Prayers of God's People

Lord God, you come and seek us out, you call us and empower us to live to your glory, you are our Shepherd and guide, you are our God.  We pray for all who have  strayed from the faith, all who have gotten lost in various ways, especially any who lives are in danger.

God our protector, we remember before you all who work or live in dangerous places or a hostile environment, all who are suffering at this time from storms and disasters, all who are caught up in stife and warfare.  We pray for all who are seeking peace and well being for the world:  we remember the United Nations and peace-keepings forces.

Lord we give thanks for all who have sought us out in times of troubles, who have been a strength and a joy to us.  We pray that you will guide all who teach and influence others.  Let us know your presence in our homes and with our loved ones.  Guide us in our friendships.

We ask you to be with all who walk in darkness; may your love and light protect the depressed and despairing; may your strength and hope be known to the discouraged.  We ask your blessing upon all who are ill at home or in the hospital.

We pray for all who are entering the shadow of death and for their loved ones in their time of anxiety.  Bless all who are in hospice and all who have the care of the terminally ill.  We pray for all who have passed through death and entered life eternal.

Good and faithful Shepherd,
guide us into the ways of life and peace.

An I-95 Perspective

For the first part of the summer I tended to travel to work in Wilmington along I-95. It is usually fast since the roads are not filled with school buses, teachers in cars, kids and parents in cars resulting in making the interstate as clogged as some people's arteries.  In Delaware, to hasten integration between the races within the schools, busing was instituted.  Being from New York, this was a situation that I did not understand. So for me it is a matter of perspective based not on busing. 

We are a long way from the 1970's and I tend to focus more on the environmental affects of these policies.

Of course, this was at a time when gasoline was around 50 cents a gallon and there were fewer Delaware residents.  Given the resulting cost of gas now, and the fact that "rush" hour isn't, might these be two good reasons to stop busing and focus on greater better schools?  Or, better yet, make school three months of the year and summer the remaining nine.  

However, this discussion can wait, since I am merely venting and this topic never reaches a conclusion in Delaware.

Each day, I pass two bill boards with messages from two local banking institutions, Wilmington Trust and Wilmington Savings Fund Society (WSFS), and their messages could not be more different.


Wilmington Trust:  It really is all about you..... OWN YOUR WORLD.


WSFS:  Fans of Small Business.

It was while reading Jim Wallis book Rediscovering Values that these two advertising signs appeared alongside the road.  Since Wallis's writings challenge us to remember that our decisions should take into account seven generations into the future, the slogan "It really is all about you" was offensive.

And, Own Your World?

Please aren't we temporarily renting space?

To counteract my negativity about the WilmingtonTrust Co. sign, I brought up this topic with the book group.

By the end of the night amid our discussions about personal responsibility, another perspective was offered about the sign's language.

It really is all about you ...and the choices you make. Your responsibility for your choices.

You do not need to make choices that are counter intuitive toward the greater good.

You can use your personal wealth to benefit you and others for generations to come.

Own Your World and make better choices. It is your own world that you are responsible for, only you can change what you do in it.

Perspective.

With others mine changes all the time.

The Tenth Parallel

This Sunday's NY Times book review section had an article and review of Eliza Griswold's, daughter of Frank, new book.  She writes about the interaction of Christian and Jews and does it really well.

Since I have lived in Sudan, she captures the relationships extremely well.  I recommend this book.

The 10th Parallel - Eliza Griswold  

THE TENTH PARALLEL

Dispatches From the Fault Line Between Christianity and Islam

By Eliza Griswold

317 pp. Farrar, Straus & Giroux. $27

Prayers for People

Lord, move us, move our wills and direct us by your Spirit.  Help us and your whole church to know when to pull down and when to rebuild; give us discernment and courage to do what you would have us do.  We pray for churches and communities caught up in constant change, for those who have become restless and cannot settle at all.  We pray for builders-up of communities and confidence, for our own pastors and leaders. 

We pray for all who seek to provide good housing and places of beauty, for city planners, architects and builders, for all who maintain parks and gardens.  We remember all who live in areas of poverty and deprivation, for all who lives are in danger through not having clean water or proper health care.  God bless all who give their lives in the building up of communities.

Lord, teach us to reverence the earth, to have respect and awe towards each other, to keep holy days,that we may be aware of you.  We pray for all who have been humiliated and have lost respect for themselves or others.  We ask you to make our homes places of light and love, of grace and goodness.

We remember all who live in fear through war, oppression or violence, all who have suffered from abuse or contempt.  We pray for all who have a poor opinion of themselves.  We ask your blessing upon all whose lives are darkened by crippling illness, all who are afraid to venture, all who are unable to venture.

We give thanks that you are the God who makes all things new, you heal and restore your people.


Lord, let your light shine upon us
and dispel our darkness.


These were the Prayers of the People at SsAM's, Sunday August 22, 2010.

Slipping into Simplicity

Each week I receive the email newsletter from Good Shepherd Episcopal Church.  A couple of weeks ago this article was included.  Since the theme of the upcoming Parish Life Day is Simplifying your life, I was intrigued.  After reading the article, I am not sure I am truly reading for this idea.

explorefaith.org - Slipping into Simplicity

Immigration Op Ed Piece

I could not have stated it as eloquently as Jim has.

http://www.wvgazette.com/Opinion/OpEdCommentaries/201008050597?page=2&build=cache

With new ears

This came to me from a co-worker as we make use of the new Holy Women, Holy Men: Celebrating the Saints.  This major revision to the Book of Lesser Feasts and Fasts was approved by the 2009 General Convention.  It is a remarkable work and a significant addition to the life of our church.

Bishop Wayne Wright says "In the new book’s Foreword, former Presiding Bishop Frank Griswold writes: ”Holy Women, Holy Men: Celebrating the Saints seeks to expand the worshiping communities awareness of the communion of the saints, and to give increased expression to the many and diverse ways in which Christ, through the agency of the Holy Spirit, has been present in the lives of men and women through the ages, just as Christ continues to be present in our own day.

Holy Women, Holy Men greatly expands upon the witness to the Holy Spirit’s working.  The example of these holy lives is inspiring and impressive.  The book will be a valuable addition to worship.  It will also be a great aid to teaching."

My co-worker is passing along some thoughts by a priest about the abundance of women that seem to be honored this week.  Here is what she wrote:

This past week I have been meditating on the witness of women in our faith.  On Sunday, we reflected on Martha and Mary—two women who remind us of the importance of hospitality, discipleship, and our intentional focus on God in all that we do.  At the Wednesday Eucharist, we celebrated the lives of Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Amelia Bloomer, Sojourner Truth, and Harriet Ross Tubman.  All four of these women lived in the 1800s, at a time when women did not have many rights and slavery was still ever present.  Yet, these women teach us about how anyone can be a witness against injustice and oppression.  Finally, today is the feast day of Mary Magdalene.  Mary Magdalene was a faithful disciple of Christ, and is regarded as the first witness to the risen Lord—or as I like to say, the first preacher of the Good News.  Mary Magdalene, who was a faithful pastor to Christ, became a faithful witness of the power and meaning of Christ’s resurrection.
As a female leader in the Church, I am very aware of how little “face time” women get in Scripture and Tradition.  Some feminist theologians would argue that women expose us to a different experience of God and should therefore receive more attention and meditation.  In many ways, I agree with that perspective.  As a people whose Scripture is dominated by males, I am always eager to see what and how I will learn differently through women in our Scripture and Tradition.
What I have been contemplating this week, however, is how much the message of Christ touches me regardless of gender differences.  Martha and Mary, Elizabeth, Amelia, Sojourner, Harriet, and Mary Magdalene teach us how to be faithful disciples of Christ.  They teach us to be Christ-centered in our work, to take time to listen to God, to be bold in our struggle for justice and in fighting against oppression, and to witness to the risen Lord in the world.  These lessons have nothing to do with the gender of the teachers.  Many men in our tradition have taught us the same lessons.  My hope is that hearing the message from a feminine voice might allow us to hear that message with fresh ears.  How might a different voice renew your energy to “seek and serve Christ in all persons, loving your neighbor as yourself?”

Jennifer Andrews-Weckerley