Great Provider, hear our prayers today and not our demands. Supply us with a greater understanding of Your love. Create new ways of thinking as “we live our lives before the wild, dangerous, unfettered and free character of the living God” (Walter Brueggemann).
Help us to pray for each other and not just ourselves. Give us the wisdom to have less ego, hate, and condemnation, but have more compassion, love and mercy. Instead of demanding what we think we deserve, let us give thanks for what we don’t deserve: Grace and forgiveness. We’ve all made mistakes. We all need to forgive each other and point each other back to God. So strengthen us to run toward the experience of love. Guide us to wherever it is that You are.
“So when the devil throws our sins in our face and declares that we deserve death and hell, we can tell him this: “we admit what we deserve…For we know (of) One who suffered and made satisfaction on our behalf. His name is Jesus Christ, Son of God, and where He is there we shall be also!” (Martin Luther)
Great Provider, let us be aligned with You, O God. Mend the broken and embrace the forgotten. Remind us, that “our glory cannot save us, but the Glory of God is eternal” (Jonathan Cahn). Speak to us directly and cure the infection of hate, so that we can be propelled into the Light of the world and be instruments of healing. Don’t let us get lost in the desert of unused life. Open up the floodgates and wash away the hurt and the shame. And from our nothingness, create in us a clean heart and a clear mind that seeks You in everything that we do.
Calm the storms when we are overwhelmed by the hunger of the multitudes. Remind us that it is not what we have that will provide but that God will always provide when we come up short. “In Jesus, there is not one category of people who heal and one who need wholeness. There is not one category of people who minister and one who needs care. There is just one category: Hungry sinners in need of a Savior” (Nadia Boltz Webber). So let’s claim our miracle today and grab hold of the only truth that matters: That there is salvation and hope in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.
This video was taken from a concert that I produced for Nevadans for the Common Good on June 28, 2015. We chose to do a patriotic concert and I decided to add this song into the program as a tribute to the 9 people that were killed in the shooting at Mother Emmanuel AME Church in South Carolina.
Nevadans for the Common Good is a non-profit organization that “helps congregations and organizations develop a deeply-rooted justice strategy – not one that lurches from issue to issue, but one that builds a base of leaders, develops an analysis of the pressures affecting families in an institution and crafts a viable response to those pressures, working together with other congregations and organizations”
(http://www.nevadansforthecommongood.org).
Yes, not so good things will happen in this life, but when they do, we need to remember that “darkness cannot take out darkness. Only light can. Hate cannot take out hate. Only love can” (MLK). There is only one judge and in the end none of us would pray for judgement or justice for the way that we have lived this life. Instead, we pray for mercy, forgiveness and grace, because we have all fallen short of the glory of God. And because of Jesus Christ, we can love as we are loved by Almighty God. We can forgive as we have been forgiven. We can exude the same amazing grace that was given to us through God’s only Son. We can be united as One body instead of fighting against each other. We can do so much more than what we limit ourselves to. The human perspective is but a speck of dust compared to the vastness of God’s plan.
I believe that the root of the problem that plagues our world and our human family, is that we separate from each other. There is no “us” or “them,” there is just “us.” We easily forget the commonality of our own humanity and segregate over superficial differences. The world’s problems are our problems. The issues that people face in a distant land are also in our own backyard. “For God so loved the world that He sent His only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but save the world through Him” (John 3:16-17 NIV). God did not save parts of the world. God saves the world, in it’s entirety, through love. Through the power of compassion and the truth of salvation, love is the common thread that unites us all and melts away any perceived differences. “There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus” (Galatians 3:28).
If we could just see each other as people first and not what type of person or category, then we could dialogue in a healthy conversation about the commonality of the human experience. “I am a Jew. Hath not a Jew eyes?Hath not a Jew hands, organs, dimensions, senses, affections, passions? Fed with the same food, hurt with the same weapons, subject to the same diseases, healed by the same means, warmed and cooled by the same winter and summer…If you prick us, do we not bleed? If you tickle us, do we not laugh? If you poison us, do we not die?” (Merchant of Venice, Shakespeare).
Bottomline, the blood that runs through the veins of every human being, that has ever lived and will live, is red. We are all the same, and it is with that sameness that we shall overcome the wicked and corruptive landscapes of the human mind that perpetuates the pandora’s box of racism, prejudice, sexism, homophobia, classism etc…
Look, we will all leave this world with the same amount of the world’s riches as we came in with…absolutely nothing. But we will leave a legacy of the way in which we lived this life and affected other people. This life is not about individuals but instead it is about the collective condition of the human story. If we could just see ourselves within the people that we meet, then the world that God sees will be opened onto us so that the kingdom on earth could be as it is in heaven.
Original Oil Pointing commissioned by New Song Church
Let us be aligned with You, O God. Allow us to embrace the changes that resonate with God’s Holy plan. Calm the storms around us and within us by letting “love diminish our fears” (Rev. Zelda Kennedy). And even when we’re caught in the winds of the world, please don’t let us ever stop witnessing the gospel of Jesus Christ. For “sin (will) happen whenever we refuse to keep growing” (Richard Rohr). So nourish our growing relationship with You, O Lord, and remind us that “hope will never be silent” (Harvey Milk).
“Love cannot be taught. Love comes from God alone, and must be incarnated and experienced” (Rev. Jeff Hood). “Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about the things that matter” (MLK). The love of God will not be silent and neither will we. We will not look away from those whom we can help. We can and will be the transformed compassionate children of Almighty God, so that all will know that they are loved. So that all will know that they are healed and forgiven. So that all will know that they truly belong.
Lord, guide us to respond to the movement of Your Spirit and not resist it. “What we are not, make us. What we know not, teach us. What we have not, give us… (Teach us) “about hope instead of weariness; love instead of fear and (reveal) the power of amazing grace instead of evil and hate – hold nothing back” (Rev. Zelda Kennedy).
Give us the courage to examine ourselves and “allow us to see where we have been blind” (Obama), blind to the pain of those around us, and blind to our shared humanity. Let us be the sanctuary from a harsh world. Let our actions tell those we meet, that their lives matter. Let grace surround us. Let light restore us and let love unite us as the body of Christ.
“Don’t let us slip back into comfortable silence and avoid the uncomfortable truth that plagues our society” (Obama). “Our calling, is not just within the walls of this congregation, but the life and community in which it resides” (Rev. Clementa Pinckney). Break the cycle of repeating the same mistakes of the past and open our hearts to the revelation of God’s Word that “the church is freedom, freedom to worship, freedom to be fully what God intends us to be and have equality in the sight of God” (Rev. Clementa Pinckney).
From Northwest Community Church UCC in Las Vegas, NV
Great physician, bring healing to all that are here today. We cannot heal our selves so let Your Spirit wash over the wounds of our hearts and minds. Fade away the anger, the resentment and the ignorance that we’ve allowed into our lives. “Take the mess of our past and turn it into a message” (Christine Cain) by shifting our hearts and minds into a new chapter where ordinary people do extraordinary things. Write our destiny so that we can make Grace real to everybody and that all people can live in the full experience of humanity, dignity and respect.
Nothing in creation can make us any less human. We are all sinners redeemed by the same loving Creator. So “let us find words that comfort rather than congratulate. Let us seek to be a community of grace and forgiveness rather than of protest. Let us use our hands not to (applaud) but to wipe away every tear” (UCC General Synod) from the brokenhearted people right next to us. Let us be heroes and champions of the gospel and not it’s opponents.
Creator of all, we come in through these doors because we need You to reopen the doors of our hearts and community onto the mission of Christ. Let this church be reborn and let the Holy Spirit unleash the power of healing that resides within all of us. Teach us to not just communicate with each other but to commune with each other.
As generations and cultures crash into each other, shift our thinking to rediscover the ancient unity of all sinners that was revealed on the cross at Calvary. Strengthen us to hold onto this union, this commonality, that we all share as children of God. Remind us, that even through the greatest storms of life, we are never alone.
“Faith does not eliminate questions. But faith knows where to take them” (Scott and Kelli KLOVE). For those of us celebrating with our families today, we give thanks to God. For those of us grieving the loss of a loved one, we pray for compassion and understanding that “grief never ends…it changes. It’s a passage, not a place to stay. Grief is not a sign of weakness, nor a lack of faith…It is the price of love” (Scott and Kelli K-LOVE).
Lord God, the broken come to You today because “no stone, nor steel, nor diamond is so hard as the impenitent heart of man(kind)” (Martin Luther). Soften our hearts and open our vision to a world larger than ourselves. Anchor our lives in the steadfast truth of Your love so that we will know that “a few bad chapters does not mean that our story is over” (TobyMac). Remind us that we were meant to be human and that we all fall short of the glory of God. Give us the wisdom to just pause and be silent, so that the truth of God can be heard.
Yes, there will always be disagreements within the body of Christ, here on earth, but there is one thing that we can always agree on…love. “Love is God manifested. To lead with Love is to go with God” (Claire Danna). “Darkness cannot drive out darkness, only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate. Only love can” (MLK). The world can change and it will. And as it changes, let us respond with the same Love that was first given to us when God was crowned and crucified by an angry mob.
Cross at St. John’s Lutheran Church in Mounds, Minnesota
Lord God, “be in our head and our understanding” (Sarum Primer, 1558), for You are not so much the object of our knowledge as you are the cause of our wonder” (Kallistos Ware). Let Your good news come crashing down into the deserts of our hearts and invite us to join in the flow of the Holy Spirit.
Like a wind, take us to where it is that You go, so that we can live beyond ourselves. Communicate to us the mystery that is God and the truth that we don’t have all the answers. Give us the strength to dream and the courage to inspire others on their journey towards salvation and everlasting life.
You give us the gift of living in between the now and eternity. Let us dare to fight for the weak, poor and the forgotten. Jesus extends grace, love and mercy for all people. So shall we. Jesus identified with the outcast, the lowly and the despised. So shall we. Jesus gave healing and forgiveness. So shall we. Lord, “don’t let us transmit our wounds unto each other, but instead help us to transform others and to change the world” (Rev. Ed Bacon).
Almighty God, You are the engine that caused creation and life. Out of chaos you stepped into our experience so that we could experience You. Move in us today and help us to sense the prompting of Your Spirit so that we can go above and beyond what is expected.
Usher us into a vision larger than just our egocentric view, so that we can share in the perspective of the whole and not the few. Give us the words to speak across boundaries and the mind to transcend our differences. Don’t let us ever place ourselves above others. Let us always be led by the truth of God’s amazing and radical grace for all.
You forgive us and give us the power to forgive. “There is no future without forgiveness” (Desmond Tutu) and “the work of God is never static” (Dr. Amy Butler). “With the Holy Spirit by our side, we can do so much more than what we could have ever hoped for by ourselves” (Rev. Ed Bacon).
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