Month: March 2021

Citizenship in Heaven (Response to Philippians 3:20-21)

Our citizenship is in Heaven;

not in the systems and structures

that our societies value:

power maintenance,

economic control,

and resource exploitation,

by which people and creation are

oppressed and marginalized

for the comfort and supremacy

of a few.

Our citizenship is in Heaven;

in the Love and Justice of God

that transforms our hearts, churches, and societies

through the model of our Savior,

Jesus Christ,

and the power of

the Holy Spirit,

by power sharing,

economic jubilee –

equitable resource stewardship –

and communal creation caretaking.

Our citizenship is in Heaven

by co-creating Heaven on Earth –

this Earth –

here and now,

for all people

and creation.

Amen.

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Doxology

God of Love:

Working for the flourishing of all people –

toppling white supremacy, patriarchy, and affluence –

dispersing power to all people –

enabling all of creation to live fully.

Centering marginalized and oppressed voices

from prophetic resistance

to Kingdom community

of holistic well-being.

Racism, homophobia, sexism –

all tools of oppression and domination –

cast into the flames of Hell.

Hell:

the chosen rejection of God’s love

and flourishing of God’s creation.

And the God of wholeness

will be uplifted and

reign in Love,

Eternally.

Amen.

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Where You Lead, Oh Lord, I Follow (Based on Psalm 138:1-8)

I rejoice in You, my Provider;

my heart beats with praise.

I raise my palms and lift my eyes

toward Your glory and wholeness,

in thankful exultation

of Your steadfast love

and faithful word.

At a young age, You called me;

I heard and followed.

But the Church and the world

conspired to silence Your voice

and extinguish my call

by moralizing away my belovedness

as Your child, oh God,

as a condemned and unworthy queer.

But, amidst these trials of human

malevolence and lies,

You journeyed with me,

never leaving nor forsaking,

waiting for a receptive heart

to remind me of my call –

not despite of my sexuality,

but because of it –

the experiences of expansive and just-filled love.

And now,

through my approval for Ordination

as a Deacon in the UMC,

You have brought Your Purpose to further fruition in me,

proving that Your radically inclusive love endures,

and expands,

forever.

Where You lead, oh Lord, I follow.

Amen.

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Prayer: January 6, 2021

US Capitol

We need you, oh God.

We are flawed and messed up humans who continue to divide and hurt one another.

We beseech you to intervene in the hearts, minds, and bodies of those angry and violent in Washington, and across the country, with the conviction of truth and love.

Help us to rely on your unwavering presence as we seek justice, not violence, through the power of your Spirit.

In your mysterious and loving name.

Amen.

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Triune God,

The sculpted pediment (white marble) – representing the Holy Trinity - surmounting the main altar in the Cathedral of Our Lady in Antwerp. This house of worship is the largest Gothic building in the Netherlands.

You call us to wholeness, not brokenness –

as a Spirit of three-persons in one substance –

demanding that we speak truths

to one another:

our friends, our foes, ourselves.

That we must not rely on worldly comforts

and temporal ease,

instead finding rest and strength

in You

with community:

the good, the bad, the real.

Because you created us for wholeness,

not brokenness.

Amen.

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Hope [Inspired by Rabia’s ‘The Way the Forest Shelters’]

I have confidence
in God’s miraculous love
amidst this time of terror –
through signs and symbols
from Mother Earth.

In the serotinous cones of the lodgepole pines –
resins dripping and releasing seeds
after consumed by rampant wildfires –
bringing a new generation of life
amidst death.

In the interdependent relationships of plants –
the trinity of beans, corn, and squash –
Holy Sisters, mutually sharing life-giving
minerals, nitrogen, fertilizer, and water –
amidst times of depletion and scarcity.

In the ecstatic ecstasy of human touch and companionship –
the wells of physical interconnection
and soul-expanding depths of conversation
amidst the valleys of shadow and despair.

There is a tremendous constancy of
Possibility,
hope and New Life,
all plainly modeled for us from
our Holy Mother, Earth –
and embedded in our incarnate bodies –
if we only listen
and follow.

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Inspired by ‘Love (III)’ by George Herbert

adult and child hands holding red heart on aqua background, heart health, donation, CSR concept, world heart day, world health day, family day

God’s love is an open-armed greeting,

but teachings of sin caused me to pull away:

Unworthy.

God stood saddened still, but not stunned,

knowing from the human evil it came:

Control.

God sent an Advocate before I was formed

to be ever-present with me, reminding me:

Love.

God demonstrated to my heart, helping me

to see the wrong in ecclessial espoused self-hate:

Healing.

God extended means of Grace, and I retreated

drowning in family, culture, and church:

Tradition.

God persisted, loving without condition

and inviting me into the Love abundance:

Experience.

God led me to encounter texts and people

with different messages and teachings

coaxing my brain where my heart wasn’t ready:

Reason.

God opened my eyes to read and interpret

in holistic and healing ways:

Scripture.

God encountered my in God’s love through

self-love, neighborly love, and love of enemy –

a least-of-these love:

Calling.

And God’s call was to teach and to love

as a conduit of God’s love in the world:

Disciple.

Amen.

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