Sunday Prayers, February 14th, 2021

Thank God for Gratitude, Edition

Dear God,

This morning when I took my first sip of coffee and said, “thank you” out loud to seemingly nobody, I wondered if I’d finally gone mad. But then I realized I was talking to you, God. And suddenly I was not just grateful for the coffee, but even more so for that moment of respite from my standard negativity. 

Now I am now feeling greedy for more. So, selfishly I am now going to indulge in a short list of things I am grateful for in this moment – because it feels like a bolus button of relief from the pain of self-obsession.

For a working furnace (because it’s -5 degrees outside),

for whomever is driving the snow plow outside my window right now,

for the dog on my lap,

for the food in my belly,

for the heart inside my chest that keeps giving and receiving love, I give you thanks.

For my house plant that is still alive and,

for the tap water that still runs clean,

and for this body that still moves freely, I give you thanks.

Lord, help me remember that gratitude is a free antidepressant that you provided as a factory installed standard feature, and that it is gift you have given us not one we give you. Thank you for creating us with a capacity for praise. I can’t imagine how miserable and annoying we’d be without it. 

Amen.

Ash Wednesday with Kate Bowler

Well, here we are friends. It’s nearly Lent.

This Wednesday I will be co-leading a short Ash Wednesday Service over on Kate Bowler’s Instagram Live. The beautiful Rachel Kurtz will hop on at the end to lead Just As I am, because I just can’t imagine starting Lent without it.

Wednesday February 17th, 5p PST/8p EST.

Kate’s book, Everything Happens for a Reason; And Other Lies I’ve Loved, her memoir about being diagnosed with stage 4 colon cancer, is honestly one of the best things I’ve ever read when it comes to how we respond to suffering. She is super smart (a professor at Duke Divinity School), and is so beautifully faithful and totally intolerant of vapid bullshit all at the very same time. (Her podcast, Everything Happens is amazing)

Join us. All are welcome. No need to believe the same things we do.

(If you have old palms from Palm Sunday, these are what are traditionally burnt down to make ashes. But like, obviously most folks don’t have those witting around. You can: dig some ashes out of your fireplace, or maybe write down some stuff you want to let go of doing Lent and then (safely) burn that paper and use that or if nothing else…grab some flour. That would work too.)

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