Proper 9 (Year A): Litany for Welcoming the Prophets

June 25, 2020 Fran Pratt

The Lectionary gospel for this week is from the end of Matthew 10. “Whoever welcomes a prophet in the name of a prophet will receive a prophet's reward...”

The prophet is never a comfortable guest. The prophet is the one who disturbs, stirs, unsettles, disarranges the accepted narrative. The prophet is the one we often want to ignore.

The prophet, with her anger and passion, her drive for change, her vehemence, her intolerance of equivocation, her blazing eyes, her piercing voice; is often unwelcome in polite society. Her behavior doesn’t suit the proper standards. She disrupts the norms. Her insistence grates our nerves. Her power threatens our egos...

Or. Her silence condemns us. Her sullenness discomforts us. Her lack of agency convicts us. Her vulnerability repels us.... or some combination that causes us to not want to hear.

I notice prophets all around these days. Speaking to us of the snags in the fabric of our society, the holes in our safety nets, the injustice of our laws, the abuse of our leaders, the power-mongering of our enforcers, the idolatry of our obsessions, the disorder of our priorities...

Specifically, I’ve been thinking of various people groups who are prophets speaking to me in this time, such as:
Those murdered by police
The poor and uninsured,
The Indigenous/First Nations peoples
The 14% of the US population that is Black/African-American
The LGBTQIA+
The immigrants
The Dreamers
The houseless
The veterans of war
The victims of abuse and/or trauma
The planet herself
The imprisoned
The minimum wage workers
Those children orphaned or in foster care
Those children who are survivors of school shootings
… and more.

Are you listening? Who are the prophets you notice and what are they saying? Are you amplifying or stifling their voices?

God, we perceive the words of Christ:
Whoever welcomes us, welcomes Christ.
Whoever welcomes Christ, welcomes God.
In this, we embrace our Oneness with Christ, and with you. …

get the full litany

Proper 8 (Year A): Litany for God Who Sees

June 17, 2020 Fran Pratt

This week’s Lectionary Torah selection is from Genesis 21, the story of Hagar and Ishmael in the desert, runaways from their oppressive masters.God saves Hagar and the child from death. But in writing for this moment, I have intuitively backed up in the chronology of the story, back to the moment when Hagar, in another runaway moment, meets the angel of God who encourages her. She becomes one of the first to give God a name, the God Who Sees Me.

The story of Hagar is powerful in its themes of slavery and oppression, of marginalized peoples gaining a voice, of violence against women, and of the God Who Sees oppressed people. The God Who Pays Attention to the most vulnerable. The God Who Cares for the Needy. These themes of God’s heart are reinforced in other Lectionary passages for this week, particularly Psalm 86 & Jeremiah 20.

I hope you’ll humor me in this deviation from the Lectionary text, but I think it's a worthwhile move, given the cultural and historic moment.

God, more people are waking up to ways our society has failed,
Failed those in the minority,
Those experiencing economic scarcity,
Those imprisoned,
Those on the margins of the predominant culture,
Those who don’t live inside the status quo…

Get the full litany

Litany for Forgotten Hope (Ordinary Time, Year A)

June 10, 2020 Fran Pratt

Hi! In 2019 I moved much of my work over to Patreon
as part of my effort to make this work sustainable.
So thanks for reading and subscribing.
You can find archived litanies here, and purchase my book here.

This litany references the Lectionary passage from Genesis 18 where Abraham and Sarah receive 3 visitors who tell them that God’s promise to them of a community of offspring (Genesis 17) will be fulfilled, and that Sarah will give birth to a son in her elder years. I imagine their hope for that new, future family was difficult to remember. Just as it is at various times difficult for us to remember our hope in the Commonwealth of God, the Kin-dom of God, and its nearness to us, just at the horizon of today.

God, the times we live in are chaotic and divisive,
Revealing systemic injusticeAnd institutionalized inequity.
We feel the unrest of our nations.We feel the undercurrent of fear.
We feel the stress of uncertainty.

get the full litany

Litany for Giving Back

November 25, 2019 Fran Pratt

Hi! Most of my litanies appear on my Patreon as part of my 2019 #yearofwritingsustainably, but every now and again I’m posting one for everyone. This is my gift that I hope you, dear reader, will use and enjoy and share widely.

If you are unaware of the history of the Thanksgiving holiday, now is a great time to educate yourself. This prayer is borne out of the hope that we can resist colonization's forces in our minds, dinner tables, and conversations; making way for a new level of gratitude that resists entitlement, white supremacy, and earth-exploitation.

God, we acknowledge that everything we think we possess,
Was always yours to begin with;
That the land we dwell in was inhabited by Native Peoples before us,
Who minded its welfare and appreciated it;
That the water we use daily has passed through plant, animal, and human,
Before it ever reached our bodies;
That the food on our tables is a gift of the earth,
Dependent, as we are, upon the earth’s bounty and health.

We didn’t do anything to deserve what we have been given,
And yet we strive to own and consume ever more and more.
Our consumption
Is consuming us.
Our destruction
Is destroying us.

We waste our blessings,
And toss away our gifts,
Then complain that we don’t have enough,
And pretend we can’t share.

Awaken gratitude in our hearts, Oh God,
That we may become mindful people;
Mindful of the least privileged among us,
Mindful of future generations,
Mindful of history’s lessons,
Mindful of the earth.

All the resources of earth are yours, God.
And all the people, plants, and creatures.
Every good and perfect thing
Sprang from your imagination.
So we open our hands
And give them all back to you,
In hopes that we might come to know wisdom
Once we are empty.

Amen

Reign of Christ (Year C): Litany for Christ's Mercy

November 21, 2019 Fran Pratt

Hi! As you may have noticed,
I’ve moved much of my work over to Patreon.
This is part of my effort to make 2019 a #yearofwritingsustainably
So thanks for reading and subscribing.
You can find archived litanies here, and purchase my book here.

Here’s a litany for Reign of Christ Sunday, the last week of the liturgical year. The culmination of all that has come before. Next week, we start over with Year A and the new 3-year cycle. I’m proud of the work I’ve done and the liturgy I’ve produced over these 3 years. I’ve officially now covered an entire Lectionary cycle of modern litanies. My hope is that this work serves the Church Universal, both those who consider themselves part of it, and those that don’t. This is an accomplishment and I’m taking a deep breath of gratitude this week as I pause and think toward Advent and a new 3-year pattern.

God, for so long, we had you all wrong.
We thought you were nit-picky and contentious.
Quick to punish, full of wrath,
Full of impossible standards.

Get the Full litany

Proper 28 (Year C): Litany for Kin-dom Come

November 13, 2019 Fran Pratt

This week’s litany is a theme near and dear to my heart, and in fact is the reason I’m still following Christ after all these years of faith renovation. The Good Community. The Kindom. The Kingdom of Heaven. The Now and Not Yet. That Isaiah 65 vision of New Jerusalem. I want to live inside it now, and Jesus says we can. “The Kingdom of Heaven is near!” he says. I believe him.

Oh God, you have done great things
You have shown us the way of Gentle Power*
Attracting us into your realm of peace,
Of unity and Oneness,
Of cooperation and wholeness,
Of attention, presence, and love.

Get the Full litany

Proper 27 (Year C): Litany for Love's Story

November 5, 2019 Fran Pratt

This story comes from a reading of this week's Lectionary passages.

God, we know that the story you’re telling
The story the hills and the seas tell (1),
The story all creatures and all flesh are telling (2),
Is a story that never ends (3),
Never stops being told (4),
And can never be told enough.

Get the Full Litany - Become a patron

Proper 26 (Year C): Litany for Societal Awakening

October 31, 2019 Fran Pratt

I write this after returning from a moving and enlightening trip to the border town of El Paso TX / Ciudad Juarez, Mexico. Our group was graciously educated on border realities by the staff of Abara Frontiers, an El Paso-based non-profit, and it’s sister organization Ciudad Nueva. I highly recommend this trip. Getting first-hand experience on the realities of the border situation is the best way I’ve found to begin understanding and foster more compassion for these complex systems and those caught in them. I am on a constant journey of awakening, and so are many of the folks I walk alongside. Many of us are awakening from the deep sleep of Whiteness and White Privilege. Many of us are awakening to ways we have been complicit in and propped up systems of evil, injustice, and greed. Collectively, at least among the circles I’m part of, we are doing deep, necessary shadow work. Some of us are uncovering deep emotions we’d buried long ago, and patterns of behavior that are now unhelpful.

This is hard work. We wake groggy and disoriented. But each step takes us closer to a rich, full vision of the Community of God, the Kin-dom That Can Be. Each layer we uncover gets us closer to the soul of it. Here’s a prayer for us, based in passages from this week's Lectionary.

God, so many of us are crying out for justice,
We are witnessing societal wrong-doing,
Awakening to the greed, evil, and injustice among us,
And crying out for change…

Get the Full litany

Proper 25 (Year C): Litany for Perspective

October 24, 2019 Fran Pratt

Theologian Paul Tillich resisted the idea of God as A Being, and instead pushed for an understanding of God as “Being-Itself". God precipitates being and is inherent in the structure of Being.

This week’s litany is based in themes from the Lectionary text for Proper 25 (Year C), particularly from the Luke 18 passage where Christ says, “those who exalt themselves will be humbled and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”.

God, everything we have
Belongs to you.
Everything we know
Was known by you first.

Get the litany

Proper 24 (Year C): Litany for Wrestling

October 17, 2019 Fran Pratt

Hello! Sorry the litany is a bit late this week - my kids had fall break and the week has been unusual.

This week's Lectionary has such a hopeful message about wrestling with hard emotions, conflicts, trauma, questions, and problems, but staying with it. When we stay committed to uncovering the shadow, digging out what lies hidden beneath the external behavior or presentation, and to persistence in prayer and practice, God notices! We may come out with a limp like Jacob, but we are our true selves!

Life is hard. Emotional and spiritual work is hard. Justice work is hard. We won't get off this earth scot-free and unscathed. We will limp, somehow. But every lesson, every experience, every heaving, breathless effort is part of our learning and our growth. We can wrestle hopefully and gratefully, with acceptance and faith.

God, there is so much to work through
And so many problems to solve:
Troubles that come to us from within ourselves
And from without…

get the litany

Proper 23 (Year C): Litany for Gratitude 3

October 9, 2019 Fran Pratt

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. Gratitude is Spirituality 101. You want to grow spiritually, to expand your capacity for love and compassion, start paying attention to things you can appreciate. Attention -> appreciation -> gratitude -> love.

And I love it when the Lectionary backs up my pre-conceived notions ;) I mean just check out Luke 17.

See, you can’t be grateful unless you’re paying attention. And you can’t love something without first appreciating it. And you can’t love the world without first paying attention to it. And you can’t stay hopeful or optimistic while you’re paying attention to reality (‘cause I mean look at the chaos and systemic injustice we’re dealing with) without also looking for good things to practice gratitude for.

Gratitude is our best hope for not succumbing to cynicism and melancholy. It doesn’t always come naturally. This is why we call it a PRACTICE. We practice it so our synaptic pathways can remember it when we need it most. And when we practice gratitude, we lay the groundwork for love.

Oh God, you have kept us among the living,
Though we’ve lost many;
Though we’ve gone through fire and water,
You’ve brought us to a spacious place -

Get the Litany

Proper 22 (Year C): Litany for Hanging On

October 1, 2019 Fran Pratt

This week’s Lectionary is heavy on the lament, both from the two Lamentations passages, the Habakkuk, and the Psalm. Habakkuk reminds us that “there is still a vision for the appointed time; it speaks of the end, and does not lie. If it seems to tarry, wait for it; it will surely come, it will not delay. And the Psalmist says “Be still before the LORD, and wait patiently for him; do not fret over those who prosper in their way, over those who carry out evil devices.”

This is a hard word, especially for those who are in the trenches, working for justice, working toward the Kindom-coming, working to serve the poor, pushing against inequity… to be still and wait. To not fret about “evil-doers.” To not allow our anger to consume us when the waiting for justice seems way too long. So I’ve written this litany in hopes that it will help us hang on, keep working for good, rest in the Love.

God, all day long we see wrong-doing
Our eyes behold trouble.
Destruction and violence are before us;
strife and contention are all around …

Get the Litany

Proper 20 (Year C): Litany for Economies

September 16, 2019 Fran Pratt

This week’s Gospel reading from Luke 16 is one of those head-scratcher texts. The kind you read and know immediately that you don’t already have whatever context you probably need to understand the dynamics of. What do we do with Jesus when he says “make friends for yourselves by means of dishonest wealth so that when it is gone, they may welcome you into the eternal homes” ? I had to read several commentaries on the passage to get a start.

I was especially enlightened by Dr. Mitzi J. Smith’s commentary on this passage, which frames it as a slave parable and assumes the character of the “manager” to be an enslaved and oppressed person. She sagely reminds us that “wealth is generally built upon the backs of the enslaved, women, the poor, and the oppressed; that wealth for one usually presumes poverty for many. The larger the wealth gap in favor of a few, the more people are impoverished” (via Working Preacher).

Dr. Barbara Rossing suggests that Jesus is critiquing the capitalistic practice of charging interest on loans in her commentary, pointing out that “Luke is making connections between debt structures, the urgency of impending judgment, and the idol of Mammon [Wealth]” (via Working Preacher).

I’ve incorporated these ideas in this litany, as well as the overall themes in Luke’s gospel regarding wealth, greed, and what keeps us from an authentic spirituality and true discipleship (See last week’s text in which Jesus states: “None of you can become my disciple in you do not give up all your possessions” Luke 14:33). And drawn also from Amos 8 and Matthew 23.

Oh God, give us courage to examine the ways our lifestyles and cultural habits
Exploit the poorest among us.
Give us wisdom to see the ways we are complicit
In “trampling on the needy, and bringing ruin to the poor.”

Get the litany

Proper 17 (Year C): Litany for Humble Hearts

August 26, 2019 Fran Pratt

This litany is drawn from the Lectionary passages for Proper 17 of Ordinary Time, Year C. Specifically from Hebrews 13, Psalm 112, and Sirach 10.

God, we know that the beginning of human pride is to forsake you,
As when our hearts withdraw from our Creator.
You exalt the lowly,
And admire the humble …

Get the full litany

Proper 16 (Year C): Litany for Societal Injustice

August 19, 2019 Fran Pratt

I don’t always take the Bible literally. But when I do, it’s Isaiah 58.

This passage of scripture, when set alongside the life and priorities demonstrated by Christ in the gospels, shows us a detailed picture of a just and thriving society. A society in which corporate avarice and greed, and the priorities of for-profit special interest groups are not the driving force of government or political policy. Instead mercy is. Instead love is. Care for the poor and the removal of unjust “yokes” (think, unjustly imprisoning black and brown folks for minor crimes. Think, lack of access to decent food and education for children. Think, losing your entire life savings because you got sick.) are the hallmarks of this society.

I think there are a lot of ways we can start moving toward this God-imagined ideal. We mostly haven’t tried any of them. If I have ever advocated for “Biblical values” (which I don’t usually because I mostly think that term is misused), these are them. Read em for yourself. I didn’t come up with this. This isn’t “liberal” or “conservative.” This is old-testament Judeo-Christian Orthodoxy validated by the new-testament Christ-man. We’ve just been ignoring it all this time.

Here’s a place to start praying:

Oh God, we live in a society in deep need of reform,
And days of violence and avarice.

Rescue us, O God, from becoming the hand of the wicked,
From being the unjust and cruel (Psalm 71:4).
Rescue us, O God, from our own selfishness,
From our own ego obsessions…

get the full litany

Proper 15 (Year C): Litany for Fire

August 12, 2019 Fran Pratt

A note to Patrons: I have made this litany widely available to anyone who wishes to read or use it. I occasionally do this when a litany is particularly resonant for a moment in time. Thank you for your support, which allows me to continue this output and contribution to the prayers of the people.

“Is not my word like a fire, says the LORD, like a hammer that breaks rock in pieces?”

I believe that the message of this week’s Lectionary, of the fire and hammer of God, which are mercy and restorative justice, is THE message our society needs in this moment. We are protecting the gun lobby over vulnerable school children. We are protecting agribusiness over the well-being of the planet and over and above human thriving.* We are protecting corporate profits and political interests to the detriment of the poor and powerless. We are protecting white supremacy and status over our God-given duty to regard every human life, every human black and brown body, as beloved and sacred. This is the story of our country right now. This is the legacy we are living.

And the cure, the antidote, is the mercy and restorative justice of God. The Fire and the Hammer. The holy fire that Christ says he “came to bring ... to the earth,” and he says, “how I wish it were already kindled!” (Luke 12:49).

This is a prayer of confession and contrition. This is where we begin. Opening our eyes to our communal complicity, and changing our minds (repenting) about how we will continue on. This is heart-centered work. This in inconvenient work. This is uncomfortable work. Standing in the midst of holy fire is bound to be difficult.

God, as a society we have turned blind eyes
And deaf ears to the poor.
We can hear the cries of the needy,
See the struggle of the lowly and destitute.
How the weak and the orphan long for justice!
How the defenseless are in need of rescue (1)!

We confess that we have centered our policies
On the success of profit-margins.
We confess that we have protected the interests of corporations and the wealthy
Over the well-being of Earth’s most vulnerable inhabitants.**
We confess that we have judged unjustly
And show partiality to the wicked (2).
We confess that much of our economy and material wealth
Is due to exploitation of human and natural resources.

We have not done our God-given duty of creation stewardship.
We have not loved our neighbor as ourselves.
We have not upheld righteous standards.
We have not pursued justice and mercy for all.

Forgive us, oh God, and lead us on the path of peace.
Restore us to your justice.
Bring us into the community of heaven.
Be merciful to us, oh God.

For your word is like a fire,
Like a hammer that breaks a rock in pieces (3).
Break our hardened hearts;
Burn down our wicked ways.

Let the fire that Christ brings kindle in our hearts (4),
Igniting flames of justice and peace-making,
Of shifting old, unhelpful paradigms,
Of right-action and reform.

Let the ethics and policies of heaven come to earth.
Be merciful to us, oh God. Amen

*watch the documentary “Cowspiracy” for more info on this topic

**inhabitants, both human, animal, and plant-life

Psalm 82:3,4
Psalm 82:2
Jeremiah 23:29
Luke 12:49

Proper 14 (Year C): Litany for Doing Good

August 7, 2019 Fran Pratt

It is very rare that I miss a Lectionary litany. But I did last week. Sorry to those who were waiting for it. I had a wicked ear infection, limited childcare, and was bedraggled and behind on everything. I’ll go back and make it up, but in the meanwhile, here’s this week’s offering, available to Patrons at the $3 level.

Coming from Luke 12, Psalm 33, Psalm 50, and Isaiah 1, this one is centered around our work for justice and peace in this world, reflecting the generosity of God. Drop me a line if you use it in your gathering, or in your solo devotions or whatnot. I love to hear how this work is landing.

Oh God, help us to not be afraid.
Help us to have faith in your love.
For we know that with you is every blessing your realm contains,
And you give us good gifts…

Get the full litany

Proper 12 (Year C): Litany for Prayerful Living

July 23, 2019 Fran Pratt

This week I’m working on a sermon on the gospel Lectionary of Luke 11:1-13, Luke’s account of the Lord’s Prayer and Christ’s comments on prayer in general. My mind is going to the truth I learn over and over again: that prayer is formational, and not just intercessory. These days, the best definition of prayer I can come up with is this: living attentively to God. And this both forms us in our character and soul and gives us rapport with God so that we may ask for what we want and need. When the disciples ask him to teach them how to pray, he teaches them how to live.

Oh God, teach us how to live attentively to you.
Teach us how to pray (1).
For by our attention to you,
We learn how to be in the world.

Get the full litany

Proper 11 (Year C): Litany for Reconciling All Things

July 16, 2019 Fran Pratt

This week's Lectionary passages contain many themes, but the one that stood out to me most was this idea of Christ "reconciling all things" from Colossians 1. I was just having a discussion with friends about having a posture of life that "accepts what is," as the Buddhists put it; but that theme resonates in Christ's work of forgiveness and reconciliation also.

We can observe that the people we meet who have the most resilience and ability to accept suffering and change seem to be the ones who can tap into this quality of forgiving what is, accepting reality, and lovingly working within it. That's where my mind is in this litany, in the reconciling of all polarities, dualities, and seeming contradictions. I hope it resonates for you and your community also.

God, we are learning that life is full of unexpected challenges
And unexpected gifts.
With you, there’s surprise in deepest disappointment
Hidden beauty even in trial…

get the full litany