katyandtheword

#reLENTless #Holy

We humans suck at rules. Because we think Rules are about power.

You shall be holy.

This is God’s promise.

This is God’s Problem<–confession I typed this first above, and figure its a Freudian slip of the keyboard.

These are the rules

We humans suck at rules.

Because we think Rules are about power.

But here God puts it straight, we are holy.

The rules are about holiness. They DON’T MAKE US HOLY. They are about what the holiness of who God is. When we follow the rules, we do so ONLY by the work of God

Revering Parents, Sabbaths-making, Gleanings for the Poor

These are not rules, these are ways of life, living into the holiness of God.

And I’m not certain we are called to Holy. Because I dinna think we can really do that. I think we are called to God, God who is Holy.

We are the people of God, not the people of power or hate. We are the people of the God, not the people of greed or consumption. We are the people of God, not the people of falsehood or slander. We are the people of God, not the people of hate or injustice. We are the people of God, not the people who hate.

This is God’s problem, this is Jesus’s work, this is the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. We are the people of God.

But here’s the real deal, if you mean holy by being perfect or pretty or untouchable

I am in no way Holy

But if you mean holy by getting down and doing the work that needs to be done to keep humans thriving through food, shelter & relationships. I’m willing to do the stumbling viscereal & reality that is being a Holy human of God

#reLENTless Jesus in the #wilderness

Matthew 4:1-11

If you are…..

Jesus is in the wilderness and gets into a double-dog-dare fight with the tempter, the devil . The devil tries to erase, silence and ignore Jesus’ true identity. Because that is what the devil does!

The devil isolates Jesus and then systematically tells him, he lacks identity (Madeline L’engle calls this process unmaking someone)

Mocking Jesus’ identity as the Son of God, the devil does his work, telling Jesus that if he’s really the Son of Man he should be able to make bread appear.

The devil is tricky, tell us what we should be able to do. How true is that today? How often have I felt people saying to me “Are you a woman of God?” If anyone says that to me I’m silently cursing in my head, because I KNOW what follows is going to be doubt-infusing-gaslighting. The most memorable one to date was “Because a woman of God would dress appropriately and not wear a slutty skirt” I was the celebrant for a wedding at the time and had disrobed to my shirt and skirt which went down past my knees.

It makes me think of my bi, asexual, trans and aromantic-sibs who are told they don’t even exist.

The devil then takes it a step further, trying to say that God made you to be hurt, therefore God doesn’t love you.

God doesn’t really love you Jesus because…..

if God loved you, you could throw yourself off a cliff and die. Telling Jesus that if God lets him die, God doesn’t love him HAS to hurt, because we all know what is going to happen to Jesus.

Jesus dies. How do we square this with our sibs of color who are systematically told they were made to be hurt? That its not our fault they were made inferior (oh my soul, its hard to confess this). How often do we rationalize lack of love? How often do we equate it to God not loving them either?

The devil is doing his work.

Then, the final temptation, is misdirection. The devil tell Jesus that he will give him everything, if Jesus but worships the devil. Ignoring Jesus’ identity as God. Jesus’ answer is the worship of God: the very thing the Devil is trying to silence in Jesus.

Erasing, ignoring and silencing is what the devil wants.

Jesus continues to ground his identity in God’s very being. Knowing who God is, Jesus knows who he is. Nothing more life-affirming than that.

#reLentless #truth

Truth is my weapon of choice. When meeting with adversity and evil. When facing down the human machinations that we call politics, when dealing with the perniciousness of gossip, when hearing a criticism that burns my soul….I choose truth

Its a chancy weapon, because its a double edged sword, naming who I am in the situation even as it names others. It becomes confession. When you tell the truth you admit to yourself, and all others, that you are but human.

And I am all too human, horrible at remembering the names of my 40 some congregants who I have known for 6 plus years (and I am young), bad at details, fumbling at asking for help when I need it. I am small and frail. Spending a season admitting that I was, am and will be Ash is hard.

But even as I admit who I am, I also admit who God is.

“You are my God” “To you I cry all day long”

“Be gracious to me” and “Gladden the soul of your servant” for all that I lack, God has, and all that I wish for, God knows and all that I need, God is.

Other gods, do not dirty their hands with humanity. They may bargain or scheme with humans, using them or playing with them. But they do not broker humanity choosing to enflesh themselves through their only son.

I will bow down before the Lord my God, and glorify her Holy name, for God alone does wondrous things, stepping beside us in the daily, dirty, beautiful thing called life.

Only God does it all through truth, revealing to us who we truly are

Revealing to us who God truly is

Because you Lord, “have helped me and comforted me”

Praise Be to God

http://bible.oremus.org/?ql=355488475

#Relentless #oppress #Slatespeak

water, food, shelter, medical care, clothing, treating each other as human beings

the most basic and essential of prayers for all peoples

O how it hurts me that Christianity is used for a tool of oppression. In the grand pantheon of ways to be Christian, I figure you and God are working it out.

Unless you are using the Gospel to preach hate or oppress someone, because that right there people, is heresy. Heresy is using the Gospel for the opposite of its purpose.

Hate instead of love and Oppression instead of freedom are pretty much it.

But it hurts, because I benefit from oppression. I’m white and I have to deal with my whiteness. I’m cis-hetereo and I have to deal everyday with the fact that my so-called normalcy gives me an advantage.

And Jesus isn’t about the normal people. The more we normalize Christianity, the more we make it about power. In a slatespeak discussion a couple of weeks ago, my colleagues mused that Imperialism is when we are mistakenly convinced that God only talks to those in power.

Heresy, again I cry heresy.

I cry heresy to the core of my soul, but Christianity has been entrenched and tied to Power forever. Only Christ can save it. Only Christ can save us.

Because, we are the nation “trumpeting our righteousness”, even as we sin. We only fast “to quarrel and fight”

So this is the FAST that I choose

to loose the bonds of injustice–against the Trans, Muslim, Autistic, Lesbian & Gay, Deaf, Jewish, Sikh, Genderqueer, Blind, People of Color, Mentally Ill, Asexual, the poor and the children.

To undo the thongs of the yoke of the overworked, the under appreciated, the homeless, the victims of violence, the helpless, the depressed, the lonesome

To Let the oppressed go free and to break every yoke.

The way to do this is to share my bread with the hungry, to bring the homeless poor into my own house and cover the naked.

water, food, shelter, medical care, clothing, treating each other as human beings

the most basic and essential of prayers for all peoples

To somehow empower without enabling, to be gracious in an unjust world and to magnify those voices that society tries to erase, ignore or unnamed.

For then the light shall break forth like the daw, and healing shall spring up quickly.

Heal us, break us our from our own heresies, entrench us instead in love.

http://bible.oremus.org/?passage=Isaiah+58

#Days #relentless #slatespeak #Lent

What is the length of a day? Some days pound on me, relentless, some days never let me go.

http://bible.oremus.org/?passage=Deuteronomy+30

The length of days–heaven and earth are called to witness–will count. When we choose life our time counts even moreso.

Before I had children I would strive to be on time for everything. My parents were not the on time sort, and apparently I used to complain that I was the last child to be picked up from things.

Today I not only have to be late to things, but I have to miss commitments. Things I never would have done before children. But life is more complicated now I have a church, a husband, 3 children-one of whom is autistic-and myself.

WAIT! that meeting was today too? I had it in a different time stream in my mind and didn’t realize it was the same day.

Time no longer runs in straight lines for me, its seems to squiggle and intersect in weird ways. Its like running parallel world at the same time.

Thus obligations and time and everything flows differently.

We count our days, but God is the true reckoner, and God’s way of counting is not in pure math or numbers. Its in experiences and hope, its in the life-giving moments.If I have three children, then God has all children. If time flows different with different children for me, then time takes on meaning beyond seconds and minutes and days. Time has become an out of body experience. But time has also become more meaningful than trying to do all the things or trying to count up my life by counting. Because nobody has time for that. Time has to count with the goodness and fullness of days.

Because, God is timeless, its hard to conceptualize A Being beyond time…

A Being who just Is, for whom Was and Will Be are intrinsic.

Time counts differently for God

Time counts differently for God’s people.

Hold Fast to God, but how do I do that? My concept of holding on is to calculate the time I spend in prayer or measure the good deeds that are done. I’m too human, I can only love by keeping track. As evidenced in this 30sec clip http://thirtysecondsorless.net/author/kstenta/

God loves me, without needing to keep track.

How do I let go of the relentlessness of time? How do I enter the time of Lent?

#ash #psalm51 #relentless #lent #slatespeak

The best of ministry is open and adaptable, because Life is #Relentless

I have been feeling the #relentless-ness of life this season. The relentlessness of the news cycle, telling me over and over how broken we are…

The Jewish Community Center daycares receiving bombthreats

The 7 Trans women who have been murdered

The queer couples who married quickly, just in case

The travelers who are being detained and kept from their families

The need for young transpeople to go to the bathroom safely

The international relationships that are in peril

The Jewish cemeteries being desecrated

The Dakota Pipeline camps being cleared out

http://bible.oremus.org/?passage=Psalm+51

Ministry, is about life, which means that there is seldom a “normal week” in the church. The best of ministry is open and adaptable, because Life is Relentless. The basement pipe leaks, then a member is ill and dies, then the governing body is borrowing your building for a meeting, then your board member steps down. This is church, its imperfect, because its alive. Its real, because it reflects real life, its about the imperfections and love in the midst of the daily-ness.

Relentless, means “unmerciful” and “heartless” and “unforgiving” Life is indeed relentless.

Lent, then is the season of the opposite.

Its the season of “have mercy on me O God” the season of God’s “steadfast love” the season of “abundant mercy.” Its the season of pause and reflection. Its the wait and see, its the celebration of the journey.

And I am aching for this season. The restoration of Joy, because only God can provide Joy in this time of weary sin. Only God can sustain a spirit of willingness.

Good thing you like broken spirits, God, cause thats what I got. Brokenness and Hope.

Lent & Relentlessness

Easter/Resurrection Links of Prayer

Invitation to be Raised by Rev. Dr. Barb Hedges-Goettl

Feel free to use/edit. Credit to the original author (i.e. based on prayer/prayers written by Rev Dr. Barb Hedges-Goettl) appreciated.

Luke 24:1-12 and Psalm 118: 17, 21-24 or Psalm 118:20

Call to Worship/Opening Prayer

Option A: Gospel

Bring us to your place of resurrection, Lord.

Perplex us. Terrify us. Make us remember.

Send us out to tell the good news.

Bring us back to see for ourselves.

Amaze us by what has happened, and by what continues to happen.

Make us your resurrection people.

Option B: Gospel

We are perplexed when Christ Jesus is not in the tomb.When confronted by your messengers, we are moved to worship.They tell us we are looking for the living among the dead and testify to who Jesus is and what he has promised.Confront us. Speak to us. Fulfill your promises to us.Embolden us to carry Easter news to the world:Christ is risen! ALL: Christ is risen indeed!

Option C: Psalm

I shall not die, but I shall live

I shall recount the deeds of the Lord.

I thank you that you have answered me and become my salvation.

The stone that the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone.

This is the Lord’s doing

It is marvelous in our eyes.

This is the day that the Lord has made.

Let us rejoice and be glad in it!

Prayer of Confession

God, many times we do not pay attention to the tales of what you do. We think they are idle nonsense, full of wishful thinking and overactive imaginings. We are afraid to believe them. We don’t want to be ridiculed or disappointed. When we do not see you, we think that you are missing-in-action. We expect death and tombs, not resurrection and new life. Often we do not remember what you have promised or what you have done. We think that you acted in other times and place, not our own, or we want to be in charge of how and when and why you are act. Forgive us, Lord, and help our unbelief.

Easter Litany

(Possibly for Communion)

One; On this Easter morning,

Many: on this day of resurrection,

ALL: O Lord, raise us up.

One: As Jesus rose up from the grave.

Many: and Peter rose up to go and see

ALL: O Lord, raise us up.

One: Raise us up to the surface

Many: where we can breathe.

One; Raise us up to the mountain

Many: where you can be seen and heard.

ALL: O Lord, raise us up.

One: Raise us up from the tomb

Many: renouncing the old life in favor of the new.

One: Raise us up in mutiny against the powers of evil

Many: resisting hate and injustice.

One: Raise us up in rebellion against all that would separate and divide

Many: Straighten us up in the face of overwhelming threats

ALL O Lord, raise us up.

One: Raise us up from death.

Many: Raise us up with your burgeoning life.

One: Raise us up with your effervescent Spirit.

Many: As your resurrection people

ALL: O Lord, raise us up.

More Narrative Lectionary Lenten Themed Prayers

Crucifixion/Good Friday Links of Prayer Lenten Resource

Image

Invitation to by Rev. Rev Lee Ann Higgins

Feel free to use/edit. Credit to the original author (i.e. based on prayer/prayers written by Rev Lee Ann Higgins) appreciated.

Luke 23:32-47 and Psalm 31:5-13 ro Palm 31:5a

Call to Worship

(Based on KJV – Psalm 31:1, 5-13)

Into thine hand I commit my spirit: thou hast redeemed me, O Lord God of truth.

I have hated them that regard lying vanities: but I trust in the Lord.

I will be glad and rejoice in thy mercy: for thou hast considered my trouble; thou hast known my soul in adversities;

And has not shut me up into the hand of my enemy: thou hast set my feet in a large room.

Have mercy upon me, O Lord, for I am in trouble: mine eye is consumed with grief, yea, my soul and my belly.

For my life is spent with grief, and my years with sighing: my strength faileth because of mine iniquity, and my bones are consumed.

I was a reproach among all mine enemies, but especially among my neighbours, and a fear to mine acquaintance: they that did see me without fled from me.

I am forgotten as a dead man out of mind: I am like a broken vessel.

For I have heard the slander of many: fear was on every side: while they took counsel together against me, they devised to take away my life.

But I trusted in thee, O Lord: I said, Thou art my God.

My times are in thy hand: deliver me from the hand of mine enemies, and from them that persecute me. Amen.

Opening Prayer:

Loving Father,

We come today, not only to worship and praise you,

But also to remember Your Son, Jesus Christ,

Who gave up his life for us.

Be present with us here today as we remember

This sad day and why it had to happen.

Help us to see the joy within the tragedy,

A life so willingly given, …

For me … for us … Amen!

Prayer of Confession

Forgiving Father,

On that Friday, oh so long ago,

Your Son asked you to forgive his killers,

Because “they know not what they do.”

As we stand here in our humanness

Not always knowing what we do,

We cannot possible understand the

Great love you had for those people, and

We do not understand the great love you have for us.

You allowed your Son to be put to death

In a cruel fashion, yet, we know it was because of

Your unceasing love for us.

Just like those soldiers, we have sinned

And fall short of your glory.

We aren’t always aware of where we fall short,

But we don’t mean to disappoint you.

You are our perfect God who wants nothing

But the love of Your children.

Through Your Son’s death we are assured of your love

And we ask for your unconditional forgiveness.

Lead us to your way. Guide us in our path.

Forgive us, we pray. AMEN!

Assurance of Pardon

(from Chalice Worship)

Our redeemer God, we bless you for meeting us in Jesus Christ,

Who for our salvation humbled himself to die for us.

We bless you for all the burdens Christ has borne,

For all the tears he has wept,

For all the pains he has suffered,

For every word of comfort he spoke on the cross,

For every conflict with the power of darkness,

And for his eternal victory over the terrors of death.

Lead us through the valley of the shadow of death,

That we may fear no evil, for you are eternally with us;

Through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.

Communion & Communion Prayer

On the night He was betrayed, Jesus met with His disciples in the upper room and they ate a meal together. This began the tradition of the Lord’s Supper that we now observe every Sunday.

Paul wrote about Communion in 1 Corinthians 11:26. He said, “whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes”.

The meal that Jesus ate with His disciples on the night He was betrayed is known as the Passover meal.

When Passover was 1^st observed, the Israelites were slaves in Egypt. God sent Moses to confront Pharaoh, and to bring God’s people out of slavery.
Part of the way God “convinced” Pharaoh to release the Israelites, was through the 10 plagues.

The last of those plagues was the death of the firstborn of every household that did not have the blood of a spotless lamb painted on its doorposts.

The people of Israel were commanded to slaughter an innocent spotless lamb, paint its blood on their doorposts
- And eat the meal that would now be known as the “Passover”, because God told His people,
- That when He saw the blood of the lamb on their homes, He would pass over their homes, and death would not visit their families.
They were to eat the Passover meal dressed to leave the next day – BECAUSE on the next day they would leave the land of their slavery and enter into freedom.

Let us Pray:

Gracious and loving Heavenly Father. A lamb died on that first Passover so that the people of Israel would live. Our lamb (Jesus Christ) died so that we might live.

A lamb died so that the people of Israel would be freed from the fear of enslavement. Our Lamb (Jesus, the Lamb of God) died so that we might be freed from the slavery of our fear of death.

Thank you dear Lord, that, in communion, we receive the message of freedom from the grave.

Thank you that this message is not received only at Easter. Thank you that we receive this message every time we gather around this Table as believers.

Thank you for the message that: DEATH HAS BEEN CONQUERED! AMEN!

Offering Prayer/Prayer of Dedication

Heavenly Father,

We give back but a portion of ourselves,

Wishing we could give so much more.

You have made many things out of nothing;

You fed thousands with a basket of bread and fish,

You made wine from mere water,

And You made Saul into Paul.

We have faith that you will magnify these morals.

Allow us to see Your perfect vision,

And to continue your work on Earth.

Gird us up to share with the world; that You sent YOUR Son as

THE ultimate offering and sacrifice.

That by accepting this truth, all would be forgiven

And spend eternity in your presence.

AMEN.

A Link to a Good Friday Liturgy of the Nails http://wp.me/p2rhxZ-25W

More Narrative Lectionary Lenten Themed Prayers

Maundy Thursday/Last Supper Lenten Links of Prayer for Narrative Lectionary

Links of Prayer for Last Supper

Image info (originally found in another language)

Invitation to Serve by Rev Amy Fetterman

Feel free to use/edit. Credit to the original author (i.e. based on prayer/prayers written by Rev Amy Fetterman) appreciated.

Luke 22:1-27 and Psalm 34:8-10 or Psalm 34:8

Call to Worship

The One who serves has set the table,

And eagerly desires that we join him here.

As we seek and find the Lord in this joyful feast,

We shall taste and see that the Lord is good.

Prayer of Confession

As Jesus prepares a feast for us, let us prepare our hearts to receive his word. Let us offer our confession to God and before one another. Let us pray:

God of bread and vine, you redeem us from all sin. Yet, we forget that in you we find our refuge. We live into our fear rather than our faith. We strive to be great rather than follow in your servant steps. In our words, our actions, and our thoughts, we betray you. Deliver us from our fears, strengthen our hearts, and hear our cries, we pray… (silent confession followed by singing a Kyrie of your choice)

Assurance of Pardon

Lord, have mercy, Christ, have mercy, Lord, have mercy, we pray.

Though we may turn our faces away from God, God never turns away from us. The One who prepares a place for us at the table is the same One who forgives us our sins. Friends, believe the good news: in Jesus Christ, we are forgiven! Thanks be to God. Amen.

Communion Prayer

The Lord be with you. And also with you.

Look to the Lord, We seek the Lord with our whole hearts.

Let us bless the Lord as we come to the table, Our souls praise God!

Our souls praise you, O God, for you created the heavens and the earth, all that is seen and unseen. You coaxed forth light and life where before there was only dark and nothingness. You are the source of the living water we seek. We rejoice that we have been made in your image, that the very breath we breathe comes from your Holy Spirit.

You tell us that those who seek you shall lack no good thing. When we turn away from you and towards the forces of hunger and want, you do not give up on us. You call out to us through the voices of the prophets and the poets. You come to us through the person of the Son. Humbled by your great love for us, we join our voices with the saints across the ages, ever singing:

Holy, Holy, holy Lord, God of power and might,

Heaven and earth are full of your glory.

Hosanna in the highest.

Blessed is the One who comes in the name of the Lord.

Hosanna in the highest.

Blessed is Jesus the Christ, the one who came to us as a vulnerable child.

Blessed is Jesus the Christ, who taught and healed us, who laughed and wept with us, who fed us and gave us living water.

Blessed is Jesus the Christ, who gathered with his disciples, including the one who would deny him and the one who would betray him, to celebrate the Passover feast.

Blessed is Jesus the Christ, who broke the bread and shared the cup, who gave us this meal as a lasting remembrance and joyful celebration.

Blessed is Jesus the Christ, who gave himself to us and for us and invites us to live into the great mystery of faith:

Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again.

Pour out your Holy Spirit upon these gifts of bread and vine, we pray, O God. As we eat this bread may we remember your great love for all. As we drink from this cup may we be strengthened in our covenant with you. So nourished and so nurtured, may we go forth from this table with servant hearts and hands. By your Spirit, may we be made one, the body of Christ for the world.

We offer all of these prayers in the name of the Bread of Life, our Savior, who taught us to pray, saying: Our Father.

Offering Prayer/Prayer of Dedication

Holy God, you have shown us that to be great is to serve. We offer our tithes and offerings, the gifts of our hearts and hands, as our commitment to join with you in service. May all we do and say further the good work of your Kingdom until you come again. Amen.

More Narrative Lectionary Lenten Themed Prayers

Zacchaeus: Links of Prayer, Narrative Lectionary for Lent

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Invitation to Your House by Katy Stenta

Feel free to use/edit. Credit to the original author (i.e. based on prayer/prayers written by Rev Katy Stenta) appreciated.

Luke 18:31-19:10 and Psalm 84:1-4, 10-12 or Psalm 84:10

Call to Worship

Happy is your dwelling place, Oh Lord, Happy are those who live in your house.

Lord Jesus have mercy! My soul longs and faints for the courts of the Lord. I need to see Jesus.

You are the Lord Jesus, sees us, loves us, calls us by name. Meeting us wherever we are whether it is on the road, by a well or up a tree.

Even the sparrow finds a home, for God seeks out and saves the lost. So I will praise God today, for my heart and my flesh sing for joy of the living God.

Prayer of Confession: Lord we confess that we hush the crying out for mercy. It is our job to build a kin(g)dom with the ignored one, the incomplete, imperfect one, the no-doubt-annoying-one. The fussy child who can’t sit still, the family that can never get to church on time, the elder who has a lot of trouble hearing, the one in pain, the one alone, the one who for whatever reason cannot see Jesus today. In a time where still people are ignored, erased or shunted to the side, in an age of constant chatter, still so many need to try out to be heard. Lord Jesus have mercy, forgive our sins, and show us how to see and welcome Jesus today, so that we can fully participate in God’s kin(g)dom with God’s people. Amen.

Assurance of Pardon Hear the Good news: ‘Today salvation has come to this house, for through Jesus, you too are a child of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek out and to save the lost.’ Let us proclaim the truth to one another In Jesus Christ we are forgiven. Amen.

Communion Prayer: Lord God, you do so much more than see us. You see us, love us and call us each into being, by calling us by name. Since the beginning of time, you have called us to you. And when we don’t come to you, for whatever reason, you come to us instead.

God you translated yourself into human, so that we might hear aright the truth of love in a language that we can comprehend. You gave us your son in a stable, who defined ministry and love and gave himself over to death to defeat sin. Then that son rose again from the dead, showing that nothing can separate us from God.

Then you sent an advocate, so that we might practice tasting and seeing your kin(g)dom here on earth. Send your Holy Spirit now, upon these elements, that we have a foretaste of the feast of Love, so that we can experience communion with you and one another. Nourish us with this bread and this cup, so we go forth in your name doing your work here and in the world. Teach us to be your people we pray. Amen

Offering Prayer/Prayer of Dedication

Lord, let us go forth as saved Zacchaeuses, sharing our homes with Christ Jesus, sharing half of our wealth to the poor and repaying all those whom we have done wrong. For truly, if we do this, we know that the world will be changed. Bless us as we go into the world so your will may be truly done we pray. Amen.

Prayer Station by Shea Zellweger

Psalm 84:1-4, 10-12

1 How lovely is the place where you live,
O Lord who rules over all!
2 I desperately want to be
in the courts of the Lord’s temple.
My heart and my entire being shout for joy
to the living God.
3 Even the birds find a home there,
and the swallow builds a nest,
where she can protect her young
near your altars, O Lord who rules over all,
my king and my God.
4 How blessed are those who live in your temple
and praise you continually! (Selah)
10 Certainly spending just one day in your temple courts is better
than spending a thousand elsewhere.
I would rather stand at the entrance to the temple of my God
than live in the tents of the wicked.
11 For the Lord God is our sovereign protector.
The Lord bestows favor and honor;
he withholds no good thing from those who have integrity.
12 O Lord who rules over all,
how blessed are those who trust in you!

Guide:

Read the psalm once, and ponder it for a moment.

Select a twig (or several twigs, if you like).

Read the psalm a second time, this time paying special attention to verse 3.

If you are the first person to use this prayer station, use your twigs to begin constructing a nest. If you are not first, continue building the nest which has already been started. As you do so, consider the boundless hospitality of God, which offers space to all who live.

Read the psalm a third time as a song of joy.

More Narrative Lectionary Lenten Themed Prayers