I feel like I should be living with abundance but then I read this.
Like every other parent, I am exhausted. I am tense with worry and trying like hell to make the best decisions fo my kids while still teaching them that there is wonder and glory in this world. It is, however, not something I feel in my own body. I feel like all I’ve got left is crumbs.
Mary Luti shared another beautiful original hymn composition pondering the gift of leftovers. I also really appreciate her critique of those little bread cubes that I know the deacons so carefully and lovingly prepared in the churches I’ve served but it is a ration of possibility rather than a hunk of hope. I need something to chew on.
I need real hope that I can grasp with both hands. I need grace to be so free that I can’t help but taste it in the air around me. I don’t even need to put my lip to the cup. The aroma of it is already in the air. I need that kind of abundance from God right now — especially when this most sacred act is something I’m doing all by myself in my living room. I don’t think I’m the only one but I haven’t a clue if you have it in you to offer that kind of wonder right now, dear pastor. I know you believe in it deep down. You know it is exists but I don’t know if you are able to claim it right now. I offer you two prayers for this week and next to add to your worship.
Prayer for Life Abundant
Inspired by John 6: 51-58 Give us life, O God. Because if we are honest and we were really to tell the truth: we feel as though we have no life in us. We are so tired. O God, we are so tired. We are exhausted by worry and risk. We have been here before and we are furious to find ourselves here again. That is the truth. We do not feel like we will live forever. We wonder if there is even enough life left for tomorrow. Give us life, O God. Give us life for this world so that our tired flesh can face another day. Fill us with the wonder that you are here. You are here, O God, in this world and in the very life beating inside our hearts. Help us to find life -- your life -- in each cell and every breath. Give us life and may it be abundant. Amen.
I found this on Mark Miller’s YouTube channel. It’s a song he wrote from a verse chiseled on the wall at a Nazi concentration camp sung by a church in New Jersey for Easter Sunday. Though I went looking for a song about bread or even communion, this might speak better to this moment. I did not research copyright issues this time around. I’m tired too.
Call to Worship
Inspired by John 6:56-69 We come together especially when it is hard. We come together when nothing makes sense and every thing pushes on our last nerve. We come, O God. We come together because there are things that we cannot accept. There are things that we know that you do not accept too and we need to be reminded of those things. We need to find you in our struggle. We come, O God. We come together because we are offended and exhausted. We are not even really sure what we believe anymore. It is not what we hope. It is not what we want. It is why we come together. We come, O God, to find your spirit and your life alive in this blessed communion. O God, we come to worship.
That’s all I’ve got for this week. I’m praying for you, dear pastor. I’m praying for you so much.
Cooking with Elsa 
You may think your gift is a bread cube of liturgy but what you give is actually yeast that within your readers expands and in spite of all the times it’s “punched down” becomes bread of life!
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