Prayer on Feeling

Creator God,

This morning we come before you to offer up our yesterday and to give thanks for the potential of today.

We pause to remember yesterday...

We remember our feelings through the day:

...we faced sadness...

...we felt disappointment...

...we were disgusted...

...we were scared...

...we were surprised...

...we were glad...    ...we let go of these feelings and give them to you.

We pray this morning for all people and all creation and all the feelings they hold:

...for those who are sad... disappointed... disgusted... scared....surprised...glad...

May we look to this day with gladness; a gift from you.  With Your gladness, may we gladden the world around us, by daring to enter into the feelings of others. Your grace and love be present as we seek to build relationships for the healing of the world.

AMEN.

Please feel free to use this prayer or other items you find on this blog.  I would be interested though in a quick comment saying that it was used, or remade, or what ideas may have been spurred from what has been read here.

Holding the Hand of Someone Dying

Holding the hand of someone who is dying is part of every pastor's experience.  This week once again I have been humbled by the gift of holding hands.
It is at the end of holding hands for the visit, right before leaving, that the dying seems to grasp the hand holding it in a different way; a way that expresses feeling, encapsulates faith, passes hope, and conveys a peace that surpasses understanding.  It is a letting go movement that says, "All is well with my soul. Be not afraid.  I have glimpsed the other side and I am better than fine.  Be not sad for me."
Mark Nepo wrote: "Sometimes we would do better to admit the heart works best in mime."  This has become my bedside mantra, when with those who are dying and their families.  Words seem futile  and they are unable to express the depth of relationship.
Yesterday I understood the variety, the subtle changes, and the movement of the touch between my hand and that of the one dying.  A book of a million words was passed in minutes through touch.
What passed in the holding of hands was peace, thank-yous, blessings, a remembering of intimate moments along the journey, farwells, and a sharing of love that will never end.
Rest in peace dear one, until we once again hold hands.

Sermon Fodder

This past week was the Joint Assembly of the  Anglican Church of Canada and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada.  It was a week of laughter, tears, fellowship, worship, and work.
Many things were learned and shared at this event. Over time some of the week will be shared through sermons at the Lutheran Church of the Resurrection.  Be prepared for sermons based on the following:
* A Dozen Years together (Full  Communion) -time to be a baker's dozen
* Quoting Martin Junge, General Secretary of the LWF: "Salvation -not for sale; Humans - not for Sale; Creation - not for sale".  Lutheran reformation is a global citizen!
* Quoting Jamie Scott, from Truth and Reconciliation  Committee: "Reconciliation is the gift we are invited to bring to the altar."
* Thoughts from World Coucil of Churches president, Christopher Dreizing: "We, the body of Christ, are in cardiac crisis.  We need a jolt!"; "Baptism is not about sin management."; "ecumaniac"
*thoughts of a table mate: "Definition of forgiveness - letting go of all hope for a better past."
* Archbishop Fred Hiltz: "bringing about those things for which we pray."
* from Acts 9, consider the word...MEANWHILE
* Quoting World Council of Churches General Secretary, who on arrival at US customs is asked: "why are you going to all the worng places?"
Also sermon themes will include:
-edge habitat
-the 34 yr labour of love to bring the Inuit a Bible in their own language
-ethical resource extraction
-homelessness
-clean water for all