(no subject)
Many of you on my friends list have absolutely no interest in religion. You can just skip this entry. But for those of you who are:
* Orthodox Christians
* Attracted by religion, but feel burned by past experiences with Christians or other religions, or
* actively exploring your own faith
you might be interested in this post.
Today is Pentecost Sunday, the date when Christians celebrate the descent of the Holy Spirit on the disciples, and traditionally celebrated as the "birthday of the Church. The following is the text of the Prayers of the people, the communal prayers of our parish church for this Sunday.
Prayers of the People
We are thankful for Jesus Christ, through whom we discover the realm of God.
We Praise you, O God.
We thank you, God, for the way you help us to recognize the faithfulness of others who have different paths to God's realm. We thank you for those other faiths and spiritual disciplines which are not Christian, and through which the wind of your Holy Spirit also blows.
We Praise you, O God.
We thank you for the opportunity to share bread and wine in Jesus' name, which is God's feast for all people.
We Praise you, O God.
We are thankful for the invitation to all sorts and conditions of people to join in our worship and common life. We thank you specifically for our full partnership among believers and agnostics; conventional Christians and questioning skeptics; females and males; the despairing and the hopeful; those of all races and cultures, and those of all classes and abilities. We thank you, God, for not imposing on any of us the necessity of becoming like someone else.
We Praise you, O God.
We are thankful that the way we treat one another and other people is more important than the way we express our beliefs.
We Praise you, O God.
We thank you, God, for the way we can find more grace in the search for meaning than in absolute certainty, in living the questions than in the answers.
We Praise you, O God.
We thank you for spiritual community in which we discover the strength to strive for justice and peace among all people and to bring hope to those whom Jesus called the least of his sisters and brothers.
We Praise you, O God.
We are thankful for the consciousness that our faith entails costly discipleship, renunciation of privilege, and conscientious resistance to evil.
We Praise you, O God.
Gracious, Holy, and Living Spirit of God: enliven and transform our faith and our lives so that we may be witnesses in every culture and among every people to your goodness and love. Change the hearts of all who intend and perpetuate evil. Open the minds of all who are closed to your fresh breath. Free us from domesticating or trivializing your good news. These things we pray in the name of the God who
is always greater than we either perceive or imagine.
Amen.
Our rector wrote up these prayers, cribbed liberally (pun intended) from the Center for Progressive Christianity (http://www.tcpc.org/), and their guiding principles. My parish is a member of this organization. These prayers and principles are EXACTLY why I find my home in the Episcopal Church, and why I don't feel the need to change the views of any of you with different beliefs than I have. My church tells me that God is at work in all of your lives, that your path to God does not need to be my path to God, because all paths to God are just that - ways that each of us can reach the divine.
* Orthodox Christians
* Attracted by religion, but feel burned by past experiences with Christians or other religions, or
* actively exploring your own faith
you might be interested in this post.
Today is Pentecost Sunday, the date when Christians celebrate the descent of the Holy Spirit on the disciples, and traditionally celebrated as the "birthday of the Church. The following is the text of the Prayers of the people, the communal prayers of our parish church for this Sunday.
Prayers of the People
We are thankful for Jesus Christ, through whom we discover the realm of God.
We Praise you, O God.
We thank you, God, for the way you help us to recognize the faithfulness of others who have different paths to God's realm. We thank you for those other faiths and spiritual disciplines which are not Christian, and through which the wind of your Holy Spirit also blows.
We Praise you, O God.
We thank you for the opportunity to share bread and wine in Jesus' name, which is God's feast for all people.
We Praise you, O God.
We are thankful for the invitation to all sorts and conditions of people to join in our worship and common life. We thank you specifically for our full partnership among believers and agnostics; conventional Christians and questioning skeptics; females and males; the despairing and the hopeful; those of all races and cultures, and those of all classes and abilities. We thank you, God, for not imposing on any of us the necessity of becoming like someone else.
We Praise you, O God.
We are thankful that the way we treat one another and other people is more important than the way we express our beliefs.
We Praise you, O God.
We thank you, God, for the way we can find more grace in the search for meaning than in absolute certainty, in living the questions than in the answers.
We Praise you, O God.
We thank you for spiritual community in which we discover the strength to strive for justice and peace among all people and to bring hope to those whom Jesus called the least of his sisters and brothers.
We Praise you, O God.
We are thankful for the consciousness that our faith entails costly discipleship, renunciation of privilege, and conscientious resistance to evil.
We Praise you, O God.
Gracious, Holy, and Living Spirit of God: enliven and transform our faith and our lives so that we may be witnesses in every culture and among every people to your goodness and love. Change the hearts of all who intend and perpetuate evil. Open the minds of all who are closed to your fresh breath. Free us from domesticating or trivializing your good news. These things we pray in the name of the God who
is always greater than we either perceive or imagine.
Amen.
Our rector wrote up these prayers, cribbed liberally (pun intended) from the Center for Progressive Christianity (http://www.tcpc.org/), and their guiding principles. My parish is a member of this organization. These prayers and principles are EXACTLY why I find my home in the Episcopal Church, and why I don't feel the need to change the views of any of you with different beliefs than I have. My church tells me that God is at work in all of your lives, that your path to God does not need to be my path to God, because all paths to God are just that - ways that each of us can reach the divine.