A Prayer of Lament about the Violence and Chaos in our World

Praying for Peace and Justice on March 8, 2026

Oh God!  Our hearts are breaking this morning as, once again, we see Your world, Your creation being pushed into violence and chaos.  It’s like Satan tempted our national leaders up on the mountain top and our leaders responded, “Sure Satan.  Whatever you want.”  

Oh God:

  • We lament the staggering loss of human life which has already claimed more than 1,300 lives – each, one of your children.
  • We lament the cycle of retaliation that is falling on civilian areas across the entire region, spreading the geography of grief.
  • We lament the targeting of places of healing, learning, play and worship, particularly the bombing of an elementary school where the lives of 160 little girls were sacrificed for some unknown military objective.

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A Prayer for Focus to Promote Peace

Praying for Peace and Justice on March 1, 2026

Holy One, our world as we live it here and now, seems to have become a community of suffering and destruction of others.  Many of us here live lives in protected communities, so far, that is.  We pray that our own actions support Peace and Justice in our world.  We can demonstrate in the No Kings Events, we can support with our domestic giving organizations that promote Peace and Justice, we can write our support of Peace and Justice to our leaders, we can reach out to our immediate communities to collaborate with others in support of Peace and Justice. …

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A Prayer for the Courage to Let Go

Praying for Peace and Justice on February 22, 2026

Dear God,

I’m ready to let go of the things I cling to– things I think I know, things I think I need, and things I simply have always had– in the name of serving you better. Help me to see what’s holding me back from gaining momentum toward freedom for all of us, and give me the courage to let it go.

Amen

Background

This year, Ash Wednesday fell on the day after the lunar New Year. In the Chinese calendar, the year we closed was the year of the snake– a year of shedding old versions of ourselves and letting go of what no longer serves us.…

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Get Right With God? by John Morris

The First Sunday in Lent

a tiny flame almost hidden by logs covered with ashes

February 22, 2026

Just a little while ago, we affirmed these words:


In the midst of an imperfect world,
Jesus is the light of hope.

In this sermon, I want to contrast that language with the language of one of the readings this morning, which talks about sacrifice and justification.  This is going to involve a little theology, so I apologize in advance for two things: First, I am not a trained theologian, so I may get some stuff wrong, and I hope some of you will be listening carefully enough to correct me.  Second, if you don’t enjoy theology, I’m sorry and will try to keep it engaging.…

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