Milcah sang a lullaby to her granddaughter Rebekah, born to Bethuel, You are a queen, gifted and beautiful, a sovereign over kings. You are the gladness of ancestors, and the celebration of the future. And Rebekah believed her grandmother Milcah, owned the inheritance that was sung to her. So when a nomadic king sent for… Read More
Sunday Prayer: Confession
We have listened to the wrong gods, O Holy Life, to the ones that say “Pull yourself up by your own bootstraps” and the ones that say “Your help is in the rat race.” Hear your people protest: “How long?” Hear your people confess: “No more!” We have said our prayers to the wrong gods,… Read More
Saturday Prayer: If we had wings
Even the sparrow finds a home, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young,at your altars, O Lord of hosts, my King and my God. Psalm 84:3 Holy One, We have so many doubts. You made us to fly, but we doubt our wings. You gave us a song, but… Read More
Wednesday Prayer
O God, as we grow weary of masks, and distance, and not hugging the people we love, we meet up with our own lack of endurance, and start to understand the depth of your patience. O God, as we grow weary of the constant drumbeat of inequality, we meet up with our own fickle love… Read More
The Pastoral Is Political
The perfect storm Usually, a period of calm follows a storm. And often we see a rainbow in the sky. From an early age, children are told in church that the rainbow represents a sign of God’s promise to us. We often spare children the harsh bits of the story of Noah and the Ark… Read More
worship words for 28 June: bound
Looking for liturgical language that suits this moment in our world — a world of pandemic, uprising against individual and systemic racism, virtual gathering, and so much more? Here we offer some…feel free to use as is, to adapt, or to use for inspiration for your own. If you use these in written materials, please… Read More
Sunday Prayer: Troubled
Incline yourself like a dread warrior toward those you love, O Holy One. Count the hairs on the heads of Robert Fuller, Malcolm Harsch, Dominique Alexander, and comfort those terrorized by racism’s awful fruit. Hear the cries of the children. Hear the cries of the elders. Grieve, O Holy Love, the sparrows felled by violence:… Read More
Thursday Prayer: Your Kindom Come
Fire our imagination O Holy Spirit of Wisdom! Help us to see beyond what is, to a vision of your kindom. Inspire us, revive us, that we might let go of trying to fix what is, to edit, as if our structures and institutions are templates for a slightly better future if only we fix… Read More
Wednesday Prayer
Eternal God, as our statues fall and our streets get new names, strengthen our resolve so our inner will matches the outer changes. Give us, we pray, the gifts of endurance, of a deep breath, of clarity, and of seeing our lies and living for truth. May we embrace change like a friend, instead… Read More
The Pastoral Is Political: Come Before Winter
“Do your best to come before winter.” 2 Tim 4:21 You may be wondering why, just days before the summer solstice, I’m thinking about winter. In my hometown church growing up in Monticello, Arkansas, every year our pastor would preach his “Come Before Winter” sermon. I was little, going to worship between age 5 and… Read More
