Tallis: If Ye Love Me

Tallis Scholars: Spem in alium (40-part Motet)

Don't Stop Believin'

Prayers of the People

Today being Thanksgiving, I felt it appropriate to post a prayer which was lifted up in petition during our worship service last Sunday. While it was offered up as a litany for the whole congregation, I think it would also be apropos for individual prayer. (The form is taken from the Methodist litany of intercession, which has roots in the Anglican tradition.)

God of Grace,
we give thanks to you
for the family immediate and extended,
all of whom are known intimately by You;
we lift tem up now in name
to remind ourselves of your surrounding love
as embodied by them through your Spirit

God of Grace,
we give thanks to you
for the circle of friends, companions, and coworkers
with whom we break bread;
we name them now as reminders
to one another of your blessings
of companionship and faithfulness

God of grace,
we give thanks to you
for the world you have entrusted in our care;
we are mindful of the earth,
and of the abuse she has endured
under our stewardship,
eroding mountains,
polluted the air,
drilling the crust,
poisoning the waters;
we give you thanks for the new opportunities,
still, to be better stewards of all your creations
so that together we and all the earth
can praise you with our very existence

God of Grace
we give thanks to you
for all our clergy and for all our lay leaders
to whom you have given vision
and passion to answer your calling,
for Pastor Peter, Pastor Emily,
for our Bishop Brown,
for Bayview District Superintendent Extrum-Fernandez,
and for all others whom we now name

God of Grace
we give thanks to you
for all our government leaders
who will lead us uinto a new century
of peace, justice, and equality,
for leaders of the G8
and all the United Nations,
for President Obama and his family,
for V. President Biden and his fmaily,
and for all other world leaders
whom we now name

God of Grace
we give praise and thanks to you
for the chance to rebuild lives
and homes for the survivors
of disasters and tragedies
at Fort Hood, China, Taiwan,
Samoa, Phillippines, Tongan nation,
Louisiana, India,
and other that we now name

God of Grace
we give praise and thanks to you
for your mercy, love, and faithfulness
throughout the ages;
we your people cry out in joy
in anticipation of your coming;
show us how to help one another see
signs of your Spirit at work within us

All this we pray in the name of the One
who showed us the Way, Jesus our Christ,

Amen.

On the earth distress among nations...

How goes it with my soul during this Thanksgiving season? As I've said before, my journey to pray the hours using Thomas Merton's A Book of Hours continues to be fulfilling, and challenging, during this time of year when there are so (too) many things to do. I remember to pray at the Dawn hour, at mid-Day, at Dusk, and in the Dark hour, and this ritual has helped center me in many ways, calling me to tune into the special moments at work, at lunch, at rest, etc. This attentiveness to the ordinary reminds me of the chapter in the book Seeds of Faith in which we are asked to practice prayer in ways that rejuvenate us.

A few Sundays past, one of the lections invited me to reflect on the power of prayer, and most pointedly, Hannah's prayer. The readings started me thinking of how I normally pray, and how fervently I do pray. Is it a primary part of my daily ritual? Is prayer even a part of my daily ritual?

In addition to reflecting on the ways in which I pray, I also began focusing more closely on how Eli mistakes Hannah's praying as drunkenness. After she feasts, Hannah prays, but does so silently. Because he is only reading her lips, and because he misread the context of the feast preceding her prayer time, Eli chastises Hannah for displaying drunkenness. How interesting that a priest, a man of God, would make such a mistake. Unable to see Hannah's deep sadness and intense distress, Eli tells her to put away her wine. How long does it take for a holy man to fall out of Love and out of Grace in such a way that prevents him from reading the signs? Perhaps it had been far too long since he last witnessed such earnestness in prayer. Perhaps it had been too long since Eli had experienced anything similar to Hannah's suffering. Perhaps he had forgotten how to recognize sadness.

This week's Gospel reading invites us to pay attention to signs, to not be lulled into passivity and complacency, to stay awake, to take note that "worldwide suffering accompanied by unstoppable cataclysm...marks the promised redemption (GBOD Worship). In Luke chapter 21, the people are told that the signs pointing to the new world, new kingdom, are quite different than what they expect. If they do not stay awake and attentive, they will misread the signs. And perhaps they will not only lose focus, but will miss the signs entirely.

As I mull over this text, I keep thinking back to the movie "2012" which I saw recently. Like many other movies of the cataclysmic-end-of-world genre (e.g. "Day After Tomorrow", "Armageddon", "Deep Impact"), 2012 also deals with signs. It begins with signs pointing to the earth's ecological destruction and ends with signs of renewal, rebirth, humanity (or attempts to gesture towards an ideology of justice, peace, equality, love). There are, of course, characters in the movie who are identifiers and interpreters of signals -- both the environmental/ecological signals and the other, more intangible signs of community, life, humanness. What's interesting is this: whether they are attempting to read signals emitted by the earth (recognized by massive, destructive earthquakes and tsunamis), or they are reading subtler, more nuanced behaviors demonstrating a certain kind of compassion, some "get it" (the signals) from the very beginning (the Woody Harrelson character maybe? or the scientist protagonist?) and attempt to broadcast/interpret what they see. Some don't "get it" until the very end (there are several characters that I can think of in the moview, but I'm also remembering Eli who finally understands Hannah's situation). No matter what, there is always a messenger, a voice calling out in the human desert, interceding on behalf of others, on behalf of humanity.

For me, the challenge this week is not in reading the temperatures to gauge whether the earth will explode, or whether the ice caps will melt causing tsunamis, or whether earthquakes in California will send me floating out into the Pacific. I'm unable to read the stars or the sun or the moon.

For me, the invitation is to pay attention to the human signals, those emitted and transmitted by the people around me/us, who are oftentimes difficult to understand. It is, in a way, similar to Eli attending to Hannah's signs of distress, finally being able to recognize her sad countenance which was later transformed after her prayers were interceded by Eli. The community within which I live, work, and play provides the barometers to which I/we should attend. Those are the signs telling us there is food to be served, there is hunger to be fed, there is disease to be cured, there is homelessness to shelter. There is compassion to be shared and experienced.

Be alert at all times, praying that you may have the strength...

A More Perfect World

"This beautiful natural world is a loving gift from God, the Creator of all things seen and unseen. God has entrusted its care to all of us, but we have turned our backs on God and on our responsibilities. Our neglect, selfishness, and pride have fostered:

+ pandemic poverty and disease;
+ environmental degradation, and
+ the proliferation of weapons and violence.

Despite these interconnected threats to life and hope, God's creative work continues. Despite the ways we all contribute to these problems, God still invites each one of us to participate in the work of renewal. We must begin the work of renewing creation by being renewed in our own hearts and minds. We cannot help the world until we change our way of being in it."

Earlier in November, the council of bishops of the UMC produced a pastoral letter called "God's Renewed Creation: Call to Hope and Action." The bishops issued the letter as a challenge to all Methodists (w/ hearts "strangely warmed"?), and "all ecumenical and inter-religious partners and people of goodwill around the world." Theirs was an invitation calling all people to renew our hope and take action to transform the world.

The English version of the letter can be found at God's Renewed Creation, along with versions in Korean, French, Portuguese, Spanish, and German.

The bishops hope that congregations will read this letter and incorporate its challenge into liturgical worship during Advent. Check out more information here.

World Methodist Council Calls Congregations to Pray for Peace

GBOD | Worship

Hunger and Climate Change

Fight for Hunger and Climate Change: "Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva told the summit hunger is the most devastating weapon of mass destruction on our planet. He said it does not kill soldiers, but innocent children." Read article here at Voice of America News.

News on the World Food Summit in Rome: "Over 1 billion people worldwide suffer from food insecurity, and the challenge ahead will only be exacerbated by climate change, population growth, and rural-urban migration. UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon cautioned today that food security cannot be tackled without addressing climate change." See article here on the ONE blog.

Room at the Table: on Christ the King Sunday and Harvest Thanksgiving

Soon and very soon, we will load our dining tables with baskets of bread and butter, Indian corn, and cranberry sauce. We will have turkey meat and mashed potatoes with gravy. We will dine on pumpkin pies and whipped cream or hot chocolate and creamed coffee. Perhaps we might have a steaming bowl of beef porridge with Chinese donuts. Maybe an extra large bowl of pho noodles with tripe and brisket. In whatever way we celebrate Thanksgiving, most of us will not fret about whether or not we will be fed, be clothed, be warmed. We will surely appreciate the abundance of food that will nourish our bodies, and we will certainly feast on the laughter, joy, and conversations in the presence of family and friends around the table.

Yet, as we move towards Thanksgiving, as we await the celebratory feasting, let us not forget that there are those who hunger. Starve. Those with empty stomachs growling as they line up at soup kitchens and food pantries in the cold Bay Area weather. Are there those around us who desire something more? Where we are now, who are the people in need of "something to eat, drink, or wear" (Mt 6:25 CEV)? Matthew 6:32 reminds us that "only people who don't know God are always worrying about such things".

If we examine this statement from our self-focused point of view, then we might frame the clause in this way: I worry about this and this and this, therefore I don't know God. That is a worrisome conclusion, indeed. Today, let us hear the invitation in a different way: People to whom we have not shown signs of God's love and mercy and grace might always worry about such things as this or this or that...

This Sunday is Christ the King Sunday, which is a major feast day in the Christian calendar, a day when we celebrate the just and merciful reign of God. Regardless of the diverse definitions and interpretations for the "kingship" of Jesus our Christ, this day should remind us to answer the invitation -- meet the challenge -- which we have been given as children of God and a community of faith: As we feast and dine with abundant thanks, how do we embody God's reign of peace, justice and love? How do we exemplify love, joy, peace to those around us? How do we help "people who don't know God" to worry less, to be clothed and fed, to be filled and warmed? Because doing that is bringing the reign of God into reality.

Perhaps there are those who hunger and worry because they need us to embody God to them, now. Perhaps there are those just waiting for us to show God's love in concrete ways that help them remember God. In this coming week, seriously consider the invitation for you to make room at the table...

Let us then continue united in prayer and faith, and realize more nd more the truth and mercy of God in our lives. For we are called above all to be signs of His mercy in the world, and our fidelity will in its turn be a small sign to others of His fidelity, not that our fidelity has nay value of itself, but it enables Him to give us richer blessings and to manifest Himself in doing good to us who are nothing. - Thomas Merton, The School of Charity, Pg. 261-262

a Prayer for Christ the King Sunday

This coming Sunday is the last Sunday in the Christian year. Go here for a prayer of thanksgiving on Christ the King Sunday.

The Worship section of GBOD offers a wealth of resources. Check it out!