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God’s glory is on tour in the skies,

Divine handiwork is visible on every corner.

Is this work a struggle?

It IS a struggle!

God’s handiwork speaks without words.

Yet its voice echoes throughout the earth.

It is a good struggle?

It is a GOOD struggle!

God’s tutoring is whole and hearty.

It weaves our lives together in beauty.

God’s markers are true and trustworthy.

They keep our feet on right paths.

God’s boundaries mark borders of peril.

They give direction in seasons of confusion.

¿Es una buena lucha? Is this a good struggle?

¡Es una buena lucha! It is a good struggle!

©Ken Sehested @ prayerandpolitiks.org. Inspired by Psalm 19.

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.

I was glad when they said unto me: Let us go to the house of earth’s pardoning decree.

“I will seek your good” is the Blessed One’s word to be uttered and anchored in covenant guaranty.

Speak peace to the nation, to every relation, to each hollow and meadow, every inch of creation. Let mercy defend, and gracefully mend; each stranger, each straggler, welcome and befriend.

©Ken Sehested @ prayerandpolitiks.org. Inspired by Psalm 122.

In the book by his name, Job is addressed directly by the Lord God: “Gird up you loins, oh human one! I have questions for you. See if you can answer.

“Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Who laid its cornerstone, when the morning stars sang together and all the children of God shouted for joy?

“Who shut in the sea with doors when it burst forth from my womb and fashioned its garment with clouds?

“Have you commanded the morning, and caused the dawn to know its place, that it might take hold of the skirts of the earth to shake the wicked from its folds?

“Who has cleft a channel for the torrents of rain, and a way for the thunderbolt, to bring rain on a land where no one can survive, to satisfy the desolate wilderness with fields of grass?

“Do you give the horse its might? Do you clothe its neck with strength, making it leap like the locust? Stallion and mare advance headlong into the fray, laughing at fear and casting off dismay. Neither sword nor spear, nor quiver of arrows, can still the steeds’ movement when the trumpet sounds!”

From the pit of humiliation Job responded: “I know, Oh Lord, that you can do all things. Your Presence is too wonderful for me to speak. I have known your Reputation from the ancient stories; but now, with my own eyes I see, with my own ears I hear, with my own heart I understand.

“How wondrous is the world you make; how relentless is the grace you bestow; how manifold is the mercy of your Reign!”

©Ken Sehested @ prayerandpolitiks.org. Inspired by Job 39-42.

Jesus said to his disciples:
     Want to travel the Way with me?
     Then get over yourself, step out on the road,
     get in the way of every hostile host,
     and follow my lead.

Gonna get on the Way, walkin’ every day, no matter what
     they say or think, we’re gettin’ in the way.

Oh, but couldn’t we just believe in you, Jesus? We’ve got
     lots of books on that, and bumper stickers to spare.

We’re big fans.

Hop on the Way, walkin’ every day, no matter what
     they say or think, we’re gettin’ in the way.

“We’ll worship the hind legs off Jesus but never do
     a thing he says.”*

Jump on the Way, walkin’ every day, no matter what
     they say or think, we’re gettin’ in the way.

“We love to sing ‘I have decided to follow Jesus,’ but
     we don’t bother looking to see which way he went.”**

Set out on the Way, walkin’ every day, no matter what
     they say or think, we’re gettin’ in the way.

©Ken Sehested @ prayerandpolitiks.org. Inspired by Luke 9:18–27. *Clarence Jordan, quoted in Dallas Lee, The Cotton Patch Evidence (New York: Harper & Row, 1971), 45. **Frank Stagg, quoted by Relma Hargus, Lectionary Note Lent4A http://allianceofbaptists.org/PCP/alliance_blog_detail/lenten-lectionary-note-lent-4a.

And after they had eaten, Jesus took his disciples, walking east, away from the Old City of Jerusalem and its Temple Mount, descending through the Kidron Valley, and up again to the Mount of Olives and a garden named Gethsemane. Maybe he was tempted to keep on going.

But he stopped. To watch, to wait, to pray.

And the text says he was sorrowed and sad, anxious and anguished, troubled and tried and tempted to run.

Sorrowed and sad, troubled and tried, we come to the garden of refuge to pray.

“Wait here,” he told his disciples. “Stay with me; remain here with me; watch and pray.”

Sorrowed and sad, anxious and anguished, retiring, retreating, to watch and to wait.

But weariness overtook his disciples. (We know about that.) And they fell asleep. (As sometimes do we.)

Sorrowed and sad and tempted to run, up the hill of seclusion to find our reprieve.

Confessing, recessing—cup of portion, pass me by.

Spirit sure willing, but flesh sorely weak.

Yet soon comes rejoicing with Easter’s disclosure of death bound and gagged and remorse’s demise.

Through the garden’s temptation to turn tail and flee, now Pentecost beckons to earth’s jubilee!

©Ken Sehested @ prayerandpolitiks.org. Inspired by Matthew 26:36-46.

Picture this, if you can: The Lord God of Hosts stands at the church house door, at the pulpit, at the communion table, maybe even at the potluck dinner counter, hands perched on hips, lips pursed and brows furrowed, voice wavering with a parental mixture of broiling anger and urgent affection, saying:

What in heaven’s name has gotten into you dimwitted people of the Promise, you ninny-headed, shallow-hearted sucklings of the Most High God!

From the lofty perch of Creation’s spire, your presidents and parliaments, your bankers and barons—they all look pretty puny to me.

Do you think your sorrows languish, unheard; your groans muzzled, unheeded?

Get over yourself! You don’t know jack!

Get on with your mandate, resume your mission.

The Authorizing One, the guarantor of your liberty, is neither faint nor feeble.

The One who seeded the galaxies and sorted the microbes has a design beyond your knowing and a resolve beyond your will.

Your way shall be given, your weal sure-provided. No matter how dog-wearied, dead-tired you are, your anchor holds, your storehouse stands.

However way-worn you get, wait for it. Wait and do not fret. Your wings are being readied. Your stamina restored.

Watch and wait, at Pardon’s gate, and lay your burdens down

At Mercy’s feet, when Love’s complete, exchange for cross a crown.

©Ken Sehested @ prayerandpolitiks.org. Inspired by Isaiah 40:21-31.

One: The mighty One—Blessed be the Name!—speaks and summons the earth, from the rising of the sun to its setting.

All: Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God shines in brilliant radiance.

One: The Beloved comes and does not keep silence; a devouring fire lights the way, and a mighty tempest marks the moment.

All: God calls to the heavens above and to the earth.

One: “Gather my faithful ones, who made a covenant with me!”

All: The heavens declare God’s righteousness, You alone judge.

One: “Hear, O my people, and I will speak. I am God. Your God.”

All: “Not for your sacrifices do I rebuke you; you fill my chambers with your burnt offerings.”

One: “I will accept no bull from your house, or goats from your folds.”

All: Those who bring thanksgiving as their sacrifice honor me; to those who set their foot on the Way I will bestow blessing, will bring to safety, will save and redeem.

One: “Do not fear, greatly beloved, you are safe. Be strong and courageous!

All: This is a Word that can be trusted! Thanks be to God!!

©Ken Sehested @ prayerandpolitiks.org. Inspired by Psalm 50:1-9, 23 & Daniel 10:19.

Merciful One, for You alone does my soul wait in silence. Our only hope comes from Your presence.

I believe. Help my unbelief.

You alone are my rock and my salvation and my fortress. I shall not be shaken. We shall not be moved.

I believe. Help my unbelief.

On You rests my deliverance and my honor. You are our mighty Rock and safe Refuge.

I believe. Help my unbelief.

Trust God at all times, O people. Pour out your heart before the One who hears; God is a refuge for us.

This is our tearful cry: We believe—help us in our unbelief.

©Ken Sehested @ prayerandpolitiks.org. Inspired by Psalm 62:5-8.

For what do we hope?

We hope for the Beloved’s Promise to overtake the world’s broken-hearted threat.

For what do we long?

We long for the moist goodness of God to outlast the parched climate of despair.

For what do we lack?

We lack for nothing—save the need for hearts enlarged by the assurance that every hostage will be freed.

For what do we strive?

We strive for lives marked by goodness, purified of deceit and malice, and hands made gentle by the tender caress of Wisdom’s approach.

For what do we struggle?

We struggle for the fate of every child whose sighs and cries are muffled by the market’s disdain.

In what do we rejoice?

We rejoice in rebellious acts of abundance in the face of every stingy arrangement.

For what prize do our eyes arise?

Our eyes arise for the Beloved Community’s embrace of earth’s abode and Heaven’s favor.

We stand forever on the edge of death’s brutal domain. Yet hope remains while the company is tue.*

May the company be true, indeed!

©Ken Sehested @ prayerandpolitiks.org. *Line from Galadriel in The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Rings.

There are, to be sure, moments of high drama in the
work of holy obedience:
     marches to be made,
     confrontations to be staged,
     dangers to be endured,
     corruption to be exposed,
     trips made to distant and unfamiliar places,
     maybe even jail cells to be filled.

On rare occasions, the whole world is watching.

Much more often, the storyline of faith is lived without
notoriety, is forged without fanfare:
     in familiar places,
     in small acts of courage against petty tyrants,
     with commonplace forbearance in the midst
           of garden-variety stress.

Much more often:
     with family and friends and neighbors,
in traffic lanes and grocery store lines,
with tired children and anxious partners.

Even—Can you believe this!—even in church.
Even more often:
                       with yourself.

To be sure, dragons need to be slain. Much more often,
                       though,
           gardens need to be groomed.

©Ken Sehested @ prayerandpolitiks.org. Inspired by Galatians 5:19-26.