The power of greatness is seductive.  It can lure us toward self-importance and cloud our sense of who and what mater most.  It can cause us to seek answers to the wrong questions in life and ignore God’s wisdom.  This week’s readings explore the difference between what passes for greatness and what is truly great.  Read together they are clear; God is great and so are we when we humbly offer lives in service.  This week opens the possibility for conversation, action, and reflection about servanthood that is truly about others.  It might be a time to review your community’s understanding of mission and service.  Are the “good deeds” you do focused on those you are serving or on your idea of what others need?  Does your ministry and service consider issues of privilege and truly recognize the dignity, agency, and worth of others? Is our desire to be “first” greater than our desire to be “servant”?

Personal Reflection:

Jesus reminds us of the difficulties of proclaiming God’s unconditional love and challenges us to lead in a way that differs from the rest of the world: as a servant.  Ponder a time when you have wanted to be served, and imagine yourself serving instead.  What does that feel like?

• Who are the people that serve others at church and in your community?  Name them and hold them in your heart.
• This week, how can you take on the role if a servant at home, work, or school?

Reading for 29th Sunday of Ordinary Time
Job 38:1-7, (34-41)                                      Psalms 104:1-9, 24, 35
Hebrews 5:1-10                                            Mark 10:35-45

Ecumenical Prayer Calendar
The peoples of Belize, Guatemala, Honduras & Mexico

Prayer for the week
Creator God, we cannot hope to know all that is and will be –and when we think we do, deliver us from the arrogance of ignorance.  Our hope rests in your wisdom.  By that wisdom, lead us through uncertainty and steady us in love.  Amen.

Personal Reflection:

Living the deep realities of our faith commitment each day can be challenging. Like the man who asks Jesus how to inherit eternal life, we too want to know how to be in God’s favor.  Like him, we can turn away when challenged to give away things we value.  These differ from the days of the early disciples, but God’s call is still the same: we are called to let go of privileges, attitudes, and mindsets that stop us from being ready to receive God’s reign.

• What attachments might we need to let go for reasons of social, economic, racial and eco justice and live fully into God’s reign?

During the Week

De-clutter Jesus tells the rich man to sell all of his possessions. This week, commit to de-cluttering one closet or one shelf or one drawer in your space. (Bonus challenge: Do all three!) You might do this together. Give away things that can still be used. If your church or community has a ministry that gives away clothes, consider donating items there. Learning to live more simply is one way we can follow Jesus’ example.

Reading for 28th Sunday of Ordinary Time
Job 23:1-9, 16-17                                           Psalms 22:1-15
Hebrews 4:12-16                                            Mark 10:17-31

Ecumenical Prayer Calendar
The peoples of Costa Rica, El Salvador, Nicaragua & Panama

Prayer for the week
May we trust in your love and respond to your presence, when your call cuts against our expectations or plans.  Open us to compassion that seeks your way of love, justice, inclusion and equality for all.  Amen.

The Season of Creation comes to a close with a vision of God’s holy mountain: a place where we recognize God’s ongoing relationship with Creation, and a call for Creation to live out the spirit of shalom.  Living in the midst of the climate crisis and COVIS-19 pandemic, we have an even greater desire to find hope for the future.  To help create the vision that God puts forth, we must step forward, care for one another, and care for Planet Earth.  How do Isaiah’s words offer us a blueprint for what is possible?  In what ways are we called to be part of God’s story, creating hope, renewal and rebirth in these times?

Most people have experienced the grandeur, mystery, challenge, invitation, awe of mountains.  Even for those who have experienced painful or difficult things on mountains –or who find mountains oppressive –still the sense of them can be powerful.

Personal Reflection:

God is always creating things anew.  Even as one thing dies, another comes to life.  As plants and animals return to earth, they nurture the growth of new beings.  In this kind of world, how can we do anything but rejoice?  When we remember out place in Creation, and how we can support one another, life on God’s “holy mountain” –this planet –becomes wonderful beyond our imagination

• When have you had a moment of rejoicing on a mountain or hill?
• This week, what’s one thing you can do to prioritize caring for God’s creation?

Reading for 26th Sunday of Ordinary Time
Isaiah 65:17-25                                              Psalms 48:1-11
Romans 8:28-39                                             Mark 16:14-18

Ecumenical Prayer Calendar
The peoples of Bolivia, Brazil, Chile & Peru

Prayer for the week
Where we see limits and impossibility, O God, you see a future with promise.  You invite us to dream of justice and harmony for Planet Earth and all Earth beings.  Guide us to know, deeply, you imagination for us and our potential.  Help us to gain wisdom from the past, and yet move into the future free from past ways of harm and destruction.  Amen.

Jeremiah claims that the most devastating behavior of the people of Judah is that they no longer “know” God deep in their hearts.  The readings from Planet Earth Sunday are echoed here in the destruction of creation in the Sky Sunday readings.  Today, we live with the consequences of abusing Planet Earth and taking God’s Creation for granted.  Jeremiah’s mourning of Earth reminds us just how hurtful our separation from God and God’s creation can be.  We live with those consequences and the damage to our skies, our atmosphere, every day.  How might we work to repair Planet Earth and the life-giving blanket that wraps around it?

Personal Reflection:

Even in the midst of God’s anger and despair at humankind –often for ways we have abused Creation –still God does not abandon us, or Earth that is our home.  Indeed, we can look to the heavens and feel the power and presence of God.

• How do you feel God present in the sky?
• What signs have you seen in the sky?
• This week, when will you make time to step back, look at the sky, and focus on God’s presence, even in the midst of despair?

Reading for 25th Sunday of Ordinary Time

Jeremiah 4:23-28                                            Psalms 19:1-6

Philippians 2:14-18                                        Mark 15:33-39

Ecumenical Prayer Calendar

The peoples of Argentina, Paraguay & Uruguay

Prayer for the week

Creator God, you desire to be in relationship with us, and for us to be awestruck by your beauty.  May our attention move upward and outward to notice you and your handiwork in the sky, in the stars, and in the warmth of the sun.  May we be reminded that you delight in all of creation and speak beyond words.  Guide us to respond and to be claimed

by wonder and connection, to you and each other.  Amen.

On Humanity Sunday, we are encouraged to explore the relationship of mutuality that humans share with all Creation.  It also invites us to reflect on how human action impacts Earth, and questions what kinds of changes we need to make in our lifestyles and attitudes.

How then might we live with respect in Creation?  One way humans can live with respect in Creation is by recognizing the diversity of life in the ecosystems we inhabit.  Take some time this week to sit in the presence of other people, plants, animals, stones, bodies of water, specialized habitats. Learn their names, preference, habits. How might you remember these in your worship space, spiritual practices, and the place you spend our volunteer hours?  Speak them aloud in your prayers, music, stories; draw or paint them; or find your own way to share them with your community.

Personal Reflection:

Creation of humans should not be seen as separate from other elements of Creation.  Rather, God created human beings as a part of an overall plan that included stars and rivers, animals and tress, nighttime and day, as well as people.  We are intrinsically part of God’s world.  We are called to be Godlike in our care for Creation.  As God cares for even the minute details, so are we called to care for each thing, large and small.  How have you lived you life –as a ruler of creation or a compassionate servant?

RESOURCES FOR LIVING OUR FAITH AT ZION

Reading for 24th Sunday of Ordinary Time

Genesis 1:26-28                                             Psalms 8

Philippians 2:1-8                                            Mark 10:41-45

Ecumenical Prayer Calendar

The peoples of Ghana & Nigeria

Prayer for the week

Creator God, you call us to remember our humanity, because in knowing ourselves we know you more fully.  May we be reminded that we are your creation and that you call us to responsibility.  In the beauty around and within us, may we embrace your ways and remember our kinship with all creation.  Amen.