Tag Archives: justice

God’s Indiscriminate Grace

01 Thursday May 2014

Posted by in Peace with justice, Prayers, Worship Liturgy

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Easter Flower Cross 2014 (painted)

Easter Flower Cross 2014 (painted)

The following is a Prayer of Thanksgiving for Eucharist or Holy Communion on the Third Sunday of Easter this coming weekend.

Holy and Wise God,
whose presence is made known in light and darkness,
whose promises are made complete in reconciling love,
whose power is made perfect in weakness,
whose possibilities are made tangible in new signs of life,
we gather around this table in thanksgiving and praise.

We thank you for the beauty of this earth,
for the gifts of communion and community
for the bonds of love among friends and family,
for the blessings of this one precious and holy life.
We praise you that in Jesus Christ
we are able to see and experience life in its fullness.

Jesus walked this life with his friends along many paths.
Jesus talked with people who didn’t attend synagogue;
yet he considered them good candidates for the kingdom.
Jesus ate with sinners, met with troubled people,
and didn’t bother checking with those self-appointed
to uphold what is good and right and holy.
Jesus was a rabble-rouser, a loose cannon, a troublemaker;
in his worldview God’s Realm of indiscriminate grace
was far more important than any human institution.

Jesus took simple bread and declared it to be holy.
Jesus told us we would do well to eat this meal in solidarity
with all who hunger and don’t have enough to eat.
Jesus said hunger is not God’s plan for humanity,
unless it is hunger for the kingdom, hunger to be whole.
And he said, those who truly know God
open their eyes to the troubles others endure;
they hunger and thirst for just relationships with all.

So this is a symbolic meal, even though it is more.
The suffering of Jesus is laid before us in his body and blood.
The hope of Christ is spread before us in symbols
of the eternal banquet where all are welcome,
all are blessed,
and all receive the saving grace of an extravagant God.

Thanks be to God for these wonderful gifts
that draw us into the presence of the risen Christ,
whose Spirit is alive and working in the midst of this community,
whose power is felt in the sharing of this amazing grace.

Words (c) 2014 Mark Lloyd Richardson
Photo (c) 2014 Dallis Day Richardson

Something Beautiful

10 Wednesday Jul 2013

Posted by in Peace with justice, Prayers, Worship Liturgy

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DSCN0054

The following Prayers for Healing are suitable for congregational worship, personal devotion, or a healing worship service conducted at a time other than Sunday morning.

Prayers for the healing of persons in body, mind, and spirit

God of mercy and strength,
Hear us as we pray for those who suffer this day.
You desire that we be whole people —
healthy in body, mind, and spirit.
You desire that our relationships with one another
be healthy and marked by wholeness.
We pray for any who are experiencing illness or disease.
We pray for any who are troubled in mind or spirit.
Pour out your Spirit upon all in need,
touch the deepest parts of our beings
with your healing mercies and strength.
Make something beautiful of our lives….

Song “Something Beautiful”

Prayers for the healing of nations and societies

God of power and love,
Hear us as we pray for the nations of this world.
For societies scarred by consumerism,
we pray for a growing appreciation
for values consistent with your message of grace.
For environments scarred by human carelessness and greed,
we pray for healing of the land and of all your creatures.
For nations such as ours, experiencing deep divisions,
we pray for the renewal of community and the common good.
Make something beautiful of our country….

Song “Something Beautiful”

Prayers for peace with justice, and the healing of the world

God of justice and peace,
Hear us as we pray for peace with justice for all people,
and for the healing of the world.
For war-torn lands, we pray for lasting and secure peace.
For corners of our world marked by corruption and callousness,
we pray for the strength to stand up in opposition.
In any place where the poor, the alien, or the needy are trampled,
we pray for the courage to work for justice.
Make us into instruments of your peace.
Make something beautiful of our world….

Song “Something Beautiful”

Words (c) 2013, Mark Lloyd Richardson

Sowing Seeds in God’s Global Garden

30 Sunday Jun 2013

Posted by in Prayers, Worship Liturgy

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DSCN0050Pastoral Prayer for Summer

God of sunshine and rain,
God of foggy and clear skies,
we are amazed by the bounty you create.
In you we experience life and health.

You are the consummate gardener
sowing seeds of justice, peace, and wholeness
in hearts that are open to new growth.

Plant within us, we pray, the seeds of discernment,
that we might listen to your voice,
and comprehend your call upon our lives.

Grant that we not become discouraged
when growth is slow in ourselves or others.

In your global garden you desire us
to plant seeds of mercy, justice, and compassion.

You want us to participate in the growth of your life
among everyone we meet and serve.

You want us to remember the needs of your people
for healing and wholeness, and so we pray today for ….

You want us to respond to the needs of a hurting world
wherever hunger, pain, loss, or suffering endure.

You want us to refrain from responding in kind
to the violence and oppression we witness in the world.

You call us to a better way,
a way that sows the seeds of justice, peace, and wholeness,
spreading them widely and freely,
so that all within your global garden
might share in the abundance of your life in our midst.

May we have ears to hear and the will to act,
through Christ, our Lord. Amen.

Words (c) 2002 Mark Lloyd Richardson

Reaching for God’s Dream

02 Thursday May 2013

Posted by in Reflections

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Pentecost-2012Pentecost marks the birth of the Christian movement in the first century – when God’s Spirit flowed freely among young and old from near and far, transforming ordinary people into gospel-inspired Christian disciples! They knew that Christ’s message was one of inclusion, grace, and liberty. They knew that if the world, which is so good at making people conform, could see people whom God’s Spirit was transforming by the renewing of their minds, many more would believe in the power of God and place their trust in God.

Indeed, that is what happened. History shows an explosive growth of the Christian movement at a time when it wasn’t even acceptable to be a Christian believer. In fact, it was dangerous. Maybe therein lies the key.

The Spirit of God is still roaming the earth in our day, looking for willing partners who will follow God’s Dream of bringing justice and compassion in all the places they are needed.

For me, that means treating the poor among us as though they are Christ among us. The poor deserve respect, dignity, and a place at the table.

For me, it means praying for and advocating to civic leaders at all levels of government to focus on serving the Common Good, and to worry less about personal legacy and re-election.

For me, it means not only offering meals, clothing, shelter, showers, and other acts of compassion, but also laboring to create a more just and equitable society that values each person as a child of God.

For me, it means remembering that every last one of us began as an immigrant. Our families moved here from somewhere (unless you happen to be Native American).

For me, it means seeing each person who walks through the doors of the church (as well as everyone we meet in our daily lives) as a person of sacred worth. I believe any church that claims to follow Christ will open its hearts and its doors to our lesbian, gay, and transgendered neighbors, and fully include them in its life and ministry.

At the close of my sermons I often say, “Let all who have ears, hear what the Spirit says to the Church!” That is always our first and last task as a Church – to listen to the Spirit and to move in concert with the Spirit, as did the saints and witnesses in ages past! We build upon the foundation others have laid. We reach for God’s Dream of a world renewed and made whole.

Words (c) 2013 Mark Lloyd Richardson (part of my newsletter remarks to my congregation, May 2013)

Fasting and Feasting

18 Monday Feb 2013

Posted by in Reflections, Sermon portions

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548640866fA pear seed grows up into a pear tree,
a nut seed grows up into a nut tree–
but a seed of God grows into God, to God.
~ Meister Eckhart

Lent is an invitation to reflect on our faith experience, a time to delve more deeply into the spiritual meaning of our lives. We study the life and ministry of Jesus for clues about the will of God and the work of the Spirit in the world. We seek fresh insight into the basic patterns of the Christian life – prayer, worship, reading Scripture, and giving our selves as servants of Christ.

During this 40-day period, we begin with ashes and commit to a discipline that we believe will ultimately be resurrecting! It may involve fasting from certain foods or activities. But it will certainly involve feasting as we gather on the Sabbath and receive the bread and cup of communion with Christ as nourishment for this spiritual journey.

We have an opportunity in these forty days to renew the commitment of our way to Christ. This is our chance to put our faith into practice in new ways. This is a time set aside for us to “grow into God, to God.”

A short piece from the curriculum The Whole People of God provides an opening for us to choose how we will use this holy season. We are invited to…

Fast from pessimism, and feast on optimism.

Fast from criticism, and feast on praise.

Fast from self-pity, and feast on joy.

Fast from bitterness, and feast on forgiveness.

Fast from idle gossip, and feast on purposeful silence.

Fast from jealousy, and feast on love.

Fast from discouragement, and feast on appreciation.

Fast from complaining, and feast on hope.

Fast from selfishness, and feast on service.

Fast from fear, and feast on faith.

Fast from anger, and feast on patience.

Fast from self-concern, and feast on compassion for others.

Fast from discontent, and feast on gratitude.

Fasting and feasting – not just for the experience, but for the same reasons Jesus was led into the wilderness by the Spirit following his baptism by John. Jesus was preparing for the saving mission of a loving God – the mission of restoring creation, the human family, the sick, the lonely and isolated, the marginalized and vulnerable, back into the truth of who they are, beloved ones made in God’s own image!

Just as Jesus was baptized and given a blessing, and then sent into the wilderness to contemplate that blessing, so it is for us. You and I – Christ’s body on earth – have a mission, to share God’s gracious love and resurrecting hope in every possible way!

The season of Lent calls us to choose: Choose life! Choose grace! Choose compassion! Choose justice! Choose blessing! In the desert experience of Lent, may God grant us to the grace to grow in wisdom and in love. In the wilderness of this holy season, may God lead us along the resurrection road to a place called hope.

What is your commitment this Lent? What do you choose to do or not do as a way to move toward the Center of this human adventure where we meet God?

Words (c) 2013 Mark Lloyd Richardson

 

To Build the Beloved Community

17 Thursday Jan 2013

Posted by in Poems, Prayers, Reflections

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mlkpeacehands“The ultimate weakness of violence is that it is a descending spiral begetting the very thing it seeks to destroy. Instead of diminishing evil, it multiplies it. You may murder the liar, but you cannot murder the lie, nor establish the truth. You may murder the hater, but you do not murder hate, nor establish love. Returning violence for violence multiplies violence, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.”
~ Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Here is a prayer poem that I wrote for the birthday of Martin Luther King Jr. a few years ago for an interfaith peace and justice meeting:

Pray to whomever you kneel in awe before.
Pray to Being, to Sacred Mystery, to the Breath of Life.
Pray to Divine Love, to Ultimate Meaning, to the Author of Peace.
Pray so as to open your humanity to the humanity in others.
Pray through tears dripping with the world’s suffering.
Pray without forgetting
that we are bound together
on a path that touches all of our lives,
all of our worlds,
whether we live in Haiti or Iraq or China
or Afghanistan or Yemen or Palestine
or on the central coast of California.
On this day we thank you, Holy One, for Martin Luther King Jr.
We thank you for all who have the vision and the courage
to build the beloved community
where everyone is valued,
power is shared,
privilege is set aside,
and all creation knows your healing Presence and Peace.
In your many names we pray. Amen.

Words (c) 2013 Mark Lloyd Richardson

God is going to get what God wants

02 Monday Jul 2012

Posted by in Reflections

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Retiring United Methodist Bishop William H. Willimon recently said, “The best training for being a United Methodist bishop is, fortunately, exactly the work that is done by any faithful Methodist preacher: Tell the truth as God tells it to you; try to miss as many meetings as possible; expect the church to be thoroughly tainted with sin (including your own); try to love Jesus more than the praise of your people, and keep believing that despite all of the church’s setbacks, in the end God is going to get what God wants! Hallelujah!”

Because I try to be a faithful Methodist preacher, and because I’ve always admired Bishop Willimon’s prophetic voice, I share here some words I recently wrote for our church newsletter:

Too often the church that claims to follow the Risen Christ into the world is mostly absent from the real human needs that exist in all communities.

Do you care whether your neighbors experience the presence of God in their lives?

Do you want all people (and I do mean “all”) to feel welcome in Christ’s church?

Do you desire to live more deeply into the heart and mind of God so that your life becomes the reflection of divine grace it is intended to be?

Do you hope to make a difference in the world through an act of daring surrender of your will to the will of your Creator?

Dorothy Day once said, “The greatest challenge of the day is how to bring about a revolution of the heart.” This applies to individuals and to the church as the body of Christ.

There is more of God than you or I can possibly know. We are daily being called into a deeper and fuller humanity in which the lines of race, gender, religion, nationality, class, and sexual orientation are blurred, and we all breathe the same air of divinely offered potentiality as God’s beloved children.

As for me, I am a progressive, evangelical, ecumenical, open and affirming, contemplative, socially active and globally concerned Christian!

I do not believe that faith is primarily a matter of what one believes – I believe faith is mainly about trusting in the God who loves us and calls us to love one another!

I do not believe that worship is either traditional or contemporary – I believe that worship is either relevant to our lives or not!

I do not believe that orthodoxy (“right belief”) is more important than orthopraxy (“right practice”)! Indeed, Jesus said, “By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another” ~ John 13:35. Servant ministry trumps theology any day!

I do not believe that Christians are the only people whom God loves, or that God cares more about straight people than LGBTQ people. I do not believe that heaven is reserved solely for followers of Christ, but rather that God will bring into God’s Realm whomever God chooses to eternally embrace (and that just might be everyone; we cannot fully know the mind of God)! Indeed, Jesus said, “I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold” ~ John 10:16.

Perhaps most importantly, I do not believe that church is mainly about having our personal or spiritual needs met; rather God’s message to the church is the invitation to surrender our lives to the Spirit whose grace transforms us and sends us out to be instruments of Christ’s blessing in a hurting world.

Bishop Mary Ann Swenson preached at the California-Pacific Annual Conference this June, saying that “People looked to Jesus, because Jesus looked for what God was looking for—justice, compassion, the kingdom come.” I say Amen to that!

Words (c) 2012 Mark Lloyd Richardson
Photo (c) 2012 Dallis Day Richardson (University of Redlands Chapel)

A Prayer for Justice and Peace

05 Saturday May 2012

Posted by in Prayers

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Egret near Pacific OceanCreator God,
Your world is a rainbow of color and light.

Your dream is that all life fulfill its purpose,
Lions roaming the savanna,
Dolphins playing in the surf,
Egrets spreading wings across the sea,
and Spiders laying traps for their prey.

Your dream is that water, air, and land
be protected and cherished.

Your dream is that creation’s many and varied blessings
be accessible to all who are made in your image,
no matter the accident of their birth,
the color of their skin,
the content of their pockets,
or the measure of their privilege.

Renew within us the dream for a world at peace,
where community and mutual commitment
are higher values than opportunism and self-interest,
and give us courage to be dream weavers
in all the places we labor for justice.

In your many names. Amen.

Snowy Egret

Words (c) 2012 Mark Lloyd Richardson
Photos (c) 2012 Dallis Day Richardson

How are the children?

17 Tuesday Apr 2012

Posted by in Peace with justice, Prayers

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In these weeks following the tragic shooting death of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin in Sanford, Florida, much has been written in the media about the case, and the trial has not yet even begun. The defendant’s guilt or innocence needs to be determined by a jury weighing all of the evidence, but whatever the verdict it will not bring this young man back. Nor will it alter a tragedy that did not need to occur when a neighborhood vigilante pursued, and then shot and killed an unarmed teenager. A Florida law is being cited by the defense because it justifies shooting in response to any perceived threat of violence. In my opinion, the world is not made safer or more secure by such laws nor by the cover they potentially provide for those who wish to take the law into their own hands.

Several years ago, I attended the Ecumenical Advocacy Days in Washington D.C. at the invitation of a wonderful humanitarian organization called Church World Service (www.churchworldservice.org). The theme of the weekend was “How Are the Children?” If this question were asked more frequently in the halls of power and in our own communities, what a different world would result ~ a world of safety, health and well-being for all God’s children, regardless of race, religion, sexuality, economic status, different abilities, or country of origin.

While attending the conference, I was privileged to meet Marian Wright Edelman, founder and president of the Children’s Defense Fund (www.childrensdefense.org), and hear her speak. She is a very passionate and persuasive woman, whose loving concern for children knows no bounds.

This prayer by Marian Wright Edelman, from her book, Guide My Feet: Prayers and Meditations for Our Children, reminds us that all children are God’s children…indeed, all children are our children!

God, please stop injustice,
the killing of innocent children
by violence at home and in faraway lands.

God, please stop injustice,
the killing of innocent children
by poverty at home and abroad.

God, please stop injustice,
the killing of innocent child spirits
by vanity and greed in our land and others.

God, please stop injustice,
the assault on precious child dreams
by neglect and apathy near and far.

God, please stop injustice,
so our children may live
and love and laugh and play again.

All prayers are also invitations to act differently, to be people whose rule of life is love, to challenge the systemic injustices of our world, and to invest our lives in the reconciling and healing work of the God who made us all!

God, guide my feet, so that I might be one who helps you stop injustice and build a world where all your children may live and love and laugh and play again. Amen.