Prayer & Learning Resources

These resources follow the common lectionary readings used by the ELCA - for further reading, I recommend visiting Working Preacher.  

December 4th, 2022

Images: [First Image is a Facebook link from actress and neurodivergent activist Chloe Hayden - Chloe, a white woman with red hair, is on a runway wearing a blue raincoat that says Fix the System Not Me.  The text over top says Disabled People Exist 365 Days(Not Just When It Suits You.)]  [Second Image: on a peach background the text reads Maybe you were meant to be a holy disturbance.  Maybe you were meant to display the aspect of child-like faith that asks "Why?" a million times a day.  Maybe you aren't the problem after all.  Maybe you are the answer.  @deconstructingthemyth.]

Readings: Isaiah 11:1-10, Psalm 72:1-7, 18-19, Romans 15:4-13, Matthew 3:1-12

Hymn: ELW 715 Christ, Be Our Light

Song: I Just Wanna Shine by Fitz and The Tantrums

Prayer Resource: MA'ARIV ARAVIM 

(translation from The Voice of Children, edited by Rabbi Sandy Eisenberg Sasso and Rabbi Jeffrey Schein)

Creator of sunrise and sunset,

You turn the day into night

And the night into morning.

Dividing the day from the night

So no time is like another.


A thousand stalights write Your name in the heavens.

Source of life, be with us in the dark.

Now and always.


Blessed are You, Adonay, Creator,

who brings in the evening.  

Thoughts: I was thinking about getting some flashlights for my kids for Christmas, and that got me thinking about what a flashlight does.  They shine a light on something hidden.  While none of the scriptures readings this week use a light/darkness imagery, they all shine a light on a call for justice and reconciliation. And I thought of how easy it can be for marginalized communities to remain hidden and suffer injustice.  

This week I had the chance to attend a youth group activity with one of my children - we had the opportunity to attend a Jewish family service at a local synagogue.  One of the things our group noticed was the security measures in place, something we have not had to deal with in our own house of worship.  While we know anti-semitism is on the rise, we hasn't had the opportunity to experience the fear before.  It is something hidden to the majority.

The International Day of Persons with Disabilities is on December 3rd.  Disabled people can be hidden sometimes.  Disability history has a lot of experience with being hidden, even within the last 50 years we see disabled people being tucked away in institutions, students separated from their same aged peer, and shame in receiving a disability diagnosis.  We see them being ostracize for social skills, accessible parking, and question about the supports they need.  Awareness days like this give advocates a spotlight with the opportunity to call for everyday acceptance.

In this week's readings we see that God brings justice to those who need it, and John the Baptist reminds us to repent - or to turn back to God.  When we turn back, we can see the work that we are called to do - its not about us being better, but how we can love and include all of our community.    

November 27th, 2022

[Image Description: a painting hanging on tan museum wall.  The painting is yellow with a black frame.  The black text in the painting reads WE ARE THE MACHINES WE RAGING AGAINST.] Painting by Julian Abraham "Togar" featured in the 58th Carnegie International Art Exhibit.  

We're technically off for Thanksgiving break this week but I feel weird skipping the first week of Advent!  So I will include a few thoughts, but a different format than normal.  

First of all, my family saw Seussical Jr. last weekend, and I have been listening to little voices singing all week "A person a person, no matter how small" all week. Which is a reminder we all need.  Listen to Horton Hears A Who here.

Secondly, I have the opportunity to see the Carnegie International this past weekend.  The piece above stuck out to me, as advocates, we are constantly finding we are also part of the problem.  

Lastly a prayer resource.  A few years ago our family was gifted Families Celebrate Advent & Christmas Cards, which our kids look forward to each year.  There are 1-3 cards a day with information, prayers, and songs about the season.  Though created for kids, I think these would be a good resource for new Christians and have good information for newer Lutherans.  

First Week of Advent - Prayer at the Wreath

God of hope, thank you for Advent, when we can prepare our hearts and minds to celebrate the birth of Jesus.  Help us be excited but also patient as we wait.  Please bless and care for all who are waiting for important things today, especially those who are pregnant, and children awaiting adoption. Amen.  

November 20th, 2022

Video: Please note, this video is from Drunk History, and may not be appropriate in some spaces, but I find it to be one of the most engaging retellings of the 504 sit-in.  [Image description: a close up of an actress dressed as activist Judy Heumann from the 1970s.  Actress is a white, brown haired woman wearing a white shirt and glasses.]

Image: This is some art from my local coffee shop, I am not sure of who created it, but it felt fitting to include this week. [A photograph of large cassette tape, with the words PAUSE IF YOU MUST. BUT DON'T STOP.]

Readings: Jeremiah 23:1-6, Psalm 46, Colossians 1:11-20, Luke 23:33-43

Hymn: ELW 264 Prepare the Royal Highway

Song: Waited - Our Lady Peace

Prayer Resource: from Thoughts to Make Your Heart Sing by Sally Lloyd-Jones

GOD TIME

Remember God Math?  How about God Time?

For God:

1,000 years = 1 day and

1 day = 1,000 years

Take Moses. God chose him as a great leader - but not until he was eighty! Or what about Abraham? God gave him a baby - but not until he was one hundred!

Or Jairus's daughter.  Everyone wanted Jesus to rush-hurry-quick HEAL her before she died - but Jesus stopped to heal an old lady.

"You're too late!" everyone told Jesus.  But remember God Time?

Jesus's delay saved an old lady.  And meant he didn't just heal the little girl-he raised her from the dead!

Does it seem like God has forgotten about you?

If God is delaying, it's not to make things worse.  It is always only so he can make things better.

"My times are in your hands." Psalm 31:15(NIV)

Thoughts: In Romans 13:11 we read "how it is already the moment for you to wake from sleep." What does it mean for us to be awake?  In the footnotes of the New Oxford Annotated Bible, it points out that this letter is an urge to to remind believers that we are not in a time of waiting but a time of action. I find this an interesting juxtaposition knowing this is the last Sunday before Advent.  To me, Advent has often been a period of waiting - a joyous period, but I've always been told its about the waiting and preparing for the birth of Jesus.  Maybe instead of focusing on the waiting we should focus on preparation - that preparation means to be ready, ready to take action.  

I wanted to include something on the 504 sit-ins, because I think it shows the powers behind of waiting and action.  In 1973 the Federal Government passed Section 504, which is considered the first disability rights civil law.  This law would make federally funded spaces accessible, move towards education equality, and lead the way for future laws that give even more supports to the disability community.  It wasn't until 1977 after nationwide sit-ins and protests that the regulations to make Section 504 enforceable were signed into place.  What isn't shown in the video is the four years of waiting, and the action that took place during that time.  The advocates involved used that waiting period to build community connections, they didn't rest, but prepared.  This preparation made a significant difference in the San Fransisco sit-in where local churches, civil rights groups, politicians, and more were able to support the protesters for nearly a month.  

Lastly a thought to ponder, from Miguel A. De La Torre's essay Liberation Theology and Social Justice: A Defense (Christian Faith and Social Justice: Five Views):

"To experience life more abundantly is not limited to waiting for some eschatological future, the message of Christ is for the here and now.  This abundant life, which Jesus claims to offer, reveals a God of life, not a God of death." 

November 13th, 2022

Image: Artwork by Angie King 

[Image Description: A cartoon conversation between a white, brown haired girl (blue shirt, brown skirt, green boots) and a white woman with wavy red hair (green shirt, blue scarf, black pants, and brown boots.). Girl: But, what if they lose? Woman: Then we keep fighting for the rights of all people.  Girl: And, if they win? Woman: Oh, dear girl, it's the same answer.]

Readings: Malachi 4:1-2a, Psalm 98, 2 Thessalonians 3:6-13, Luke 21:5-19

Hymn: ELW 771 God, Who Stretched the Spangled Heavens 

Songs: Fix You by Coldplay

Prayer Resource: 

Prayer for Election Day – The lyrics of the old hymn states “Oh God our help in ages past, our hope for years to come…”

Election Day is upon us O Lord.  Too often we put our hope in election results, political parties, and candidates, rather than you.  Regardless of the outcome of this election gracious God, we pray that your will be done.  We pray for all candidates for office.  We thank you for their willingness to serve their neighbors.  We pray that those elected may be given the wisdom to lead with integrity and the heart to care for the greater good.   We pray for election workers – that Election Day may go smoothly and that they may be a non-anxious presence for voters.  We pray for the voters of the Commonwealth as they make important decisions about who will represent them and lead them in the coming years.  May they choose leaders who exemplify what it means to love one’s neighbor.  We ask all this in Christ’s name.  Amen.

By Rev. Matthew Best, chair of LAMPa’s Policy Council.

Thoughts: Midterm elections were this past Tuesday, and that brings up a lot of questions.  As Christians and advocates how are we supposed to respond?  Should we be political?  What channels should we use for change? What are we trying to reform? What systems need to be dismantled? When the people we vote for don’t get elected, is there hope? When we see that our community doesn’t vote the same way, is change possible? Where is God in all this? 


This week’s Luke passage reminds us that we won’t have these answers, we won’t necessarily get what we want, but we will get what we need. That each step we endure is one step closer to the kin-dom, even when it feels very far away. 

November 6th, 2022

Video: [Video of Follow You, Follow Me, a short film about dating and disability from sexedva.org]

Readings: Job 19:23-27a, Psalm 17:1-9, 2 Thessalonians 2:1-5, 13-17, Luke 20:27-38

Psalm 17:6-7

I call upon you, for you will answer me, O God;

    incline your ear to me; hear my words.


Wondrously show your steadfast love,

    O savior of those who seek refuge

    from their adversaries at your right hand.


Hymn: The Day of Resurrection!  ELW 361

Song: Reckoner by Radiohead

"Reckoner

Take me with you

Dedicated to all hu-

All human beings"

Prayer Resource: 50. The Resurrection: A World Without Social Disability, from God Loves the Autistic Mind by Father Matthew P. Schneider, LC

Reflection:

The resurrection of life is what we ultimately await.  We are not sitting awaiting a kind of bodiless heaven, but our autistic bodies will be somehow transformed for the resurrection of the body at the end of time when Jesus comes again.

One of the struggles many of us recognize with our bodies in this pre-resurrected state is that we wrestle often with social disability, where it is not body but the structures around us that create a disability.  For example, having loud noises in certain places or requiring eye contact to prove honesty are not necessary for humans, but if they are required, they often create a social disability for us.  In the resurrection we will still be autistic, but given the perfect knowledge of others, such social disabilities will dissipate.

Bethany McKinney Fox makes a similar note about Jesus' healing miracles in a book on the theology of disability:

Since interpreters from a disability perspective emphasize the social reality of people with illness and disability and their frequent exclusion from the domestic, religious, and social life of the community, they keenly notice aspects of the healing narratives that point to the healed person's inclusion into the community after they are healed.  Inclusion, incorporation, and liberation are repeated themes as these interperters read the narratives.  Several use the adjective "full" to describe the person's ability to participate in the community after they are healed.

She also notes that today Christians often fail in this regard and mandate a certain bodily conformity that exacerbates social disability.

Prayer:

Jesus, show me the joy and glory of the resurrection.  Let me see the world to come where social disability is no more.

Thoughts: When I read, hear, or watch anything advocating for the social model of disability I see opportunity to change our lens of the world, and the opportunity to advocate for better understanding and equity for all - if we are willing.  We may not think of it this way, but by our complicity in the systems that create barriers for the disability community, we are unknowingly and unwillingly persecuting them.  The video and prayer were chosen because I think they show how many barriers the disability community faces. Barriers that we may not even realize are there. While we can fight for change, we can also trust in the future/resurrection; God will remove these (and all other) systemic sins, and we will be able to fully embrace everyone in the world to come.

October 30th, 2022

Image: [The cover of the book The House In The Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune.  Cover features a sunset over a sea in the background, the foreground has the text of the book and a cliff with a big house, a red van, and two leafless trees.]

Readings: Isaiah 1:10-18, Psalm 32:1-7 , 2 Thessalonians 1:1-4, 11-12, Luke 19:1-10

Songs:  

Hymn: Change My Heart, O God ELW 801

Prayer Resource: Holy Spirit Prayer of St. Augustine

Breathe in me, O Holy Spirit,

That my thoughts may all be holy.

Act in me, O Holy Spirit,

That my work, too, may be holy.

Draw my heart, O Holy Spirit,

That I love but what is holy.

Strengthen me, O Holy Spirit,

To defend all that is holy.

Guard me, then, O Holy Spirit,

That I always may be holy.

Thoughts:  In case you can't tell, ch-ch-changes is the theme of this week (feels appropriate for Reformation Sunday.)  This week a lot of my discussions focused on transformations, what communities and spaces need to change, what do I need to change, and how do we change people's hearts.  In my limited free time, I have been re-reading "The House in the Cerulean Sea."  It's a story about a man name Linus Baker who is sent on a work assignment to evaluate an orphanage for children with special abilities on a remote island.  It's a great read for anyone who loves someone different, and talks about how we can change the narrative. (and I want to say so much more but can't without spoiling it.)

Now on to Zacchaeus... 

Haven't we all felt like him?  We've failed to do what's right and realized there's an opportunity to change.  And how perfect is it, that Ben Folds wrote a song about a guy who climbed up a tree and changed into a follower of Jesus Christ.  Luckily, for most of us, turning to Jesus doesn't require any tree climbing or acid trips, but regardless of how we get to following him we are not the same afterwards.  For each passage, we see a call to change, whether it a plea by us, like in the 2 Thessalonians 1:11 and in this week's Psalms, or a call from God for us to change like in Isaiah 1:16-18.


October 23rd, 2022

Image: [4 framed comic featuring a conversation between a red and blue t-rex.  First Frame: Red t-rex "phew, glad to be back.  i've missed home.  Blue t-rex "me, too."  Second Frame: Red t-rex "but you've been home all the time."  Third Frame: Blue t-rex "not really."  Fourth Frame: Red and Blue t-rex hug. Blue t-rex "not until now."]

Readings: Jeremiah 14:7-10, 19-22, Sirach 35:12-17, Pslam 84:1-7, 2 Timothy 4:6-8, 16-18, Luke 18:9-14

Psalm 84: 3-4

Even the sparrow finds a home

and the swallow a nest for herself,

where she may lay her young,

at your altars, O LORD of hosts,

my King and my God.

Happy are those who live in your house, ever singing your praise. Selah.

Hymn:  O' Happy Home

"O happy home, where Thou art not forgotten

When joy is overflowing, full and free;

O happy home, where every wounded spirit

Is brought, Physician, Comforter, to Thee."

Songs: 

Prayer Resource: House Blessing: At the Doorway from Common Prayer: A Liturgy for Ordinary Radicals by Shane Claiborne, Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove, and Enuma Okoro

May God give a blessing to this house.

God bless this house from roof to floor,

from wall to wall,

from end to end,

from its foundation and in its covering.

In the strong name of the triune God,

all disturbance cease,

captive spirits freed,

God's Spirit alone

dwell within these walls.


We call upon the Sacred Three

to save, shields, and surround

this house, this home,

this day, this night,

and every night.

Thoughts: This week's readings were a tough one for me- so often we hear both the Luke and Timothy reading misused in preaching, as if we can win at life or faith is something to achieve. Luckily, faith doesn't work that way. So I kept reflecting, and I kept hearing the word home.  From watching the Frozen musical, class projects, songs I was listening to, and in contemplating my call, it was always about home this week.  And by home, I mean a space where we feel comfortable, accepted, and truly ourselves. In advocating for inclusion within our churches, what I am really asking is for us to create a space in our community all can call home, one that darkly mirrors God's Kingdom.  

October 16th, 2022

Readings: Genesis 32:22-32, Psalm 121, 2 Timothy 3:14-4:5, Luke 18:1-8

Hymn: In Christ Alone

Songs: AJR- 3 O'Clock Things
Images: 

[First Image: A video for a clip from the movie, Drop Dead Gorgeous, show a teenage Denise Richards at a gun range]

[Second Image: Shows a scene from the cartoon of the Jetsons. Jane, a red hair woman, puts away her nice looking face in a wooden cabinet revealing a true face that is exhausted.  Text above image reads "Me after a long day pretending to be a neurotypical."]

Thoughts:  For this week, my focus has been identity, inspired by how Jacob is given the name Israel in the Genesis passage.  Identity is something we all have to wrestle with, it only takes a few moments in the current "teenage dirtbag" social media challenge to see we all struggle with our identity throughout our lives.  We spend much of our time trying to determine who we are verses what others tell us we are.  As I thought of different conversations I've had this week I noticed how they marked my identity, including: denomination, politics, enneagram number, and how do you drink your coffee?  (For those who need the answers - Lutheran, Moderate, 7, black.)

When you dip your toes into the disability community, one of the first things you find is the debate on Person First Language vs Identity First Language.  Are you a wheelchair user or a person who uses a wheel chair?  Do you have Autism or are you Autistic?  Who determines which is used - the parent, the doctor, the teacher, or the disabled person? And is one of these the right way or should each person get to choose for themselves?

In the neurodivergent community there is also a lot of discussion on masking, masking is when a person hides their neurodivergent traits to blend in with the people around them.  What do we hide to fit in?  What parts of our identity have we been told to hide?  Why do we still mask?  Through a justice lens, what does it mean if you have the privilege of unmasking? 

Who and what are you wrestling with to find out your true identity? 


Prayer Resource:  Spiritual Rhythms for the Enneagram: A Handbook for Harmony and Transformation by Adele & Doug Calhoun and Clare & Scott Loughrige

Breath Prayers (for the Enneagram 7 pg. 183)

Notice your magnificent breath. Feel the oxygen fill your lungs and lift your chest.  Follow your breath in and down.  Take time to notice what is happening in your head.  Feel the joy of your created life as you breathe in: "You have formed my inward parts; I am joyfully and wonderfully made...may my soul know that very well."  Spend a few minutes with this breath prayer.  Follow your breath to the joy that you have enough and are enough. 

Keep breathing into your body.  Breathing in from the soles of your feet, fill your belly with breath, and continue breathing to the crown of your head.  Feel your experience.  Breathe into your head, your heart, and your gut.  Without judgement, notice whatever comes us.  If memories come, welcome them with your deeply stable joy.  Stay with them.  Use the breath prayers below when they fit the situation you are in.

†

So naturally, I think this resource is complete, and then Kate Bowler posts this today (10/16) on her social media! 


A Blessing When You Want to Belong

from the latest podcast episode with Jeff Chu


Blessed are you playing the stories of who you are through your mind like a filmstrip.

Where you got your laugh or love of music or those terrible navigation skills. 

You who can pinpoint yourself on a family tree.

You who know exactly WHOSE you are. 


And blessed are you when you don’t belong.

When you can’t explain exactly how you ended up here,

Outside of what was acceptable. 

But longing to fit in nonetheless. 


Blessed are you in the alienation and the fear, 

The “where will I find my people”

The confusion or anger or the still-wounded from unbelonging. 


May you feel your own worthiness.

May you feel your own belovedness. 

May you find yourself wrapped in a story larger than the one you can trace.

A story of love and hope and courage

A story truer than the one you’ve been told. 


Blessed are all of us here, in this family of God.



October 9th, 2022

Images: [First Image: A video for the trailer of the movie Lightyear.  The trailer image shows Buzz Lightyear, a cartoon white man in a spacesuit, and a nervous looking orange cat sitting in a spaceship heading to space.]

[Second Image: a screenshot of a tweet from @silverswansong.  Text reads: every SINGLE day a disabled person is told that identity first language is unacceptable.  disabled ppl tweet about this ALL the time.  ableds don't know that autistic & disabled are positive words to use coz they don't follow & signal boost us.  stop tweeting. start reading.]

Readings:  2 Kings 5:1-3, 7-15c, Psalm 111, 2 Timothy 2:8-15, Luke 17:11-19

Song: 

Hymn: Morning Has Broken     

Prayer Resource: A Blessing for When You See Things as They Always Were by Kate Bowler and Jessica Richie (from Good Enough: 40ish Devotionals for a Life of Imperfection)

Blessed are you who see it all now.  The terrible, beautiful truth that our world, our lives seem irreparably broken.  And you can't unsee it.  The hungry kid.  The exhausted mom. The woman who wonders if any of this is worth it.  The loneliness and despair.

Blessed are you who glimpse reality and don't turn away.  This kind of seeing comes at a steep cost, and it is a cost you may not have paid intentionally, but here you are.  Seeing things clearly.  Blessed are you who have worked to keep your heart soft.  You who live with courage, fixing what is in your reach, praying about what is not, and loving, still.

May you experience deeper capacity and glimpses of hope, as you continue to see the world as it is.  Terrible. Beautiful. Fragile.

Thoughts: When I first read the 2 Kings and the Luke passage for this week, I thought the direction I would go on this would be about healing - which can be a controversial topic in the disability community.  But as I continued to read and think over what I read in Seminary this week, the liturgy readings, the music I heard, and our local news, I realized this week is about how we choose to listen to stories.   I wondered whose story do we get to hear?  How do those stories make us feel?  And how do we respond to those feelings?  What stories do we choose to share?  Why those stories?  

Take a moment to read, watch, and listen to this week's media pieces, and consider whose story we are hearing, whose story are we missing, and how is the story being told?  

I thought this sermon by Rev. Susan Irons was a fantastic focus on the disability issues brought up in this week's readings.  Begins around the 29 minute mark.

October 2nd, 2022

Image: Created by Lainey Molnar

[Image Description: A white, tattooed woman lays on a bed reading a book and drinking coffee or tea.  Text reads: I dream of never being called resilient again. I'm exhausted by strength.  I want support. I want softness. I want ease.  I want to be amongst kin. Not patted in the back for how well I take a hit.]

Readings: Habakkuk 1:1-4; 2:1-4, Psalm 37:1-9, 2 Timothy 1:1-14, Luke 17:5-10

"O Lord, how long shall I cry for help,

and you will not listen?

Or cry to you “Violence!”

    and you will not save?

Why do you make me see wrongdoing

     and look at trouble?

Destruction and violence are before me;

     strife and contention arise.

So the law becomes slack,

     and justice never prevails.

The wicked surround the righteous;

     therefore judgment comes forth perverted."

-Habakkuk 1:2-4 NRSVUE

Hymn: Rise Up, O Saints of God

Music: Playing With Fire by Kings Kaleidoscope 

"While living in the tension of the world's imperfection

Locking in the sovereign reign of the King of All Kings

Trusting He'll make right all things

He'll make right all things"

Prayer Resource:  

"O God, you have bound us together in a common life. Help us, in the midst of our struggles for justice and truth, to confront one another without hatred or bitterness, and to work together with mutual forbearance and respect; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen."

From the Episcopal Book of Common Prayer.  This is Number 28 for in Times of Conflict.

Thoughts: When assembling these resources, my mind was focused on advocacy, harm, and reconciliation. In this first week of Seminary, I've spent so much time on starting to tell my call. At the same time I had the opportunity to meet with the Pastor of a church that had hurt my family to discuss how we were hurt, and how that church could stop future harm for other people. In preparing for this meeting, I reviewed past emails and saw the exhaustion and crying out for support. I realized how much those of us advocating for justice issues need rest and safety, and this image in my Facebook feed shared by Relentless Indigenous Woman, expressed those feelings perfectly. I thought this week's readings also emphasized a similar cry and exhaustion for justice, but as the song "Playing with Fire" reminds us that though we are dealing with violence and tension that we often don't understand, we are also to trust that God will make right all things.