The Church should be a verb

February 10, 2023February 13, 2023 / Eric Mathews / Leave a comment

Photo by Claudio Schwarz on Unsplash

Granted, it’s a tough assignment, the original assignment. I get that.

Love – Lord help us, could we not have been assigned something easier,

like astrophysics or quantum mechanics?

But no – love those you cannot love.

Love those who are poor and broken and fouled and dirty

and sick with sores.

Love those who wish to strike you on both cheeks.

Love the blowhard, the pompous ass, the arrogant liar.

Find the Christ in each heart, even those.

Preach the Gospel and only if necessary talk about it.

Be the Word.

It is easy to advise and pronounce and counsel

and suggest and lecture;

it is not easy to do what must be done

without sometimes shrieking.

Bring love like a bright weapon against the dark.

The Rabbi did not say build churches, or retreat houses,

or secure a fleet of cars for general use, or convene conferences,

or issue position papers.

He was pretty blunt about the hungry and the naked and the sick.

He was not reasonable; we forget this.

The Church is not a reasonable idea.

The Church should be a verb.

When it is only a noun it is not what the Founder asked of us.

Let us pray that we are ever after dissolving

the formal officious arrogant thing that wants to rise,

and ever fomenting the contradictory revolutionary

countercultural thing that could change life on this planet.

It could, you know.

Let’s try again today.

And so: Amen.

Brian Doyle, 1956 – 2017, Catholic author from Oregon

A Book of Uncommon Prayer

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Ephesians 1:22-23

God has put all things under the authority of Christ

and has made him head over all things for the benefit of the church.

And the church is his body; it is made full and complete by Christ,

who fills all things everywhere with himself.

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All Saints Day prayer

November 1, 2022October 31, 2022 / Eric Mathews / Leave a comment

image by geralt via pixabay

Before you, O God,

we remember today the ones who went before us.

Not held back by the awesomeness of the task

they followed you with tenacity and joy.

Full of courage and trust they went to new places,

ready to stand and suffer with you.

Like a cloud of many witnesses

they stand around us.

Before you, O God,

we remember the saints of our day,

who do not live by the rigid letter of the law

but by the wild demands of faith,

always prepared to give more,

always ready to be turned inside out,

knowing that new ways can only be found

through risk and pain.

Like a cloud of many witnesses

they stand around us.

Eternal God,

we thank you for the witnesses of all times and all places.

May the stories of their lives show us the richness of your grace.

May they inspire us to look deep within our souls.

May they encourage us to take the risk of faith

and to serve you in new ways.

Francis Brienen, United Reformed Church, UK

Prayers Encircling the World

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Hebrews 12:1-3

Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses,

let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely,

and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,

looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith,

who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross,

despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.

Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself,

so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted.

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for those involved with the law

July 14, 2022July 13, 2022 / Eric Mathews / Leave a comment

_{Jesus Before Pilate, James Tissot, Wikipedia Commons}

Lord Jesus,

You were in prison, found guilty when you were innocent,

You were executed as traitor when in fact you were Savior.

To you who died to set all free we pray for:

All makers of the laws of the land,

that they do so with reason and compassion.

All interpreters of the law – judges, lawyers –

that they be fair, honest and impartial.

All administrators of the law – prison guards and superintendents –

that they be merciful in their firmness.

All prisoners – that they may know that you are in prison with them,

in their homes with their loved ones,

and that in you is their hope.

Though bound, may they be perfectly free in you and in your service.

John B. Coburn, 1914- 2009, Bishop of Massachusetts

The Communion of Saints

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Psalm 146:5-8

Blessed are those whose help is the God of Jacob,
whose hope is in the Lord their God.
He is the Maker of heaven and earth,
the sea, and everything in them—
he remains faithful forever.
He upholds the cause of the oppressed
and gives food to the hungry.
The Lord sets prisoners free,
the Lord gives sight to the blind,
the Lord lifts up those who are bowed down,
the Lord loves the righteous.

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I pray for the children

June 28, 2022June 27, 2022 / Eric Mathews / 1 Comment

This morning, Lord, I’m praying for many people,

just a day after Dobbs v. Jackson…

I’m praying for those

disappointed and angry,

who believe their rights have been trampled and crushed:

their choice and autonomy wrenched from their grasp…

And I’m praying for those

now claiming a victory,

who believe that justice has finally prevailed:

the right to life, refreshed and reclaimed…

I pray for our country,

torn apart and embittered,

where the battle for rights will continue to rage,

dividing our nation, body and soul…

I pray for the Church

to preach with compassion

the gospel of life as the wisdom for choosing

what’s loving and true, what’s generous and good…

And I pray for the Church

to faithfully serve

with shelter, support, understanding and help

people and life in all shapes and all forms…

And last, but not least, Lord,

I pray for the children conceived every day:

planned or unplanned, welcome or not,

impaired or healthy, ill-timed or convenient,

each one made in your image divine,

each one named by your love and your grace,

each one, your own, entrusted to us…

Many to pray for, many to hold

in our arms, in our care, in our love.

Help us to welcome the gift of new life

with its challenges, burdens and blessings,

with the strength and help of your grace…

Amen.

Fr. Austin Fleming, Roman Catholic Priest serving near Boston, MA
Concord Pastor

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Zechariah 7:8-10

And the word of the Lord came to Zechariah, saying,

“Thus says the Lord of hosts,

Render true judgments, show kindness and mercy to one another,

do not oppress the widow, the fatherless, the sojourner, or the poor,

and let none of you devise evil against another in your heart.”

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prayer for scrubbing floors

June 24, 2022June 23, 2022 / Eric Mathews / Leave a comment

_{Cleaning Lady, Tomicmilos90, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons}

Thank you for the privilege of scrubbing this floor.

Thank you for the health and the strength to do it.

That my back is straight and my hands are whole.

I can push a mop.

I can feel the hard surface under my knees when I kneel.

I can grasp the brush and let my energy flow down into it

as I erase this dirt and make this floor clean.

Lord, thank you for everything that has to do with scrubbing this floor.

Bless the soap and the bucket and the brush and the hands that do it.

Bless the feet that are running in right now to track it.

Those feet are the reason I do it.

That are the living reasons for my kneeling here

– half to do a job, half in prayer.

A floor is a foundation. A family is a foundation.

You are our foundation.

Bless us all, and our newly scrubbed floor.

Marjorie Holmes, 1910–2002, American columnist and author

I’ve Got to Talk to Somebody, God: A Woman’s Conversations with God

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Ephesians 3:14-15

For this reason I bow my knees before the Father,

from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named

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Make me always busy in your service

June 21, 2022June 20, 2022 / Eric Mathews / Leave a comment

_{Les femmes saintes, James Tissot, via Wikimedia Commons}

Lord, I make you a present of myself.
I do not know what to do with myself.
So let me make this exchange:
I will place myself entirely in your hands,
if you will cover my ugliness with your beauty,
and tame my unruliness with your love.
Put out the flames of false passion in my heart,
since these flames destroy all that is true within me.
Make me always busy in your service.
Lord, I want no special signs from you,
nor am I looking for intense emotions in response to your love.
I would rather be free of all emotion,
than to run the danger of falling victim once again to false passion.
Let my love for you be naked, without any emotional clothing.

St Catherine of Genoa, 1447-1510, Italian Catholic mystic

2000 Years of Prayer

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Luke 8:1-3

Soon afterward Jesus began a tour of the nearby towns and villages,

preaching and announcing the Good News about the Kingdom of God.

He took his twelve disciples with him,

along with some women who had been cured of evil spirits and diseases.

Among them were Mary Magdalene, from whom he had cast out seven demons;

Joanna, the wife of Chuza, Herod’s business manager; Susanna; and many others

who were contributing from their own resources to support Jesus and his disciples.

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to find our constant inspiration in you

April 14, 2022April 13, 2022 / Eric Mathews / Leave a comment

Servant Jesus,

what love you showed to your disciples

and what humility in your service.

You are the Life of life, Son of God,

yet you stooped down

to take off the grimy sandals

and to wash their dusty feet.

With loving care you dried them with the towel

make them fresh and cool.

Since you, our Lord and Savior,

did such lowly service for us,

ought we not humbly to serve others also?

Lord God,

it is not easy to walk in your way

when we seek peace among the nations.

We find there are many who hate peace

and prefer to seek the victory in war.

Even amongst our neighbors and friends

are those who want to prepare for war.

I am for peace;

but when I speak, they are for war.

In my distress I call to you, O Lord;

give me the courage and the faith

to speak for peace.

Spirit of God,

you call your people to patient endurance

that we might not fail in time of testing,

that we might not grow weary in well-doing.

that we should not abandon our first love.

Help us to find our constant inspiration in you

that the lamp may be kept burning

as we witness by your grace.

John Johansen-Berg, 1935- , English Minister

The Complete Book of Christian Prayer

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John 13:12-17

When he had washed their feet and put on his outer garments and resumed his place, he said to them, “Do you understand what I have done to you? You call me Teacher and Lord, and you are right, for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you. Truly, truly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them.

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Labor for one another

September 6, 2021September 5, 2021 / Eric Mathews / Leave a comment

Grant, Almighty God,

as You invite us so kindly and graciously to Yourself,

that we may not be resistant,

but with every evil affection subdued,

offer ourselves to Your service.

And since You require nothing else from us

but to observe what is right toward one another,

O grant that we may be mindful of the brotherhood

that Your only begotten Son by His own blood has consecrated,

and call on You as our father,

and prove by our whole conduct that we are Your children.

And may every one of us so labor for one another that,

being united in heart and affection,

we may with one sentiment aspire towards that blessed life,

where we shall enjoy the inheritance

that has been prepared and obtained by the blood of Your son,

and through Him prepared for us in heaven. Amen.

John Calvin, 1509-1564, Swiss Reformer

Lifting Up Our Hearts, freely modified

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Zechariah 8:14-17

This is what the Lord Almighty says: “Just as I had determined to bring disaster on you and showed no pity when your ancestors angered me,” says the Lord Almighty, “so now I have determined to do good again to Jerusalem and Judah. Do not be afraid. These are the things you are to do: Speak the truth to each other, and render true and sound judgment in your courts; do not plot evil against each other, and do not love to swear falsely. I hate all this,” declares the Lord.

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to finish my course of service

February 9, 2021February 8, 2021 / Eric Mathews / Leave a comment

_{image / Joshbdork at the English Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0 / Wikimedia Commons}

I know, O Lord, and do with all humility acknowledge myself

an object altogether unworthy of your love;

but sure I am, you are an object altogether worthy of mine.

I am not good enough to serve you,

but you have a right to the best service I can pay.

Do then impart to me some of that excellence,

and that shall supply my own want of worth.

Help me to cease from sin according to your will,

that I may be capable of doing you service according to my duty.

Enable me so to guard and govern myself,

so to begin and finish my course that,

when the race of life is run,

I may sleep in peace and rest in you.

Be with me to the end, that my sleep may be rest indeed,

my rest perfect security and that security a blessed eternity.

St. Augustine of Hippo, 354-430

Ancient Christian Devotional Lectionary Cycle C

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Acts 20:24

However, I consider my life worth nothing to me; my only aim is to finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me—the task of testifying to the good news of God’s grace.

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