2 days ago

**Sunday, June 20, 2021**



*Mark 4: 35-41*

On that day, when evening had come, Jesus said to them,

“Let us go across to the other side.”

And leaving the crowd behind, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was.

Other boats were with him.

A great windstorm arose, and the waves beat into the boat,

so that the boat was already being swamped.

But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion; and they woke him up and said to him,

“Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?”

He woke up and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea,

“Peace! Be still!”

Then the wind ceased, and there was a dead calm.

He said to them,

“Why are you afraid? Have you still no faith?”

And they were filled with great awe and said to one another,

“Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?”

Prayer

Brother Jesus,

let us go to the other side,

Let us step away from the conventional and the expected.

Let us move toward

transformation and transition,

conversion and change.

In these moments of prayer and reflection,

let us set our course toward that which is:

most important,

most meaningful, and

most faithful.



(Silence.)

Crucified One,

storms do arise in our lives.

Waves do crash in our communities.

Winds do rage in our world.

Poverty and pollution persist.

Violation and greed continue.

Racism and homophobia reek havoc.

We pray for the tempests and troubles.

Resurrected One,

we can be afraid,

of disapproval and disappointment,

of rejection and failure,

of illness and death.

Once again, please, wake up.

Rise and rebuke the wind.

Speak to the sea.

Bring the storms in us, and on this planet, to silence.

Centre us in your divine peace.

Ground the globe in your sacred stillness.

(Silence)

Lord of Wind and Wave,

who are you?

You do not let the demons have dominion.

You turn chaos into creation.

You have the authority of the ages,

without power games,

without coercive control,

without elaborate ego and display.

Rather you put faith,

in the vision and way of non-domination and non-violence,

in the realm of God’s good news,

in hope and kin-dom of heaven.

And you do not leave us alone on the peril of the sea.

Praise be.



*Photo by Breno Machado on Unsplash* … See MoreSee Less

1 week ago

Prayers for June 13, 2021
Hope
Mark 4: 26-34
Jesus also said, “The kingdom of God is as if someone would scatter seed on the ground,
and would sleep and rise night and day, and the seed would sprout and grow, they do not know how.
The earth produces of itself, first the stalk, then the head, then the full grain in the head.
But when the grain is ripe, at once they go in with their sickle, because the harvest has come.”
Jesus also said, “With what can we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable will we use for it?
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.”
With many such parables Jesus spoke the word to them, as they were able to hear it;
he did not speak to them except in parables, but he explained everything in private to his disciples.

Prayer
O God, in the midst of the journey,
We try to remember that sometimes the nature of hope is writ large:
Slaves are freed.
Women are persons.
Vaccines are discovered.
Walls are torn down.
Apartheid ends.
Marriage laws become more inclusive.
Bullying is challenged.
And we give thanks.

We try to remember that sometimes the nature of hope is small:
leaven and mustard seeds,
little pearls of kindness and great value,
hidden treasures of beauty,
significant seconds of prophetic courage,
poignant exchanges of grace,
mere, and yet, monumental moments of mystery.
And we give thanks.

O God, in the midst of the journey,
we try to remember that sometimes the nature of hope is persistence:
plodding on despite any evidence of success,
speaking truth to power in spite of indifference,
refusing to succumb to despair and disappointment,
disenfranchisement and discouragement.
And we give thanks.

O God, in the midst of the journey,
we try to remember that sometimes hope has a future component:
naming possibilities,
assessing opportunities,
dreaming large.
And we give thanks.

O God, in the midst of the journey,
we try to remember that sometimes the nature of hope is attitudinal, a present orientation of the heart.
saying yes to life
embracing the adventure
claiming that “the journey is home.”
And we give thanks.

(prayers of thanksgiving and intercession are spoke aloud or offered in silence.)

O God, in the midst of the journey,
help us to hold up a hope that is not
shallow, wishful thinking or unrealistic illusion,
that is not
gloomy resignation or disengaged survival.
Photo by Brigitte Baranyi on Unsplash

Help us to live into Easter and Pentecost.
Help us to embody resurrection and the Spirit’s arrival.
Help us to be the hope we want to see in the world. … See MoreSee Less