Good Evening Dear Beloved Community!

Happy Self-Care and Sabbath Rest Weekend. By now you probably have seen many articles on Trump Administration's attempt to ban the following words at the CDC. Center For Disease Control in their budgetary processes: Fetus, Diversity, Vulnerable, Science Based, Evidence Based, Transgender. I was #Among many who wrote many things about these words. I even participated and was quoted in the Huffington Post in a piece written by Susan Thistlewaite. I believe it is time for us to come together and realize that Christ lives #among us in so many ways and in so many wonderful people we normally would not come into contact with. I want to share with you a few of my posts on Facebook regarding the above words and then come among you again in prayer, vigil, and meditating upon God's God News.

Let us Stand together today with the #Vulnerable !
Let us Stand together with the scientists and researchers who employ #ScienceBased and #evidencebased results.
Let us Stand together with the #Transgendered victims of isolation and invisibility.
Let us have the courage to say #HappyHolidays
Let us stand together in #Diversity and for the dignity and respect for all peoples.
Let us remind ourselves that we started out at the cellular level , grew into a #fetus and when we were born became a baby.
Let us remember that #wordsmatter #nowordsarebanned

God we give thanks for the #Diversity of both flora and fauna and pray that by your holy guidance we may listen to the #SciencebasedEvidence regarding #ClimaateChange and for the protection of your Cathedral of Life. We pray for all the most #vunerable #Among us remembering the poor who do not seek #entitlements but assistance in which to live with dignity. We pray this day for an end to #genderexclusion and pray for the safety of our #LGBTQIA family members. Give courage to all #Transgender persons and all of us who navigate our way through this time of darkness and uncertainty. We ask this in the name of the God who is love and who loves all and not some. Amen.

Thank you Susan Russell, Susan Thistlethwaite, and Ed Bacon for being my heroes today. There are more prayers coming.

#Among my favorites today.

Dear Donald Trump.

You are not my president. A few reminders!

God created this world in rich #Diversity with its rich tapestries of life. From the most #vulnerable #Fetus to the courageous #transgender service person who fights for our freedoms which you ignore. God repeatedly reminds us to care for the least of these "our family members" not with #entitlements but as our response to serve God and God's holy Children God created eloquent and impressive minds to help conserve our environment with #sciencebased Facts that have been proved by #evidencebased study and research of which you do not have the intelligence or interest in reading. God created in his own image all of these people whom you seek to erase. We will not be erased. These Words will not be erased: “vulnerable,” “entitlement,” “diversity,” “transgender,” “fetus,” “evidence-based” and “science-based.” God asks us to take the Matthew 25 pledge daily in our work and worship:
I pledge to protect and defend #vulnerable people in the name of Jesus.

Please remember you work for us as our servant not the other way around.

Sincerely your employer and radical lesbian liberal hippie Christian (Not the fake and dangerous ones you associate yourself with)
Sara Lee Macdonald

#VulnerableAmerican

H/t Susan Russell, Ed Bacon Susan Thistlethwaite Mike Kinman Brother Karekin Yarian

Other Featured Blogs!

The CDC Christmas Sermon: Banned Words Will Preach!

Banned Words With Friends

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Rant over! Let us come together in a sacred healing circle of love and make vigil. God come among us and empower us and give our heart homes, heart roots, and inner beings time in your Holy Presence, heal us and make us whole.

Peace be still.

Peace be.

Peace.

Peace be still.

Peace be.

Peace.

Peace be still.

Peace be.

Peace.

Not the ones speaking the same language, but the ones sharing the same feeling understand each other.

Rumi

...when food is shared in a fair way, with solidarity, when no one is deprived, every community can meet the needs of the poorest. Human ecology and environmental ecology walk together.

Pope Francis

Moses said, ‘The Lord God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brothers. You shall listen to him in whatever he tells you. Acts 3:22

We must overcome...all forms of racism. The problem of intolerance should be dealt with as a whole: every time a minority is persecuted and marginalized...the good of the whole society is in danger.

Pope Francis

Every moment, a voice, out of this world, calls on our soul, to wake up and rise.

Rumi

Holiness doesn't mean doing extraordinary things, but doing ordinary things with love and faith.

Pope Francis

Isn't it amazing that we are all made in God's image, and yet there is so much diversity among his people? Desmond Tutu

Take care of brothers and sisters who are weaker ... the elderly, the sick, the hungry, the homeless and strangers, because we will be judged on this.

Pope Francis

We may know who we are or we may not. We may be Muslims, Jews or Christians but until our hearts become the mould for every heart we will see only our differences.

Rumi

Humanity needs to see these gestures of peace and to hear words of hope and peace!

Pope Francis

Come, come, whoever you are. Wanderer, worshiper, lover of leaving. It doesn't matter. Ours is not a caravan of despair. come, even if you have broken your vows a thousand times. Come, yet again , come , come.

Rumi

Light of the World Phos hilaron

Light of the world, in grace and beauty,

Mirror of God’s eternal face,

Transparent flame of love’s free duty,

You bring salvation to our race.

Now, as we see the lights of evening,

We raise our voice in hymns of praise;

Worthy are you of endless blessing,

Sun of our night, lamp of our days.

A Prayer When Lighting A Candle

O Blessed Lord, accept this burning candle as a sign of my faith and love for you.

Like this candle, I am ready to be used in your service, without asking why and to what purpose.

Even as this candle, I wish to stand in your presence to be consumed in the light and warmth of

your love.

Please hear my prayer and, if it be your will, grant my petition.

Above all, make me loyal and faithful to you in all circumstances of my life.

Amen.

(www.stanthonysparish.com)

Prayer Over The Advent Candle

O God, as light comes from this candle,

May the blessing of Jesus Christ come to us,

Warming our hearts and brightening our way.

May Christ our Savior

Bring life into the darkness of this world,

And to us, as we wait for his coming.

Amen.

(www.catholicnewsagency.com)

A Smudging Prayer

Creator, our Father in heaven, we come to you as your children. We confess that we are weak and broken images of you. We pray for the forgiveness and healing you give in Jesus Christ. May his Spirit clean our spirits, minds, hearts, and bodies. We pray that your Holy Spirit will help us to worship in spirit and truth. We pray in the name of Jesus, so that his Spirit will carry our prayers to you. Amen.

IN LAK’ECH

Tú eres mi otro yo.

You are my other me.

Si te hago daño a ti,

If I do harm to you,

Me hago daño a mi mismo.

I do harm to myself.

Si te amo y respeto,

If I love and respect you,

Me amo y respeto yo.

I love and respect myself.

Luis- Valdez

Psalm 118:19 -29

¹⁹ Open to me the gates of righteousness,
that I may enter through them
and give thanks to the Lord.

²⁰ This is the gate of the Lord;
the righteous shall enter through it.

²¹ I thank you that you have answered me
   and have become my salvation.
²² The stone that the builders rejected
   has become the chief cornerstone.
²³ This is the Lord’s doing;
   it is marvellous in our eyes.
²⁴ This is the day that the Lord has made;
   let us rejoice and be glad in it.^*
²⁵ Save us, we beseech you, O Lord!
   O Lord, we beseech you, give us success!

²⁶ Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord.^*
   We bless you from the house of the Lord.
²⁷ The Lord is God,
   and he has given us light.
Bind the festal procession with branches,
   up to the horns of the altar.^*

²⁸ You are my God, and I will give thanks to you;
you are my God, I will extol you.

²⁹ O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good,
for his steadfast love endures for ever.

2 Chronicles 6:12-20

12 Then Solomon^* stood before the altar of the Lord in the presence of the whole assembly of Israel, and spread out his hands. ¹³Solomon had made a bronze platform five cubits long, five cubits wide, and three cubits high, and had set it in the court; and he stood on it. Then he knelt on his knees in the presence of the whole assembly of Israel, and spread out his hands towards heaven. ¹⁴He said, ‘O Lord, God of Israel, there is no God like you, in heaven or on earth, keeping covenant in steadfast love with your servants who walk before you with all their heart— ¹⁵you who have kept for your servant, my father David, what you promised to him. Indeed, you promised with your mouth and this day have fulfilled with your hand. ¹⁶Therefore, O Lord, God of Israel, keep for your servant, my father David, that which you promised him, saying, “There shall never fail you a successor before me to sit on the throne of Israel, if only your children keep to their way, to walk in my law as you have walked before me.” ¹⁷Therefore, O Lord, God of Israel, let your word be confirmed, which you promised to your servant David.

18 ‘But will God indeed reside with mortals on earth? Even heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain you, how much less this house that I have built! ¹⁹Have regard to your servant’s prayer and his plea, O Lordmy God, heeding the cry and the prayer that your servant prays to you.²⁰May your eyes be open day and night towards this house, the place where you promised to set your name, and may you heed the prayer that your servant prays towards this place.

The Exalted Lord

1 Christ Jesus was in the ′ form of ′ God:

yet he did not think to ′ grasp · at e′quality · with ′ God,

2 but emptied himself, taking the ′ form · of a ′ servant:

and was ′ born · in our ′ human ′ likeness.

3 Being found in our human state he ′ humbled · him′self:

and became obedient unto death,

even ′ death ′ on a ′ cross.

4 Therefore God has ′ highly · ex′alted him:

and bestowed on him the ′ Name a·bove ′ every ′ name;

5 that at the name of Jesus every ′ knee should ′ bow:

in heaven and on ′ earth and ′ under · the ′ earth,

6 and every tongue confess that Jesus ′ Christ is ′ Lord:

to the glory of God the′ Father.′ A′men. Philippians2:6-11

Ephesians 2:17-22

¹⁷So he came and proclaimed peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near; ¹⁸for through him both of us have access in one Spirit to the Father. ¹⁹So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are citizens with the saints and also members of the household of God, ²⁰built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the cornerstone.^* ²¹In him the whole structure is joined together and grows into a holy temple in the Lord; ²²in whom you also are built together spiritually^* into a dwelling-place for God.

The First Song of Isaiah Ecce, Deus
Isaiah 12:2-6

Surely, it is God who saves me; *
    I will trust in him and not be afraid.
For the Lord is my stronghold and my sure defense, *
    and he will be my Savior.
Therefore you shall draw water with rejoicing *
    from the springs of salvation.
And on that day you shall say, *
    Give thanks to the Lord and call upon his Name;
Make his deeds known among the peoples; *
    see that they remember that his Name is exalted.
Sing the praises of the Lord, for he has done great things, *
    and this is known in all the world.
Cry aloud, inhabitants of Zion, ring out your joy, *
    for the great one in the midst of you is the Holy One of Israel.

Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit: *
as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be for ever. Amen.

Matthew 7:24-29

24 ‘Everyone then who hears these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on rock. ²⁵The rain fell, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on rock. ²⁶And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not act on them will be like a foolish man who built his house on sand. ²⁷The rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell—and great was its fall!’

28 Now when Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were astounded at his teaching, ²⁹for he taught them as one having authority, and not as their scribes.

The Song of Mary Magnificat

My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord,

my spirit rejoices in you, O God my Savior, *

for you have looked with favor on your lowly servant.

From this day all generations will call me blessed: *

you, the Almighty, have done great things for me,

and holy is your name.

You have mercy on those who fear you *

from generation to generation.

You have shown strength with your arm *

and scattered the proud in their conceit,

Casting down the mighty from their thrones *

and lifting up the lowly.

You have filled the hungry with good things *

and sent the rich away empty.

You have come to the help of your servant Israel, *

for you have remembered your promise of mercy,

The promise made to our forebears, *

to Abraham and his children for ever.

Gracious God, we thank you for the vision of Ralph Adams Cram, John LaFarge and Richard Upjohn, whose harmonious revival of the Gothic enriched our churches with a sacramental understanding of reality in the face of secular materialism; and we pray that we may honor your gifts of the beauty of holiness given through them, for the glory of Jesus Christ; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, in glory everlasting. Amen.

#AdventWord Prayer of the day with #Among

Respond: Come Among Us and Warm our hearts with love.

God help us to celebrate the diversity you created in this world and not be afraid.