to life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness. We give thanks that among those ideals is one that reflects the reality of your love- that each voice matters, and that no other human has the right to attempt to push any group aside.

We do not always agree with what those words mean, or how to live them out. Forgive us when in our struggles and disagreements we limit the rights of other, use demonization that degrades any of your children, or resort to violence of words or weapons.

For the freedoms we celebrate as a nation are but a reflection of the liberties you offer all your children, no matter where they live, no matter their national or ethnic identity.  

We rejoice each day that through your reign and ways we can live lives that go beyond mere happiness to abundant joy. For no one can take away the freedom of your love that is open and offered to every person, without label or rank.

The freedom that Jesus embodies, of compassion that seeks the good of people above rules and regulations.

There is the liberty that comes with the recognition of the wonders of your designing us to be interdependent. You lead us to shake off the false narrative that we are left on our own throughout life so we can embrace the joys of shared life with you and with all your children.

You offer us liberation from all that would bind us, be it with actual handcuffs or chains and locked rooms, or if we are held captive by our own fears, hate, or the oppression of others.

And even in times of illness, pain, and grief you free us from the fear that death will have the final word,  or that anything can separate us from your love and care.  For all of this, we offer our humble gratitude and praise.

We lift all these prayers, as well as the unspoken ones of our hearts and spirits, in Jesus’ name. Amen.
 

 Prayer for Fifth Sunday After Pentecost- June 27, 2021

We marvel at how you care for us all O God, always with us, reaching out with love, care, strength- whatever you know we need. All the while you join the cries of those imploring us to live with justice, and for liberation, reconciliation, relief from inequities and outright harm.

And yet we struggle to do even a fraction of the same. We become so self focused on “mine”:  “My goals, my obligations, my commitments”. Do we do this because of fear? pride? Our own hurts? Is that why we hear these cries as intrusions, interruptions, even dangers to our lives.

And yet some of these cries do break through to our ears and into hearts. So this morning we lift those up to you.

Watching the families wait for word about their loved ones in Surfside is agonizing O God, but not as agonizing as for them and for you. Where we can be of service- send us. We pray for miracles, even as we know no matter what comes, you weep with the families, strengthen the search and rescue workers, and prepare others to be of comfort and aid for what lies ahead.

The sentencing of Derek Chauvin this week reopened unhealed wounds from the death of George Floyd, and decadesof racism and oppression. Show us how to be  join you in your work of justice here, not of retribution or revenge  Lead us to join you in your justice which that brings liberation from hate, frees institutions and systems from the vestiges of racism implanted decades and centuries ago, and ultimately brings about reconciliation and community celebrating differences among those of all races.

As Pride month draws to a close we give thanks for the progress for our  LBGTQIA+ siblings that leads more fully to the recognition that who one loves or how one identifies defies labeling by others. Yet we also mourn there are still words, actions, and legislation that seeks to degrade them, limit their lives, otherwise deny their fully dignity and humanity, and at times take the breathe from their bodies.  Forgive us when we fail to act or speak up, to stand with any of our siblings in your family when others would attack them with words, laws, or fists.

We think of those who are hurting in other ways, in body, mind or spirt due to illness, disease or injury. Continue to bring them your peace and strength as well as those to serve as your heart  and hands. 

Comfort those who mourn, blanketing them in your love until they again can glimpse that the future can hold joy, and despair can end even amidst their tears.

 We lift up all these prayers, as well as the unspoken ones of our hearts and spirits, in the name of Jesus. Amen. 

Prayer for 4th Sunday After Pentecost- Father's Day June 20, 2021

 

Gracious God: we sometimes call you Father, for when we are in need of a safe place, a secure place, you are there. As a small child might ask their father to lift them up to feel secure and protected, you hold us close and tight in your love.

You create such an expanse of ways for one to be a father and raise a child that it is impossible to celebrate and pray for each in one prayer. And while it is easy to celebrate fathers who raised their children well and are still with us, this day can be challenging for those with different experiences, where parent and child’s relations is complicated.  So we lift up our prayers of gratitude alongside those for grace and healing in all relationships between a father and child.

We rejoice for Fathers who could their child upon their shoulders so that they see over fences or others at parades when they were young, then share wisdom to help clear their adult child’s vision when challenges block their way. 

Thank you for fathers who will fight for the good of their children, for the right to food, for equality, for life, for housing, for education, for acceptance and for love.  We ask your grace upon the times and those who have been unable to do so.

We give thanks for close parent child relationships, where the memories and times together are good, and life-giving. Yet no relationship is perfect. Fill any mistakes, failures, or unmet expectations with grace for all.

 Days such as this can be harder for those living within strained or broken relationships, or where harm done to one or the other. The celebrations can make the difference between what is and what is hoped for starker, more isolating, or deepen resentments or grief. In those times and spaces, work through your grace and healing. Bring comfort that they are still held in your love. Where it is healthy and possible, may your Spirit weave together these relationships.

Dull the pain this day can bring for those who wanted children but could not have them, and reassure them of their wholeness, their value, and your love.

We think of those who have faced the heartbreak of losing a child at any stage in life.  Bring them a sense of solace and peace as they mourn.

Reassure those whose fathers have died that even though they grieve, they cannot be orphaned from the love of their parent or from your love. 

We give thanks for those who are not our father, but stepped in for a moment, for a season, for a lifetime as if a father to us. 

We give thanks for families where the bond is one of love and not also by DNA, where there are two father, or where mothers take on both roles.

Thank you for being Our Father, and Mother. We pray this in the name of Jesus. Amen.