Author: SusannahDB

A Prayer for Disappointment

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Faithful God, I know I pray thy will be done, and I just wish my will and your will lined up more closely sometimes. You know I love making plans. Why didn’t my plan and your plan match this time? God, I am so disappointed. I really wanted it to all work out like I hoped. And so far it hasn’t! Ugh! I will continue to trust in you. I will continue to believe you are working all things together for good. I will continue to have hope. First though, I am going to be disappointed and sad and wallow in this for a bit. I will let my feelings out knowing that you understand disappointment. I will wonder why it didn’t go like I planned. I might even shake my fist in frustration. And then, Holy One, I will breathe deeply letting your spirit of peace flow through me. I will remember that you love me more than I can even comprehend. And I will work with you to create a new plan in the hopes this one works out. Amen.

I found this prayer in my drafts waiting to be shared on my blog. I have no idea why I didn’t share it or what was causing my disappointment when I wrote it. As disappointments keep happening in life, I thought it was good to share today.

A Prayer While at the Emergency Department!

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Please know everything is fine. Just spent some time recently at the emergency department with someone lovely. All is well! No worries.

This prayer was written during the hours of sitting and waiting. If you find yourself in a similar situation, I hope you can pray this prayer as a comfort to yourself and those you love!

Patient and Loving God, While I am thankful for the skilled people rushing around to care for everyone, I would rather be just about anywhere else today. As I listen to conversations around me by people I do not know, I ask you to be with them. Grant patience to everyone here. Grant your wisdom to those providing care. Grant your peace to those waiting for results or medication or support. Be with the loved ones sitting on chairs that were comfortable three hours ago and now pacing rooms and hallways.

God of All Wisdom, thank you for everyone who is working today to keep people healthy, to mend what has been broken, and to ease pain. Thank you for kind words and listening ears. For everyone who spends their days and nights in the Emergency Departments around the world, we give thanks. Amen.

Fruits of the Spirit Interactive Sermon

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I wanted to do a different sermon when I preached earlier this summer, so I decided to have the congregation take an active role in a sermon focusing on the Fruits of the Spirit from Galatians 5:22-23.

First, I gathered some actual fruit and a Sharpie. I used bananas, lemons, and oranges. On each fruit, write one of the fruits-love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, or self-control.

And my friend designed these awesome question sheets on Canva.

And then I wrote an introduction and a wrap up for the sermon.

Just before these verses in Paul’s letter to the churches in Galatia are a list of do not dos. We will not be reading those verses today because we are focusing on the to do! The fruits of the Spirit are actions that pour out of us as a response to God’s love.

The fruits of the Spirit-love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control-are not things we do to be saved. Jesus already took care of that . The fruits of the Spirit are our response to God’s love living inside of us. Because we are filled with God’s love, we can be fruit trees bearing lots of fruit. And this text isn’t just talking about us as individuals-it is talking about the church. So because Buckingham Presbyterian Church is filled with God’s love, our grateful response is being a church that shares all of these fruits.

It is easy to say these fruits so fast that we don’t even think about them. Instead today we are going to dive deep into this fruit salad. We are going to divide into groups and answer the questions on our sheet about our fruit. Then we will come back together and share what we said.

After each group has shared, it is time for the wrap up!

I want you to be on the lookout for these fruits in the coming days. I am giving everyone a Fruit of the Spirit Bingo Card. When you see a fruit or you put one of these fruits in action, cross it off your card. When your card is full, bring it back to church and give it to me. I will have a special prize for you (spoiler alert-it is fruit snacks). We are going to work together as a community of faith to be people who respond to God’s love by sharing love, joy, peace, kindness, faithfulness, self-control, generosity, gentleness, and patience. Amen.

Thanks to my creative friend for making these question and Bingo cards.

Giving Thanks and Turning Off the To Do List

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My wonderful sister sent me this gift recently.

It is a jar filled with 120 Scriptures. They are color coded and one is invited to select one when feeling-happy, anxious, lonely, thankful, sad, or angry.

I was so excited that I dove right into the jar and started pulling out Scriptures and reading them. And then my brain kept going (like it often does). I was thinking this is such a great idea. I could create something like this for my families at church. How wonderful would that be. And yes, it would be wonderful. And yes, it might still happen in the future. Not today. Today, I am going to enjoy this gift. I am going to avoid adding another thing to my to do list. I am going to smile when I pull a Scripture from the jar. I am going to give thanks for the gift and for the giver of this gift. And that will be enough for today.

Giver of All Good Gifts, Remind us that it is okay to say thank you and enjoy a gift. Every great idea does not need to be acted upon immediately. You remind us to be still and know that you are God. So today, help us to be still. Slow down our ideas that make us more work. Let us be still and rest in you. Amen.

A Prayer for the Garden

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I was raised by parents who had a garden. I spent my summer helping the grandparents in their gardens. Somehow the growing and gardening gene just didn’t make it to me. My church has a garden, and I enlisted support of people who have a green thumb to get the plants in the ground and help them grow! Last night was the first night of planting. Now it is time for that which I feel is more in my skill set-praying for the garden! Join me in a garden prayer.

God of All that Grows, Thank you for the gift of gardens filled with plants and hopefully someday filled with tasty foods. In our speedy society, it can be hard to wait for our garden to be ready. Give us patience as we watch it grow. Give us perseverance as we pull so many weeds. Give us steadfastness as we water when the rains don’t fall as we would prefer. Above all, give us a spirit of thankfulness as we tend and care for the land you created and share what we grow with your children. Amen!

Palm Sunday Prayer of Confession

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As we prepare to begin Holy Week, let’s acknowledge together that Holy Week is hard. If we attend to all that happens Monday-Saturday, Holy Week is a roller coaster of emotions and experiences. We can do this together.

Call to Confession-We know the story. We know what is coming this week. It is easy to jump ahead. Instead, let’s use this prayer time as an opportunity to sit in this moment right now. Let us pray together.

Holy One, We are waving our palms and welcoming you with shouts of Hosanna! It is a joyful service. We confess we want to jump ahead to next Sunday and fast forward through the events of this week. Remind us to slow down and walk with Jesus this week. To acknowledge where we have failed. To ask for forgiveness and a chance to start over. Hear our prayer as we journey with you each day not looking ahead and simply being present to what is happening. Amen.

Assurance of Forgiveness-God knows this week is hard! God hears our prayers and always forgives us. Hear and believe this good news-we are forgiven!

A Story of Friendship (Remembering Kristi)

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I met my best friend, Kristi, as summer was ending in 2000. We were moving into our apartments to start seminary. From that moment, we were friends. It was friends at first sight. For four years of seminary, we were usually together. (She did spend a year doing an internship in Virginia during this time-don’t worry we talked on the phone and emailed regularly).

Then we graduated and we both took jobs as Associate Pastors. I was near Milwaukee, and she was near Cleveland. We used to joke that my weather would be her weather the next day. During this time, we did spend two weeks together in Scotland when we worked on our application for The Amazing Race. I still think of the fun we would have had running the race each time I watch it!

She officiated my wedding. There were more moves. I officiated her wedding while she was sick with stupid cancer. And I was there with her 13 years ago as she took her last breath.

There are so, so many details I left out in this short description of our friendship. I am thankful to have had a friend who loved me for who I was, who supported me in pursuing my dreams, and who never doubted the possibilities of what each of us could do.

It seems hard to believe that it has been 13 years since I said goodbye to my buddy. Today in her memory, why not tell someone you love them? Or do something kind for someone else? I will be working on my kindness, telling my people how much I love them, and enjoying some tasty food in memory of my best friend, Kristi!

Kristi and I in Scotland in 2005!

Lent is here! Woohoo or maybe just woo.

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The season of Lent (the 40 days not including Sundays that lead up to Easter) begins today. Very few people call this their favorite season of the church year. On the Everything Happens podcast, Kate Bowler called Lent a “bummer” because we know what is going to happen. Jesus is going to be betrayed. Jesus is going to die.

Lent is a bummer and also a realistic season. Parts of our lives have been a bummer too. Things don’t always work out like we planned. Life is hard. Somedays we are lonely, sad, mad, frustrated, and so many other “negative” emotions. We have learned over our lifetimes that happy emotions are good and sad emotions are bad. Nope. They are all our feelings. There are not good emotions nor bad emotions…just emotions.

So, join me in embracing this season of real life. Let’s sit in the sad. Let’s mourn what has been lost or never was. Let’s give up the idea that our life must be perfect. And let’s commit again to following Jesus even when where he leads isn’t exactly where we’d prefer to go. Let’s follow Jesus together.

Faithful God, these ashes on our heads are a reminder that we have failed and that is okay. These ashes are a reminder that our time on earth is limited and that is okay. These ashes are a reminder that you created us and we are all made in your image and called your beloved. In these next forty days, walk with us Jesus as we go where you lead. Forgive us and remind us to forgive ourselves. Amen.

A Post-Vacation Prayer

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After spending a lovely week with my family, it is back to regular life today. I am sure you have had similar experiences when it feels challenging to make the transition from extra special to ordinary. Here’s the prayer I am praying today!

God of Big Events and Regular Everyday Life, Thank you for special times when we get to step out of the normal routines and do something different. Thank you for family and friends who we love. Faithful God, when the big event ends and it is time to return to regular everyday life, remind us that you are still with us. Your love for us doesn’t change. Help us to hold our memories close. Give us peace within the ordinary times and tasks. And when this day is done, grant us good rest so we can do it again tomorrow. Amen.

Love spending time with these two!

Decluttering-My Tea Drawer!

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Everywhere I look, I see stories of people cleaning and decluttering. So, I thought I would join in the fun by cleaning out my tea drawer.

Step 1-Make a cup of tea. I went with peppermint as that was on top of the overflowing drawer!

Step 2-Take everything out! This is the step where you find that you didn’t need to buy your husband more of his favorite green tea as he still had an unopened bag. And you’ll probably discover five of your own things you didn’t remember or haven’t enjoyed recently.

Step 3-Get rid of anything you didn’t love. I added a few not favorites to my compost bin.

Step 4-Put everything away and enjoy how good it looks!

Step 5-Reward yourself with another cup of tea!

Teas, hot chocolate, and a few other drinks that snuck in!