Advent Week 1 (Year B, 2020): Destruction & Stirring

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With this litany and the Lectionary selections for November 29, 2020, we begin a new Liturgical year. I do try to provide Advent litanies earlier than normal, as I understand clergy need to prepare for these church seasons in advance.

This litany follows closely with the themes presented in the Lectionary selections for Week 1 of Advent, Year B: themes of destruction, and the stirring of the reign of God on the horizon; of shift that are long-awaited and long-watched for.

This year, Advent’s subtle and shadowy themes resonate for me even more profoundly than usual, given the struggles of the year. I can echo the prophet Isaiah more readily this year: “O that you would tear open the heavens and come down!” (Isaiah 64:1). We have felt the metaphors of the darkened sun and moon, the stars falling from the heavens, which Jesus describes in Mark 13, if we are paying attention. The shifts the scriptures describe - when the Son of Man comes in glory, when God’s might comes to save us (Psalm 80:2), when restoration comes (Psalm 80:7) - feel crucial, necessary, imminent.

In this year's Advent series, I'm using this phrase "There is a moment" as an opening line rather than the usual address of God. This is an intentional choice to help place us in the Now/Not Yet into which Advent invites us, and as a way to acknowledge the rumble of longing beneath our current reality. 

There is a moment,
As when fire kindles brushwood
Or heat brings water to a boil (1),
When the character of God is revealed…

Proper 29, Year A (Reign of Christ): Litany for Pandemic Response

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This week’s litany is specifically focused on the pandemic, as is the attention of most of the U.S. with 247,000 dead, and over 1000 per day losing their lives to uncontrolled COVID-19. When I hear the words of Christ here in Matthew 25 saying, “Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me..,” all I can hear is the pleas of doctors and nurses to please wear a mask, don’t go to gatherings or bars, keep your distance. These are small acts of love that, lamentably, so many people who say they follow Christ are neglecting.

This parable is a powerful critique on this moment. On how we are responding collectively to this crisis and those most in danger of harm from it. On how willing or unwilling we are to do concrete but simple acts of love.

Honestly, I can’t get it out of my head. I have trouble understanding the world right now. It’s hard to write liturgy for these times, y’all.

God, help us to see that even the tiniest actions we do or don’t do
Can be a testament to love:
Wearing a mask,
Staying home instead,
Visiting outdoors at a few paces distance,
Taking measured precautions…

Proper 28 (Year A, 2020): Litany for God's Mercy

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I have deep grief this week for the American Church and what I personally perceive as its rampant complicity with evil. I grieve even as I am elated to have the first woman elected to high federal office, for this momentous thing to happen in my lifetime, for my daughters and I to witness.

This litany follows along with the Lectionary readings for this week, but is a cry of my own heart. Much of the language is taken directly from the scriptures. Perhaps you can echo it.

Oh God, look upon us now
And have mercy.
For our society’s dysfunctions are set before you,
Our secret sins revealed in the light of your countenance (1).

Proper 27 (Year A, 2020): Litany for Lady Wisdom

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Well, I just had to; Lady Wisdom is too beautiful and compelling not to address. So here is another litany for this week, Proper 27, Year A, based in the account of Lady Wisdom as told in the Wisdom of Solomon.

God, we are looking the one who makes Herself found by seekers:
Lady Wisdom (1).
We fix our thoughts on her
And she graciously appears (2).

Proper 26 (Year A, 2020): Litany for Mirroring

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In this week’s Lectionary selections, the prophet Micah calls out those who lead God’s “people astray, who cry "Peace" when they have something to eat, but declare war against those who put nothing into their mouths” (Micah 3;5).

And Christ, in an echo of Micah’s fiery whistleblowing, calls out the scribes and Pharisees of his day: “They tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on the shoulders of others; but they themselves are unwilling to lift a finger to move them.” (Matthew 23:4)

As we finish out this election cycle over the next week, it makes sense to become reflective about our society. How do we treat those who “put nothing in their mouths,” the hungry, poor, houseless? What burdens do we lay on the shoulders of the disabled, the least politically powerful, the least upwardly mobile, the sick? And how might we become willing to move them? These are, in part, what we are voting about. But they are also an invitation to reflect on our own lives and practice. And we know from these sacred scriptures, that God is silence and shadow toward the unjust (Micah 3: 6,7); that God humbles the exalted and exalts the humble (Matthew 23:12).

Are we listening to and voting in solidarity with the most marginalized people in society? Are we listening to Black women, Women of Color, LGBTQ voices, the perspectives of the Disabled, the unjustly incarcerated, the under-resourced? This is what we have the opportunity to reflect on now, that we are invited into both by this Lectionary and by this cultural and historic moment.

God, you invite us to hold the scriptures up
LIke a mirror ,
To perceive ourselves in their plane,
To reflect upon our works, policies, and actions….

Proper 25 (Year A, 2020): Litany for Love Your Neighbor

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(Litany for Hatred is also for Proper 25 of Year A)

This litany is based in the teachings of Christ in Matthew 22. "'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.' This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.'”

God we ask for help in loving our neighbors (1) -
Those who are different from us,
Those whose ethnicity or nation of origin is different from ours,
Those whose race is different from ours,
Those whose political affiliation is different from ours,
Those whose religious practices are different from ours…



Proper 24 (Year A): Litany for the Imprint of God

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(Note: here is an alternative litany for Proper 24 of Year A)

In Matthew 22, Jesus demonstrates a startling lesson to any of us who might be confused about the separation of church and state. The Pharisee are trying to entrap him into some treasonous statement for which they might turn him in and be rid of his unsettling influence on the people and his undermining of their religious power. First they try to butter him up with flattery: “we know you don’t show partiality…” (It’s true. He doesn’t.) And then they hit him with a tax question (tricky in any age).

And he says: whose face is on this coin? Caesar’s? Then it must be a thing born out of a Cesarous imagination… (Matthew 22:20).

Whose face is on your DNA? Whose image are you made in? Whose image is the natural world made in? Whose image do you bear? Then to whom do you belong, and to what Kin-dom Community? And to whom will you give what you are, your gifts?

God, show us your ways (1),
So that we might know The One Whose Image We Bear (2),
The one whose stamp is on us,
Whose imagination brought us the natural world
Whose creativity begot the beauties of nature and humanity
Whose invites us into alignment with Love….



Proper 23 (Year A, 2020): Litany for the Banquet

This week's litany centers around the text from Matthew 22, the story of the banquet, and Psalm 23 - two invitations into "green pastures and still waters," and into celebration of life amidst all the turmoil. 

(Here is the litany for the same lectionary selections from Year A which I wrote in 2017: Litany for Rescue. )

God, let your peace find every crack possible (1)
Through which to seep into our hearts;
Let it have the persistence of water
To soften every hardened place within us. 

Proper 22 (Year A): Litany for Vineyards

Here is a link to a previous litany I wrote for Proper 22, Year A: Litany for Laws 

This week’s Lectionary readings circle around a central agricultural metaphor - of vineyards: what goes on in them, what grows in them, what happens when people misuse them. Three of the texts for this week, Isaiah 5, Psalm 80, and Matthew 21, all utilize this theme. This litany is an exploration of the vineyard, and the lessons we receive from these texts. 

God, we know that you created the world,
And it was good. It is good.
Humankind has, in many ways, misused and mistreated it,
And each other. 

Lament for Breonna

This lament is in response to the murder of Breonna Taylor by police officers in Louisville, KY on March 13, 2020. As of Wednesday, September 23, the officers who killed her have received no indictments for her wrongful death, nor any repercussions at all. Another in a long line of Black bodies killed by the state.

God, this is not the world we want to live in:
Where murderers go free,
Where the state kills innocents,
Where the political system justifies lynching,
Where the system protects the powerful and leaves the innocent to their fate. 
Where justice is not done. 

This injustice is not new. No. 
It is an old, old pattern: 
Of racism, 
Of white supremacy, 
Of power-hoarding, 
Of greed,
Of theft, 
Of ego. 

We cry out for the abolishment of unjust systems. 
We cry out for an end to police abuse of power. 
We cry out for an end to the state-sanctioned murder of innocents. 
We cry out for an end to the abuse and murder of Black lives.
We cry out for an end to political stalemate that does not legislate protections. 
We cry out for Breonna’s family and loved ones. 

We lament Breonna’s lost future here on earth. 
We lament her life cut short. 
We lament the trauma of her death. 
We lament the corrupt officers who got off without consequence. 
We lament the pain and grief of all who mourn her. 
We lament the long line of martyrs Breonna joins. 

Give us strength, oh God, to continue the work. 
Strength to be struck down but not destroyed, 
To be persecuted but not forsaken,
To be mystified but not despairing (1). 

Give ear to our voices, God, 
Hear the pleas of the righteous. 
Cast down the mighty from their thrones.
Lift up the lowly (2). 

1. 2 Corinthians 4:8,9

2. Luke 1:52

Lament for Climate Change

God, we find ourselves in a grievous position:
On a warming planet, 
Wildfires burning,
Icecaps melting,
Soil degrading,
Waters poisoning.  

Consumerist capitalism has so dazed and bound our society
That we cannot perceive a way forward;
We cannot get ourselves out of the trouble we are in.
We have waited long and late.
We are reaping the rewards of our inaction,
Our efforts frustrated by corporate greed.

We are sorrowful
For the ways we have harmed our earth-home
With our societal excesses and apathies,
Our hunger for more, more, more,
Our neglect of the needs of the poorest and least powerful,
Our disregard for ecosystems.

We lament the corporate greed that drives environmental destruction. 
We lament the industrial farming practices that harm the soil and waterways. 
We lament the industrial extraction of natural resources that destroys ecosystems. 
We lament the pollution with chemicals that harm humans, animal, waterways, and soil organisms.

Help us now to do what we must
To mitigate further harm.
Help us to sacrifice convenience for the greater good - 
The good of future generations,
The good of all humanity - not just a privileged few, 
The good of all of Earth’s inhabitants. 

We know this work won’t be easy:
It will require a revolution of consciousness. 
We know it won’t be quick;
It will take decades of effort. 
We know it won’t be popular;
It will mean people have to make sacrifices.

But, oh God, give us fortitude to do it anyway, 
To come back into alignment with Nature as you created it, 
And with your Spirit, who teaches us
And inspires us to the good work of wholeness and justice. 

Amen

Lament for the 200,000

On Tuesday September 22, 2020 the United States passed the milestone of 200,000 deaths due to Covid-19. This is a lament for those we’ve lost.

God, we hold up to you these lives:
These 200,000 lost to us.
We know they are not lost - 
You hold them in your mercy and love. 

We commend to you their care. 
Heal them there,
Close to your inimitable light
And your unfailing Love. 

We grieve alongside their families and loved ones. 
They have departed, but will not be forgotten. 
For we know that death is not an end to their story, 
Only of this human chapter. 

We lament the failed leadership that did not keep them safe. 
We lament the state of a government willing to let people die needlessly. 
We lament the political system that makes it expedient to sacrifice human lives. 
We lament the lack of regard for vulnerable people. 
We lament the lack of regard for human life. 
We lament the inaction and apathy of people in political power. 

We know, despite everything, that death is always a risk,
That safety from death is an illusion;
And also, we know that we are safe in your care every moment. 
You catch us as we fall. 

Bring us now into the necessary awareness
To make change,
To create a more just world,
To care for the least powerful,
To prevent further suffering and loss of life,
To endure this season of grief,
To heal the trauma we have collectively sustained,
To comfort those overwhelmed by suffering.  

Hear the voice of our pain, oh God.
Amen

Proper 21 (Year A): Litany for Water From Rocks

This litany accompanies the Lectionary readings for Proper 21, Year A. 

God, we are in a collective moment of intensity.
We all feel it.
The strife of the day burdens and wearies us.
We feel anxious and uncertain…

Proper 20 (Year A): Litany for Bread

First off, please check out Litany for Scarcity, which also explores themes from this week's Lectionary passages for Year A. 

This week’s litany is based in the Lectionary texts from Exodus 16, Psalm 145, and Matthew 20. 

God we know that what we have in this world is temporary.
All things pass away:
Our possessions,
Our bodies.We need bread for today,
For we don’t know what the future holds. 

Proper 19 (Year A): Litany for Reassurance

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The times are chaotic, and I hope this litany, referencing Psalm 103, Romans 14, and Matthew 18, can make way for the Divine to offer some reassurance to your community this week. 

God, we come to this day in need of reassurance.
We know we have been at fault.
We know we have been complicit in various ways.
We become discouraged and hopeless.
We become cynical and apathetic.
We need assurance of your unfailing love…



Proper 18 (Year A): Litany for Conflict Resolution

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This litany is inspired by Christ’s teaching on conflict resolution and unity as recorded in Matthew 18, the Lectionary Gospel text for this week.

God, we want to live in good conscience.
We want our actions to match our words.We want our relationships to reflect our love.
We want our lives to reflect the beauty of Christ. 

Proper 17 (Year A): Litany for Suffering

(Note: this litany goes along with the First Testament reading for this week. )

In Matthew 16, this week’s Lectionary Gospel reading, Jesus is clear with his followers about what’s ahead: great suffering. Peter can’t stand the thought. He thinks everything must be wrong if suffering is involved. Jesus rebukes him strongly for this. 

Because he knows and points out that suffering is part of this journey here. Just because there’s suffering doesn’t mean he’s on the wrong path. He won’t be exempt from the human condition, from an experience of suffering, loss, death, betrayal, pain. He doesn’t seek it out, but he knows it will find him. 

I never want to glorify suffering, nor insist upon it. I never want to cause or sanctify it. Rather I want to acknowledge it when it comes, and work to remedy it. I want a world in which suffering is no more. 

God, we are suffering. Our siblings are suffering.
Suffering from the effects of systemic injustice,
Brutality and violence,
Racism and inequity,
Political polarization and environmental abuse,
Greed and oppression.

Proper 16 (Year A): Litany for Renewing the Mind

This litany follows the Lectionary texts for Proper 16 of Ordinary time in Year A. I added references to 1 Corinthians 2 and, as ever, Luke 1.  I would also like to call attention to the story of the Hebrew Midwives in Exodus 1, which is also part of this week's readings, and for which I have an accompanying litany - it happens to be one of my favorite I've ever written: Litany for the Midwives. 

God, we are in a time of upheaval:
Political,
Spiritual,
Religious,
Cultural,
Ecological.
Many suffer for lack of stability and resources
Support, care, and services…



Proper 15 (Year A): Litany for What Comes Out

n 2017, the litany I wrote for Proper 15 in Year A covered some of the First Testament texts for the week. This year I’m focusing on the gospel passage, Matthew 15. 

God we know that out of the mouth
The heart speaks.
It’s not how put-together we are on the outside that defines us -
Not how attractive or fancy or impressive we are -It’s the state of our hearts
And what proceeds from them.

Proper 14 (Year A): Litany for the Impossible

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This week’s Gospel reading is Matthew’s account of Jesus doing the impossible: walking on water. Peter asks to join him on the water, and when he looks down, sinks, Jesus says incredulously, “you of little faith, why did you doubt?”

(see also: Litany for Solitude)

Western civilization has overcivilized our imaginations. We are so stuck in our economic and political status quo that we consider - have been conditioned by powers that benefit from it to consider -  a better world to be impossible. Our apathy and lack of imagination are well on display in this current moment. 

Will we revise our expectations? Will we do the impossible? Will we bring the Commonwealth of Heaven, to which Jesus so often referred and on which he staked his reputation and actions, here to earth, following in his imaginative footsteps? 

God, we know that we are programmed and conditioned -
By society and culture,
By religion and expectation - 
To distinguish the possible from the impossible.