Cooking with Elsa

prayers of the people

  • Intercessory Prayers for Epiphany

    I have been writing liturgy for my sweet little Lutheran church here in Alaska all Advent long. I failed to post any of these prayers except for the first set of prayers, perhaps because I’m busy. Or maybe because I… Continue reading

    Intercessory Prayers for Epiphany

  • Pandemic Prayers for Trinity Sunday

    I missed a week. I didn’t mean to do so even as I tried to plan ahead for another Pentecost in Coronatide. I still missed a week. Two weeks if you saw what I offered for Pentecost and thought it… Continue reading

    Pandemic Prayers for Trinity Sunday

  • 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… Continue reading

    Pandemic Prayers for the Fifth Sunday of Easter

  • Pandemic Prayers for Proper 21

    It has been a bad week. Can we admit that? Can we conspire in that little bit of honesty? A lot of bad shit is happening. I’m not sorry for my language. I am mad and you’re probably mad too.… Continue reading

    Pandemic Prayers for Proper 21

  • Pandemic Prayers for World Communion Sunday

    In the churches I’ve served, this was always a Sunday people looked forward to. It wasn’t a celebration that they remembered from childhood but it was something that has become meaningful and important. There was always careful planning to make… Continue reading

    Pandemic Prayers for World Communion Sunday

  • 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. Continue reading

    Pandemic Prayers for Proper 14

  • 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. Continue reading

    Pandemic Prayers for Proper 13

  • 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.… Continue 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… Continue 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.… Continue reading

    Pandemic Prayers for Easter 4A