Sunday, January 14, 2018

"Speak out, judge righteously, defend the rights of the poor and needy." -Proverbs 31:9





Good Evening Beloved Community!

Happy Sabbath Day! I normally don't use a scripture reference for a title but it seemed like something The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. would have used. Our family members at Repairers of the Breach use this on the home page of their website. We are all called to step out and call for a new morality of how we treat each other. No longer can we sit idly by while person after person who doesn't represent the 1% is stripped of their humanity. The Gospel lesson for today featured the call of Phillip and Nathaniel who weren't exactly sure about following someone from Nazareth. Jesus lived in a very rural community that wasn't like the posh places we read about in Town and Country Magazine or Architectural Digest. Nazareth represents to me an Everytown for Everyone. I come from an Everytown and my late father's and now my brother's hardware business is in an Everytown called Guadalupe Hardware. Jesus' earthly father was a teknon a lower caste of person because he used his hands to build things so by extension hardware businesses would have been along the same line. What am I driving at? We all need to come together and share the gifts God has given us and listen for and heed God's call to in the words of our title  "Speak out, judge righteously, defend the rights of the poor and needy. Proverbs 31:9  Are we let off the hook? By no means! In the days and weeks to come we must not be silent and remember the wise words of Martin Luther King:


It's not the violence of the few that scares me, it's the silence of the many



In the End, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.



This is the season and time where we cannot be silent or afraid. This is the time where we need to lift up our voices and plant our feet on a course where we are changing the world not just from the outside in but from the inside out. Won't you join me as we as the Beloved Community to foster change not by looking back but looking ahead and effect lasting change in God's world the world in which we live for the benefit of all? Here at Walk With Me On Our Journey we are on a pilgrimage to make change with God's help by practicing radical love, hospitality, and calling for  "Justice to Roll Down!"

Tonight we begin our time tonight with a series of prayers by Martin Luther King Jr. Let us also light an eternal flame of Peace, Love, Justice and Mercy. 


Thou Eternal God, out of whose absolute power and infinite intelligence the whole universe has come into being, we humbly confess that we have not loved thee with our hearts, souls and minds, and we have not loved our neighbors as Christ loved us. We have all too often lived by our own selfish impulses rather than by the life of sacrificial love as revealed by Christ. We often give in order to receive. We love our friends and hate our enemies. We go the first mile but dare not travel the second. We forgive but dare not forget. And so as we look within ourselves, we are confronted with the appalling fact that the history of our lives is the history of an eternal revolt against you. But thou, O God, have mercy upon us. Forgive us for what we could have been but failed to be. Give us the intelligence to know your will. Give us the courage to do your will. Give us the devotion to love your will. In the name and spirit of Jesus, we pray. Amen.


God, help us as individuals and as a world to hear it now before it is too late: "Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and God's justice and all these other things shall be added unto you."

***

God grant that as we go out and face life with all of its decisions, as we face the bitter cup which we will inevitably face from day to day, God grant that we will learn this one thing and that is, to make the transition from "this cup" to "nevertheless."

***

O God, we thank you for the fact that you have inspired men and women in all nations and in all cultures. We call you different names: some call you Allah; some call you Elohim; some call you Jehovah; some call you Brahma; some call you the Unmoved Mover. But we know that these are all names for one and the same God. Grant that we will follow you and become so committed to your way and your kingdom that we will be able to establish in our lives and in this world a brother and sisterhood, that we will be able to establish here a kingdom of understanding, where men and women will live together as brothers and sisters and respect the dignity and worth of every human being. In the name and spirit of Jesus. Amen.

***

God, give us strength of body to keep walking for freedom. God, give us strength to remain nonviolent, even though we may face death.

***

God, grant that we wage the struggle with dignity and discipline. May all who suffer oppression in this world reject the self-defeating method of retaliatory violence and choose the method that seeks to redeem.

***

God, remove all bitterness from my heart and give me the strength and courage to face any disaster that comes my way.

***

O God, we thank you for the lives of great saints and prophets in the past, who have revealed to us that we can stand up amid the problems and difficulties and trials of life and not give in. We thank you for our foreparents, who've given us something in the midst of the darkness of exploitation and oppression to keep going. Grant that we will go on with the proper faith and the proper determination of will, so that we will be able to make a creative contribution to this world. In the name and spirit of Jesus we pray.

***

O God, make us willing to do your will, come what may. Increase the number of persons of good will and moral sensitivity. Give us renewed confidence in nonviolence and the way of love as taught by Christ. Amen.

***

Eternal God, out of whose mind this great cosmic universe, we bless you. Help us to seek that which is high, noble and good. Help us in the moment of difficult decision. Help us to work with renewed vigor for a warless world, a better distribution of wealth, and a brother/sisterhood that transcends race or color.

***

God, we thank you for the inspiration of Jesus. Grant that we will love you with all our hearts, souls, and minds, and love our neighbors as we love ourselves, even our enemy neighbors. And we ask you, God, in these days of emotional tension, when the problems of the world are gigantic in extent and chaotic in detail, to be with us in our going out and our coming in, in our rising up and in our lying down, in our moments of joy and in our moments of sorrow, until the day when there shall be no sunset and no dawn. Amen.

***

We thank you for your church, founded upon your Word, that challenges us to do more than sing and pray, but go out and work as though the very answer to our prayers depended on us and not upon you. Help us to realize that humanity was created to shine like the stars and live on through all eternity. Keep us, we pray, in perfect peace. Help us to walk together, pray together, sing together, and live together until that day when all God's children -- Black, White, Red, Brown and Yellow -- will rejoice in one common band of humanity in the reign of our Lord and of our God, we pray. Amen.

( Prayers from the National Catholic Reporter)


Now let us turn to God's Word from the daily office to give us more moral clarity and purpose as we meditate upon what God is saying to us, what God is Calling us to do, and how we must respond.


114 In exitu Israel

1 Hallelujah!
When Israel came out of Egypt, *
the house of Jacob from a people of strange speech,

2 Judah became God's sanctuary *
and Israel his dominion.
3 The sea beheld it and fled; *
Jordan turned and went back.

4 The mountains skipped like rams, *
and the little hills like young sheep.

5 What ailed you, O sea, that you fled? *
O Jordan, that you turned back?

6 You mountains, that you skipped like rams? *
you little hills like young sheep?

7 Tremble, O earth, at the presence of the Lord, *
at the presence of the God of Jacob,

8 Who turned the hard rock into a pool of water *
and flint-stone into a flowing spring.


115 Non nobis, Domine

1 Not to us, O Lord, not to us,
but to your Name give glory; *
because of your love and because of your faithfulness.

2 Why should the heathen say, *
"Where then is their God?"

3 Our God is in heaven; *
whatever he wills to do he does.

4 Their idols are silver and gold, *
the work of human hands.

5 They have mouths, but they cannot speak; *
eyes have they, but they cannot see;

6 They have ears but they cannot hear; *
noses, but they cannot smell;

7 They have hands, but they cannot feel;
feet, but they cannot walk; *
they make no sound with their throat.

8 Those who make them are like them, *
and so are all who put their trust in them.

9 O Israel, trust in the Lord; *
he is their help and their shield.

10 O house of Aaron, trust in the Lord; *
he is their help and their shield.

11 You who fear the Lord, trust in the Lord; *
he is their help and their shield.

12 The Lord has been mindful of us, and he will bless us; *
he will bless the house of Israel;
he will bless the house of Aaron;

13 He will bless those who fear the Lord, *
both small and great together.

14 May the Lord increase you more and more, *
you and your children after you.

15 May you be blessed by the Lord, *
the maker of heaven and earth.

16 The heaven of heavens is the Lord's, *
but he entrusted the earth to its peoples.

17 The dead do not praise the Lord, *
nor all those who go down into silence;

18 But we will bless the Lord, *
from this time forth for evermore.
Hallelujah!

Genesis 7:1-10,17-23

7Then the Lord said to Noah, ‘Go into the ark, you and all your household, for I have seen that you alone are righteous before me in this generation. 2Take with you seven pairs of all clean animals, the male and its mate; and a pair of the animals that are not clean, the male and its mate; 3and seven pairs of the birds of the air also, male and female, to keep their kind alive on the face of all the earth. 4For in seven days I will send rain on the earth for forty days and forty nights; and every living thing that I have made I will blot out from the face of the ground.’5And Noah did all that the Lord had commanded him.

6 Noah was six hundred years old when the flood of waters came on the earth. 7And Noah with his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives went into the ark to escape the waters of the flood. 8Of clean animals, and of animals that are not clean, and of birds, and of everything that creeps on the ground, 9two and two, male and female, went into the ark with Noah, as God had commanded Noah. 10And after seven days the waters of the flood came on the earth.

17 The flood continued for forty days on the earth; and the waters increased, and bore up the ark, and it rose high above the earth. 18The waters swelled and increased greatly on the earth; and the ark floated on the face of the waters. 19The waters swelled so mightily on the earth that all the high mountains under the whole heaven were covered; 20the waters swelled above the mountains, covering them fifteen cubits deep.21And all flesh died that moved on the earth, birds, domestic animals, wild animals, all swarming creatures that swarm on the earth, and all human beings; 22everything on dry land in whose nostrils was the breath of life died. 23He blotted out every living thing that was on the face of the ground, human beings and animals and creeping things and birds of the air; they were blotted out from the earth. Only Noah was left, and those that were with him in the ark.

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

Ephesians 4:1-16

4I therefore, the prisoner in the Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy of the calling to which you have been called, 2with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, 3making every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.4There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to the one hope of your calling, 5one Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in all.

7 But each of us was given grace according to the measure of Christ’s gift. 8Therefore it is said,
‘When he ascended on high he made captivity itself a captive;
   he gave gifts to his people.’ 
9(When it says, ‘He ascended’, what does it mean but that he had also descended* into the lower parts of the earth? 10He who descended is the same one who ascended far above all the heavens, so that he might fill all things.) 11The gifts he gave were that some would be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, 12to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, 13until all of us come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to maturity, to the measure of the full stature of Christ. 14We must no longer be children, tossed to and fro and blown about by every wind of doctrine, by people’s trickery, by their craftiness in deceitful scheming.15But speaking the truth in love, we must grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, 16from whom the whole body, joined and knitted together by every ligament with which it is equipped, as each part is working properly, promotes the body’s growth in building itself up in love.

Prayer of St. Francis 

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace:
where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
where there is sadness, joy. 

O divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek
to be consoled as to console,
to be understood as to understand,
to be loved as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive, 
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned, 
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.
Amen.


Mark 3:7-19

7 Jesus departed with his disciples to the lake, and a great multitude from Galilee followed him; 8hearing all that he was doing, they came to him in great numbers from Judea, Jerusalem, Idumea, beyond the Jordan, and the region around Tyre and Sidon. 9He told his disciples to have a boat ready for him because of the crowd, so that they would not crush him;10for he had cured many, so that all who had diseases pressed upon him to touch him. 11Whenever the unclean spirits saw him, they fell down before him and shouted, ‘You are the Son of God!’ 12But he sternly ordered them not to make him known.

13 He went up the mountain and called to him those whom he wanted, and they came to him. 14And he appointed twelve, whom he also named apostles,* to be with him, and to be sent out to proclaim the message,15and to have authority to cast out demons. 16So he appointed the twelve:* Simon (to whom he gave the name Peter); 17James son of Zebedee and John the brother of James (to whom he gave the name Boanerges, that is, Sons of Thunder); 18and Andrew, and Philip, and Bartholomew, and Matthew, and Thomas, and James son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus, and Simon the Cananaean, 19and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him.

Then he went home;

“Christ has no body now but yours. No hands, no feet on earth but yours. Yours are the eyes through which he looks compassion on this world. Yours are the feet with which he walks to do good. Yours are the hands through which he blesses all the world. Yours are the hands, yours are the feet, yours are the eyes, you are his body. Christ has no body now on earth but yours.”



 Respond to these petitions with: May we all be one and comfort one another with love, kindness and gentleness God hear our prayers!

God of all comfort be with us this night as we pray for peace in this world and that we may live into our baptismal covenant with you and each other.

 May we all be one and comfort one another with love, kindness and gentleness God hear our prayers!

God  of all comfort may we seek as one family with you to find solutions that will stem the tide of all violence and terror.

 May we all be one and comfort one another with love, kindness and gentleness God hear our prayers!

God of all comfort may we seek with you to find our true calling and life path.

 May we all be one and comfort one another with love, kindness and gentleness God hear our prayers!


God of all comfort give us strength to speak out firmly and lovingly for those who haven't any voice.

 May we all be one and comfort one another with love, kindness and gentleness God hear our prayers!


God of all comfort give us all a return to common sense. Take away from us all temptation to fall into a mob and hate mentality.

 May we all be one and comfort one another with love, kindness and gentleness God hear our prayers!

God of all comfort we pray for all who are ill and in need of healing of their bodies, minds, and spirits.

 May we all be one and comfort one another with love, kindness and gentleness God hear our prayers!

God of all comfort may we be sources of comfort  one to another and listen to you with our heart homes for those who are in need of help and may not be able to name their needs.

 May we all be one and comfort one another with love, kindness and gentleness God hear our prayers!


God of all comfort may we ever be mindful of our family members who are grieving losses and pre- grieving. 

 May we all be one and comfort one another with love, kindness and gentleness God hear our prayers!

God of all comfort we pray for all who have been senselessly murdered for who they are. Grant to them eternal rest.

 May we all be one and comfort one another with love, kindness and gentleness God hear our prayers!

God of all comfort may all of us who struggle to live authentically without fear be able to speak and live our truth valiantly and with courage.

 May we all be one and comfort one another with love, kindness and gentleness God hear our prayers!


God of all comfort we pray and give thanks for_________________________

 May we all be one and comfort one another with love, kindness and gentleness God hear our prayers!

We lift up these our prayers in the Holy name of Jesus!  Amen. 

Let us now pray these our closing intercessions! A visual reminder of the poor and  needy:



Prayers from a blog long past but oh so current.

I took time to pray for the owner of the jacket as is our custom and began to remember all the times when I (we) have seen jackets, shirts, and shoes on our walks. It gives me cause for pause every time I see this.
Take time to meditate on this picture and ask yourself what emotions and thoughts come to mind?
Afterwards pray and remember all those who do not have adequate clothing and shelter at any time of the year.

In honor of Martin Luther King Junior let us take time to pray!

Lord God we lift up all war torn nations that are deprived of civil  and  human rights:
Let Freedom Ring!

Lord We lift up all who labor in the courts of justice in this country that every one will be granted due process and equal protection under the law.
Let Freedom Ring

Lord we pray that every family member will respect everyone's dignity and personhood.
Let us sow seeds of compassion.

Lord we pray that we may continue to give thanks for all that unites us and pray for those differences that separate us and that we may all come to know that we are one family in Christ and humankind.
May we live united as the family of God.

We pray for justice, love and mercy as we walk with God on our journey.

We pray for all those who are deprived of liberty, justice, education, and human rights in all parts of the world.

We pray for safe working conditions.

We pray for all laborers in the fields and in all places.

We pray for an end of violence, injustice, indifference, and hate

We pray for equality and acceptance of all God's Children.

We pray for rain to heal the areas affect by drought.

We pray for those in prison and captivity.

We pray for all those who have mental illness. 

We pray for peace and to be peacemakers.

We pray especially for the causes and social justice issues that are on our hearts____________________

We give our thoughtful thanks for_______________

We celebrate________________  and especially all those who are new citizens of our country.

We remember Martin Luther King Junior, Fabian, Rosa Parks, the Little Rock Nine, Nelson Mandela, Steven Biko, and all valiant seekers after justice and the rights of the oppressed.

All this we ask in Jesus' name who is the example for us to be beacons of Justice, Hope, Equality, and Peace. Amen.

Let us go forth and serve God and the Beloved Community remembering our charges in the Beatitudes and Matthew 25: 

Matthew 5New Revised Standard Version, Anglicised (NRSVA)

The Beatitudes

When Jesus[a] saw the crowds, he went up the mountain; and after he sat down, his disciples came to him. Then he began to speak, and taught them, saying:

‘Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

‘Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.

‘Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.

‘Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.

‘Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy.

‘Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.

‘Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.

10 ‘Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

11 ‘Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely[b] on my account. 12 Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.


Matthew 25: 31-46

The Judgement of the Nations

31 ‘When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory. 32 All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, 33 and he will put the sheep at his right hand and the goats at the left. 34 Then the king will say to those at his right hand, “Come, you that are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; 35 for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, 36 I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.” 37 Then the righteous will answer him, “Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food, or thirsty and gave you something to drink? 38 And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you, or naked and gave you clothing? 39 And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?” 40 And the king will answer them, “Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family,[g] you did it to me.” 41 Then he will say to those at his left hand, “You that are accursed, depart from me into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels; 42 for I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, 43 I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not give me clothing, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.” 44 Then they also will answer, “Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not take care of you?” 45 Then he will answer them, “Truly I tell you, just as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.” 46 And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.’

Now let us take and remember the Matthew 25 pledge as we leave this sacred space and circle of love and healing :

I pledge to protect and defend vulnerable people in the name of Jesus.

++++++

Good Night Beloved Community ! I love you! Let us meet back here tomorrow as we make vigil for all human and animal kind and for a preservation of God's Cathedral of Life. Let our voices speak truth to power and may our feet become in the words of Abraham Joshua Heschel :

For many of us the march from Selma to Montgomery was about protest and prayer. Legs are not lips and walking is not kneeling. And yet our legs uttered songs. Even without words, our march was worship. I felt my legs were praying.

And the following from Martin Luther King Jr.



May we continue to be blessed by these prophet of old and seek out our own prophetic voices at such a time as this. God grant us love energy to stand for the least of these and defend the poor and needy.


In Peace and Love, 

Sara


Resources
Satucket Lectionary
In Lak ' Ech - Luis Valdez
Martin Luther King Jr. Prayers - National Catholic Reporter
Quote Sites for prayers of  St. Francis and St. Teresa of Avila
Bible Gateway for the Beatitudes and Matthew 25.
Matthew 25 Pledge from Sojourners
Walk With Me On Our Journey


No comments:

Post a Comment