Litany for Forgotten Hope (Ordinary Time, Year A)

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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. 

Day of Pentecost (Year A): Litany for Holy Spirit Fire

I'll mostly let Frederick Buechner do the commenting this week. Except to say, the Lectionary is never the wrong thing for the moment.  And to say: Rest in peace George Floyd, who was murdered in a racist act of police brutality earlier this week.

“Every morning you should wake up in your bed and ask yourself: "Can I believe it all again today?" No, better still, don't ask it till after you've read The New York Times, till after you've studied that daily record of the world's brokenness and corruption, which should always stand side by side with your Bible. Then ask yourself if you can believe in the Gospel of Jesus Christ again for that particular day. If your answer's always Yes, then you probably don't know what believing means. At least five times out of ten the answer should be No because the No is as important as the Yes, maybe more so. The No is what proves you're human in case you should ever doubt it. And then if some morning the answer happens to be really Yes, it should be a Yes that's choked with confession and tears and. . . great laughter.”

― Frederick Buechner

God, our world is rife with violence and evil
With cruelty, injustice, and materialism.
We need Holy Spirit’s fire
To burn away our unjust systems…

Easter 7 (Year A, Ascension Sunday): Litany for the In-Between

This litany follows the Lectionary readings for the last Sunday before Pentecost, Year A; in particular the account of Christ’s ascension in Acts 1 and his promise of the Spirit as Comforter and Guide. As we live inside this liminal space of Now and Not Yet, of Christ-has-come-and-is-coming from within us, we pray...

Christ, we imagine those first moments after your ascension into heaven
Leaving the disciples behind.
We can imagine and feel their confusion, their sense of loss -
Their loneliness (1).

Easter 6 (Year A): Litany for The Way Through

Only 2 more Sundays in the season of Easter. Then Pentecost. Then ordinary time. In our small community here on the outskirts of the Austin Metro area, we have a family experiencing a tragic loss. This in the midst of a global pandemic and the accompanying upheaval and uncertainty. And the pandemic is overlaid atop ongoing systemic racial injustice, as we mourn the murders of Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, and the countless other Black people who have been lynched in this country.

The Easter season is about resurrection while we are walking through a time of unveiling, and among families experiencing death. As it so often does, the Lectionary prompts me to reflect on the Now in light of its account and what wisdom I can glean from it. How to reconcile?

“In him we live and move and have our being,” the author of Acts quotes Paul as saying. “God has listened…[and] given heed to the words of my prayer,” says the Psalmist. “I will not leave you orphaned,” says the Christ in John 14. 

Here’s a prayer for us as we navigate this dissonance: the ever-present love of God alongside the pains, traumas, and losses we inevitably experience in this life. 

God, we are tested.
We are tried as silver is tried.
We are never guaranteed physical safety.
We know that with love comes risk of loss.

Easter 5 (Year A 2020): Litany for the Divine Within

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Here in John 14, this week's Lectionary Gospel, we get a scene in which Jesus is winding down his pre-death-and-resurrection ministry, and it seems like he’s really sowing into his disciples. He’s sharing lesson after lesson, trying to help them understand what’s coming, where he’s going, the implications of it. He says a chapter or two earlier that his “soul is troubled” (John 12:27) and I can feel his edge here. I imagine him earnest but resigned. And he opens this soliloquy by saying “do not let your hearts be troubled;” his tone exhorting, encouraging. He affirms his Divinity as well as theirs, telling them that what he has, they share in. His resources are shared with them. His connection to God. His innate knowing of “the way” can be theirs too. 

God, as Christ is teaching us, we have your essence within us.
The Divine is within Christ (1)
Christ is within us (2),
And so The Divine is within us. 

Easter 4 (Year A 2020): Litany for the Gate

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I’m prepping a sermon on this passage from John 10 this week, and lots of themes are presenting themselves to me, particularly as I read the other Lectionary passages. Christ as gate. Christ as Shepherd. Christ as Suffering Servant. Christ as “Guardian of your souls” (1 Peter 2:25). 

I’m very taken with Christ’s I AM statement: I am the gate. Ive heard this text preached many times as though Christ is the one who guards the flock and keeps them safe inside the confines of their pen, their spiritual home, their expectations and norms. Safe from heretics and marauders of the faith. But I’m seeing it now as a pathway that leads to journey, adventure, growth, learning, trial and error, uncertainty, and a broader experience of the world. 

Christ, as you taught us in the holy scriptures
You are the gate
That leads us to green pastures.
You are the gate
That opens up to still waters…

Easter 3 (Year A 2020): Litany for Walking with Christ

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Here’s a litany to go along with the Lectionary passage for the 3rd Sunday in Easter, from the gospel of Luke. The Road to Emmaus is one of those few cherished post-resurrection interactions we get in on.  I have another based in this passage from 2016, available here. 

God, we journey through our lives, from place to place,
From experience to experience,
Often oblivious to your presence with us,
Though you were there all along…

Easter 2 (Year A): Litany for Tested Faith

This passage in John 20 is one of my all-time favorites in scripture. References to it make it into most of the sermons I ever preach. The three things Jesus says here are among (aside from the Sermon on the Mount) the most impactful things he says, at least in my opinion. Peace be with you. Here is the Holy Spirit. Forgive everything. I have been mulling these over for years, and they get stronger and stronger, more radical, more profound. More indicative of how we might live, how we might go on following our traumas, how we might keep the progress of the Kin-dom going. 

Here’s a litany to follow along with it, and with the story of the ever-relatable “Doubting Thomas.” I’m hoping it will be helpful to us all as we are tested during this time of COVID-19. 

God, we are looking for signs of resurrection everywhere
We need proof.
Like Thomas, who needed to touch and see Christ’s wounds for himself,
We have doubts. …

Good Friday (Year A): Litany for Love and Suffering

This litany is based on a reading of the Gospel Lectionary text for Good Friday Year A: John 18:1 - 19:42. I have added the reference to forgiveness, which is found in Luke’s account and not in John’s. 

God, we know that some losses are unavoidable,
But they punch us in the gut anyway.
Just like the story of Christ’s crucifixion
Gets us every time. ..

Maundy Thursday (Year A): Litany for Christ our Companion

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I am particularly struck in the Maundy Thursday* readings by Jesus’ dismissal of hierarchy in John 13. He says baldly, “I tell you, servants are not greater than their master, nor are messengers greater than the one who sent them.” In washing the feet of his friends, he establishes once and for all that hierarchy has no place in his Kindom. He tells them and us that we should follow his example of sacred service, of the dignity of every human, of undoing and resisting hierachies and domination systems of all kinds. 

It’s a beautiful, countercultural message. Everything we think we knew about how the world works, Jesus unravels with a basin of water and a simple act of care.

God, you have shown us your love
And your nature,
In the person of Christ,
Who washed the feet of his friends (1),

*See also “Litany for Maundy Thursday” from 2016 Year A

Palm Sunday (Year A): Litany for Triumphal Entry

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In this week’s account of the Triumphal Entry of Jesus into Jerusalem, crowds of people shout praise to God, seeming to understand that Jesus was their long-awaited God-representative. Then, mysteriously, those hordes of supporters disappear. They’re never heard from again. Or maybe they are, but they’ve changed their minds about Jesus’ goodness and divinity. 

What happened to those people? Did they just stay home after that, thinking their contributions, work, and message didn’t matter? Did they not come to Jesus’ defense later because they had changed their minds about him? Or because they were afraid? Or because they were lazy and apathetic and assumed he’d take care of everything all by himself?

I’m honestly curious about those questions, despite knowing I’ll never have an answer.* But the un-knowing does lead me to one knowing: the critical mass of people either stayed home or turned against Jesus. The critical mass of people had power that they either abdicated or used against him. 

So this week, as I give thanks for the witness of Christ to God’s lovingkindness, I am contemplating my own power. My own power to stay home and save lives. My own power to advocate for the poor and marginalized. My own power to be the hands and feet of Jesus in the world now when “Christ has no hands and feet except ours.”

God, we remember Christ’s triumphal entry into Jerusalem,
His arrival met with cheering Hosannas.
He, seated on a humble donkey,
Accepting the praises of a fickle crowd (Matthew 21:1-11). 

see also: “Litany for Palm Sunday, Year A” from 2016.

Lent 5 (Year A): Litany for Living By Spirit

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The Lectionary this week is juicy juicy. Lazarus, the valley of Dry Bones, Romans 8, Psalm 130.  If you are searching for a litany tailored to the Ezekiel passage, please see Litany for Dry Bones. 

I take some issue with the greek SARKI in Romans 8 being translated as “in the flesh” or “on the flesh.” Not because I think it’s wrong; more that I think it’s just not enough. Not a big enough word. Not robust enough language. Strong’s says SARKI means “flesh, body, human nature, materiality.” I think human nature and materiality are getting closer. But as it is, oversimplified, I think it props up a harmful dualistic narrative: body is bad, spirit is good. This hasn’t done us any favors as embodied beings. 

What if, by “human nature” we mean humanity’s drive for self-preservation, self-satisfaction, and survival at any cost? What if we mean the ego-self, the one that propels us toward safety, separation, and self-sufficiency? What if we mean our tendency to be preoccupied with our bank accounts? Where we thought the contrast was between “flesh and spirit”, what if we are actually being pointed to disconnection vs connection?

Thinking about Romans 8 from this vantage point propels me into a different understanding, one of invitation into a life of Wholeness, Community, and Oneness. An invitation to drop our ego-needs (rightness, judgement, never-enough scarcity), and take up Spirit priorities: sacredness, service, generosity, abundance, love.

God, your Spirit dwells in us.
The Spirit of Christ is within us (1).
We turn away from self-preservation and survival
As our primary motivations;And toward unity, connectedness and service
As our foundation. 

Lent 4 (Year A): Litany for Mud and Spit

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Sometimes, like now, we have to endure mud and spit so that we can have our eyes opened and receive light in them. The very essentials of earth and humanity spread across our field of vision, that we may become unblinded. 

When this happens, we have choices: we can scoff at the method, ignore it, resist it. (Gross! Inconvenient! Unneccesary!). Or. We can see it as the love it is. Surrender. Practice gratitude. 

We are in a moment of apocalypse here on this planet. (Apocalypse meaning “revealing”.) Our fragility and vulnerability revealed. In our privilege we are convinced of our invulnerability. We put our faith in economic forces and our physical capabilities to keep us safe and insulated from hardship, only to learn that they are easily toppled by the most base and microscopic of single celled* foes. 

The best part about the story in John 9, of the man born blind whom Jesus heals with “mud and saliva”, is the new level of agency the previously blind man seems to step into. He speaks for himself. He decides to follow Christ. He stands up to bullies. He testifies to the Christ (John 9:33). 

So. We may be whirling. We may feel anxious. But we have an opportunity to have faith in the Light, to regard our new level of seeing as a gift. Because we know that “...Everything exposed by the light becomes visible, for everything that becomes visible is light. Therefore it says, "Sleeper, awake! Rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you." (Ephesians 5:13,14)

God, we know that Christ has come into the world
So that those who are un-seeing might see,
And so that we who are certain of our perspective,
Might have our spiritual blindness revealed ...

Lent 2 (Year A): Litany for Beginner’s Mind

The story of Nicodemus put me in mind of the Buddhist tradition of Beginner’s Mind. Jesus tells Nicodemus that he needs newly-born eyes to see the Kingdom of God in action. Jesus tells him that he needs re-born understanding to be able to perceive spiritual/heavenly things. He needs fresh eyes, fresh understanding. If we want to see and the truth about Jesus and his reflection of the image of God, and the Kin-dom God is inviting us to participate in, we need re-born consciousness. 

The concept of Beginner’s Mind is similar - to strive to keep the humble perspective of a beginning learner, to hang on to the fresh eyes of the uninitiated and unindoctrinated. So that we might see something other than what we’ve seen before. So that we can understand on a deeper level, with a higher consciousness. I believe this is what Jesus was referring to when he said in another text, “unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” Unless we relinquish our old consciousness and understanding in favor of a better one, we won’t be able to see the kingdom of heaven right in front of us. 

Last week’s litany explored the concept of Non-dualism, another overlapping concept among Wisdom Traditions. This week’s litany explores what Christianity has called “being born from above” and “childlike faith,” and the similarities I see between that and what Buddhist traditions have called “shoshin” or “beginner’s mind.”

God, as Christ has spoken, we know we must somehow be “born from above” (1),
We know we need fresh understanding,
Must learn to perceive with heaven’s consciousness,
Learn to set aside our preconceived ideas.
This new awareness
Is an endless beginning. 

Transfiguration Sunday (Year A): Litany for Our Transfiguration

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Divine Love, you are a bright cloud,
A glorious Presence,
You settle your beauty among us,
And we are transfigured …

Epiphany 6: Litany for Inner Transformation

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We are presented in Deuteronomy and Sirach with this idea that we get to choose how we live. We get to choose life and prosperity or death and adversity (Deut 30:15). We’re never forced into any path.

And then in the Gospel reading, Jesus is giving a treatise on what I’m calling inner transformation; telling us that what happens in our inner lives is as or more important, as or more informative of what actions are expressed in our outer lives. That our motivations come from within. That we need inner transformation before we can become true followers of the path of peace. He’s calling us to a radical self-honesty, to pay attention to our inner selves and do the work involved in deep transformation. He’s asking us to choose life.  

God, we know that before each of us are life and death;
Whichever we choose we will be found (1). 

We hear Christ’s call to radical self-honesty,
Humility, observation, and truthfulness (2).

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.

Epiphany 4 (Year A): Litany for What's Good

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This week’s Lectionary contains both the famous Micah 6:8 “Do justly, love mercy, walk humbly” admonition, and also Christ’s best and brightest sermon, in which he articulates the values and practices that constitute his religion. Revolutionary teachings, to which I’m clinging desperately and steadfastly these days. 

God, you’ve told us what is good,
Christ has demonstrated it,
And our experience confirms it:
To do justice, love kindness, and walk with humility …

Epiphany 3 (Year A): Litany for Fishing for People

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This week’s Lectionary gospel is Matthew’s account of the calling of Andrew, Peter, James and John to leave behind their fishing vocation, and take up a new one allied with the Community of Heaven. Jesus famously says: “Follow me, and I will make you fish for people.” Which is a wry and funny thing (in my opinion) for him to say. I’m envisioning us here, gently swept up, netted into a new paradigm of love. 

Oh God, we hear the Good News from Christ:
Change your mind! For God’s Community is right here,
And we take this news to heart,
Putting all our energy into making the transition…

Epiphany 2 (Year A): Litany for What We’re Looking For

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In preparing to write this litany I was reading through some commentaries, and one point in particular, made by Dr. Audrey West, struck me (especially in regards to my recent sermon at PeaceWilco): that the first quote Jesus utters in John’s gospel account is a question. “What are you looking for” (NRSV), also translated “What are you seeking?” The two disciples, one of whom is Andrew, reply with their own urgent question “Where are you staying?” 

What are we looking for? This is a deep, compelling, beautiful question. I believe it resonates to us today. What are we looking for? In our addictions, our people pleasing, our unrest, our endless consumption, our entertainment? 

Are we looking for peace? Connection? To be seen? To be free? To be accepted? It’s not  always an easy question to answer. Not even Andrew and his friend answered it - basically, whatever it is we think you’ve got it, Jesus. But it bears consideration for mindful, spiritual people of all traditions. 

God, so many of us are searching and longing
For a good life,
For community and reciprocal relationships,
For acceptance,
For peace and freedom from worry,
For safety,
For engaging work,
For abundance….