I offer this weekly #LetUsPray as a way to stay anchored amidst the turmoil of the day. Paid subscribers have access to liturgical resources and sermon prompts based on the week's readings from The Revised Common Lectionary and/or The Narrative Lectionary.
Summer FAith Montage
This week I continue with the next section of my Faith Montage from Everything Good about God is True: Choosing Faith. I hope some of these passages will speak to your soul. If you are interested in using slide versions, I am slowly litanizing (Is that even a word?) the entire montage. Paid Subscribers have access to a PDF of the entire montage (See below) for personal or congregational use.
Looks like summer has begun. As I reflect on my transition to Pasadena Presbyterian Church, plan family vacations, and engage in "normal" life activities, the weight of the world continues to tug at my soul. I share this not to shame or guilt, but to simply acknowledge how easy it is for us to normalize life when others are suffering. As I reflect on the many privileges afforded to me and my family, I continue to center my life on "the work" to make this possible for all people.
A stark reminder is this note from our friends in Gaza.
[6/1, 12:36 PM]: Hello Robin, Bruce and their family [6/1, 12:36 PM]: How are you all [6/1, 12:39 PM]: This period is very bad. Life is tense, and there is indiscriminate bombing everywhere. We have had the worst Eid al-Adha ever. There is no joy, no Eid gifts, no sacrifice. There are no signs of happiness or celebration for the holiday. Where I live, there are frequent evacuations, destruction, and killing.
Our family does what we can to help financially, and we certainly lift our friends up in prayer, but we also vote and act in ways that we hope will make a difference in their lives. And this is yet only one family who happened to connect with us two years ago. It is overwhelming, and sometimes paralyzing, to think of so many who are suffering in isolation.
So today, I commit again to keep at it. And this week's section of my Faith Montage grounds me in that work. This week's sections: what it means to be GROUNDED in the presence of God.
Grounded in the Presence of God #LetUsPray
Let us pray —
I am GROUNDED in the presence of God. God knows me. God sees me. God loves me. And that is enough.
God is with me. God has been with me. God will always be with me.
Through crawling minutes and blurred decades, mundane whispers and shouts of magnificence, awkward encounters and an impassioned embrace, brisk breezes, warm skies, cool fog, living deserts, flourishing forests, living water, the farm, the field, the town, the suburb, the streets, and the city,
during protests, parties, feasts, and funerals,
at coffee shops, clubs, stages, pitches, courts, corners, classrooms, playgrounds, porches, barbershops, dining tables, couches, screens, and every unexpected holy space:
Through and in it all, God is known to my soul, and I am reminded that I am known by God.
— Amen.
Thanks for hanging out here. You will notice that I added a section to the liturgical resources. I am having the church read through the Belhar Confession over the summer, so I have included that Affirmation of Faith. Also, I may be posting this note on Wednesdays at noon-ish from now on, as my workflow is shifting. We shall see.
In writing liturgy, I attempt to be economical with words while addressing the events of the day in ways that help people find grounding in their faith. For readings, I refer to the Vanderbilt Revised Common Lectionary(RCL) and The Narrative Lectionary from The Working Preacher(NL). Paid Subscribers should please feel free to use any of the liturgical resources with or without attribution.
Gift Subscriptions
If you find this weekly prayer, liturgy, or any other aspects of The Amalgamation meaningful, I would not hate it if you shared the joy with others by purchasing a Gift Subscription.
