Archive for January 2010
A New Bethlehem
This hymn was part of Oremus today, Jan. 23. It dropped my jaw, froze my heart and made me think for more than I was prepared. It was especially touching to me today in the light of the catastrophe in Haiti. Speaking of, please give – and keep giving. Give through Partners in Health who have been working in Haiti for over 20 years and know what is needed and how to get it there. Send money, not supplies – not yet.
Haiti has been in everyone's minds and hearts since the earthquake, I hope – well, maybe not in Pat Robertson's but after his statement, I have an even more difficult time believing he is a true Christian; God only knows for sure. I have more to share but nothing more important than to remind any readers that Haiti will need ongoing help for years. I have been a member of PIH ever since reading Mountains beyond Mountains by Tracy Kidder. The writing of that book changed Kidder's life. Reading it has changed mine. Read it. Support. Love. Pray. Give.
HYMN
Words: Martin E. Leckebusch (born 1962) after Phillips Brooks (1835-1893) � Kevin Mayhew Ltd
Tune: Forest Green
O West Bank town of Bethlehem, how still your victims lie;
the grieving weep, deprived of sleep; militia men roam by;
for through your dark streets raging the never ending fight:
O morning news, O papers, report the dreadful dearth
of saints who sing to praise the King, of peace across the earth;
where Christ was born of Mary 'midst wondering angels' love,
How violently, how violently the hope of peace is riven;
can God impart to these torn hearts the blessings of his heaven?
Who now recalls his coming to this dark world of sin?
O child once born in Bethlehem, draw near again, we pray;
you died to win this world from sin yet sin persists today.
May we, like Christmas angels, announce Immanuel,
till all are given a glimpse of heaven and not a taste of hell.
MLK & St. Peter – A very special day
A Lord’s Prayer for Justice
From The Holy Longing by Ronald Rolheiser
Page 189
“In the world’s schema of things, survival of the fittest is the rule.
In God’s schema, survival of the weakest is the rule. God always stands on the side of the weak and it is there, among the weak, that we find God.
“Given the truth of that, we might occasionally pray the Lord’s in this way:
Our Father… who always stands with the weak, the powerless, the poor, the abandoned, the sick, the aged, the very young, the unborn, and those who, by victim of circumstance, bear the heat of the day.
Who art in heaven… where everything will be reversed, where the first will be last and the last will be first, but where all will be well and every manner of being will be well.
Hallowed by thy name… may we always acknowledge your holiness, respecting that your ways are not our ways, your standards are not our standards. May the reverence we give your name pull us out of the selfishness that prevents us from seeing the pain of our neighbor.
Your kingdom come… help us to create a world where, beyond our own needs and hurts, we will do justice, love tenderly, and walk humbly with you and each other.
Your will be done… open our freedom to let you in so that the complete mutuality that characterizes your life might flow through our veins and thus the life that we help generate may radiate your equal love for all and your special love for the poor.
On earth as in heaven… may the work of our hands, the temples and structures we build in this world, reflect the temple and structure of your glory so that the joy, graciousness, tenderness, and justice of heaven will show forth within all of our structures on earth.
Give… life and love to us and help us to see always everything as gift. Help us to know that nothing comes to us by right and that we must give because we have been given to. Help us realize that we must give to the poor, not because they need it, but because our own wholeness depends upon our giving to them.
Us… the truly plural us. Give not just to our own but to everyone,
Including those who are very different than the narrow us. Give your gifts to all of us equally.
This day… not tomorrow. Do not let us push things off into some indefinite future so that we can continue to live justified lives in the face of injustice because we can make good excuses for our inactivity.
Our daily bread… so that each person in the world may have enough food, enough clean water, enough clean air, adequate health care, and sufficient access to education so as to have the sustenance for a healthy life. Teach us to give from our sustenance and not just from our surplus. (Teach us to give and not to count the cost.)
And forgive us our sins… forgive us our blindness toward our neighbor, our self-preoccupation, our racism, our sexism, our incurable propensity to worry only about ourselves and our own. Forgive us our capacity to watch the evening news and do nothing about it.
As we forgive those who sin against us… help us to forgive those who victimize us. Help us to mellow out in spirit, to not grow bitter with age, to forgive the imperfect parents and systems that wounded, cursed, and ignored us.
Be present with us in the times of testing… do not judge us only by whether we have fed the hungry, given clothing to the naked, visited the sick, or tried to mend the systems that victimized the poor.
Stand between us and the evil one… who would encourage us to hide in the dark corners of our selves, who would encourage us to participate in anonymous systems within which we need not see who gets less as we get more.
AMEN!!!
