After last week's piece about a drive-in church, the idea of drive-through prayer doesn't seem strange at all. Estero United Methodist Church, a church near where I live, is providing drive-through prayer every Wednesday evening from 5:00 p.m. to 6:30 p.m through April. Since they are located on a busy road, discipleship director John Halley considers it to be "one way to put ourselves out there and to give folks the opportunity to come by and receive the blessing of Read More …
Prayer
Pastoral Prayer: Love (#1329)
I wrote this pastoral prayer for today's worship services at the Naples United Church of Christ. This unique service is the conclusion of a three day weekend event, "The Romance of Faith," which featured Diana Butler Bass. For this service, her sermon title is "The Journey of Love," and text is Song of Songs 8:6-7. In the tradition of this congregation the pastoral prayer includes a call to prayer, silent prayer, and then the pastoral prayer. The call to prayer connects all Read More …
Sermon: A Concert of Prayer (#1238)
Sermon Text: Matthew 6:5-14 Sermon Excerpt Prayer becomes a part of people’s lives in many ways. What is your story? How did you come to learn of prayer? When did you begin to pray? Maybe you remember childhood prayers – your own or those of your children or grandchildren. Simple prayers like . . . Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord my soul to keep, If I shall die before I wake, I pray the Lord my soul to take. Amen. OR . . . Perhaps as a youngster you were taught to Read More …
Review of Catching Fire, Becoming Flame (#1226)
Meet the Author Albert Haase is a popular preacher in both Catholic and Protestant churches, a teacher of spiritual formation and spiritual direction, and the co-host of the weekly radio show, "Spirit and Life." Haase is the author of eight books on popular spirituality, including Instruments of Christ: Reflections on the Peace Prayer of Saint Francis of Assisi (2011), The Sacred Moment: Becoming Holy Right Where You Are (2010), and Living the Lord's Prayer: Read More …
Prayer Lists & Privacy (#1214)
For years, most congregations have created and distributed printed prayer lists. As technology has changed the way data is shared, many congregations have updated how they share these lists with interested parishioners. Jonathan Webster is a minister who coordinates chaplaincy and bioethics services for the Western Division of Carilion Clinic, and who serves as adjunct faculty at Jefferson College of Health Sciences and Radford University. He recently wrote about this topic for his Read More …
Pastoral Prayer for Sept. 15 (#1176)
I offered the following pastoral prayer yesterday on the occasion of my first Sunday in a new interim ministry role. Alpha and Omega, you are the beginning and the end. You alone see the world without the boundary of time. Those of us who live with the burden of time measure our days and count our hours. We consult our calendars and manage our moments. Help us to overcome the tendency to confuse busyness with blessedness. God of new beginnings who is making all things Read More …
Proposed Inauguration Benedictions (#0980)
The inauguration benediction offered later today has received considerable attention. More specifically, the spotlight has been on the one who will voice those words - including why Louie Giglio stepped aside and Luis Leon was chosen as a replacement. Paul Brandeis Raushenbush, senior religion editor for the Huffington Post, recently shifted the focus to what words could be spoken with a blog post featuring his own proposed benediction alongside two dozen additional Read More …
Restoring Perspective: A Prayer (#0944)
Yesterday a 20 year old man chose to use a gun to do harm to others and to himself. Today 27 people are dead, including 20 children and the young man who is responsible for the deaths. While many have opted to use social media to forward a specific political or theological agenda rather than to address the tragedy directly others have called any conversations about those matters inappropriate. Regardless of personal preference or perspective, prayer is an appropriate and Read More …
Review of Help Thanks Wow (#0932)
Meet the Author Anne Lamott is the author of seven novels and five best-selling nonfiction books. She was honored with a Guggenheim Fellowship, and has taught at the University of California - Davis. Lamott’s biweekly Salon Magazine “online diary,” Word by Word, was voted The Best of the Web by TIME magazine. Book Basics Help Wow Thanks: The Three Essential Prayers is simple, honest, and personal. Lamott shares her understanding of and Read More …
Praying for Our Nation (#0846)
Jena Lee Nardella offered the benediction on the opening night of the Democratic National Convention. Nardella is the co-founder and Executive Director for Blood:Water Mission, a nonprofit focused on overcoming the HIV/AIDS and water crises in Africa. While the full text of her prayer is worth reading, the middle portion focused on the opportunity available to all Americans over the next nine weeks is especially powerful: I pray for our country in the next nine weeks leading up Read More …