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dreamprayact

~ Reflections of a preacher, poet, and contemplative activist

dreamprayact

Tag Archives: reconciliation

Let us not grow weary

10 Thursday Nov 2016

Posted by mark lloyd richardson in Justice, Peace with justice, Prayers

≈ 8 Comments

Tags

better angels, faith as a mustard seed, God's promise, grace, hope, justice, Listening, newness, peace, prayer, reconciliation, welcome

flame

When our days feel precarious,
and our hearts are worn down
with the fatigue of worry,
the unsettledness of concern,
your promise, O God, remains with us.
Indeed it resides within us,
burning at the center of our beings,
a flame of hope that will not be extinguished.

You are always leading us into the new.
You are continually remaking us
into a people formed in your love.
You invite us each morning to yield our hearts
to the work of justice, peace, and reconciliation.
In all times, you call forth our better angels.

Give us, we pray, the grace we need for this day
as we rise to meet the challenges before us.
May we live today from our deepest humanity,
granting to a neighbor the gift of humble listening,
extending to a stranger a smile of recognition,
offering to the other a gesture of welcome,
being gentle with ourselves and those near to us.

The little things are the big things in your realm.
The least are not forgotten,
the last become first,
the lost are surely found.
So help us believe that even the mustard seed
of our small faith makes a difference.
Let us not grow weary in doing good.
Let us rise to meet this day knowing
that your promise remains with us and within us,
indeed it burns with a hope that will not go out.

In your holy love we pray. Amen.

(c) 2016 Mark Lloyd Richardson

Ashes

18 Wednesday Feb 2015

Posted by mark lloyd richardson in Poems, Reflections

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

Ash Wednesday, Confession, death, Lent, new creation, reconciliation, salvation, spiritual wholeness

ash
Ashes
earthy gray
dry as parched wilderness
symbol that we too shall perish

Dust to dust
ashes to ashes
each of us makes our humble return
back to the habitat of our origins

All that is false is allowed to die –
misguided allegiances
harmful compulsions
lingering resentments
ego-driven agendas –
dead on the ash heap of confession

Only then is there a new beginning
a reconciling
a turning toward wholeness
a desiring for God

Finally in the fullness of time
the desert blooms again
salvation comes
life triumphing over death.

Words (c) Mark Lloyd Richardson, 2015

God of Earth and Sky and Sea

04 Thursday Dec 2014

Posted by mark lloyd richardson in Prayers, Worship Liturgy

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

comfort, compassion, creation, faith, forgiveness, healing, hope, prayer, Prophet Isaiah, reconciliation, season of Advent, Shepherding God

DSCN0779

A Prayer for the Second Sunday of Advent:

God of earth and sky and sea,
God of rich and poor and in-between,
God of lost and God of found,
God who is like a shepherd to us,
we walk the path of Advent awakenings,
mindful of your call to repentance and change,
thankful for your offer of mercy and grace.
You are ever before and behind us.
You are the one constant amid a sea of change.
You are the shepherd who feeds his flock,
the one who gathers the lambs in his arms (Isa 40:11).
You long for us to receive your word of comfort.
You announce that our penalty is paid,
that we are free to live with godlike compassion,
that we are empowered to bring comfort to the world.
Still we turn away,
and walk in paths that suit our own interests,
and fail to welcome the one who is different,
and justify our prejudices with Scripture verses.
Forgive us our sins, and change our hearts, O God.
In this time of waiting and watching,
we pray for all who need the comfort of your presence,
for all who need the comfort of your Church.
To those who are sick or in pain, bring wholeness.
To the lonely and discouraged, renew hope.
To the grieving and troubled, speak comfort.
To any who struggle with self-judgment, extend your grace.
To any who are exiled from your Church, awaken their faith.
(We silently bring our prayers for particular persons now.)
Make of us your forgiven and reconciling people.
Use us to welcome others into your kin-dom.
Stir up within us the faith to trust you with our blind spots,
our shortcomings, our very lives.
And even though our lives are transient like the flowers of the field,
feed us with your word that stands forever (Isa. 40:8).
In the name of the Christ who comes among us to heal and to save. Amen.

Words (c) 2014 Mark Lloyd Richardson

Like a River Flowing

15 Monday Sep 2014

Posted by mark lloyd richardson in Worship Liturgy

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

baptism, blessing, Christ's peace, grace, hope, humanity, praise, reconciliation, spiritual renewal, worship

WyomingWe sang this song at the close of worship this past Sunday using the familiar tune FINLANDIA. If you wish to use these lyrics in worship sometime, please let me know.

The peace of Christ is like a river flowing
from God’s own heart in healing streams of grace.
In all our comings and in all our goings,
God’s mercies lead us to a holy place.
Peace like a river flowing through our lives
reminds us what it means to be baptized.

This earthly home we share with one another
cannot withstand our hatreds and our fears.
So when we look and see a sister, brother,
we know Christ’s peace is also coming near.
May we now live into this hopeful dream,
a day made new in shared humanity.

This dream for peace seeks out the meek and lowly,
children of God by blessing and design,
created in the image of the holy,
to reconcile this life with life divine.
Peace like a river flowing through our days
renews our hearts in gladness and in praise.

Copyright (c)2010 Mark Lloyd Richardson

God’s Indiscriminate Grace

01 Thursday May 2014

Posted by mark lloyd richardson in Peace with justice, Prayers, Worship Liturgy

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

Blessings, Community, Easter faith, eternal banquet, Eucharist, God's kingdom, grace, Holy Communion, hope, justice, prayer of thanksgiving, promise, reconciliation, risen Christ, spirit

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

Beginnings

18 Tuesday Dec 2012

Posted by mark lloyd richardson in Poems

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

Bethlehem, birth, Christmas, creation, Jesus' birth, peace, reconciliation, spiritual life, Ultimate Mystery

windblown_blogAs we approach Christmas, I share this Christmas poem I wrote a few years ago with you. It speaks of the timeless mystery of God’s presence in creation in which we live our lives.

Beginnings

From the beginning, eternity’s song
danced on garden breezes,
singing God’s delight.
From the beginning, earth’s bounty
blossomed in forests and fields,
declaring God’s glory.
From the beginning, life’s spirit
beat within each human heart,
creating God’s life within us.

Here is the story of our birth.
Everyone is born of God and in God.
Everyone is born through God and for God.
God is in our beginnings.
God will be in all of our endings.

On a still night in Bethlehem
a cry pierced the starry sky,
a life began,
a child was given,
a mystery began to unfold.
All who have need of a new beginning
find it here in this child of peace–
this one who comes bearing
God’s reconciling love to the world.

Words (c) 2006 Mark Lloyd Richardson
Photo (c) 2012 Dallis Day Richardson

Becoming People after God’s Own Heart

27 Friday Jul 2012

Posted by mark lloyd richardson in Reflections, Sermon portions

≈ 14 Comments

Tags

Bible, Christ, Christian faith, Epistle to the Ephesians, new humanity, peace, reconciliation, walls of separation, wide mercy

Christians are known as “people of the Book,” people whose lives are shaped by the Word that God communicates to us through Scripture. We look to the Bible to tell not just any story, but OUR story. In the Bible, we connect with people who struggle to be faithful, people who rely as we do upon the mercies of God.

Mortimer Adler has said, “In the case of good books, the point is not to see how many you can get through, but rather how many can get through to you.” So the true test of how honestly, faithfully, and seriously you are reading the Bible is how much of it is getting through to you!

Two powerful cultural influences create problems for us as we read and respond to the Bible. One is the myth of productivity, which says we are what we do. The second is the myth of consumption, where our perceived worth is measured by our possessions.

The world will not be changed by how hard we work or how many things we own. Our discipleship will not be more fruitful based on what we produce or consume. Our worth is tied up entirely in what Christ has done for all people – breaking down the dividing walls that separate us from one another, the walls we place between ourselves and God, the walls of greed and pride in our hearts, the walls constructed of hatred, injustice, and fear.

United Methodist Bishop Elaine Stanovsky tells a story about one of her three sons, a freshman in college, who returned to his dorm room one evening to find one of his roommates drinking and despondent. As her son talked to him, he discovered that this roommate was gay, and he was a long way from home. That day he had received word that a good friend from high school had committed suicide. He was closeted and had no support system.

Her son didn’t know what to do, but he turned to his roommate, and he said, “Do you go to church?” And the boy said, “Well, I did, but my pastor at home was pretty condemning, and so I really haven’t gone, and I don’t have a church here.”

Her son said, “I attend Epworth Church, just across campus. It’s a reconciling congregation. You could come.”

What he didn’t say to his despondent roommate that night was, “Homosexuality is incompatible with Christian teaching.”

Then Bishop Stanovsky added, “We are so grateful that our son had a church that he could invite his friend to. I am so glad that he grew up in the wideness of God’s mercy” [Vimeo posted on Facebook, July 20, 2012].

The writer of Ephesians reminds us, “Christ is our peace.” Christ came to reconcile all things, things on earth, and things in heaven, so that God would be all in all. In spite of our inclinations to divide ourselves up along party lines, religious denominations, or economic status, Christ enables us to see one another for the sisters and brothers that we are. In spite of our disagreements and the trouble we have living with difference, Christ challenges us to forgive, to strive for mutual understanding, and to be gracious toward one another.

It is up to us to take care not to build or maintain walls of separation between ourselves and others. It is up to us to examine our hearts to find those invisible but very real barriers that can so easily be erected in our lives. In a world that constantly encourages the “us versus them” mentality, the Christian message is that there is no “them.” There is only “us” – all of us, right here in the same boat, members of the same human family. Christ has created in himself “one new humanity in place of the two, thus making peace” (Eph. 2:15b).

Christ does this work of reconciliation for us, among us, and within us. Still, it is up to us to develop within ourselves a spirit of cooperation with the Spirit of Christ. In so doing we are becoming people after God’s own heart.

Give me a pure heart — that I may see Thee,
A humble heart — that I may hear Thee,
A heart of love — that I may serve Thee,
A heart of faith — that I may abide in Thee.
~ Dag Hammarskjold, Markings, 1964

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

Christ Is Firstborn Of Creation

16 Monday Jul 2012

Posted by mark lloyd richardson in Poems, Worship Liturgy

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Body of Christ, Christ, Epistle to the Ephesians, hope, Mystery, peace, reconciliation, Revised Common Lectionary

This coming Sunday, to accompany the Revised Common Lectionary epistle reading from Ephesians 2:11-22, I am using a hymn text I wrote six years ago. I’m posting it here early in the week in case any of my colleagues in ministry wish to use it in worship too. It is sung to the tune “BEACH SPRING,” found in The United Methodist Hymnal and other worship songbooks.

Christ is firstborn of creation, image of the God of grace.
In Christ all things are created, and the pain of death erased.
Christ before things seen and unseen; In him God is pleased to dwell.
Christ has first place within everything; In him God does all things well.

Christ across the farthest ocean, and in neighbors near at hand.
Christ upon the highest mountain, and in valleys ‘cross the land.
Neither death nor life can keep us separated from God’s love
that is ours within Christ Jesus, Lamb of God who reigns above.

We the church are called his Body, of which Christ our Lord is head.
We, with hands and feet made holy, feed the poor with Christ’s own bread.
God in Christ is reconciling, making peace upon the cross.
Alleluia! Praise the Mystery! In Christ hope is never lost.

Words: Mark Lloyd Richardson, (c) 2006 (Col. 1:15-20, Romans 8:38-39)
Photo: Dallis Day Richardson (c) 2012 (Redlands University Chapel)
Tune: BEACH SPRING

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