Litanies & Prayers

by Ken Sehested

Praise is due to you, O God, in Zion; and to you shall praise be given and promises be made.

Praised be your presence, and worthy be our promises.

by Ken Sehested

Happy are those who walk in the Way of Beauty, harnessed in the Bridle of Mercy and according to the Weal of Justice.

In this Law I delight! May it rule soul and soil and society alike.

by Ken Sehested

Our nation is at war, and our hearts are torn. The seeds of fear are planted in terror and harvested in violence.

How long, O Lord, how long?

The payback of Heaven neither tortures nor torments.

The vengeance of God is Christ’s victory of mercy,
o’er all venal indenture and vile deception.

The terror of God is the Risen One’s threat
to every merchant of death, every marketer’s breath,
every peddler of gun-wielding promise of power,

by Ken Sehested

Hear this, oh people of the Covenant: The claim of Heaven’s Reign and the clamor over earth’s rule are woven together. The seed sown in one is harvested in the other. All questions of piety are questions of power. But the nature of power is contested.

No one can serve two masters.

by Ken Sehested

Creator God, we give thanks this day for work: for work that sustains; for work that fulfills; for work which, however tiring, also satisfies and resonates with Your labor in creation.

As part of our thanks we also intercede for those who have no work, who have too much or too little work; who work at jobs that demean or destroy, work which profits the few at the expense of the many.

by Ken Sehested

It was a time of great turmoil in the land. The Spirit of God bypassed all the famous leaders and came to me with a dream.

And I saw the Ruler of All Creation sitting on a throne, high and lofty, with majesty filling the sky as far as the eye could see.

by Ken Sehested

Dear Jesus: Don’t do that. Don’t go saying “I come not to bring peace, but division.” You’re scaring us. Don’t you know there are children in the room!

Peace is not the product of the politics of fear, of Wall Street fraud or war profiteer.

by Ken Sehested

Sisters and brothers, these are among the convictions that we harbor and herald:

Faith is not belief in spite of the evidence. Faith is life lived in scorn of the consequences.*

by Ken Sehested

All glory to you, Gracious One, who smiles on the earth, restoring the fortunes of our ancestors.

In your presence, the weight of shame is lifted, and we are drenched in pardon.