Parenting????

Something I wrote recently to a young mother:

My wife and I are advocates of gentle, porous, patient, boundaries, while allowing the child to emerge at their own pace and in their own way ... and sometimes their emergence doesn't fit well with mom and dad ... I think it's pretty much up to mom and dad to adjust as the child grows ... experiments ... tries different things ... Even when its inconvenient, which it often is, parents need to be flexible. When I counsel those getting married and talk about children, I say, "Children are very expensive in every imaginable way. Be prepared to pay the price, and pay it gladly. If not, do them and the world a favor: don't have any. Because I'll have to counsel them when they're adults and listen to them talk about you." Ha!

Prayers of the People - September 13, 2009

Prayers of the People – September 13, 2009

We thank you, O God, for our faith …

The work of your Holy Spirit,

Calling us to Christ.

Making each of us a part of Christ,

And imparting the grace of Christ to each of us!

One and all.

We thank you, O God, for our faith!

Once we lost, but now we are found.

Once we were blind, but now we see.

You came to us when we were lost …

You found us in the wilderness of sin …

You took us home to Christ.

You touched our eyes, so that we might see.

The wonder and the glory of Christ himself.

In your light, we see light.

LORD Jesus Christ, Son of the Living God,

Be patient with us, we pray, as you were patient with your disciples.

Teach us about God the Father.

Teach us how to pray.

Teach us how to carry our cross and give our lives for your sake.

Today, O God, we pray for the moderator of the Presbyterian Church, the Rev. Bruce Reyes-Chow and our vice-moderator, the Rev. Byron Wade …

We pray for the Rev. Linda Culbertson, our Presbytery Executive … we pray our Presbytery committees and all our churches.

We pray for our pastors, O God, our seminary professors and our missionaries far and wide.

Help us, we pray, to remember the larger church.

To see beyond the walls of Covenant on the Corner,

because we belong to a great Presbyterian Family, O God,

A rich and faithful heritage.

And more than that, O God,

We belong to the whole church of Jesus Christ,

Stretching back to the very first disciples,

Reaching forward to heaven’s gate.

Help us, we pray, to remember the larger church!

Today, O God, we remember those who lost loved ones in the fall of the Twin Towers … be merciful to them, we pray.

We pray for our nation today.

We pray our President and our Senator and Representatives, and for our Supreme Court …

We pray for our governors and our mayors, state legislators and council members, for you have called them all to public service …

We pray for our soldiers and those who command them.

We pray for our nation, O God.

Help us, we pray, as followers of Christ, to be peacemakers.

To offer wise counsel and sage advice.

To look to Christ in all things …

To live above and beyond the immediate claims of nation and state, city and home … for we are, O God, your people – your people in the midst of the nations … we have a citizenship in heaven, by your grace, and that’s where our treasure is – and where our treasure is, that’s where our heart is, too … for we would be Christ in all things.

Help us, O LORD, to keep our heart in the right place.

To be the light of the world and the salt of the earth.

To love you greatly, and

To love our neighbor ethically.

To be beholden to none, because we owe everything to you.

To owe no one anything except the debt of love.

Forgive us, we pray, for our sins are many.

Heal us, we pray, for our hurts go deep.

Lead us, we pray, for we are lost on our own.

Use us, we pray, for we are yours.

In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

All glory, laud and honor, to you, O God.

Now and forever more.

World without end.

Saying together as our LORD taught us, Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven …

Whom to Choose? Pilate or Jesus?

Pilate asks: “What’s truth?” and Jesus remains silent.

Why?

Because truth is Jesus the Christ, standing there in front of Pilate – now get the picture: here’s Pilate, wearing expensive clothing, hair well-done, in a palace, surrounded by Imperial Guards with shiny weapons, beautiful draperies, servants attending to Pilate’s every need, fine food and drink … the lap of luxury … and then Jesus, hands bound with tough leather straps, blood seeping through his tattered robe, hair tangled with spit and sweat … already half-way to death …

Between these two, you’re standing there in the corner – you’re witness to this encounter – a Jewish prophet from Galilee and mighty Pilate in his palace … and you ask yourself, “Who’s telling the truth?”

How might you answer?

Come one now, tell yourself the truth?

Might you not be inclined to go with Pilate?

Rather than this beaten and tattered man swaying unsteadily on his bloody feet.

Pilate questions him with an imperious voice.

Jesus is horse from thirst, his mouth swollen from the fists that easily found their mark.

Who might you choose?

September 6, 2009 - Prayers of the People

We are here, LORD … once again we are here, by grace and by mercy, with faith, hope and love … coming from the four corners of the world, north, south, east and west – Westchester and Culver City, Inglewood and El Segundo, Manhattan and Venice Beach … as different as night and day, yet all the same, LORD.

We all hunger and thirst for life.

We all yearn for meaning and purpose.

We want to be real.

We want the last chapter of our life to be well-written.

We don’t want to be mean-spirited, LORD, though sometimes we are.

We don’t want to be selfish, O God, though self-interest is always sitting next to us, whispering its beguiling advice.

We don’t want to be small in spirit.

We don’t want to be little in love.

We want to be big in faith, O God.

And for that, we need you.

We need your love.

Your world-embracing, life-transforming, love.

The love of Jesus of Nazareth.

His compassion and wisdom.

His vision and virtue.

His love and his mercy.

Remind us, O God, that we CAN have these things.

We can be more like Christ than we dare imagine.

Here in this place, O God,

Covenant on the Corner,

We renew our vows to you.

We pledge anew our lives to the ways of Jesus our LORD.

We surrender to him.

We put our lives on the line for him.

With Jesus our Lord, we take up our cross.

We go to work.

We make this a better world …

We will not rest, O God, until the work be done.

We will not lay our heads down until what’s needed is finished.

We will pay the price.

Give above and beyond.

Go the extra mile.

We will be yours, O God, a city set on the hill, a light that no one can hide …

LORD, make us great, we pray.

Great in the ways of Christ.

Great in our vision and great in our love.

Today, O God, some simple prayers:

For firefighters in the mountains.

For police offices on the street.

For governors and mayors.

For the President of our Land.

For judges and legislators.

And all whom you have called to public service.

Your blessing be upon them all, we pray.

And our regard and our respect.

Today, O simple prayers:

For health and strength in the days that remain.

Wisdom and courage for the tasks at hand.

Employment and opportunity.

Enough food to satisfy.

Friends to enjoy and families to love.

Enough laughter to cleanse the soul.

Sufficient safety and comfort, O LORD.

For us, and for everyone else, too.

Because you’ve made the pie big enough, LORD.

Big enough for everyone to have enough.

So we pray, O God:

Never let us rest.

Never let us be entirely satisfied.

Until everyone is safe.

And the world be at peace.

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 …

August 30, 2009 - Prayers of the People

Eternal God, our help and strength in every time and place …

We pray for the well-being of our nation … that your Holy Spirit would raise up for us in these tempestuous time great women and great men, to stand tall above the noise and foolishness of partisan politics, and mean-spirited prejudice … leaders to build bridges and tear down the fences …

Who speak truth to us, rather than terror.

Who live in faith, not in fear.

Who shake hands before they shake their heads.

Who attack problems rather than people.

We pray for our nation, O LORD!

We pray for our community of faith, for Covenant on the Corner … that we may be faithful to you, O God.

Faithful in prayer and study,

Faithful in service and sacrifice,

Faithful to Christ and faithful to the gospel,

Faithful in worship and faithful in our work.

We pray for Covenant on the Corner!

This morning, O God, we’re mindful of a multitude of needs …

To find employment …

To handle personal issues …

To overcome addictions and habits, behaviors and attitudes …

To be more loving, more engaged, more involved.

More tolerant and more creative.

More thoughtful and more prayerful.

Especially, we’re mindful of folks losing their homes to the fires in Angeles National Forest …

Creatures, great and small, who flee the flames or lose their life … mighty trees and quiet streams … rugged canyons and soaring peaks …

And those who put their lives on the line to fight the fires … we thank you, O God, for the resources of federal and state agencies – all who work in human service.

This morning, we pray:

For the healing of bodies, and for the healing for souls …

Healing for:

Relationships broken – broken by misspoken words and mistaken deeds … misunderstandings and plain old stubbornness and self-centeredness … the junk of life, the debris of sin.

Healing of hope … and the healing of our dreams.

The healing of our nation, and the healing of our world.

We pray for our schools, and for those who administer them.

We pray for teachers, and for the students who fill their classrooms.

We pray for the parents, for the homes they make and for the dreams they launch in the minds of their children.

We pray for rabbis and imams and priests and pastors.

We pray for Bible study leaders and mission travelers.

We pray for youth leaders and choir directors.

We pray for religious charities and soup kitchens and clothing centers and food pantries and community gardens and YMCAs and youth clubs and parole officers and guidance counselors and therapists and police officers and fire fighters and soldiers and nurses and doctors and attorneys and judges and park rangers and postal carriers and restaurant cooks and wait staff and bar tenders and entertainers and film makers and life guards and farmers and butchers and bakers and candlestick makers …

Use us, we pray, for the sake of your kingdom.

That’s why we’re here, LORD.

To be used of Christ,

To be his ambassadors,

Fools for him, if need be.

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 …

August 23, 2009 - Prayers of the People

We are grateful, O God, but hardly enough.

Yet, grateful we are, for our salvation in Jesus Christ our LORD.

Our LORD and our Savior:

He stood in the face of sin’s onslaught, bore the hatred of the Evil One, tempted in the wilderness to abandon your plan and choose self-interest above our salvation.

But he did not lose sight of your glory, O God!

He did not abandon us in order to preserve himself.

He remained steadfast in his purpose, to go to Jerusalem, and there, in the Holy City, for all the world to see, to release a new energy, a new vision, a fresh wind, to keep the fires of faith burning bright in a world of sin and sorrow.

A new day for Jew and Gentile …

Barriers down.

Bridges built.

Spiritual healing.

Common cause.

That which divided no longer divides.

A new humanity in Christ!

LORD, we remain far away from what should be.

Our hearts are slow.

Are minds are dull.

Our wills perverse.

We are full of ourselves.

Our sin is ever before us when we see the glory of your love in Jesus Christ our LORD.

In his light, we see light.

We see the purity of his power.

The luster of his love.

The depths of his grace.

We are moved, O God, moved to repentance and sorrow for our sins.

And sin, it is, O God.

That we should think and act as we do.

That we should fall so

Far short of you glory, and not even know it half the time, and half the time, know it, and know it full well … and even be proud of our perversity - we call ti cleverness, creativity or conviction, or whatever else we might call it.

A clear and willful violation of your commandments to love:

To love you with all of our heart, soul, strength and mind,

And to love our neighbor as we love ourselves.

Far too often, LORD, we dilute our love with spiritual laziness.

We cut short our love with impatience.

We ration our love, LORD, as if there weren’t enough to go around.

In this holy place, O God, we’ll not pretend.

We confess our sins and own up to our guilt.

We can do no less, O God, in the grace of Christ our LORD.

Amazing grace, O God.

That we can begin anew, here and now.

That which has been is no more.

That which shall be unfolds for us in Christ.

In Christ, we are free.

In Christ, we have life … now, and forever more!

To you, O God, be the glory … every bit of it!

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 …

August 16, 2009 - Prayers of the People

Eternal God, You have chosen us from before the foundation of the world to be the salt of the earth and the light of the world.

We didn’t choose you, because we couldn’t. Our sins were too many; our burdens too great.

But in your mercy, you came to us, to redeem us and bring us unto yourself. You saved us from the pit of despair.

You saved us from our sin. You brought us into the light of Jesus Christ our LORD. You did for us what we couldn’t do for ourselves.

Even now, O God, you give us peace with yourself, and you give us hope for eternal life.

You give us the Holy Spirit, to work out our salvation – to conform us to the image of your Son.

You lead us through the worst of times … You deflect the fiery darts of the evil one … You guard the salvation of our souls and enlarge the work of Christ … You help us along the way every day of our life … and you are at work in all things for good …

Help us this day, O God, to see the wonder of your love and the joy of our salvation.

Lift our eyes, we pray, from the tarnished glory of this life to the true beauty of faith, hope and love.

That we might turn our attention to THIS world with the purpose of Christ.

That we might join hearts and minds with women and men of faith everywhere … to right the wrongs that condemn millions to war and poverty, sickness and death.

To right the wrongs that enhance the welfare of privilege and power and ignore the voiceless millions who toil in sweat shops and fields, barely able to hold body and soul together.

To right the wrongs that force millions of children to live hideous lives and cry themselves to sleep at night …

O LORD, our God, there’s a whole lot of life we’d just as soon ignore – it’s hard to look into the face of an Afghan child and ignore her sorrow … we’d like to turn away and go shopping.

It’s hard to look into the eyes of the man begging on the street corner … we’d rather blame HIM for his ills and let ourselves off the hook.

It’s hard to see the millions for whom life is mean and hard – we’d rather read our Bibles and sing pretty songs.

But don’t let us do this, LORD. Don’t let us cheapen our lives with such tawdry thoughts. Don’t let us escape into our own little world and lose our soul.

This day, O God, we pledge ourselves anew to Jesus Christ our LORD.

We join ourselves to him. And take up our cross.

That every creature, great and small, might know your love and live in peace … it’s a big task, LORD, but we wouldn’t want anything less. We ARE up to it, for you have made us well, and with you, we will do it! For in Christ, all things are possible!

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 …