Showing posts with label Thanksgiving. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Thanksgiving. Show all posts

Monday, May 15, 2023

5.14.23 Prayers of Church & Community Westminster Presbyterian Church, Pasadena, CA

Eternal God, grant to us this day some relief from the stress of our times, some distance from the sorrows and challenges of the present … that we might heal in soul and spirit, regain our strength and resolve … to face the demands of life, to bear the burdens of sin and sorrow, to be of help to others, to embody the love of Christ in all that we are.

We give thanks for the blessings of life … things that cheer us, and make us laugh … things to lighten our spirits and refresh our souls … there is much in this world, O LORD, to heal the wounds and lift up the weary … give us, we pray, the eyes to see the glories of your world … the bright hues of a morning sky, the blaze of color in a field of poppies … and all around us, the joyous blooms of trees and bushes … a world of color and exuberance, delight and wonder, birth and rebirth.


We pray this day for our loved ones - family and friends … those with whom we work, those who sit beside us in school … loved ones far away … and for each of them, O God, we lift our prayers, for their wellbeing, in body and soul … to have great purpose and high ambition … to set their hands to the plow, and never look back, to face the days that lie ahead, with joy and hope, confidence and courage.


We pray, O God, for our San Gabriel Presbytery, for the Rev. Wendy Tajima, and all of our churches and ministers, our elders and deacons … musicians and staff … and the ever-faithful members who give and serve, love and help, sing and dance, to your glory, O God, and strive for the welfare of the world.


Holy God, light eternal, you are the father, the mother, of us all … you instruct us with the light of stars, you counsel us in the rush of wind, you speak to us in the eyes of a child … you shelter us in time of storm, you guide us with with your hand, you see us through the trials and temptations of life … as our father eternal, as our mother forever, Happy Mother’s Day … may your children make you proud.


In the name of our LORD Jesus Christ who taught us to pray, saying:


Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread; and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors; and lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory, forever. Amen


Sunday, July 10, 2022

7.10.22 Prayer of Church & Community, Westminster Presbyterian Church, Pasadena, CA

 For this world, O God … we give our thanks … the world you’ve created … a world in

motion, fast and slow, teeming with life … taking shape in the blink of an eye, or a snail’s march across a few million years … a world leaving and arriving, evolving in shape and form … full of color, noise, energy, and power … O LORD our God, great is your name, and greatly to be praised … for you are the LORD of color and sound, the LORD of the snail and the LORD of the gull … the LORD of the seven seas and the highest of mountains … the LORD of every creature, great and small … the LORD of all souls, the LORD of heaven and earth, the LORD of times past, the ever-present moment, and a future striving to be born.


O LORD our God, give us, we pray, a deep and abiding sense of your glory, a reverence for life … to see your hand in the shapes and shades of the land, the miracles of love and birth, the cycles of time … the first breath taken and the last breath drawn … dust to dust, earth to earth, ashes to ashes … O LORD our God … it all belongs to you … a universe billions of lightyears in expanse and expanding … every moment, every heartbeat, every kiss, and every song. 


Help us we pray to live as well as we can … with love and patience, kindness and mercy, wisdom and expectation, goodness and decency … to feel the winds of the afternoon and the softness of a child’s hand.


Eternal God, help us, to find solutions to humanity’s distress … to find leaders who will speak the truth and point the way to a generous world of welcome.


Watch over each us, we pray, in the remains of the day; guide and guard our loved ones; grant them fullness of life, and an abundance of love.


We thank you for our church, for the bread and drink of the LORD’s Table … for all that has been, all that is, and all that shall be … for you are at work, O God, in all things, for good … with a love that never dies.


Help us, we pray, to be utterly faithful to Christ … in our toil and in our rest, in our families and in our communities … in the words we speak, and the dreams we have.


In the name of our LORD Jesus Christ who taught us to pray, saying:


Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread; and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors; and lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory, forever. Amen


Sunday, June 19, 2022

6.19.22 Prayers of Church & Community, Westminster Presbyterian Church, Pasadena

We have prayed so often, dear God, the words of your Christ, “Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name” … the words flow easily, and we ofttimes forget what a gift it is - to have faith in your goodness, to trust your love, a love at work in all things, for good. 

On this day, especially, dear God, we give thanks for your closeness to us, in the ups and downs of our daily walk … your love for us, when we’re up and bright and full of life, and in those times when we’re ho-hum in the doldrums, going nowhere fast … and when we’re weighed down with depression and dark thoughts, when we can hardly find our breath. 


You are a loving presence, in all times and pleaces, constant in mercy. We can’t always see you, O God, and that’s ok … we have learned, even in the darkness moments, you are present … your hand is upon us … your providence at work, to guide and to guard.


We give you thanks, for the gospel that saves, the wisdom that instructs, the mercy that sustains … we vow all the more to be faithful to you, to be the light of reason, in an unreasonable time to strive for the truth in a season of many lies, to love greatly when others hate, to seek justice for all … to practice the ways of Christ.


Grant to us this day our daily bread … watch over our loved ones … bless our nation.


Watch over our beloved Presbyterian Church, and our General Assembly … may your Spirit rest mightily upon the church, giving us a vision of your Kingdom, and what needs to be done. On this Juneteenth, O LORD, give us the wherewithal to keep on running the race of life, reaching for the best and the brightest of human aspirations, filled with your divine purpose, led by the Holy Spirit.


All of this, in the name of our LORD Jesus Christ, who taught us to pray, saying:


Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread; and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors; and lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory, forever. Amen


Thursday, November 27, 2008

Mashed Potatoes

An Ode to Mashed Potatoes …

Let me count the ways I love thee …
The common tator … a tuber … from the ground …
Just like you and me …
Maybe we feel something in common with this common ground thing …

They’re not picked, like apples or pears …
They’re dug …
Like good music … or hangin’ out with folks we love …

Lots of different sizes … and colors … in a lot of different places …
We do have a lot in common, don’t we?
With the humble potato …

Peel ‘em … if ya’ want …
But I like to leave the skins on …
Adds texture … as it should be … the whole potato …
As God intended.

Into a pot of water …
Turn on the heat … lots of good things need a little heat …
Cook ‘em not too hard …
Test ‘em with a fork …
Drain ‘em and put ‘em back into the pot …

And now the good part …
A couple of butter chunks …
A generous splash of cream … I mean: be generous …
Maybe even some cream cheese …
A little horseradish?
Rosemary?
Thyme?
Salt and pepper …

And a little elbow grease …
Smash and mash these remarkable gifts from God …
Not too much, just enough …
To blend it all together …
Taste to your heart’s content …
That’s what I love about cooking …
We get to sample everything before you do.

Can it get better?
You bet …
On the plate they go …
A fork-full will satisfy all your desires for comfort …
Just like home …
But like all good things … these good things go well
With a chorus of other good things ….
Gravy …
Giblet gravy …
Corn and slabs of carefully sliced turkey, neat and precise … though I prefer the dark meat … a tad bit unruly …
Cranberry relish on the side …
And how about the country cousin, the sweet potato … with its famous hat,
The marshmallow … all white on the inside, with golden trim …
And who knows what else …

Start with potatoes, and who knows where it’ll end.

But start with potatoes …
A very common thing …

And it will end well …

As all good things do …

Happy Thanksgiving …





© Tom Eggebeen, Los Angeles