The first Friday of March is the World Day of Prayer. According to a suggested press release available from the World Day of Prayer USA Committee's website: World Day of Prayer (WDP) is a worldwide ecumenical movement of Christian women of many traditions who come together to observe a common day of prayer each year on the first Friday in March. Services begin at sunrise in the Pacific and follow the sun across the globe on the day of celebration. Each year a different country serves Read More …
Prayer
Prayer of Dedication for Sunday, February 20 (#0277)
Prayer of Dedication Loving Divine, you invite us to partner with you in the work of enacting the realm of God on earth. Accept and bless our tithes and offerings; use them and use us to challenge the status quo here in southwest Florida and throughout your global neighborhood. Stretching toward wholeness may the way of loneliness meet community the way of hatred be overcome by love the way of poverty encounter the possibility of enough. This we ask in your many names. Read More …
Invocation for Sunday, February 20 (#0274)
Unison Prayer of Invocation We are gathered here to join in the song of faith. In a world that offers goods and services to fulfill even the most demanding and discerning appetites, Jesus invites us to be consumed by an ultimate hunger and thirst for righteousness. Even as our instantaneous access to information and constant awareness of global events overwhelm and desensitize us, Jesus invites us to be difference makers by extending love to all. Empowered by the Spirit, may Read More …
Christian Unity: What Are You Willing to Let Go Of? (#0254)
January 18-25 was the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity. This annual event utilized resources sponsored jointly by the World Council of Churches (WCC) and the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of Christian Unity of the Roman Catholic Church. This year's theme was selected by a group of Christian leaders from Jerusalem and is based on Acts 2:42: “One in the apostles’ teaching, fellowship, breaking of bread and prayer. ” The Rev. Dr. Olav Fykse Tveit, General Read More …
A Prayer for Christian Unity (#0250)
Modernity provided an ideal framework for denominational growth (we now count denominations by the tens of thousands). I am hopeful that postmodernity will provide an opportunity to move from fragmentation toward unity. There are encouraging signs all around from the way postmoderns engage one another and experience religion to the reform underway or being discussed by multiple denominations. So What? A Prayer for Christian Unity God of Many Names, may this new era we are naming Read More …
Five Days Later: Thoughts and Prayers (#0241)
Five days ago in Tucson, Arizona six people were killed and 14 others wounded, including U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords in Arizona. These deaths and injuries occurred because of the violent actions of one man. Regardless of your political affiliation or citizenship status in this country, I invite you to take a few moments to consider these thoughts and prayers today. Thoughts Last night, President Obama started his speech with these words: To the families of those we've Read More …
My Thanksgiving Prayer (#0193)
Over the last several days I have read many blogs and news articles, searched Scripture, talked with several people and participated in an interfaith worship service all in an effort to better grasp both Thanksgiving and thankfulness. For some reason, this Thanksgiving what resonates deeply with me are the lyrics to a song: "My Thanksgiving Prayer." I encourage you to take time to read them, then to hear them sung, and finally to offer them as a prayer. In this time of my Read More …
All Saints Day Reflections (#0168)
All Saints Day is celebrated each November 1 as a day to remember those who have gone before us. Today, as we remember women and men we have met and those who lived long before our time, let us give thanks for their witness. I invite you to pause to read through, pray, and reflect upon a prayer, written by Christine Sine: God we are surrounded by a cloud Faithful witnesses who have gone before Those who have loved where we would have hated Those who have healed Read More …
Review of The Greatest Prayer (#0150)
Crossan, John Dominic. The Greatest Prayer Ever: Rediscovering the Revolutionary Message of the Lord's Prayer. Harper One, 2010. ISBN: 97800618575670. Meet the Author According to Harper Collins, John Dominic Crossan "is generally regarded as the leading historical Jesus scholar in the world." He has been a professor of religious studies at DePaul University since 1969 and currently serves that institution as professor emeritus. Over the last forty years Read More …
Prayer of Invocation for Sunday, September 12 (#0139)
Prayer of Invocation and the Lord's Prayer Leader: No matter who you are – what you have done or have left undone / No matter where you are on life’s journey – how widely you have traveled or how persistently you have sought to stand still /In this house of worship, all are welcome to experience the indescribable and immeasurable love of God. Together, let us pray to the Triune God . . . All: Most Gracious God, we greet you once again in this sacred space. We have come Read More …