Litany for God So Loved the World

This week the Feast of Cross is celebrated in the liturgical calendar. The feast days commemorate the discovery by Saint Helena the mother of Constantine, of the cross on which Jesus was crucified; as well as the subsequent dedication of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. Most Protestant folk don't generally know about these feasts, and I only started learning about them when I began following along with the liturgical calendar and lectionary.  The Lectionary text from the Gospels for Holy Cross Day, which is in most traditions celebrated on September 14 (in others on September 16), for the year 2016, is John 3:13-17. 

I am including this text in my Lectionary litanies even though it is not a regular Sunday text, because it contains probably the most well-known verse in Scripture: John 3:16. If ever there were a text that should inspire and has inspired followers of Jesus to pray, it's this one. I find Eugene Peterson’s translation of it particularly compelling.

God, Creator and Lover of Humankind:
You’ve been reaching out to us since the dawn of our consciousness;
Extending connection and love,
Explaining yourself in ways each iteration of humanity could understand.

You are always convincing us of your love,
Mercifully covering our shame,
Making sacrifices to clothe our nakedness, (1)
Walking with us in the midst of our propensity for evil.

On our own we tend to choose death for ourselves
Even though you have been offering us whole and lasting life from the beginning. (2)

We still need to be convinced of your love
And of your loving nature.
We still need to look upon the person of Christ
And be reminded of what God is.

Your love reaches to the heavens.
Your faithfulness stretches to the skies. (3)

(1) Genesis 3:21
(2) “Whole and lasting life” is part of Eugene Peterson’s compelling translation of John 3:17
(3) Psalm 36:5


 

Litany for Goodness and Mercy

Surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. (Psalm 23:6)

 

God of goodness and mercy: we admit that we have gotten off-track.
We know we need to do justly,
Love mercy,
Walk humbly. (1)

We are enticed by retribution
And take vengeance for ourselves (2).
We are enamored by damnation
And forget about goodness.
We are in love with judgement
And disregard mercy.

We need a change of heart.
Christ, have mercy on us.
We need to look into your eyes and have our inner world transformed,
Before we begin work on the world around us (3).

Transform and renew us now (4)
Into the image of Christ,
Into a peace-making people,
Into a just and merciful people.

May we scatter seeds of goodness and mercy wherever we go,
And live in the light of your presence always. (5)

Amen

1. Micah 6:8, which Phyllis Tickle says is the motto of the Great Emergence.

2. Romans 12:19

3. Matthew 7:3

4. Romans 12:2

5. Psalm 23.6

Litany for Lost and Found

The Lectionary reading from the gospels for September 11, 2016 is from Luke 15:1-10.

Now this, this is the Jesus my heart loves. This is the Jesus I understand and am compelled by. This is the Jesus I think of when I think of Jesus. This is the Jesus at whose feet I fall (as opposed to wanting to wring his neck). This is where the kingdom, for me, becomes a living breathing soulful thing. Go and read the passage, and see if your heart doesn’t leap up too.

Loving God, finder of lost sheep,
Friend to sinners and rejects;
We look to your son, Jesus
The embodiment of perfect Love.

We confess that we have been so preoccupied with the ninety-nine
That we have overlooked the one.
We confess that we have judged and marginalized, pushed to the fringes
Those beloveds whom society has rejected.

If we have been the one rejected or lost,
Help us to forgive the ninety-nine.
If we have rejected our own selves, or deemed ourselves unworthy of your attention,
Let your love find us.
If we, in our pain, have been resistant to your love, blaming you for our rejection,
Open our eyes to the truth of your welcome.

Grant us now hearts of compassionate mercy,
Full of lovingkindness.
May we go out into the world, offering hope, offering mercy, offering love,
Offering an invitation to a joyful feast:
(ALL:) The Kingdom of God, open to all.

Amen

(Incidentally, I wrote a song entitled "All Sinners" about this very topic. You can find it here. )

Litany for Guidance

“For this God is our God for ever and ever; he will be our guide even to the end.” Psalm 48: 14

God, we find ourselves at a moment
When a decision must be made,
A direction must be chosen.
We seek your light and your guidance.

We desire to honor you in all that we do
In each breath we take,
Every goal,
Every action,
Every thought,
Every interaction.

We acknowledge that our choices matter,
But that you are Author, Creator, Beginner.
We acknowledge our smallness
And our potential.
We acknowledge that we are connected to a great big world
Parts of a body.
We acknowledge that acts of love reverberate
To all the world (1).

May all we do, and all we choose,
Be done and chosen with love;
That we may be, not a clanging cymbal or gong,
But a beautiful music filling the earth.

Help us to bravely step out into the path of peace (2),
Trusting in your help along the way (3).

Amen
 

1) Psalm 119:64 “The earth is filled with your love, Lord; teach me your decrees.”
2) Luke 1:78,79 "...because of the tender mercy of our God, by which the rising sun will come to us from heaven to shine on those living in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the path of peace."
3) Exodus 3: 11,12 "Who gave human beings their mouths? Who makes them deaf or mute? Who gives them sight or makes them blind? Is it not I, the Lord? Now go, I will help you speak and will teach you what to say."

Litany for Kindergarten

Oh God, ever-present and ever-loving
Be near to our little ones
As they venture out
Into the wide world.

May their first steps be confident,
Their first interactions pleasant,
Their first impressions positive,
Their first lessons lasting.

We have tried to raise them well, to teach them to be
     Smart,
     Kind,
     Generous,
     Brave, and
     Strong;
And to instill in them their belovedness
     By you
     And by us.

Bless us with wisdom to parent them well in this new season,
Neither hovering nor disconnected;
Attuned, but acknowledging and encouraging their emerging selves;
Gentle, caring, and patient always.

We ask you to bless and keep them
To protect them from harm
To keep them from temptation,
And rescue them from evil.

Be a friend to them, present and accessible.

We entrust them to you in the hours that they are out of our care,
The same as we entrust them to you when they are with us.
Again and again, we entrust them to you.
Their whole lives long and beyond, we entrust them to you.

Amen

Litany for Disappointment

This week and last, I have experienced a disappointment. Not a major life disappointment, although I think I’ve had a couple of those over the years; but a medium-sized disappointment, one where the answer to the “will it matter ten years from now?” question is a solid “maybe, quite possibly yes.” Big enough to feel frustration and loss about. Enough to feel the world has narrowed a bit. Enough to discourage me, and make me question my decisions and priorities. And I’m not through mucking about in the consequences of it: this thing I wanted and didn’t get (either plan A or plan B - double whammy, ouch!), and now I must figure out plan C. I must settle. I must move forward and make the best of what to me is third-best.

The first person to repeat some trite saying, like, oh, ‘when God closes a door [God] opens a window’ is going to get smacked. I'm mostly joking but I sort of mean it. I am opposed to violence in general but you will have found a back-door in my theology if you say this, out of which I may come swinging. I’m not perfect, and I need some grace; because people who have experienced disappointment are in grief on some level, and trite sayings, in my experience, make people’s pain worse.

A trite saying is more likely to communicate dismissal than genuine care: the Lord works in mysterious ways, so get over it!... If we're not careful, it can say, "if you trust God, then you should feel no pain, therefore because you are experiencing pain you must be a terrible Truster-of-God." A trite saying can make a bludgeon out of truth. It may be true on the surface, but it can cut off the air and make people retreat into someplace safer and more understanding. And some people retreat into someplace anesthesized, insulated from pain; which, you can ask anyone in recovery from addiction, is not a healthy scenario.

Let me just reiterate that: people experiencing disappointment are experiencing grief. Loss of possibility is loss. Pain is pain, and pain is sticky. We can't just dismiss it.

The image that keeps coming to my mind is of sticky bread dough. A lump of sticky pain-dough that makes a mess if you touch it. And don’t even try to roll it out in that state. The best way to handle sticky dough is to flour our hands and our workspace and knead it. Work it till it’s manageable and not sticky anymore and can be set in a warm place to rise and transform. This is the work of prayer in me today.

God of possibility, God of transformation
Look upon us now with grace and mercy.
We did not get a thing we wanted,
A thing we hoped for.
We have experienced disappointment.
And need your comfort.

Be present with us
As we are present to our pain.
Be patient with us
As we are patient with our grief.

Help us to travel the path of disappointment, loss, and grief,
Holding on to love;
And to find joy along the way,
Even in difficulty.

If our expectations are inappropriate
Set us right.
If our vision is too narrow
Take us to a better vantage point.
If our motivations are only self-serving
Help us to examine ourselves.
If our woundedness has blinded us
Open our eyes.

Help us to move forward with gratitude and expectation of blessing,
Trusting in your goodness;
Willing to re-imagine our circumstances in light of your Kingdom,
Trusting in your care.
And may our pain, and our attention to it,
Reveal your faithful love.

Amen


 

Litany for Loss

A number of things have come up lately that have caused me to think more deeply about loss. For one thing, my child is going to Kindergarten in a couple of weeks, which causes an eruption of emotions from me, and is not exactly a loss but a change. (But then, if change is a rearranging involving losses and gains, what's the difference?) But I have experienced loss in my life, and also borne witness to losses that others have experienced recently: a marriage ending, a brother passing, a mother passing, a foster child moving on, a beloved dog dying. We must all wrestle, eventually, with loss. We must wrestle with what remains.

Here is a litany that is a meditation on loss and a prayer for grace and comfort in the experience of it. Feel free to choose the reference words (things, people) to suit your situation. In the case of the loss of an animal you might use "friend."

God of comfort, restorer of all things,
We look to you in times of trouble.
Something (someone) has been lost
Which (whom) we held dear.
We feel emptiness and sadness at this loss.
Comfort us with your presence.

We understand that within the confines of time,
All things must end.
We understand the cycles of life and the seasons,
Still we find the changes painful.

We acknowledge that we feel entitled to keep things (people)
By virtue of having been given them.
And that we feel affronted and angry when the time of our keeping runs out.
Give us grace to be grateful for the gifts of life, however long we get them.

We accept the gifts you give,
And the potential for pain they arrive with.
We understand that holding tightly to a thing (person)
Is sometimes not the best way to love it (him, her).

We are reminded that you hold all life within your gracious love
You are gathering all things to yourself (1).
You have power over death, are author of life, and are first to resurrection.
We trust you to care for what we have lost.

Help us as we stumble around
Overwhelmed by pain;
And in our human experience, during which loss is inevitable
Help us to see the divine.

Amen

1. Ephesians 1:9-10. I really like Eugene Peterson’s translation of this: “He thought of everything, provided for everything we could possibly need, letting us in on the plans he took such delight in making. He set it all out before us in Christ, a long-range plan in which everything would be brought together and summed up in him, everything in deepest heaven, everything on planet earth.”

Litany for Readiness

The Lectionary reading from the gospels for August 7, 2016 (Proper 14) is Luke 12:32-40. Read it here.

Recently I’ve been experimenting with capsule wardrobes. A capsule wardrobe is simply a more intentional, minimal wardrobe. I know you’ve opened an overstuffed closet or clothes drawer and felt overwhelmed by the number of items inside. I know you’ve done this because you most likely live in a developed nation (most of my readers are here in the US) and you obviously have access to the internet, and therefore that makes you a fairly privileged person, therefore you are most likely living in a culture where excess is normative. In the developed world, we are much more likely to have to guard against owning excess stuff rather than guard against not having enough. I regularly have to cull my home of items that appear inside it, items that I didn’t intentionally acquire or purchase, that have no meaning or value to me. Clothing in particular is cheap and easy to come by.

In a capsule wardrobe mindset, instead of having a closet full of clothes you didn’t think too hard about buying and that you don’t really like or wear much and don’t suit your needs very well, you evaluate each item of clothing you own with intention and thoughtfulness. You actually think about the items you own and how to make the best use of them. You acknowledge that ownership brings responsibility. You acknowledge that there is effort and hassle involved with owning too much. You acknowledge that weeding through a hundred mediocre options is time-consuming and that time is your most valuable resource. So you pare down to what you really love and use, what really brings you joy and serves you, what helps you get ready quickly and kindly. You figure out how much is enough, but not too much.

So why am I talking about capsule wardrobes? Well, because I find it interesting that in last week’s reading Jesus tells us not to worry about clothes or what we will wear. And this week we are hearing from Jesus a big fat “Be Ready” that directly follows an admonition to “sell your stuff and give to the poor.”

Don't hear me wrong. I'm not saying everyone needs a capsule wardrobe; I just happen to have already been thinking about them and about minimizing possessions in general. But it's not really about that. 

These scriptures give me the sense that part of being prepared for the kingdom to come involves lightening our load, weeding out our distractions and time-sucks, paring down to the essentials; so that we can be dressed and ready quickly, able to pounce on kingdom opportunities when they arise. It makes me wonder if Jesus is not only talking about how generosity affects the receiver; but also how generosity makes clean and light the heart and mind of the giver. And if Jesus is maybe inviting us to be free from worry because we literally own less to worry about.

I don’t think “sell your possessions” is meant as a burdensome request. I don’t think it means we are supposed to deny ourselves aesthetic pleasures - on the contrary; I think Jesus is always bringing the party and with it abundance and enjoyment. And isn’t it interesting that Jesus rarely talks explicitly about gratitude, but is always inviting us into practices that enhance our sense of blessing? So I do wonder if maybe we are being asked to edit things down to what is manageable so that we can both enjoy our lives with less hassle and anxiety, and also have space and time for the unexpected - both the gifts, like the master arriving home to share a meal, and the thief-in-the-night emergencies.

Do we own too much? Do we have too many obligations and distractions? Have we built in margin for the unexpected? Are we being intentional about our ownership, our time-management, and our kingdom priorities?

God, you have blessed us abundantly.
We thank you.
At times, in the culture in which we live, abundance threatens to overwhelm us.
Give us discernment.

We hear your advice to be ready.
We are easily distracted.
We want our priorities and possessions to reflect your goals
May we be generous, ready, alert.

Where we have acquired too much meaningless stuff and need to lighten our load
Forgive us and help us.
Where we have allowed too many distractions to clutter up our time and space,
Forgive us and help us.
Where we have missed opportunities to love people because we’re too busy and blind,
Forgive us and help us.
Where we have hoarded blessing for ourselves out of fear of not having enough,
Forgive us and help us.

Help us not to settle for cheap imitations of blessing,
Which moth and rust destroy;
But instead clear out and make space for true value:
Your kingdom come, your will be done.

Help us to be prepared when you come knocking
Dressed and ready to do your work.

Amen

Litany for Trauma

“Destruction and violence are before me;
there is strife, and conflict abounds.” (Hab 1:3)

“The grave is greedy and death is never satisfied.” (Hab 2:5)
 

I was on vacation last week, taking a break from most media, blissfully without cell service. I’ve returned home to learn of yet more incidents in the unending cascade of violence the world is subjected to. To name a few: A terrorist attack in Afghanistan killed upwards of 80 civilians. A suicide bombing in Germany on Sunday, on the heels of a prior attack there which happened on a train on Friday. Another bomb in Iraq. And just this morning, a police officer shot in his home, here in the Austin suburb where I live.

I am baffled. I knew the world was a place where violence is a strong force, a tool for the power-hungry and vengeful. My adulthood began with 9/11, after all. But I feel like I know it more deeply now.

One early morning during our trip to the mountains last week, as I sat out on the deck alone drinking coffee and watching the morning mist rise up out of the mountain hollows, God visited me in a different-than-ordinary way. The best way I can describe it is that it felt as if I were a tiny rowboat gently brushing up against a whale. Calm, peaceful, benevolent.

That moment, that serene and loving Presence, is what I want to hold onto this week. I want to know goodness and mercy. I want to contemplate instead of react. I want the Holy Spirit to give me perspective I can’t get with my own eyes, through the fog of my own instincts for self-protection, retribution, and fuzzy ideas about justice. So I’m praying to be set right in my own mind, informed by the trauma, but not motivated by it.


God of peace and healing:
We have witnessed evil.
We have seen terrified communities.
We have seen innocent civilians hurt and killed in conflicts with which they have little to do.
We have seen people killed in cold blood.
We have seen mass murder.
We grieve with mothers, fathers, children, brothers, sisters, friends.

We cannot unsee these things.
We do not even comprehend the damage done to our souls,
     how numb and scarred our minds become by violence.
We are disheartened by the frequency and magnitude of traumas.
It is a sad day when such evil is commonplace.

In these times
Remind us of your vastness
And the vastness of your creation.

Help us to be creative in utilizing the tools you’ve given:
Mercy, Kindness, Gentleness
Words and gestures of comfort and solidarity.

Help us to be strong in our minds
Able to withstand struggle
Able to retreat into your presence for peace.

Help us to be disciplined in maintaining our connection with you, Giver of Life
Even when the news feels all-consuming and urgent.
Especially then.

We do not know what to do
Except sit with you
And let your nearness transform and heal us.

We long for the day when the earth is filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord
As the waters cover the sea. (1)

Amen


1) Habbakuk 2:14

Litany for Listening

If we are going to keep praying for reconciliation among the races; if we are going to keep praying for reconciliation between hetero culture and the LGBTQ community; if we are going to keep praying for reconciliation among differing religious paradigms; if we are going to keep praying for reconciliation among nations; then I wonder if we should start by asking for help with listening.

All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting the message of reconciliation to us. So we are ambassadors for Christ, since God is making his appeal through us; we entreat you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. (2 Cor 5:18-20)

God, who so graciously speaks to us and is present to us,
Help us to be present to you, and to your people.

We confess that we are distracted and noisy people.
We confess that we have avoided quieting ourselves before you.
We confess that we’ve been afraid of what you might say to us.
We confess that we are often so busy speaking that all we hear is our own opinions.

We turn now to you, knowing that you are love,
And that love is what you are always telling us,
Even when you are gently correcting us.
We need gentle correction now.

We confess that we have not listened to our neighbors.
We confess that we have not made time and space to hear their stories and concerns.
We confess that we have allowed our differences to put us off.
We confess that by not engaging, we have stifled love.

Show us how to listen attentively,
And to love our neighbors near and far.
Show us how to open our ears and hearts
To those of different cultures, races, backgrounds, belief systems.
Show us how to embody the mission of Christ:
To prepare a great banquet and invite everyone to feast.

May we make space in our lives to hear your voice and do your good work.
May we know your voice.
May we overcome our fears of shame, and our reluctance to experience awkward moments.
May we follow the promptings of your Spirit without hesitation.
May our hearts be big enough to hold the stories we hear.
May we live love loudly, and listen quietly.

Be near to us as we do the work of quieting our souls (1),
That we may listen and learn from those around us.
Amen

(1) Psalm 131:
O LORD, my heart is not proud, nor my eyes haughty;
            Nor do I involve myself in great matters,
            Or in things too difficult for me.

 Surely I have composed and quieted my soul;
            Like a weaned child rests against his mother,
            My soul is like a weaned child within me.

  O Israel, hope in the LORD
            From this time forth and forever.

Litany for Marriage

My husband and I recently celebrated our 13th wedding anniversary (Hallelujah thanks be to God). I believe we would both say that living in the context of marriage has been for us some of the most difficult and refining work of our lives. I would say that marriage has been for me like a mirror: showing me things about myself I probably could not have known outside of the context of a relationship this deep and constant. I’m not sure you can sleep with someone, see and talk with them daily, share finances and responsibilities and parenting and meals and rest and worship and recreation and sex, and keep your dark places secret. Not for long at least.

For me, marriage has been a well of refinement, often difficult or painful, occasionally boring, occasionally romantic, mostly rewarding and gratifying; and, once we’ve gotten through the hard stuff, a source of deep contentment. Like life, really, if you’re engaging with it. If you are hiding from it, or avoiding conflict, you probably aren’t doing it right.

It’s nice to have a person know you really well and not feel like you have to hide things. It’s nice to always have a fan, someone who’s got your back. It’s nice to have someone around to mitigate loneliness. It’s nice to have someone I trust around to tell me when I’m being crazy. I like being married, I married the right person, and I’m grateful. We celebrate how far we've come, and congratulate ourselves on the hard work it took to get here.

But. A few things:
We understand that marriage isn’t for everybody, and that those who prefer to remain unmarried are often tacitly de-valued in culture, at least in church culture.
We understand that many are seeking a marriage partner, and haven’t found him or her; and that this wait can be long and uncomfortable.
We understand that for many, marriage will be some of the most difficult work of our lives.
We understand that some marriages are unsustainable, people make mistakes, and many feel great pain when they end.
We understand that marriage has been for some, especially women, a context for abuse, subjugation, and inequality.

So, I don’t want to publish a litany about marriage without acknowledging those things. For many, the subject of marriage is a source of pain. Married isn’t the only way to live. It’s not the be-all, end-all of human relational existence. Married people are not more valuable or useful in society than single folks. God loves the married and the single. God moves in and through people regardless of attachments or relationships. God is pouring love to all.

All that said, if you are married, I invite you to pray:

God, in your wisdom you have created us to live in community with one another as Creator, Son, and Spirit dwell in community.
To us you have given marriage as part of that community.

We understand that marriage is a reflection of the Trinity: two in partnership, with God as leader.
We understand that conflict is inevitable, and ease is never guaranteed.
We understand that every relationship is an opportunity to have our eyes opened, our hearts expanded.

May we speak kindly.
May we enjoy one another’s company.
May we be good friends, and good lovers.
May we generously serve one another in joy and humility.
May we listen well and understand one another deeply.
May we delight in one another - body, soul, intellect.
May we put our partner’s needs above our own.
May we have patience with one another’s defects.
May we each have the courage to give voice to our own needs.
May we each pull our weight, living in equality and mutual respect.

As we wound our partners, forgive us.
As we are wounded by our partners, may we graciously forgive.
As we become complacent, show us ways to win one another.
As we fall into unhealthy patterns of communication, give us strength to change.
As we get stuck in anger, fear, or pain; may we be moved again by love.
As we are discouraged by life circumstances - illness, finances, family conflict - fight for us, Lord, and give us peace.

In learning how to love well, we look to Christ as our example and inspiration.

Help us to accomplish good work together.
Help us to support and encourage each other in aspirations and endeavors.
Help us to care well for those people you put around us.
Help us to steward well the resources you give us.
Help us to not shirk the work of caring for our own souls and bodies, so that we may have something to offer our partner.
Help us to connect to you individually, so that following Jesus together comes naturally.
Help us to not shy away from conflict, but learn to engage our disagreements with intention and respect.
Help us to humbly ask for outside relational help when we need it.

May our marriages speak to us and to others about the unfailing love of God, the kindness and sacrifice of Jesus.
May we find redemption, peace, and satisfaction in our marriages.
Amen.

Litany for Vacation

This litany was originally published on GodSpace. Many thanks to the contributors there, and for allowing me to share the occasional litany in their space.

Litany for Vacation

God, Author of fun,
We acknowledge and offer thanks for our privilege:

To be able to lay aside our daily work,
Retreat from our homes (or into them),
Absorb the beauty of Creation,
Engage in relaxation.

We acknowledge that this is not a luxury available to all people in all cultures.
We acknowledge that privilege is a tricky thing.
We acknowledge that first-world culture is not always geared toward rest and balance.
We acknowledge that all creatures need times of play and fun.

If we are able to travel, we ask for protection along the way.
If we are with our families or extended families, we ask for relational harmony.
If we have been overworked, we ask for respite and renewal.
If we have been starved for beauty, we ask for a generous serving.
If we have been starved of fun, we ask for laughing recreation.

May we dunk ourselves in rivers, lakes, and oceans,
Breathe clean air,
Look deeply into campfires,
Be comforted by dear presences,
Eat good food,
Imbibe water and wine,
Play and be childlike,
Sleep plentifully and peacefully.

And may we emerge from our vacations feeling vibrant and alive.
Amen

Litany for Trump and Hillary, or, What To Pray When You're Worried

I love to vote. The year I turned 18 was an election year, and I drove 2.5 hours from college to my hometown just so I could vote in the presidential election for my first time. I appreciate the right to vote. I think voting is, not a perfect system, but a strong one. As a woman, voting is an especially cherished right. When I think about women like Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Alice Paul, and others who organized, were imprisoned, and in some cases died fighting for women’s suffrage - you can bet I’m damn well gonna vote.

We vote all kinds of ways: on ballots, with dollars, by participation. Some we are conscious of, some are tacit. This is human economy. This is a system of government generations of people, people we know and love, have defended to the death, mostly with honor and courage and good intentions. I’m grateful that I live in a relatively safe society (tragic events of this weekend notwithstanding, we are generally safer than, say, Syria), a relatively free one, a relatively functional one, a relatively just one; thanks to the blood, sweat, and tears of those women and men who came before me and stand around me. I think we collectively are grateful.

We’re grateful, but everyone seems worried lately. 49 people were gunned down this last weekend, which is worrisome to say the least. We are worried or angry or both. One group is worried that Trump is going to be elected president. Another group is worried that Hillary Clinton will be elected. The other group is worried by the idea of either candidate arriving in the White House as one of the most powerful politicians on the planet, potentially causing the whole voting-economy-government system to crumble. We're convinced that someone is going to send us all to hell in a handbasket.

I’m tempted to worry too. I’m tempted to stew on my bafflement. I’m tempted to judge and condemn people with whom I disagree. I’m tempted to stop trusting in Jesus and start trusting in a politician or political party or system of government to save me from my fate of brokenness, war, poverty, sickness, consumerism, greed, hatred, and power-hunger. I’m tempted to bury my head, withhold my vote, stop reading news and interacting with people, and indulge in false consolation. I’m tempted to get stuck in anger.

But here’s the thing: I don’t think there’s any voting in the Kingdom of God. I think the best system we’ve come up with for governing human beings doesn’t even come close to the goodness of God. I think our best attempts at a fair and functional economy cannot compare with the gold standard of the currency of God, which is Gracious Love. I think we cannot even conceive of the Justice of God, and our best imitation of it is only a shadow, subject to corruption. I think the best political leaders the world has ever seen will bow before Jesus along with the rest of us when he comes.

So.

I wonder if there’s another way for me aside from worry and anger. I wonder if there is a way to walk on top of murky waters. I wonder if there’s anything I can do that might be helpful. I wonder if there’s an alternative to despair.

If you are worried and wondering too, I invite you to pray with me.

Maker of All Things, we invite You now
into our feelings of discomfort, confusion, anger, fear, and worry
over How Things are Going to Be.

We are reminded:
That Jesus did not resist the political regime of his time,
     but instead preached the Kingdom of God.
That Jesus did not condemn or punish,
     but instead healed, fed, traveled, talked, and ate meals with people.
That Jesus did not worry,
     but instead prayed when he was troubled.

We acknowledge that human leaders are flawed.
We acknowledge that human systems fall short.
We acknowledge that hardship is always present this side of eternity.

We acknowledge that Jesus will save the world.
    Not a politician. Jesus.
    Not a judge. Jesus.
    Not a celebrity or even a pastor. Jesus.
We acknowledge that Jesus has already begun that work;
    In us, with us, through us, Jesus is saving the world.
We acknowledge that the Kingdom of God is expanding, unstoppable.

We ask for Your Gracious Love.
We ask for wisdom and compassion.
We ask for strength and courage to do our best work for Your kingdom, work that will last.
We ask for goodness and mercy to follow us all the days of our lives.
We ask for our faith to grow.

We set aside worry; instead we take up grace and peace, which You offer abundantly.
We put our hope in Jesus Christ, and in His kingdom.
We give thanks that our future is safe in Your hands.

Amen

Litany for I'm Sorry

I had planned to post a litany today about Trump and Hillary (and about Jesus), which I feel pretty excited about sharing. But I just can’t do it; it will have to wait. I can’t turn off all the feelings I feel about the Orlando shooting. I can’t stop thinking about it. I can’t stop thinking about how a specific community of people was targeted and systematically put to death in cold blood by a maniac. I have had to monitor my intake of news about it, lest it overwhelm me completely. I feel guilty saying that sentence because some people don’t have a choice about whether or not this thing will overwhelm them, because it has definitely, without a doubt, overwhelmed them with sorrow, grief, loss, lament, pain, despair, hopelessness.

And then I read some folks criticizing church folks for waiting until now, until something completely tragic and unthinkable has happened, to extend any kindness toward the LGBT community. Which is kind-of valid, church. Although it’s also kind-of valid that a lot of us have been loving and welcoming LGBT folks all along we just haven’t made any headlines about it. So that feels kind-of dismissive, but then again maybe we should have been a little louder about our love. But then again we’ve all just been doing our damndest to live well in the context we are in, to see as far as our horizon will let us, and try to be some kind of bridge people between the ideologies that keep us in tension all the stinking time. Which is exhausting but I shouldn’t be complaining because I’m not the one getting persecuted and gunned down and I probably don’t even know the meaning of exhausted in comparison.

Do you see the complexity here? Do you see how many feelings it might be possible for anyone on any side of this to feel? Do you see the rabbit holes it is possible for a person’s mind to go down, how many guilts it is possible to internalize, how many sorrows it is possible to become engulfed by, how frustrated it is possible to get? Or is that just me?

Let me dial this down for us:
God loves human beings; that’s God’s thing. If we are not about the business of loving human beings, then we are not doing God’s thing; we are doing something else, and woe to us.

To the LGBTQ community, in which I have friends and family and beloved folks:
I’m sorry I didn’t live my love louder before now.
I’m sorry the society we live in left the door wide open for this to happen, and for all the ways I’m complicit in that society.
I’m sorry the church-section I’m a part of has done such a shitty job of loving you, and for all the ways I’ve been complicit in that.
I’m sorry for every time I’ve ever missed an opportunity to love you, to listen to you, or to walk beside you in companionable silence.
I’m sorry we haven’t gotten far enough along in our relationship to trust one another with deep things.

I believe that Jesus is for you.
I believe that the Kingdom of God, inaugurated by Jesus, is for you.
I believe that when Jesus says, “Come to me all you who are weary and heavy-laden and I will give you rest,” He means you, too.
I believe that God made you, God loves you, and God is pouring out love upon love indiscriminately on you all your life.

I want to do better at getting in line with God’s agenda on that.
I want to do better at trading stories with you and hearing your heart.
Forgive me.

God:
We, the church, Your body on earth, turn to You in humility and contrition, confessing our failure at loving our LBGTQ brothers and sisters well.

We’ve insulated ourselves.
We’ve turned a blind eye to injustice.
We’ve perpetuated misunderstanding.
We’ve capitulated to fear.
We’ve withheld help and concern.
We’ve cheapened the grace of Jesus.
We’ve forgotten that, of faith, hope, and love; love is greatest.

We know that where we are inadequate, You are more than enough.
We know that there is always redemption when Jesus is around.
We know that Jesus is always where the pain is.

Our hearts mourn for the pain we have caused.
We are sorry.
Help us to be better at following the Way of Love.

Amen
 

Litany for Repentance From Bigotry

Yesterday I had the poignant honor of reading two of my litanies, one for an interfaith vigil honoring and mourning those 50 LGBTQ+ persons killed in the attack in Orlando, and another at a subsequent vigil hosted by Austin Pride.  A couple of Muslim leaders spoke, calling for an end to violence, extolling the mercy and compassion of God. Several members of the LGBTQ+ community spoke, exhorting the community to combat hate with love. The mayor of Austin and a few other local politicians spoke. A Rabbi gave a lovely blessing and sang peace over us. A handful of Christians spoke (I actually prefer the term Follower of Jesus, but, ahem), myself included along with Ben, one of the pastors of my church.

I hardly know how I got there, except I know somebody who knows somebody, and so forth, and Ben brought me along, and somehow following Jesus tends to take us to unexpected places (the glorious run-on sentence of faith-life). I am nobody these people know, so why should they listen to me? I have no title, nor am I technically a vocational “faith leader.” And yet, there I was, hands full of prayers I’ve written, being handed a microphone. Prayers about grief, terrorism, justice and equality, suffering. The best I could offer to a wounded community.

I thanked God that I had written these prayers, that they were ready and available and potentially helpful in a time of deep tragedy, at the same time that I felt sad that I’d ever had to write such prayers; sad that we must have language for such grief.

In between the two vigils, a group of hundreds of us marched down the streets of Austin with a police escort, from one vigil to another, demonstrating our solidarity with those who have been lost, and with the vibrant community who lost them. I had never been to an event like this. I had never even considered events like this to be of much use; obviously, I got schooled. I’d never really understood the point of marching. I’d never understood that marching is more about the hearts of the people who march than it is about observers or political statements or news-making.

Marching, Marching, down Congress

I thought of that horde of folks, marching around the Galilean countryside, traipsing after Jesus; they had gotten so focused on following that they neglected to bring food. They needed Jesus to feed them in more ways than one. I thought of Jesus’ compassion on them, on their hunger, when he could have said too bad so sad you dummies walked out into the wilderness uninvited with no food. What must those folks have felt as they marched? What was happening in their hearts? I can tell you I still don’t fully understand marching but I have a new appreciation for it.  There is something to be said for walking with people.

I am not a part of the LGBTQ+ community, not even peripherally. But I have a new level of love for those folks and what they’ve endured, what they are still enduring. I want to stand in solidarity with them in their grief and loss and fear and in the great temptation to give hate for hate. I have been given a new heart, yet again. As I spoke to folks and looked in their eyes I felt anew the love of God for each person, going out, going out, going out; just like it always does.

A bigot is a person who is intolerant of people who have a different way of thinking. I have never considered myself a bigot (who does?). In fact I have tried hard to NOT be a bigot. I know a few bigots and they aren’t pleasant people (and yet the Love of God is going out, going out, going out to them). But I think there are ways bigotry slips in unacknowledged. I think there are ways I have been bigoted without even realizing it. There are patterns of thought my mind has followed that were maybe taught to me, or maybe assumed, and that maybe ignorance has perpetuated.

So I offer this prayer, along with an invitation for you to come alongside me in praying it.

Compassionate God,
Have mercy on us sinners.

We confess our blindness.
We confess our small-mindedness.
We confess our tendency to think that what we think about the hearts of others is always true.
We confess our judgment and suspicion of things and people unfamiliar to or different from us.
We confess our inability to perfectly follow the Way of Love.

Of bigotry, we repent.
Of condemnation, we repent.
Of lack of compassion, we repent.
Of ignorance, we repent.
Of unwillingness to walk with people You love, we repent.

Keep on giving us new hearts.
Keep on shaping our minds and our perspectives.
Keep on training us in the Way of Love.
Keep on refreshing our understanding of Jesus.
Keep on expanding our minds, even as Your Kingdom is expanding.
Don’t give up on us, even when we are stubborn and self-righteous.

Amen

Litany for Money: A Deeper Economy

I first read the book _Deep Economy_ by Bill McKibben, sometime around 2008. It and its title have stuck with me, and spurred me on to reading several other books about Creation care and financial stewardship. For my husband and I, stewardship is a deep idea, one we value highly. We have existed in scarcity and in relative abundance. We have made wise decisions and foolish ones. We have been complicit and imperfect and fearful and hesitant and faithful and brave.

I think that in dealing with money we would do well to remember the Parable of the Talents in Matthew 25, as well as the Parables of the Treasure and the Pearl in Matthew 6. Not to mention the fact that, as Dave Ramsey is fond of pointing out, in the four gospels Jesus talked about money almost as much as he talked about the Kingdom of God. Whether we currently see the world from a position of scarcity or from abundance, money and stewardship seem worth praying about. Thus I give you this rather ponderous but well-meaning litany.

God,
You created humanity, and humanity exists in an economy based on money.

We acknowledge that money profoundly affects our lives.
We acknowledge that dealing with money requires our attention and effort.
We acknowledge that the love of money is a root of evil.
We acknowledge our temptation toward greed.
We acknowledge that money and hard work are linked.
We acknowledge that money and privilege are linked.
We acknowledge that poverty is an ongoing problem, and that Your heart is for the poor.

We confess our love of money.
We confess our equating money with power and status.
We confess our squandering of resources.
We confess our hesitance to risk, to invest, and to have faith.
We confess our obsession with possessions.
We confess our worry when needs arise.
We confess our jealousy of the riches of others.

Give us our daily bread.
Give us enough, but not too much.
Give us treasure that moth and rust do not destroy.
Give us riches of life, relationships, and joy.
Give us wisdom to handle money in ways that reflect Your character.

Help us to steward well that which You choose to give us authority over.
Help us to have healthy attitudes towards money, to neither disregard nor idolize it.
Help us to use our money for Your kingdom work.
Help us to care for the needy, the orphan, and the lonely.
Help us to be generous, as You have been generous towards us.
Help us to be disciplined and work hard, and be rewarded accordingly.
Help us to save for times of need, and for pleasure.
Help us to trust in Your care and provision.

May we, Your children, exist in a deeper economy;
     not an economy based on money or power, but on grace.
May we live, not from scarcity, but from the abundance of Your kingdom.

Amen
 

Litany for Identity

Recently, in the songwriting group I lead and host in my home, we had a long discussion about identity; about how so many of us are in various ways asleep to who we are, asleep to who God is, and how our identity is so central to the gospel of Jesus. But for many of us, it feels elusive - who am I again?

When I became a mother I had an identity crisis that lasted a year or more. I didn't DO any of the stuff I used to DO, and I had a hard time finding myself in the midst of all the new and unfamiliar stuff I did DO. Where had I gone? Who was this tired person with an entirely new set of priorities and schedule? Figuring it out was long work, in part because I am trained to believe that what I DO is who I AM. Disabusing myself of this idea is an uphill battle.

Identity is a huge idea, and this prayer only begins to scrape the crust of it. But for those of us who struggle, either because of our temperament or a season of life that has forced the issue, I'm hoping this prayer might be a good start.

Creator God, You formed us.
We are fearfully and wonderfully made.
In You we live and move
And have our being.

We acknowledge that many voices try to tell us who we are,
     Who we are not.
Many voices tell us our value is based upon
     Appearance
     Achievement
     Social status
     Gender
     Ethnicity
     Posessions
     Talent

Many would have us believe that our Doing is more important than our Being.
We renounce these voices.
We are Your Children, the work of your hands,
Unique and beloved by You.

May we become more awake to Your love,
Which has no limits.
Your love,
Which defines us.
Your love,
Which begins us and completes us.

May we walk in the sureness of our identity,
In the confidence of Your love.
May all we do come from the core of who we are:
Loved, and made of love.

Amen

Litany for Rest and Balance

Because I am a thirty-something mom whose main daily job is to take care of two small people, I end up talking to a lot of other thirty-something moms in a similar grind. The refrain I hear over and over again is: "I need rest. I need balance." We are all trying to figure out how to balance our responsibilities to our families, our household responsibilities, our relationship needs and responsibilities, our community responsibilities, our career responsibilities, and still find time for some self-actualization, soul care, and body care in the midst of it. It's tricky. I realize it's not just moms who are preoccupied with this problem either, nor is it just parents. I predict that this won't be the last prayer I write about rest and balance, but here it is, the first.
 

God, we hear your invitation to us:
“Come to me, you who are weary and heavy burdened. I will give you rest.”

We acknowledge our souls’ need for rest and quiet nourishment.
We lay down our burdens.
We acknowledge our souls’ need of connection with You.
We turn our intentions toward You now.

We confess our tendency to overlook rest as a necessary part of soul and self care.
We confess our pride in thinking that our work is so important that we may not set it down.
We confess our readiness to believe that what we do determines our worth.
We confess our obsession with productivity, results, measurable progress.
We confess our neglect of the good soil of our souls.
We confess our tendency to forget that it is in You that we live and move and have our being
   and that Your love is better than life.

We ask now for body, mind, spirit, whole-person nourishment.
  For rest and resurrection,
  For new life,
  For healing and consolation of our souls.
We ask for help managing our time and activities so that our
  In-fillings
  Keep up with our
  out-pourings.

Where we have overspent ourselves
Refresh us.
Where we have misplaced our priorities
Re-arrange us.
Where we have said yes when we should have said no
Remind us.

We thank You for meaningful work; for blessings and burdens.
We thank You for rest.
May we become present to our great need for
Daily bread: the presence of Christ in our lives.

Amen

Litany for Bodies

Though I'm not currently practicing, by education and training I am a Nutritionist (M.S.). I've long been interested in the connection of body and mind, and invested a lot of time learning and thinking about how to keep human bodies healthy. I think that how we care for our bodies has bearing on how we care for our spirits. By most standards, the general health of the average American praying person is declining, although there are various schools of thought as to how best to halt the decline. I think it's an important topic for our time that is often disregarded in dualistic (i.e., body/matter = bad, spirit/mind = good; therefore taking care of body/earth isn't considered worthwhile) theological perspectives. I think our bodies are worth praying into, and worth caring for. Jesus did, after all, go around healing them routinely.

God, we set ourselves once again under Your care.
You imagined us. You formed us. You gave us to ourselves.

We remember that our bodies are temples, where You will dwell if we let You.
We remember that we are not only spiritual beings, but also physical.
We remember that the state of our bodies often reflects the state of our inner persons.

We confess that we have at times misused our gift.
We confess that we have at times overindulged and polluted.
We confess that we have at times lazed about and given way to atrophy and inertia.
We confess that we have at times given over control and responsibility to other entities outside of our connection with You.
We confess that we have at times submitted to standards with which You have nothing to do.
We confess that we have at times been overly critical, and enslaved ourselves to appearances.
We confess that we have at times overlooked or undervalued the intersection of body and soul.

If we have allowed our temples to fall into disrepair, inspire us toward betterment.
If sickness we cannot control has overwhelmed or discouraged us, we ask for healing.
If addiction has motivated our actions, we surrender control to You, asking for help.
If we have been shamed, we look to you for identity and confidence.
If busyness has been our excuse, help us to re-prioritize.

We give thanks to You for our bodies.
We give thanks to You for Creation.
We give thanks to You for nourishment and for pleasure.
We give thanks to You for the goodness that comes with exertion.
We give thanks to You for rest and stillness.

We ask for good health in body, mind, soul, and spirit.

Help us to conduct our lives with balance, moderation, and thoughtfulness.
Help us to enjoy good food, that most intimate of connections with Creation.
Help us to enjoy sun, air, soil, and creature.
Help us to become comfortable in our skins and robust in our spirits.
Help us to steward our bodies well, and to regard them as the good art they are.

Amen

Litany for Doubt

In contemporary church-y, Jesus-y culture, we have little language to express doubt; and little room in our paradigms for sitting in the tension of it. Mostly, you are either in, or you’re out. I find that lots of people have a sophisticated (or at least wordy) theology about doubt and they know all the right answers, and usually those are the folks who have never actually traveled it. It’s easy to say, from a place of faith: you should put a lid on your doubt.

I don’t want to do that.

My personal experience with doubt has been informative and valuable. I feel that Jesus’ response to my doubt has always been a gracious “Here, touch my hands and side” (1); and “I saw you under the fig tree” (2). For better or worse, I want to explore it, to remember what it felt like when I was there, and allow it to portray my faith in relief, with depth and shadow and dimension. I feel pretty sure that to doubt is to admit that mystery is an ingredient of faith, a color in its spectrum.

This litany uses more poetic imagery than most of what I post. But I have found that regular words aren’t enough to give vent to doubt. If the entree is hard questions, it needs a side of groaning, and a chaser of silence.

Honestly, if you are in a season of doubt, and you are able to pray this (or any) prayer at all, well, good for you. And if your “sometimes” is moving toward “always,” then Blessings, Sister. Blessings, Brother.

Litany for Doubt

God, sometimes we feel as if You are not there at all.
We cannot hear You through the static of our emotions,
   the cacophony of voices,
   the fullness and the void.
We cannot see You in the fabric of the visible and scientific.
We cannot feel You in the tension and the grit.

People say “God doesn’t exist” and sometimes we believe them.

We want to believe You.
We want You to be Good. Love. True.
Help our unbelief. (3)

We have been hurt. Shattered, perhaps.
We have been disappointed, and are inclined to minimize risk.
We can say with the Psalmist: “All day long I have been afflicted,
    And every morning brings new punishments.” (4)
Let Your grace pierce the armor we set about ourselves.

Have mercy on us in our doubt, and meet us in our weakness.
Where we are skeptical, be gracious to us.
Where our expectations are unmet, be generous to us.
Where we have unanswered questions, gently teach us.

We acknowledge that doubt is an opportunity to become deeply quiet,
   To wait.

On our own we can hardly open the door for You.
We will need You to stealthily creep in.
We will need Your patience, and all the loving-kindness You can muster
To make up for our lack.

If there is any language we can understand,
Surely it is Love.
If there is any small spark our eyes can see,
Surely it is Love.

Amen
 

1. John 20:27
2. John 1:48
3. Mark 9:24
4. Psalm 73:14