Ash Wednesday (Year C, 2022): Litany for Reconciling to God

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See also Litany for Ash Wednesday (2016)

This Ash Wednesday, we find ourselves in the midst of yet another tricky, dangerous global situation. It’s nothing new. There’s always a war somewhere. I began writing litanies in 2013 because I couldn’t find congregational prayers that addressed the war in Syria. I’ve written litanies about wars and tragedies more than just about anything else. Par for the course. I wish I could stop helping people pray about war (not whining, just saying). 

But I can’t. It’s here and we need to keep consciously aligning (reconciling) ourselves with God about it. So we keep praying, and I keep writing. 

Still, when the Psalmist pleads with God to “Have mercy on me!” we feel that in a different way from the brink of major global conflict, don’t we? Our nearness to dust, to death, is that much more in our awareness. 

When St. Paul entreats us to “On behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God!” we can pray that same intention: Russian aggressors, be reconciled to God! Heads of state, be reconciled to God! Military leaders, be reconciled to God! Arms manufacturers, be reconciled to God! And so on. 

So this year, we start our Lenten practice with this intention, and we commit to buckling down and praying through the storm of war and bloodshed, and doing as much justice and mercy as we can; and over and over, reconciling ourselves to God within us. 

God, on this Ash Wednesday, the beginning of the Lenten season, we seek to reconcile ourselves to you .
We want the whole earth to be aligned with your goodness, 
Such that all violence and war ceases, 
All the needy are nourished and cared-for,
All oppression ends,
And every person is filled with joy and gladness ….


Epiphany 5 (Year A): Litany for Salt and Light

The Sermon on the Mount, in my opinion the most important piece of Christian scripture, moves along this week. In this portion of Matthew 5, Jesus places himself squarely inside the ancient wisdom tradition of his family line. He emphasizes that what he’s doing and teaching is a continuation of that tradition, a building upon it. He reminds his listeners of the great teachings of the prophet Isaiah:


“Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of injustice, to undo the thongs of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke?  Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover them, and not to hide yourself from your own kin? Then your light shall break forth like the dawn, and your healing shall spring up quickly; your vindicator shall go before you, the glory of the LORD shall be your rear guard.

This is how to be salty salt, says Jesus. This is how to be illuminating light. To follow the tradition of compassion, the trajectory of love, the “arc of moral justice”. To season the world with good work. 

God, injustice is a dry meal, bland and indigestible.
Poverty and prisons rot the bones (1).
Hierarchy and exploitation cover us in dimness,
And the poor and powerless are trampled in dust.

Proper 16 (Year C): Litany for Societal Injustice

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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…