Wednesday, April 26, 2006

Hump Day Prayer . . . Budge Cuts & Layoffs

In solidarity with those who are in the process of making some very difficult decisions and to those who are effected by them. For more information see the PC (USA) News Service article, Decisions near on budget cuts, layoffs: PC(USA) leaders trying to trim $9.15 million from spending blueprint ‘in a pastoral manner’.

For Those in Commerce and Industry

Almighty God,
your Son Jesus Christ dignified our labor
by sharing our toil.
Be with your people where they work;
make those who carry on the industries and commerce of this land
responsive to your will;
and to all of us,
give pride in what we do
and a just return for our labor;
through your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Prayer # 72, Presbyterian Book of Common Worship, Litanies and Prayers for Various Occasions: Prayers for the Social Order, [740]



For the Unemployed
Gracious God,
we remember before you
those who suffer want and anxiety from lack of work.
Guide the people of this land
so to use our wealth and resources
that all persons may find suitable and fulfilling employment
and receive just payment for their labor;
through your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Prayer # 122, Presbyterian Book of Common Worship, Litanies
and Prayers for Various Occasions: Prayers for the Human Condition, [790]


Litany of Life’s Transitions

Prayers for Job Loss
In times of financial hardship in a congregation, with many who are out work, this prayer may serve as prayers of the people. The prayer may be followed with the Prayer of Our Savior/Lord’s Prayer and the Passing of the Peace.

Invitation
The loss of a job is a wound to identity
and self-confidence in our culture,
which often values a person according to his or her career.
The loss of a job is also a source of
financial vulnerability,
family friction,
and danger to health and
future through the loss of insurance and pension.
Let us speak,
aloud or in our hearts,
the first names of those who come to mind
who in the past have been without work
or who have been fired or laid off.
Speak and listen.

(There is a time when person’s names may be spoken.)

Listen; hear the names.
We are particularly sensitive to those
who may be among us who may be facing this situation now.
May they know the cloud of witnesses who,
with God’s help, survived this difficult time.

Prayer
God, we seek your strength and healing
for those who are facing job loss now.
Help each person so affected to claim with assurance
his or her precious value as God’s child.
Draw families together and
knit around them support and care.
Some of us are threatened by homelessness,
uninsured medical bills,
or inability to provide for children.
Confirm in our spirits your promise
that for every empty bucket,
there is living water,
for every empty net,
a miraculous catch,
for every empty noontime,
a lunch of loaves and fish.
Amen.

United Church of Christ, Ways We Worship and Resources,
http://www.ucc.org/worship/witgf/resources/moments/mom3.pdf

Monday, April 24, 2006

Monday Question of the Week . . . Mary, Mother of God

On Easter Sunday I watched a program that consisted of various monologues from various people from Jesus life. On of these characters was Mary, Mother of Jesus. The program presented a Mary who was aware and confident in the person and role that her son was called to play. So this made me wonder did Mary, Mother of Jesus, understand or except the role her son would play in the world? Or did she wish that would keep quite and upset the Jewish authorities?

Wednesday, April 19, 2006

Hump Day Prayer

Christ Jesus, like the apostles,
it is hard for us to grasp
your offer of being transfigured with you.
But as we look towards your light
and listen to the voice from heaven,
a transformation in us has already begun.
- Taize Community

Monday, April 17, 2006

Monday Question of the Week - The Resurrection

What do you do with the contradictions in the resurrection accounts?

Wednesday, April 12, 2006

Hump Day Special Passover Prayer

We thank you G-d for delivering these Forgotten Jewish Refugees from their modern day pharaohs whose hearts were hardened and full of evil. Many of these Forgotten Refugees were harassed, intimidated, insulted simply because they were Jews, until they were forced to flee. They were made to live as strangers in their own countries and denied basic human and civil rights. They left behind their millennia-old culture and heritage, their beautiful synagogues and sacred Torahs, Jewish schools and hospitals, their homes and their personal belongings.

“But G-d heard their groaning and remembered the covenant with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. G-d said unto the children of Israel: I am the Eternal and I will bring you out from the burdens of the Egyptian (and from other tyrants) and redeem you with an outstretched and strong arm. So, as in the First Exodus, we thank the G-d for this Second Exodus that we are a free people and blessed with the presence of the land of Israel”.

“On this Passover and on every Passover in the future, when we eat matzo and the bitter herbs, we will cherish the memories of our forgotten brothers and sisters. And as Jews, always yearning for the winds of freedom, we say to them We Will Not Forget You.”

Monday, April 10, 2006

Monday Morning Question of the Week

If Jesus was Born Today, Would He be Treated Any Better?

Wednesday, April 05, 2006

Hump Day Prayer, Prayers for Uganda

Christ,
born in poverty, in a distant town,
in danger, in a violent country,
hunted and driven from home.

Be with people of Uganda today,
forced from their homes and possessions,
robbed of their safety and security,
taken from their families and loved ones.

Comfort them,
in their fear,
protect them from danger,
ease them in their loss,
and in your time, Lord, bring them safely home.
Amen

Where people fight, Lord bring forgiveness.
Where families are broken, Lord provide healing.
Where communities are torn, Lord offer reconciliation.
Where hatred flourishes, Lord overcome it with love.
And in Uganda, Lord grant us peace.
Amen

Taken from If I should fall from grace with God...

Monday, April 03, 2006

The Lastest from the Idea's and Topics Hotline

Jan Writes -
I'd like to know if there are any other Presbyterians attending the April
17 - 19 Kairos Gathering in Maryland with Brian McLaren & Chris
Backert. (Two of us from National Capital Presbytery are going.)

Theological Questions of the Week

Can an Overweight Minister be Effective? Can an Anorexic Minister be Effective?