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Narrator: Shortly before he turned toward Jerusalem, where he knew a confrontation would erupt, Jesus told his disciples, “If you want to become my followers, deny yourself and take up your cross and follow me.”

First voice: Is it OK if I’m just a believer and not a follower?

Second voice: Such negativity! Why didn’t Jesus accentuate the positive?

Congregation (read forcefully): Those who want to save their lives will lose them, and those who lose their lives for Jesus’ sake will discover what living really is.

First voice: Hey, is that a “Zen” thing? The shops down on South Lexington could sell t-shirts with that quote.

Second voice: I wonder how we could reframe that statement? How about a book on “How to get all the love you deserve”? Oprah might go for that.

Congregation (read forcefully): What will it profit you if you gain the whole world but forfeit your life? What will you give in return for your life?

Narrator: After that, Jesus and two disciples went up on the mountain, and he was transfigured.

Congregation (read forcefully): His face shone like the sun and his clothes became dazzling white. And standing with him were Moses, Israel’s founding leader, and the great prophet Elijah.

Narrator: It was pure ecstasy. But the vision went away and Jesus went back down the mountain. As soon as he arrived a crowd brought to him an epileptic boy for healing.

First Voice: And so it goes. The spin-doctors still ply their trade. Tourist stores still sell the memorabilia trinkets. And Dr. Phil still draws a crowd who want to know how to get a life. But the joy of ecstasy is still tied to the agony of epilepsy.

Second Voice: That why it’s easier to be a believer than a follower.

Congregation (read forcefully): Anyone can talk about love; you are to practice it. No one is for evil; you are to actually rise up against it. Hold fast to what is good. Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

©Ken Sehested @ prayerandpolitiks.org. Inspired by Matthew 16:24-27, selections of Matthew 17 & Romans 12:9-21.

Into this House of Memory we gather with our young to bless them on their way. As with the Israelites, it is a journey of many stages. Hear these instructions, sons and daughters of promise:

The road to Freedom lies outside the border and bond of empire.

The escape begins in the shivering dark of urgent haste, creeping past sentries, no bounty for provision, no destination save that spoken by the wind. And you will have cause to ask:

Is the Lord with us, or not?

It races on, barely ahead of devouring armies, and comes abruptly to the sea of no return.

Is the Lord with us, or not?

The path through drowning waters will open, but not before you wade in, up to your neck. Scant direction is offered, save a cloud of presence by day, a lightning bolt by night.

Is the Lord with us, or not?

Past the sea comes the desert, a parched land and a relentless horizon. In each of these places—and more—you will cry out,

Is the Lord with us, or not!

Is the struggle worth the trouble?

Worthy indeed!

©Ken Sehested @ prayerandpolitiks.org. Inspired by the Exodus story for ues in Circle of Mercy’s “Bagmitzvah”ritual for younger children’s transition to remaining in worship.

As he came near and saw Jerusalem, Jesus wept.

As do we.

When he comes near Washington, and Ferguson, and Asheville, Jesus weeps.

As do we.

Jesus weeps as he comes near Damascus and Baghdad and Mosul; near Gaza and Tel Aviv; near Freetown and Monrovia;

As do we.

Jesus weeps near Tegucigalpa, Guatemala City and San Salvador; near Kiev and Donetsk and Moscow. “Would that you—yes you!—knew the things that make for peace!” he cries.

As do we—inasmuch as we can see.

We confess, O Christ, that we live among a blinded people in a blinding, binding world—

And we ourselves don’t see so well.

We dwell in a world whose heart has lost its rhythm and is threatened with arrest—

And our own halting, faltering hearts are afaint.

Strap a defibrillator to our chest! Restore optic nerve!

So that eyes pierce the fog of war and hearts pulse, restored, to the rhythm of your affection and the rule of your Word.

©Ken Sehested @ prayerandpolitiks.org. Inspired by Luke 19:41-42 for a 2014 service following race riots in Ferguson, Mo., continuing civil war in Ukraine, Syria and Iraq, the outbreak of the Ebola virus in West Africa, and the flood of Central American child immigrants crossing from Mexico into the U.S.

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.

From Creation’s Promise to Redemption’s Assurance, may Your Faithful Word leap from our lips and exclaim with our limbs.

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

When dust chokes my heart and fear stays my hand, I remember Your Ordinance and am not put to shame.

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

When highways of ruin threaten meadows of rapture, fashion resistance by Instruction in hope.

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

To the Reign of Grace, alone, we salute. To all others we pledge infidelity.

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

©Ken Sehested @ prayerandpolitiks.org. Inspired by Psalm 119.

In the year now ending, many have passed from this mortal life: most, whose names we do not know; some, whose lives we admired; a few, who were dearly beloved. With the calendar’s turn we also recall hopes and dreams that have frayed and failed. Some will be forgotten entirely; some will linger with regret for a season; but some still threaten to unravel us.

Hear, Oh Promise of Bethlehem, the aches that bind our hearts and smother our dreams.

With the Magi, we set our sights on distant lights that lead to virgin hope.

Grant, Oh Mangered Babe, the courage to venture new risk and renewed pilgrimage.

Sharpen the memory of those who passed this way before, who dared living as refugees in this distraught and disfigured world:

Those who died without arriving in that promised New Land; but—seeing it at a distance—were drawn to its brilliance.

Oh Fruit of Mary whom Joseph did not scorn: Send us on our way to that Better Country, with songs of flagrant hope on our lips.

Christen our journey to that City of Promise, to that Residence that knows no shame and to its Banquet Table freed of miserly greed.

©Ken Sehested @ prayerandpolitiks.org. Inspired by the story of the Magi in Matthew 2 & by Hebrews 11:13-16.

In the land of sky, with eyes’ consent
To bless majestic firmament
Descend to every heart’s lament

Of thee, O Christ, I sing.

Fill all thy saints with gentleness,
With patient passion, humbleness
Now walk in paths of blessedness

One Hope to which I cling.

To bonds of peace the Spirit leads
Submerged in grace, then raised to feed
A famished world laid bare with greed

Undo death’s fearsome sting.

O Land of Sky, knit arms with Head
By truth’s confession raising dead
All blistered souls now bound in dread

Rejoice! Let freedom ring.

You prisoners of Christ, now blessed
With confidence and holiness
Forbearing each with love’s caress

 Spirit’s mark adorning

©Ken Sehested @ prayerandpolitiks.org. Inspired by Ephesians 4:1-16, in a 2009 commissioning service for the newly-formed Land of Sky United Church of Christ.

How long, O Lord? Will you forget me forever?
How long will you hide your face from me?

In the Land of Bounty my name will be spoken.

How long must I bear pain in my soul,
and have sorrow in my heart all day long?
How long shall my enemy be exalted over me?

In the Land of Bounty my name will be spoken.

Consider and answer me, O Lord my God!
Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep the sleep of death.

In the Land of Bounty my name will be spoken.

My enemy will say, “I have prevailed.”
My foes will rejoice because I am shaken.

In the Land of Bounty my name will be spoken.

But I trusted in your steadfast love;
My heart shall rejoice in your salvation.
I will sing to the Lord, because the Land of Bounty has spoken my name.

In the Land of Bounty my name will be spoken.

©Ken Sehested @ prayerandpolitiks.org. Inspired by Psalm 13.

Speak, O people of the Promise: What is the character of your faith?

Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. (Heb. 11:1)

Faith is not belief in spite of the evidence.

Faith is life lived in scorn of the consequences! (Clarence Jordan)

Faith is not the absence of fear or doubt.

Faith is the force that gets you safely through those long, dark, waiting-room hours.

Faith is the actual belief that what one hopes for is attainable. (Merrill Womach)

The beginning of hope is to be conscious of despair in the very air
we breathe, and to look around for something better. (Walker Percy)

Lean, then, on the Everlasting Arms, and declare your intention:

We shall risk in faith, decide in hope, and suffer the consequences
in love!

©Ken Sehested @ prayerandpolitiks.org. Final line attributed to a civil rights marcher on the road to Selma, Alabama, 1965.

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.

God says: The groans of the needy inflame the heart of Heaven.

As Wall Street surges, main streets collapse. Tourists are catered; farmers, forgotten. Lavish housing abounds; affordable homes disappear. Lying lips manage the world and mortgage its future.

Have mercy, have mercy, bring safety and solace. O Blessed Redeemer, come near and condole us. We are here, are here, are here for You.

©Ken Sehested @ prayerandpolitiks.org. Inspired by Psalm 12.

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.

Christ beneath me, Christ above me. Christ on my right side, Christ on my left.

For your Lover is faithful, watchful. God is ever vigilant. Rare the mother who abandons her child. Rarer still the Womb of Heaven who forgets her offspring.

Christ when I lie down, Christ when I sit down. Christ when I arise, Christ to shield me.

For you, Most Humble Lord, guide me in the paths of righteousness; you disclose the way of justice; and your Presence makes glad my soul and makes haste my feet!

From all who wish me ill, afar and anear, alone and in a multitude, against every cruel and merciless power that may oppose my body and soul: I arise today!

©Ken Sehested @ prayerandpolitiks.org. Adapted use of Acts 2:25-28, Ps. 16:8-11, and “The Deer’s Cry,” anonymous 8th century poem often attributed to St. Patrick.