I adore the repetition that the beloved community offers in trying to embody the call to love. It’s why my prayers these past few weeks have been drawn to the epistle first but it doesn’t quite reverberate with the way of the world right now. There is too much despair in India. Too much death.Continue reading “Pandemic Prayers for the Sixth Sunday of Easter”
Tag Archives: pastoral prayer
Pandemic Prayers for the Fifth Sunday of Easter
I have seen pictures appear in my feed of pastors taking that much needed break after Easter. Some didn’t go much further than their backyard but they have their feet up and they are relaxing. Others — having been fully vaccinated — are enjoying the pleasure of good friends and family for the first timeContinue reading “Pandemic Prayers for the Fifth Sunday of Easter”
Pandemic Prayers for the Resurrection
Hope comes again despite all that has happened. The worst thing is not the last thing. There is still more that God will do. There is still more that God is doing and I pray that is especially true for you, dear pastor, after a whole year of curating worship, fellowship and care remotely. IContinue reading “Pandemic Prayers for the Resurrection”
Pandemic Prayers for Proper 20
It has been six months. I lost count. I could have sworn it had been longer since my husband redeployed from South Korea and we almost immediately cancelled the vacation I’d been looking forward to for nine months and went into lockdown. We moved across the state but my kids and I remain in lockdownContinue reading “Pandemic Prayers for Proper 20”
Pandemic Prayers for Proper 19
Though I didn’t do anything with the text last week, I’m still thinking about the question Kathryn Matthews posed in her weekly musings in the United Church of Christ’s Sermon Seeds about the grieving parents in the Passover story. How is this OK? How is any of this OK? How can God come along andContinue reading “Pandemic Prayers for Proper 19”
Pandemic Prayers for Proper 14
This gorgeous reflection on 1 Kings 19:9-18 by Richard W. Swanson has got me thinking about silence. Silence feels all consuming right now. There is so much of it. Or, at least, there is for me.
Pandemic Prayers for Proper 13
I’m finding it hard to enter the power of the miracle in Matthew’s Feeding of the Five Thousand. I feel myself withdraw and not in the prayerful and restorative manner that we imagine Jesus does in that thirteenth verse.
Pandemic Prayers for Easter 6A
When this all started, there were lots of reflections about God’s absence. It wasn’t my experience. I didn’t feel like God had given up or disappeared anymore than I felt like God had brought this pandemic upon the global community. It’s eight or nine or fifty-two weeks later and I’m not quite sure I haveContinue reading “Pandemic Prayers for Easter 6A”
Pandemic Prayers for Easter 5A
I join the circle of preachers who have expressed their familiarity with this text at the graveside. It’s the Gospel Lesson I always choose when the family doesn’t steer me in another direction, not because of the many mansions or rooms but for what it says about grief. I love the repetition that Jesus holdsContinue reading “Pandemic Prayers for Easter 5A”
Pandemic Prayers for Easter 4A
After I posted the prayers last week, I felt awkward. I wondered if these prayers could speak to such a broad audience. I wondered if it was even possible to capture the vastness of this pandemic into a few words. I felt that strange tinge again on Sunday when I gathered again with my sweetContinue reading “Pandemic Prayers for Easter 4A”
Cooking with Elsa 