Prayer of Confession – Homelessness

Gracious and lovely God, forgive us for calling you “Lord” while refusing your rule. As a nation, we have allowed homelessness to become a demographic of people, and we have used it as a designation for people that we find hard to look in the eye. Help us to find our own humanity in the search for greater fellowship with those who live on streets and those in penthouses, those who’s minds are clear and those who’s minds have become a prison. Help us to reach beyond our own fears, so that hope becomes the driving force in every interaction. Amen. (silent prayer)

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Emails from Baton Rouge

Clint Mitchel, mentioned in the previous article, is an Associate Pastor in Baton Rouge. They have set up a shelter for expectant and new mothers and are involved in providing assistance reuniting displaced families. I'll post an email here from a list serve that several of my friends from seminary are on. I'll post a few more as comments. Feel free to add your own comments about how your congregation or group is responding. Presently the congregation I serve is taking up a special offering. Some members are also taking in students who have been relocated to VA. Here's what Clint needs/is doing: Martha, Our church has set up a shelter for expectant and new mothers and infants. We are working with people from all over on supplies. Right now, monetary donations are most helpful, partially because the needs are changing from day to day. Our church has set up a fund for Hurricane Relief efforts. To send a donation, please make a check out to University Presbyterian Ch...

Swim Lessons

So, here I sit, poolside @ the Y. My daughter's class is lined up on the side with feet in the pool. Each in turn are going to one end to swim the length of a lane. Their teacher is in the water with them. A lifeguard with a clipboard has silently joined to evaluate, and another is on the stand and ready to save. The class cheers one another on, or at least they did for the first three. Miraculously they began again when the weakest swimmer began. My heart feels the pang of guilt when another parent cheers with me for my child (I was blogging during his). I can't help but reflect on how this is like the church. Three lifeguards may seem like overkill, but is that not what we have received through Christ? I like he idea that God is in it with us, evaluating our progress, and ready to save. We always need a God who is ready to save. Why else would confession be part of our regular spiritual walk? Then there's the church, called together and given purpose by God. W...

The Question

I saw this on a card at the beach while on a clergy retreat. This and Matthew 7:7-8 are the inspiration for the title of this blog. Have patience with everything that remains unsolved in your heart. Try to love the questions themselves, like locked rooms and like books written in a foreign language. Do not now look for the answers. They cannot now be given to you because you could not live them. It is a question of experiencing everything. At present you need to live the question. Perhaps you will gradually, without even noticing it, find yourself experiencing the answer, some distant day. - Rainer Maria Rilke Letters to a Young Poet

Rev. Zach

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