Sunday Prayers- December 6th, 2020
The Nights Are So Long edition
Dear God,
The days are so short right now. And night keep getting longer. And the daily death toll is rising, and Middle Collegiate church was destroyed by fire yesterday, and I miss who I am when I am with my friends. So I find myself wanting to cash in my chips and just go to bed at basically 6:30p each night since its already been dark for 2 hours.
And Lord, then I’m up impossibly early each day and I sort of resent it. But yesterday…yesterday I caught a glimpse of that stunning sunrise above Denver.
So I want to say thank you God. No matter how impossibly long the nights are right now - thank you that the sun rises without me being prepared for it. Without my having to understand it. Without me making myself worthy of its warmth.
And today God, I ask you to help us hold on to hope for the next 15 days, as the night continues to lengthen. Help us remember that then . . . 15 days from now . . . imperceptibly, the reverse will happen. With or without us noticing, the day and not the night will lengthen. Help us hold on to hope that the death toll too will turn, that the dawn will break from on high. Turn our heads to see the sunrise, no matter how long the night has been. I mean, we’re probably already up.
Amen.
I loved this tweet from Casper <—-(check out his work!). His book, The Power of Ritual is amazing. He’s also the co-host of the Harry Potter and The Sacred Text podcast.
Tonight! Join me for the 2nd Advent service.
I love Advent.
And I miss church.
So I’m inviting everyone to join me at my kitchen table for a short Advent service each Sunday 8-8:15p EST. All are welcome. Not need to believe the same things I do.
Prayer, poem, mini-sermon, candle lighting and 2 verses of O Come Emmanuel sung by my friend Rachel Kurtz.
Here’s last week’s in case you missed it.
Grab your candles and join me on my Instagram Live. (Just go to my Instagram page and you’ll see my profile pic (circle at the top left with my photo) say “live” when I start. Just click and you’re in!
For what, where, and whom do the people of God pray?
Comments are open. (But don’t be an asshole.)
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I pray for my dad who is preparing to transition this week from being in patient on an oncology unit in a hospital to being at home under hospice care.
I pray for my dad and my mom who grieve the death of their dog this past Friday.
I pray with thanksgiving for my spouse, my sister and my sister's boyfriend who worked together with me on Friday to bury the dog in my parents' backyard.
I pray for my sister and I who are navigating being adults and supporting our parents in this transition to hospice - while also feeling 4 years old again and wanting to just throw a temper tantrum that we're sad and overwhelmed by all the grief in our lives right now.
Oh my. I have been watching for these Sunday prayers since sunrise. As I waited - i realized how much Nadia’s prayers and the prayers of others have sustained me through social distancing which means isolation for the single. And then I heard the chime alerting me to the new email. Joy!
It has been a rough week with periods of despair and yet grace came through. Friends calling at the right time, the 2011 movie contagion which dramatized how much worse it could have been, matthew mcconaughey’s book greenlights which is very different from my normal reads but full of thought provoking material that I finished reading in 24 hours. And today my spirit is lighter and more hope filled than the recent days.
Thanks be to God. Thanks be for all who come to this sacred (set-apart) place.