Proper 12B/Ordinary 17B/Pentecost 10

Proper 12B | Ordinary 17B | Pentecost 10 July 25, 2021 NEW: FOR POETRY PEW CLICK HERE! FOR A BEAD AND A PRAYER CLICK HERE A Liturgy For Worship and Meditation —Use all or any portion as you choose—
	THERE IS THE NEED Hymn—Guide Me, O My Great Redeemer [For Music Click Here] Guide me, O my great Redeemer, pilgrim through this barren land I am weak, but you are mighty; hold me with your powerful hand. Bread of heaven, bread of heaven, feed me now and evermore, feed me now and evermore. Open now the crystal fountain, where the healing waters flow. Let the fire and cloudy pillar lead me all my journey through. Strong Deliverer, strong Deliverer, ever be my strength and shield, ever be my strength and shield. When I tread the verge of Jordan, bid my anxious fears subside. Death of death, and hell's Destruction, land me safe on Canaan's side. Songs of praises, songs of praises I will ever sing to you, I will ever sing to you. Centering In Preparation I am hungry in my heart of hearts. I am hungry for the bread of heaven. I am hungry for the love of God. I am hungry for peace and justice. I am hungry. May my hunger awaken me to God's presence, here and everywhere, and to the radical self-giving that is God's way. And the multiplication of Gods compassionate mercy overflow into every heart, mind, and spirit. Amen. Opening Words God speaks! with excitement! with enthusiasm! with new life! God is present! God is with us! nothing can separate us! Even when we feel unsure, unclear, confused, even when we feel broken to the core of our being - We hold fast to God's love, God's acceptance, we are always welcome in God's household. We will each, once again, feel like a well-watered garden. Full of life! Radiant in the sun! It will be good. It is good. —Rosemary Mitchel. Birthings and Blessings. Collect For the Day God our Sovereign One, as you once fed your people with manna from heaven, you open your hand and satisfy our needs. Teach us to remember you as the source of all we need, that we may always receive your gifts with thankful hearts. Blessed are You and blessed are the gifts you grant us. Amen. —Stratman, Paul. Now and Forever: New Collects for Modern Lectionaries. Prayer For the Day God of our hopes and dreams, we are empty, and long to be filled; we are hungry, and long to be fed; we are lost, and long to be found. Invite us once more to eat our fill and find our true nourishment in Jesus, the bread of heaven. Just as Jesus gathered up the fragments of the five loaves and two fish after feeding the five thousand, gather up the pieces of our lives and shelter us in your love. Amen. —Scifres, Mary; Beu, B. J.. The Abingdon Worship Annual 2021. Abingdon Press. Prayer For Illumination O God, lead us in our worship today that our lips might praise you, our lives might bless you, and our thoughts might glorify your name. We come to listen to your Word and to lift our prayers, knowing that you always hear us. Help us to hear you. Thank you, dear God. Amen. —Drescher, John. Invocations and Benedictions for the Revised Common Lectionary. Abingdon Press. THERE ARE GOD'S PEOPLE AND THE FOLLOWERS OF JESUS II Samuel 11 1 In the spring, that time of the year when rulers go off to war, David sent Joab out along with this officers and troops. They massacred the Ammonites and laid siege to Rabbah. David, however, stayed in Jerusalem.  2 As evening approached, David rose from his couch and strolled about on the flat roof of the palace. From the roof he saw a woman—a very beautiful woman—bathing.  3 David made inquiries about her and learned that her name was Bathsheba,* and that she was the daughter of Eilam and the wife of Uriah the Hittite.  4 Then David sent messengers to fetch her. She came to him, and he slept with her, at a time when she had been declared ritually clean after her monthly period. Then she returned to her house.  5 But she conceived, and sent this message to David: “I’m pregnant.”  6 Then David sent a message to Joab, “Send me Uriah the Hittite.” And Joab sent him to David.  7 When Uriah came, David asked him how Joab and the troops were doing and how the campaign was going.  8 Then he said to Uriah, “Go home and wash your feet after your journey.” As he left the palace, attendants followed him with a gift from the ruler’s table.  9 Uriah, however, did not go home that evening. Instead, he lay down by the palace gate with all the ruler’s officers.  10 Learning that Uriah had not gone home, David said, “Uriah, you had a long journey, why did you not go home?”  11 Uriah answered, “Israel and Judah are under attack. So is the Ark. Joab and your officers are camping in the open. How can I go home to eat and drink and to sleep with my wife? As YHWH lives, and as you yourself live, I will do no such a thing!”  12 Then David said to Uriah, “Stay here another day, and tomorrow I will let you go.” So Uriah stayed in Jerusalem another day.  13 On the following day David invited Uriah to eat and drink with him and got him drunk. But in the evening Uriah went out to lie down in his blanket among the ruler’s officers and did not go home.  14 In the morning David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it with Uriah.  15 The letter said, “Put Uriah opposite the enemy where the fighting is fiercest, and then back off, leaving Uriah exposed so that he will meet his death.”  16 So Joab, during the siege of the city, stationed Uriah where he knew the strongest soldiers would be attacking.  17 When the soldiers of the city rallied and fought against Joab, some of David’s troops fell, and so did Uriah the Hittite. —Priests for Equality. The Inclusive Bible. Sheed & Ward. ______________________________________________ I have wrestled with this text for years. This week was no different. I almost did not include it. But it is the chosen lection from the Hebrew Bible for this Sunday. So, I find the need to comment: The story of David and Bathsheba is misunderstood because of poor interpretation and application. This is not the account of a power king reaping the rewards of the kingdom he controls. No, that misses the main point. This is not the account of a man having an affair with a woman other than his wife. No, that really misses the point. This is not the account of a romance that was shared in the heat of the moment. No, that completely misses the point. This is not an account of a sexual encounter. No, that is sugar coating an injustice turning it into a comfort for the male-ego. This is clearly, with no doubt about it the story of violence. It is a story of rape. Bathsheba did not have a say or a choice in this event. The actions of David are without any consent, without any mutuality, without any means to change the outcome. Bethsheba is the victim of David's sin and brokenness. We hope that in her life there was some resolution of becoming a survivor of abuse. But this event treats her as other than a person. David makes her an object of his desire and the soothing of his malaise. She is without a voice, without any rights. This story is about the evil of violence and non-equality. It is the same evil that in today's world continues as acts against women. This violent evil is even more hideous and horrific of David's resolve to deal with Uriah, Bathsheba's husband. I mean, Uriah was a male person who was a well-trained soldier and had the option of choices. It is more than tragic that his life ended the way David brought it to an end as if with his very own hands. But Bathsheba—she was a victim who had no options. In the past several years, violence against women has been exposed by those strong and powerful women who found the courage to share their stories about being assaulted. The difference now is that women can speak up, they can say "no", and share how their voice was not respected. Their voice is not even respected by the legal community, the government, and especially the church. It is beyond sad to think about how many women experience the violent of sexual assault and rape only to have those who do not believe it, or those who turn their head and look the other way. The lesson we learn here is a straight word to men. Women are people. Women have within themselves the same basis for being respected and held in dignity. Women are not simply the fulfillment of a man's fantasy or other insecurities. Women are not someone to complete a man's life. Women are to have a life and live it with every right and access to the resources that are for all humankind. Women are equal in personhood. Women are equitable sharers in God's creation and God's giving. It is far past time to wake up to the reality that being a female person should not have consequences of any or all injustices. Bathsheba stands as a person in whom we see the wretchedness of human evil as perpetuated by a male person. That is the lesson we need to hear, a message we need to speak up about, and a way of living that we must seek and never stop seeking until such oppression and evil is only a remembrance of what once was, but thankfully eliminated. In the Kin-Dom of God there is equality...on earth as it is in heaven. ________________________________________ Psalm 14 1 Only fools say to themselves. “There is no God!” They’re all corrupt, they’ve done terrible things, and no one does what is right.  2 YHWH looks down from heaven upon the peoples to see if anyone understands, if anyone seeks God.  3 But they are all lost, they are all equally corrupt; not one of them does what is right, not a single one.  4 Will they never learn? They eat up my people like bread and never give God a thought.  5 I see them now, consumed with fear, because God is on the side of those who do justice.  6 They frustrate the progress of poor people at every turn, but YHWH is the refuge of those in need.  7 Who will God bring us from Zion? Who will be the Deliverance of Israel? When YHWH makes the faithful prosperous again, what joy and celebration will be ours as children of Leah and Rachel and Jacob! —Priests for Equality. The Inclusive Bible. Sheed & Ward. Psalm Prayer O God, look down from heaven on all humankind and grant that we may choose the way of peace. Rescue us from the captivity of sin and cleanse us, so that we are ready for the dwellings in your heavenly Jerusalem. Amen. —Stratman, Paul. Psalm Prayers from Sarum.   Ephesians 3 14 That is why I kneel before Abba God,  15 from whom every family in heaven and on earth takes its name.  16 And I pray that God, out of the riches of divine glory, will strengthen you inwardly with power through the working of the Spirit.  17 May Christ dwell in your hearts through faith, so that you, being rooted and grounded in love,  18 will be able to grasp fully the breadth, length, height and depth of Christ’s love and, with all God’s holy ones,  19 experience this love that surpasses all understanding, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.  20 To God—whose power now at work in us can do immeasurably more than we ask or imagine— 21 to God be glory in the Church and in Christ Jesus through all generations, world without end! Amen. —Priests for Equality. The Inclusive Bible. Sheed & Ward. THERE IS GOD'S PROVISION FREELY GIVEN John 6 1 Some time later, Jesus crossed over to the other side of the Sea of Galilee—that is, Lake Tiberius— 2 and a huge crowd followed him, impressed by the signs he gave by healing sick people.  3 Jesus climbed the hillside and sat down there with the disciples.  4 It was shortly before the Jewish feast of Passover.  5 Looking up, Jesus saw the crowd approaching and said to Philip, “Where can we buy some bread for these people to eat?” 6 Jesus knew very well what he was going to do, but asked this to test Philip’s response.  7 Philip answered, “Not even with two hundred days’ wages could we buy loaves enough to give each of them a mouthful!”  8 One of the disciples, Simon Peter’s brother Andrew, said,  9 “There’s a small boy here with five barley loaves and two dried fish. But what good is that for so many people?”  10 Jesus said to them, “Make the people sit down.” There was plenty of grass there, and as many as five thousand families sat down.  11 Then Jesus took the loaves, gave thanks, and gave them out to all who were sitting there; he did the same with the fish, giving out as much as they could eat.  12 When the people had eaten their fill, Jesus said to the disciples, “Gather up the leftover pieces so that nothing gets wasted.”  13 So they picked them up and filled twelve baskets with the scraps left over from the five barley loaves.  14 The people, seeing this sign that Jesus had performed, said, “Surely this is the Prophet who was to come into the world.”  15 Seeing that they were about to come and carry him off to crown him as ruler, Jesus escaped into the hills alone.  16 As evening approached, the disciples went down to the lake.  17 They got into their boat, intending to cross to Capernaum, which was on the other side of the lake. By this time it was dark, and Jesus had still not joined them;  18 moreover, a stiff wind was blowing and the sea was becoming rough.  19 When they had rowed three or four miles, they caught sight of Jesus approaching the boat, walking on the water. They were frightened,  20 but he told them, “It’s me. Don’t be afraid.”  21 They were about to take him into the boat, but suddenly the boat was ashore at their destination. —Priests for Equality. The Inclusive Bible. Sheed & Ward. Gospel Prayer You, whose love is deeper than oceans; whose love is higher than mountains; whose love dwells in the heart and soul of lives deeply rooted in you; O God our sustenance, it is you we serve, you alone we worship and to you alone all glory is due. —Birch, John. The Act of Prayer: Praying through the Lectionary. Bible Reading Fellowship. THERE IS THE MYSTERY OF SUFFICIANCY IN ABUNDANCE Credo We are a cloth of diverse colours made from many gifts and graces. We are the people flowing forth from Creator God, surprising ourselves with the things which can be done. We are raw material for rewarding relationships as our lives interweave, contributing one to the other, holding each other firm when one is weak or breaking. We are each worthy of being respected and cared for essential to the pattern, skilled in our appointed tasks, sources of laughter and sharers of tears. We commit ourselves to work together, that one day, this world may be a place where all people live in justice, freedom and peace. —Dorothy McRae-McMahon (adapted) Prayer of Intercession O God, be glorified in your Church. Give us faith to trust in you, that we might ever believe the truth of your word. God our Provider, you are the bread of life; fill us with your goodness. O God, look in mercy upon your children. Inspire understanding in those who do not yet seek your ways. Count us, just God, among the generation of the righteous. God our Provider, you are the bread of life; fill us with your goodness. God, you tamed the raging of the sea and the strength of the wind. We pray you to shield our crops from the fury of the sun; bless our fields with waters from the heavens. God our Provider, you are the bread of life; fill us with your goodness. O God, we hold in our hearts all victims of violence—especially those smitten by gun violence. May they, and those who love them, comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height of your comforting love. God our Provider, you are the bread of life; fill us with your goodness. Jesus, you said to your disciples, “It is I; be not afraid.” We pray you to comfort all who are in trouble, need, or sickness. God our Provider, you are the bread of life; fill us with your goodness. O God, you have gathered as your family those on heaven and earth. We pray for those who have died that they may rest in your eternal presence. And we pray for ourselves that we may run the race with vigor and finally join your saints forever. God our Provider, you are the bread of life; fill us with your goo dness. —Williamson, Jeremiah D. Praying the Scriptures: Litanies for Sunday Worship. Church Publishing Inc. THERE ARE THE LEFTOVERS OVERFLOWING Prayer of Thanksgiving Bread of Life, Source of All, nourish us, for we have grown weak. The world has pressed down on us, the blight of oppression has suppressed us. Nourish our souls, Holy One. Feed us with Your words, Your wisdom, Your grace and Your peace. Quench our thirst for justice and righteousness. Restore us to Your strength, so we can pursue Your ways in this world. Guide us to use our resources to care and nourish others, because in You, there is always enough. You are a God of abundant love and grace. Feed us, guide us, and lead us on. Amen. —Rev-o-lution Resources, Rev. Mindi Welton-Mitchell (c) 2020. Used by permission. The Prayer of Jesus (adapted) Loving Presence, luminous in all creation, hallowed be your name. Thy Kin-Dom come. May we reflect on earth the yielding perfection of the heavens. Help us to receive an illumed measure from the earth this day. Forgive us when we trespass against others, human and other than human, as we forgive others who trespass against us. Keep us on the path of wisdom when we are tempted to take the selfish path. May it be your rule we follow, your power we exercise, and your radiance that allures. May this be the truth that guides our lives, the ground from which our future will grow, until we meet again. —Bruce Sanguin Sending Forth The God we worship is never confined to this holy place. So go and travel with the God who is found in ordinary and surprising places. Blessing God feed you with open hands, protect you with mighty arms, heal you with gentle fingers. The scent of bread, fish, and grace linger in the clothing of your heart and renew your faith when strong sea winds blow. —Long, Kim. Feasting on the Word. Presbyterian Publishing Corporation. THERE IS RESOLUTION HYMN—God Of Grace and God Of Glory [Click Here For Music] God of grace and God of glory, on thy people pour thy pow’r. Crown thine ancient church’s story, bring its bud to glorious flow’r. Grant us wisdom, grant us courage, for the facing of this hour, for the facing of this hour.   Lo! the hosts of evil round us scorn thy Christ, assail thy ways! From the fears that long have bound us, free our hearts to faith and praise. Grant us wisdom, grant us courage, for the living of these days, for the living of these days. Cure thy children’s warring madness; bend our pride to thy control; shame our wanton, selfish gladness, rich in things and poor in soul. Grant us wisdom, grant us courage, lest we miss thy Kin-Dom’s goal, lest we miss thy kin-Dom’s goal. Save us from weak resignation to the evils we deplore. Let the search for thy salvation be our glory evermore. Grant us wisdom, grant us courage, serving thee whom we adore, serving thee whom we adore.
	POETRY PEW Whence Shall We Buy Bread? Edward Hayes Plumptre Public Domain The after-glow lies purple on the hill, And o’er the listening crowd, There falls the boding of the evening chill, And mist of thickening cloud. Where shall they go who all day long have stood Hearing the news of joy? Where in this town, that village, gather food For woman, man, and boy? Weary, and sad that journey through the waste, Half-fainting by the way, Through darkness pressing with bewildering haste, Down sinking ere the day. And some are lame, and palsied, deaf or blind, Still waiting for His hand; Or, healed that very day, can hardly find Their strength to walk or stand. Rumour had told that once before He fed Five thousand in the wild, And satisfied the hungry souls with bread, And all their fears beguiled. Oh, was it true that He a feast can make When man’s resources fail, And spread His banquet by the lonely lake, In grassy upland vale? Can (S)he, with one poor fisher’s scanty store, For all that crowd provide, The bread and fish still growing more and more, Till none are unsupplied? Yes, (S)he who gives the full corn in the ear, The olive oil and wine, Who guides the seasons of the circling year Through every changing sign. (S)he can compress within a moment’s space The magic of the spring, Seed-time and harvest in one act embrace, And home the full sheaves bring. Yes; evermore (S)he feeds the hungry souls With bounties full and free, And calms the waters when the thunder rolls, And storms-blasts sweep the sea. Our souls were faint; we deemed no helper nigh, When lo! (S)he gave us bread; Calm breezes lulled the waters surging high, And all our terrors fled. The fragments of God’s store are bounteous feast To weary souls and faint; They gather round, the greatest and the least, The sinner and the saint. (S)he can refresh, and bid the servants take The fragments that remain, And peasant’s meal, if (S)he but bless and break, Whole thousands can sustain. From out the fulness of the bounty free, We treasure what is left; The joy, once known, can never wholly flee, Though we’re of all bereft. Through the dark night we journey o’er the hill, Not knowing where we go; That food sustains us through the dark hour’s chill Until the morning glow. Thanks to Chris @ https://englewoodreview.org/lectionary-poetry-9th-sunday-after-pentecost-year-b/5/ A BEAD AND A PRAYER
	CROSS I am hungry in my heart of hearts. I am hungry for the bread of heaven. I am hungry for the love of God. I am hungry for peace and justice. I am hungry. May my hunger awaken me to God's presence, here and everywhere, and to the radical self-giving that is God's way. And the multiplication of Gods compassionate mercy overflow into every heart, mind, and spirit. Amen. INVITATORY God our Sovereign One, as you once fed your people with manna from heaven, you open your hand and satisfy our needs. Teach us to remember you as the source of all we need, that we may always receive your gifts with thankful hearts. Blessed are You and blessed are the gifts you grant us. Amen. —Stratman, Paul. Now and Forever: New Collects for Modern Lectionaries. CRUCIFORM God of our hopes and dreams, we are empty, and long to be filled; we are hungry, and long to be fed; we are lost, and long to be found. Invite us once more to eat our fill and find our true nourishment in Jesus, the bread of heaven. Just as Jesus gathered up the fragments of the five loaves and two fish after feeding the five thousand, gather up the pieces of our lives and shelter us in your love. Amen. —Scifres, Mary; Beu, B. J.. The Abingdon Worship Annual 2021. Abingdon Press. WEEK 1 II Samuel 11. 1-17 ♦ In the spring, that time of the year when rulers go off to war, David sent Joab out along with this officers and troops. They massacred the Ammonites and laid siege to Rabbah. David, however, stayed in Jerusalem. As evening approached, David rose from his couch and strolled about on the flat roof of the palace. From the roof he saw a woman—a very beautiful woman—bathing. ♦ David made inquiries about her and learned that her name was Bathsheba,* and that she was the daughter of Eilam and the wife of Uriah the Hittite. Then David sent messengers to fetch her. She came to him, and he slept with her, at a time when she had been declared ritually clean after her monthly period. Then she returned to her house. But she conceived, and sent this message to David: “I’m pregnant.” ♦ Then David sent a message to Joab, “Send me Uriah the Hittite.” And Joab sent him to David. When Uriah came, David asked him how Joab and the troops were doing and how the campaign was going. Then he said to Uriah, “Go home and wash your feet after your journey.” As he left the palace, attendants followed him with a gift from the ruler’s table. ♦ Uriah, however, did not go home that evening. Instead, he lay down by the palace gate with all the ruler’s officers. Learning that Uriah had not gone home, David said, “Uriah, you had a long journey, why did you not go home?” Uriah answered, “Israel and Judah are under attack. So is the Ark. Joab and your officers are camping in the open. How can I go home to eat and drink and to sleep with my wife? As YHWH lives, and as you yourself live, I will do no such a thing!” ♦ Then David said to Uriah, “Stay here another day, and tomorrow I will let you go.” So Uriah stayed in Jerusalem another day. On the following day David invited Uriah to eat and drink with him and got him drunk. But in the evening Uriah went out to lie down in his blanket among the ruler’s officers and did not go home. ♦ In the morning David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it with Uriah. The letter said, “Put Uriah opposite the enemy where the fighting is fiercest, and then back off, leaving Uriah exposed so that he will meet his death.” So Joab, during the siege of the city, stationed Uriah where he knew the strongest soldiers would be attacking. ♦ When the soldiers of the city rallied and fought against Joab, some of David’s troops fell, and so did Uriah the Hittite. —Priests for Equality. The Inclusive Bible. Sheed & Ward. CRUCIFORM O God, look down from heaven on all humankind and grant that we may choose the way of peace. Rescue us from the captivity of sin and cleanse us, so that we are ready for the dwellings in your heavenly Jerusalem. Amen. —Stratman, Paul. Psalm Prayers from Sarum (p. 4). WEEK 2 Psalm 14. 1-7 ♦ Only fools say to themselves. “There is no God!” They’re all corrupt, they’ve done terrible things, and no one does what is right. ♦ Most High God of Hosts looks down from heaven upon the peoples to see if anyone understands, if anyone seeks God. ♦ But they are all lost, they are all equally corrupt; not one of them does what is right, not a single one. ♦ Will they never learn? They eat up my people like bread and never give God a thought. ♦ I see them now, consumed with fear, because God is on the side of those who do justice. ♦ They frustrate the progress of poor people at every turn, but Most High God of Hosts is the refuge of those in need. ♦ Who will God bring us from Zion? Who will be the Deliverance of Israel? When Most High God of Hosts makes the faithful prosperous again, what joy and celebration will be ours as children of Leah and Rachel and Jacob! —Priests for Equality. The Inclusive Bible. Sheed & Ward. CRUCIFORM You, whose love is deeper than oceans; whose love is higher than mountains; whose love dwells in the heart and soul of lives deeply rooted in you; O God our sustenance, it is you we serve, you alone we worship and to you alone all glory is due. —Birch, John. The Act of Prayer: Praying through the Lectionary. Bible Reading Fellowship. WEEK 3 Ephesians 3. 14-21 ♦ That is why I kneel before God, from whom every family in heaven and on earth takes its name. ♦ And I pray that God, out of the riches of divine glory, will strengthen you inwardly with power through the working of the Spirit. ♦ May Christ dwell in your hearts through faith, so that you, being rooted and grounded in love, ♦ will be able to grasp fully the breadth, length, height and depth of Christ’s love and, with all God’s holy ones, ♦ experience this love that surpasses all understanding, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. ♦ To God—whose power now at work in us can do immeasurably more than we ask or imagine— ♦ to God be glory in the Church and in Christ Jesus through all generations, world without end! Amen. —Priests for Equality. The Inclusive Bible. Sheed & Ward. CRUCIFORM Bread of Life, Source of All, nourish us, for we have grown weak. The world has pressed down on us, the blight of oppression has suppressed us. Nourish our souls, Holy One. Feed us with Your words, Your wisdom, Your grace and Your peace. Quench our thirst for justice and righteousness. Restore us to Your strength, so we can pursue Your ways in this world. Guide us to use our resources to care and nourish others, because in You, there is always enough. You are a God of abundant love and grace. Feed us, guide us, and lead us on. Amen. —Rev-o-lution Resources, Rev. Mindi Welton-Mitchell (c) 2020. Used by permission. WEEK 4 John 6. 1-21 ♦ Some time later, Jesus crossed over to the other side of the Sea of Galilee—that is, Lake Tiberius— and a huge crowd followed him, impressed by the signs he gave by healing sick people. Jesus climbed the hillside and sat down there with the disciples. ♦ It was shortly before the Jewish feast of Passover. Looking up, Jesus saw the crowd approaching and said to Philip, “Where can we buy some bread for these people to eat?” Jesus knew very well what he was going to do, but asked this to test Philip’s response. ♦ Philip answered, “Not even with two hundred days’ wages could we buy loaves enough to give each of them a mouthful!” One of the disciples, Simon Peter’s brother Andrew, said, “There’s a small boy here with five barley loaves and two dried fish. But what good is that for so many people?” ♦ Jesus said to them, “Make the people sit down.” There was plenty of grass there, and as many as five thousand families sat down. Then Jesus took the loaves, gave thanks, and gave them out to all who were sitting there; he did the same with the fish, giving out as much as they could eat. When the people had eaten their fill, Jesus said to the disciples, “Gather up the leftover pieces so that nothing gets wasted.” ♦ So they picked them up and filled twelve baskets with the scraps left over from the five barley loaves. The people, seeing this sign that Jesus had performed, said, “Surely this is the Prophet who was to come into the world.” Seeing that they were about to come and carry him off to crown him as ruler, Jesus escaped into the hills alone. ♦ As evening approached, the disciples went down to the lake. They got into their boat, intending to cross to Capernaum, which was on the other side of the lake. By this time it was dark, and Jesus had still not joined them; moreover, a stiff wind was blowing and the sea was becoming rough. ♦ When they had rowed three or four miles, they caught sight of Jesus approaching the boat, walking on the water. They were frightened, but he told them, “It’s me. Don’t be afraid.” They were about to take him into the boat, but suddenly the boat was ashore at their destination. —Priests for Equality. The Inclusive Bible. Sheed & Ward. CRUCIFORM The Prayer of Jesus (adapted) Loving Presence, luminous in all creation, hallowed be your name. Thy Kin-Dom come. May we reflect on earth the yielding perfection of the heavens. Help us to receive an illumed measure from the earth this day. Forgive us when we trespass against others, human and other than human, as we forgive others who trespass against us. Keep us on the path of wisdom when we are tempted to take the selfish path. May it be your rule we follow, your power we exercise, and your radiance that allures. May this be the truth that guides our lives, the ground from which our future will grow, until we meet again. —Bruce Sanguin INVITATORY God feed you with open hands, protect you with mighty arms, heal you with gentle fingers. The scent of bread, fish, and grace linger in the clothing of your heart and renew your faith when strong sea winds blow. —Long, Kim. Feasting on the Word. Presbyterian Publishing Corporation. CROSS God feed you with open hands, protect you with mighty arms, heal you with gentle fingers. The scent of bread, fish, and grace linger in the clothing of your heart and renew your faith when strong sea winds blow. —Long, Kim. Feasting on the Word. Presbyterian Publishing Corporation.