Litanies & Prayers

Dear God: The world has gone nuts. Every symbol of trust has been turned into a marketing scheme; every pronouncement of care conceals deceit; every herald of hope disguises a threat.

Because the poor are despoiled, I will rise up, says the Lord.

They even use your Name to sponsor their vanity. The humble petition for blessing becomes a demand for national privilege.

Wake up, sleepy-head! Rouse yourselves, all you who have been sedated by the mindless blather coming from statehouse and church house alike. Knock some sense into each other, all you who have come to believe that that strength comes from your own hand, that security is held by your own harness.

With my own eyes I saw the Blessed One before me: Christ above me, Christ before me. Christ behind me, Christ within me.

Let loose your timid tongue to declare Mercy’s approach in response to Mary’s supplication. Raise hearts of gladness for the annulment of enmity. Let your body’s senses relish the hope of Heaven’s embrace.

In Joppa and Jerusalem, in Atlanta and Asheville, people of prayer are prone to catching a glimpse of Heaven’s Bidding. The ecstatic vision rises up in the midst of pots and pans, unswept floors, workday boredom and endless “to do” lists. The ancient witness speaks like this:

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for all that had come before was renewed and redeemed.

And I saw a holy habitation, big cities and small burgs, meadows and mountains, all shedding their enmity in response to God’s rhapsody, each as a lover anticipating the Beloved.

      Call to Worship
Come to the place where horizons expand, and the gulf between earth and sky shrinks. Here covenants unfold and confrontations are staged.

It was at Mount Ararat that Noah’s ark rested on dry ground as flood waters receded. From Egyptian bondage, the Hebrews came to Mount Sinai where their adoption by God
was sealed and commandments were set.

      On Mount Carmel the prophet Elijah confronted
           the false prophets of Baal.
     At Mount Gerizim and Mount Ebal Joshua instructed
           the people in the Law of Moses.
     At Mount Nebo God brought water out of the rock
           to relieve the people’s thirst.
     It was on Mount Zion that David constructed the
           temple as the center of praise and worship.
     Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount outlined the vision
           for the new people of God.
     It was on the Mount of Olives that Jesus prayed
           through the night before his crucifixion on
                 a hill named Golgotha.

Worthy, worthy the One who conceived the earth and gave birth to bears and basil and beatitudes alike.

We extol you, Heaven’s Delight and Earth’s Repose!

Oh, children of Christ’s embrace, even when trembling abounds, say aloud: God is worth the trouble!

There comes a season in every soul when the Goodness of Creation turns sour. “God,” says the writer of Lamentations, “is a bear lying in wait for me, a lion in hiding,” preparing to devour.

The day arrives when flesh wastes away and bones are broken; when I am besieged and beset; when I am walled about and chained.

Who but the Sovereign could bring such affliction, when my teeth grind on gravel, when my lips are pressed into the dust, when I am made to cower in ashes?

As with so many epiphanies in Scripture, the disciples were guided to a mountain, this one in Galilee, for Jesus’ parting commission.

To the mountain we go, both reverent and doubtful, commissioned for journeys both near and afar.

Here on this mountain, we are welcomed, doubts and all. Here we are invested with an authority the world does not recognize, much less endorse.

With good pleasure, in the beginning, the Beloved aspired all that now breathes. Then again, in the Lovely One, even Christ Jesus, the Wind of Heaven confounds the wail of rancor.

Come, heaven! Come, earth! With mercy so tender, adopted in splendor, all bloodletting malice shall melt into praise.

Riches of grace are lavishing still—breathlessly awaiting the fullness of days, when all will be gathered and richly arrayed.

God’s glory is on tour in the skies,

Divine handiwork is visible on every corner.

Is this work a struggle?

In the face of endless aggrievement and obstinate bereavement, despite hope-contempting fear on display in every mother’s tear,

Let us go, let us go to the hallowed abode of the One who brings solace and cheer.

Pray for the peace of Jerusalem, where Abraham’s children contend; pray, too, for the peace of Asheville, each fracture and failure amend.