November 29, 2016 · 3:43 pm

Advent Candle Litanies, 2016

This is my third Advent as a pastor at Central Presbyterian, and I’ve had the joy of writing advent candle litanies every year. I am glad to share this year’s litanies with the church and the world. As the words build and change each week, I pray that they guide you on your journey toward the manger.

First Sunday of Advent:

As we light the Advent candles,

We awaken our spirits to the coming of God.

Remembering the shalom of God,

We light a candle for peace.

In peace we pray, and in peace we sing,

Come, O Come, Emmanuel.

 

Second Sunday of Advent:

As we light the Advent candles,

We awaken our spirits to the coming of God.

Remembering the shalom of God,

We light a candle for peace.

Leaning on the promise of God,

We light a candle for hope.

In hope we pray, and in hope we sing,

Come, O Come, Emmanuel.

 

Third Sunday of Advent:

As we light the Advent candles,

We awaken our spirits to the coming of God.

Remembering the shalom of God,

We light a candle for peace.

Leaning on the promise of God,

We light a candle for hope.

Basking in the presence of God,

We light a candle for love.

In love we pray, and in love we sing,

Come, O Come, Emmanuel.

 

Fourth Sunday of Advent:

As we light the Advent candles,

We awaken our spirits to the coming of God.

Remembering the shalom of God,

We light a candle for peace.

Leaning on the promise of God,

We light a candle for hope.

Basking in the presence of God,

We light a candle for love.

Awaiting the coming of God once more,

We light a candle for joy.

In joy we pray, and in joy we sing,

Come, O Come, Emmanuel.

 

Christmas Eve or Christmas Day:

As we light the Advent candles,

We awaken our spirits to the coming of God.

Remembering the shalom of God,

We light a candle for peace.

Leaning on the promise of God,

We light a candle for hope.

Basking in the presence of God,

We light a candle for love.

Awaiting the coming of God once more,

We light a candle for joy.

Living the Christmas story again,

We light the candle of Christ.

In Christ we pray and in Christ we sing,

Glory to God in the highest!  

Alleluia! Amen.  

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October 25, 2016 · 2:08 pm

Write Songs and Help Us Sing Them: A Prayer for Election Season

 

This prayer was written for worship at Central Presbyterian on October 23. The prayer is inspired and shaped by Luke 18:9-14–an exaggerated parable about the exalted and the humble–and by our current election season–a lived experience that feels like an exaggerated parable.

As you read the prayer, I pray that you feel the words in the core your being, and know that the words as true for you as they were for the tax collector in Luke 18. God is love, and you are beloved.

—

O God of justice and mercy,

We give you thanks:

For your spirit breathing life into the world,

For your Word bringing hope into our hearts.

You alone are God, and we are not alone.

You are Love, and we are beloved.

You are Creator, and we are created.

You are our God, and we are your people.

 

Give us a glimpse of your vision for the world:

Where the humble are exalted,

The exalted are humble,

And mercy flows like water.

 

Motivate us to reflect your love to all we meet:

Even those who we are sure are wrong.

Challenge us to see the good.

Convict us to hold ourselves accountable.

Inspire us to work for your peace and justice.

As we hear the reports on battleground states,

Remind us of people for whom “battleground” means something different.

We pray for your children in Yemen, in Aleppo,

And for the ones seeking refuge around the world.

 

Where there is war, O God, plants seeds of peace,

and help us water them.

Where there is violence, O God, write songs of compassion,

and help us sing them.

Where there is suffering, O God, paint banners of hope,

and help us carry them.

We remember the people in our church family

Who are in special need this day:

(Name your own prayer concerns.)

 

 

Breathe peace, deep peace, O God,

And empower us to care for one another

With a compassion that comes from you.

We join our voices now with the faithful across time and place,

Praying the prayer that Jesus taught us, saying,

Our father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil, for thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever.

Amen.

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July 8, 2016 · 6:28 pm

Call in a Crisis

It is my practice that I am off the grid during vacation, except for pastoral crises.

World, this is a pastoral crisis.

Last Sunday, I preached on Galatians 5. Today, I need to hear the words I preached last week.
There is evil in the world, beloved ones. Be careful not to add to it.
But the spirit of God is working among us, and the fruit of the spirit is love.

Find the love, everyone, and help it grow. That is our call.

Breathe deeply. Do not add to the hatred. Help the love grow.

In a “normal” pastoral crisis, I sit vigil with the grieving or hurting people. I wait with them. I pray with them. I lament with them. I listen to them. I hold their hands and point to the faithfulness of God.

So today, I do those things with the world. For the family of Alton Sterling. For the family of Philando Castile. For the family the Dallas officers whose names have not been released. For your family. For my family. For every family, and for everyone without a family.

Find someone to sit with you, to wait with you, to pray with you, to lament with you. Find someone to listen to you, and listen to someone. Find someone to point to the faithfulness of God.

Breathe deeply. Do not add to the hatred, and help the love grow.

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April 24, 2016 · 9:31 am

Earth Day: Prayers of the People

This prayer was written for worship at Central Presbyterian Church on April 24, 2016, as we celebrate Care for Creation Sunday. 

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One of my favorite creation views in Edisto Island, SC

Hear these words from Revelation 21:6.

“It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give water as a gift from the spring of the water of life.”

Let us bring our prayers before the mother of all creation, the spring of the water of life.

Holy One, Holy Three, mother of all creation:

We give you thanks for who you are,

who you have been,

and who you promise forever to be.

Yours is the womb of all life.

Yours is the fountain of living water.

Yours is the voice that breaks down walls.

Yours is the love that cannot be contained.

 

For the thirsty, you give the water of life.

For the hungry, you offer the bread of heaven.

For the weak, you carry our heavy burdens.

For the joyful, you shout in holy laughter.

For the anxious, you pray showers of peace.

For the suffering, you breathe sighs of comfort.

For the earth, you send winds of creation.

 

As we pray for the new heaven and new earth, O God,

We give thanks for this earth, our partner in your service.

Forgive our abuse of the creation you called good,

And make us worthy stewards of the world around us.

Move us to hear your voice in the song of sparrow,

To see your face reflected in the river.

Empower us to feel your grace in sand between our toes,

To smell your peace in the mist of morning dew.

Enlighten us to hear your prophets in the croaks of evening frogs,

To read your gospel in the webs of writing spiders.

 

Just as you called your apostles into a holy bond,

You have called this church to care for one another.

We pray for those in this congregation in special need this day:

 

[List prayer concerns specific to your congregation.]

 

Yours is the womb of all life, O God.

Yours is the fountain of living water.

Yours is the voice that breaks down walls.

Yours is the love that cannot be contained.

Amen.

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March 29, 2016 · 2:28 pm

Great Prayer of Thanksgiving: Easter Season

The God of Easter be with you.

And also with you.

People of Easter, lift up your hearts!

We lift them up to the Lord.

People of Easter, give thanks to the One who raises us to new life.

It is right to give God thanks and praise.

 

God of Easter, we give you thanks for life:

Life born in waters of creation,

Life drawn from the dust of the earth,

Life molded from the clay of your wheel,

Life stitched in the womb of a woman.

Today we remember that death does have the final word,

For yours is life beyond our imagination.

 

God of Easter, we give you thanks for new life:

New life, that speaks truth in love to the old,

New life that overflows with grace,

New life that teaches us how to live,

New life that beckons us to respond in faithfulness.

Today we remember that sin does not have the final word,

For yours is grace beyond our imagination.

 

God of Easter, we give you thanks for life:

For the lives of the faithful who have come before us,

Prophets who pointed to your love and justice,

Saints who taught us to how to be broken,

Christ who showed us how to be whole.

Today we remember that resurrection has the final word,

For ours is a story of an empty tomb.

 

God of life,

Breathe life into us again today,

and breathe your Holy Spirit into these gifts of bread and wine,

that they may be for us the body and blood of the Risen Christ.

As we join in this joyful feast with the faithful across all time and place,

Join us also with you and with one another,

that we may be the body of Christ in the world.

 

Through Christ, with Christ, in Christ,

All glory is yours, now and forever more.

Amen.

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February 21, 2016 · 3:08 pm

A Prayer for Nominating Committees

A Prayer for Nominating Committees

God of grace and wisdom,

Bestow those gifts upon us this night.

Grant us patience, as we wait for the work of your spirit.

Make us humble, that we may hear your voice louder than our own.

Make us quiet, as you say in a sacred whisper

the names of those you would have lead your church.

Most of all, O God, remind us

that the task before us is holy one.

A hard one.

A faithful one.

For we are members of the body of Christ

seeking to be your church in the world.

Amen.

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February 10, 2016 · 9:18 am

Dust: Ash Wednesday Reflection

Ecclesiastes 12:1-8

Remember your creator in the days of your youth, before the days of trouble come, and the years draw near when you will say, ‘I have no pleasure in them’; before the sun and the light and the moon and the stars are darkened and the clouds return with the rain; on the day when the guards of the house tremble, and the strong men are bent, and the women who grind cease working because they are few, and those who look through the windows see dimly; when the doors on the street are shut, and the sound of the grinding is low, and one rises up at the sound of a bird, and all the daughters of song are brought low; when one is afraid of heights, and terrors are in the road; the almond tree blossoms, the grasshopper drags itself along and desire fails; because all must go to their eternal home, and the mourners will go about the streets; before the silver cord is snapped, and the golden bowl is broken, and the pitcher is broken at the fountain, and the wheel broken at the cistern, and the dust returns to the earth as it was, and the breath returns to God who gave it. Vanity of vanities, says the Teacher; all is vanity.

 

IMG_0368

“Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”

I have proclaimed those words in two spaces at Central Presbyterian Church: the chapel on Ash Wednesday and the memorial garden, where green grass grows above the ashes of beloved church members. I have stood on the holy ground by that grass to pray, weep, and sing of resurrection as we buried the ashes of people we loved.  

At the end of this Lenten journey, the church will gather in that grassy patch on Easter morning, to proclaim that the truth of life is good news for the dead.

Today, though, we proclaim some form of the opposite. If on Easter, we preach that the truth of life is good news for the dead, then, on Ash Wednesday, we preach that the truth of death is good news for the living.

Last week, I found myself chatting about Ash Wednesday with some church members. We were on a trip to visit our partner church in Haiti, and the slow journey along bumpy, unpaved roads provided plenty of time for theological reflection. We got to talking about the meaning of the day and, I began, “The ashes are a sign that we are finite, and broken, and…” Another person piped in, “And we are going to die!” We laughed at the truth of her point. Maybe we laughed because it made us uncomfortable. Maybe we laughed at the irony of discussing the meaning a high liturgical day while being tossed around the back of Toyota Landrover.

Vanity of vanities, says the teacher, all is vanity.

We bumped on along the road, crawling over every boulder and bouncing with every ditch. We arrived at the village of Trou Jacques to visit with the school children and see the school lunch program that our church sponsors. We met with women in their microloan program, started by our Haiti partnership. We visited the site of their new church, being built in memory of beloved church members. We talked about plans for a new cistern, to provide water for the village. I walked around with precious Haitian children holding my hands and tugging on my skirt, trying desperately to make me understand their creole words.

The day was filled with hope and joy, but I found myself feeling burdened and overwhelmed. There is so much need, both there and here. It felt like the weight of the world, or at least the weight of one village, was resting on my shoulders.

On the way back down the mountain that day, we split into two vehicles. Blake and I decided to make the return trip in the back of an open air pickup truck. The difference in comfort between the two cars is minute; you have to hold on equally as tight in each, and the air conditioning is no cooler than the breeze in the truck bed. The main difference between the two is the dust.  

I started noticing it within the first few minutes of the trip. As our tires spun on the rocks, clouds of dirt kicked up behind us. Fine, red dust began collecting in my clothes and hair, and it made the bench seats slippery, as if covered in baby powder. I sat in the relative quiet, listening to the hum of the truck engine, feeling the dust on my skin and in my lungs, and I felt these words, deep in my soul:

“Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”

For a moment, I remembered that God was in charge. I remembered that it is not about me. I remembered that the weight of the world is not mine to carry, and my breath returned.

If on Easter, we preach that the truth of life is good news for the dead, then, on Ash Wednesday, we preach that the truth of death is good news for the living.

The good news of Ash Wednesday is that it is not about us. The weight of the world is not ours to carry, for we are dust. Beloved, baptized dust.

“And the dust returns to the earth as it was, and the breath returns to the God who gave it.”

When we start to think that it is all about us, when we inflate our own self importance and start to suffocate under the weight of the world, let us stop to feel the dust on our skin and under our nails.

Remember that you are dust, and breath returns. 

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November 17, 2015 · 1:44 pm

Advent Candle Lighting Liturgy

During Advent, many churches mark the season by lighting candles on an Advent wreath at the beginning of worship each week. These litanies were written for Central Presbyterian Church in Advent 2014. Many thanks to the congregants who were my co-writers and conversation partners in forming these litanies.

As we enter the season of Advent, may these prayers remind you of hope, peace, joy, and love of our God.

 

Advent 1:

We live in the presence of God,

God who creates, sustains, renews.

God’s presence is often hidden from us,

Or maybe we are too busy to notice.

Be revealed to us, O God.

Surprise us with your presence, O Spirit.

Move us to see you, to hear you, O Christ.

May this candle remind us to keep awake:

To watch for God’s presence revealed in our midst.

As we light our first advent candle,

We remind one another to live in holy hope: eager anticipation of encounters with God.

God who is hidden, be revealed.

Come, O come Emmanuel!

 

Advent 2:

We live in the beginning of the good news,

The good news of forgiveness through our Lord Jesus Christ.

We live in the middle of the wilderness,

and we await the presence of the Lord.

May this candle enlighten us in our darkness, that we may know God’s peace in our midst.  

May this candle illumine our path, that we may see the way of the Lord.

God who is hidden, be revealed.

Come, O Come, Emmanuel.

 

Advent 3:

We live in a world that hates to wait, and we celebrate a season of waiting.

We live in a world that loves bad news, and we preach good news to one another.

In the midst of despair, we lit a candle of hope.

In the midst of violence, we lit a candle of peace.

In the midst of sadness, we light a candle of joy.

May this candle remind us that God’s joy is coming, on earth as it is in heaven.

May we live with joy that is deeper than happiness: joy that is rooted in the love of our God.

God who is hidden, be revealed.

Come, O Come, Emmanuel!

 

Advent 4:

“The Lord is with you!” the angel said, and Mary responded, “Here am I.”

“You shall bear a son,” the angel said, and Mary responded, “Let it be.”

May the grace of faith bestowed on Mary come to us as well.

“He will be great,” the angel said, “and the Son of the Most High.”

“He will reign,” the angel said, “with a kingdom that has no end.”

As we light the candle of Love, we hope for the reign of God in our midst.

May we rejoice like Mary in a hope for justice still to come.

God who is hidden, be revealed.

Come, O Come, Emmanuel!

 

Christmas Eve 

I bring you good news of great joy!

To you is born this day a Saviour, who is the Messiah, the Lord.

God who was hidden has been revealed.

Emmanuel has come!

You will find a child wrapped in bands of cloth and lying in a manger.

God who was hidden has been revealed.

Emmanuel has come!

As we light the Christ candle, we watch for God breaking into our world this day.

God has come and God is coming.

God who is hidden, be revealed.

Come, all ye faithful, and worship God!

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October 26, 2015 · 3:12 pm

A Taste of the Heavenly Banquet: All Saints Day Communion Prayer

All Saints Day is one my favorite traditions in liturgical churches. It is an occasion to remember the faithful who have died in the past year, commend their spirits to God, and celebrate that we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses. Below is a Great Prayer of Thanksgiving written for use on All Saints Day, with a place to include the names of loved ones who have died in the past year. May it remind you of the everlasting, boundary-breaking, community-forming love of our God.

 

The Lord be with you. And also with you.

Lift up your hearts. We lift them up to the Lord.

Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.

It is right to give our thanks and praise.

 

Thanks and praise to you, O God,

creator and lover of the universe.

You created all that was;

you nurture all that is;

you imagine all that will be.

You are the pattern of community,

three-in-one God of mercy.

From the beginning of time,

you have created us for relationship:

relationship with one another,

relationship with the earth,

and relationship with you.

 

When we reject your call to community,

when we choose isolation over partnership

and brokenness over healing,

you call us back, again and again

with words of grace and songs of repentance.

 

We give you thanks for Jesus Christ,

our host and our guest at this table.

Through his birth, you took on flesh,

affirming the goodness of our bodies and our world.

Through his life, you took on suffering,

teaching the truth of hope in desperation.

Through his death, you took on death,

revealing the depth of your love for us.

Through his resurrection, you brought new creation,

sharing the truth of life everlasting.

 

Pour out your holy spirit upon us, O God,

and upon these gifts of fruit and grain.

Make them for us your body and spirit,

that we may taste your presence in our midst.

 

This is the joyful feast of the Lord:

a taste of the heavenly banquet to come.

We remember that we are not alone at this table,

for we join our voices with saints across all time and place,

who forever sing your praise:

Holy, Holy, Holy Lord, God of power and might.

Heaven and earth are full of your glory. Hosanna in the highest!

 

We remember, O God, the saints who join us at the table,

and we commend their spirits to you:

(Read the names of people in your community who have died this year, leaving room for silence between each name. You may choose to ring a bell after each name.)

 

This is the joyful feast of the Lord:

a taste of the heavenly banquet to come.

We remember that we are not alone at this table,

for we join our voices with saints across all time and place,

who forever sing your praise:

Holy, Holy, Holy Lord, God of power and might.

Heaven and earth are full of your glory. Hosanna in the highest!

 

On the night of his betrayal, Jesus shared a meal with friends.

He took bread and, after giving thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying,

“This is my body, broken for you. Take. Eat. Do this in remembrance of me.”

In the same manner, he took the cup, and he filled it, saying,

“This is the cup of the new covenant, sealed for you for the forgiveness of sins. Whenever you drink of it, do this in remembrance of me.”

Whenever we eat this bread and drink this cup,

we proclaim the saving life, death, and resurrection of our Lord, until he comes again.

 

Amen. 

 

 

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August 31, 2015 · 10:56 am

Witnessing to the Resurrection: Prayers of Thanksgiving

Yesterday, I had the honor of leading a memorial service for a beloved Central member named Catherine who died peacefully at the age of 93. She lived faithfully, she loved deeply, and she taught me what it means to be thankful. In gratitude for her life and her witness, I wrote and led this prayer of thanksgiving. It is inspired by Psalm 136 and by Catherine’s life, and it could be adapted for any memorial service.

May it bring you peace, and may Catherine teach you what it means to be thankful.

Stained Glass from Central Presbyterian Church

O give thanks to the Lord, for God is good,

     God’s steadfast love endures for ever.

We give you thanks, O God,

even through teary eyes and weary souls.

We give thanks for your servant Catherine:

for the ways she touched our lives and hearts.

We are thankful for the time we had with her,

And we are thankful that we are wrapped in the warmth of your compassion.

O give thanks to the Lord, for God is good,

   God’s steadfast love endures for ever.

We are thankful, O God, for Catherine:

for the ways she reflected your light and your love.

We are thankful, O God, for the truth that Catherine knew:

You are the resurrection and the life, and you create all things good.

We are thankful, O God, for the truth that Catherine lived:

You are a God of love and justice, and we are called to be your servants.

O give thanks to the Lord, for God is good,

   God’s steadfast love endures for ever.

Catherine’s baptism is now complete in death,

for her journey of faith in this life has ended,

and she joins you in communion of the saints.

Catherine belongs to you, O God, and her life reminds us that we do, too.

We now join our voices with the faithful across time and place as we pray the prayer that Jesus taught us, saying,

Our Father, who art in heaven,

hallowed be thy name,

thy kingdom come,

thy will be done,

on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread.

And forgive us our debts,

as we forgive our debtors.

And lead us not into temptation,

but deliver us from evil.

For thine is the kingdom,

and the power, and the glory,

forever.

Amen.

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