"He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and will deliver us again. On him we have set our hope that he will continue to deliver us, as you help us by your prayers. Then many will give thanks on our behalf for the gracious favor granted us in answer to the prayers of many." 2 Corinthians 1:10-11
 
While I reflected on prayer this week, I focused on intercessory prayer. What I noticed when I read this the other day is the word "as" at the beginning of verse 11. Paul directly connects his hope in God continuing to deliver him from the trial he is facing to the prayers for him offered up by others. As pastor and author J. Hampton Keathley says, "God has chosen to use our prayers to accomplish his purpose." This elevates the need to be faithful in intercessory prayer. It also elevates the need to make sure that we are bringing others into our needs and struggles, so that they can pray for us and appeal to God on our behalf. 
 
The text says "so that thanks may be given by many persons on our behalf".  The Greek word used here for persons is "prosopon"; it literally means face.  So, we have the image of many faces lifted up toward God in prayer. What a great picture of intercessory prayer! 

In light of this and the Russian invasion of Ukraine that we are watching so uneasily, I am struck by God's deliverance coming "as" we help others by our prayers. May we bring comfort and be comforted as we turn our faces to God in prayer on behalf of others.

Grace and peace,

Anita Sorenson
Pastor for Spiritual Formation

Lord God of peace, hear our prayer!

We have tried so many times and over so many years

To resolve our conflicts by our own powers and by the force of our arms. 

How many moments of hostility and darkness have we experienced?

How much blood has been shed? 

How many lives have been shattered? 

How many hopes have been buried?

But our efforts have been in vain.

Now Lord, come to our aid!

Grant us peace, teach us peace;

Guide our steps in the way of peace.

Open our eyes and our hearts,

And give us the courage to say:

“Never again war!”; “With war everything is lost”. 

Instill in our hearts the courage to take concrete steps to achieve peace.

Lord, God of Abraham, God of the Prophets, God of Love, 

You created us and you call us to live as brothers and sisters. 

Give us the strength daily to be instruments of peace; 

enable us to see everyone who crosses our path as our brother and sister. 

Make us sensitive to the pleas of our citizens who entreat us to turn our weapons of war

Into instruments of peace, 

Our trepidation into confident trust, 

And our quarrelling into forgiveness.

Keep alive within us the flame of hope,

So that with patience and perseverance 

we may opt for dialogue and reconciliation.

In this way may peace triumph at last,

 and may the words “division,”, “hatred,” and “war” 

be banished from the heart of all humankind. 

Lord, defuse the violence of our tongues and our hands,

Renew our hearts and minds, 

So that the word which always beings us together will be “brother,”

And our way of life will always be that of 

Shalom, Peace, Salaam!

Pope Francis

Grace and peace,

Anita Sorenson

Pastor for Spiritual Formation

I No Longer Pray For Peace

On the edge of war, one foot already in,
I no longer pray for peace:
I pray for miracles.
I pray that stone hearts will turn
to tenderheartedness,
and evil intentions will turn
to mercifulness,
and all the soldiers already deployed
will be snatched out of harm's way,
and the whole world will be
astounded onto its knees.
I pray that all the "God talk"
will take bones,
and stand up and shed
its cloak of faithlessness,
and walk again in its powerful truth.
I pray that the whole world might
sit down together and share
its bread and its wine.
Some say there is no hope,
but then I've always applauded the holy fools
who never seem to give up on
the scandalousness of our faith:
that we are loved by God......
that we can truly love one another.
I no longer pray for peace:
I pray for miracles.

- Poem by Ann Weems

Grace and peace,

Anita Sorenson

Pastor for Spiritual Formation

Salvation Oracles on Reading Isaiah 43:1-5

There is a long list of threats around us:
     terror,
     cancer,
     falling markets,
     killing,
     others unlike us in all their variety,
     loneliness,
     shame,
     death--
     the list goes on and we know it well.
And in the midst of threat of every kind,
     you appear among us in your full power,
          in your deep fidelity,
          in your amazing compassion.
     You speak among us the one word that could matter:
               "Do not fear."
And we, in our several fearfulnesses, are jarred by your utterance.
     On a good day, we know that your sovereign word is true.
     So, give us good days by your rule,
          free enough to rejoice,
          open enough to change,
          trusting enough to move out of new obedience,
          grace enough to be forgiven and then to forgive.
We live by your word.  Speak it to us through the night,
     that we may have many good days through your gift.
 
~Walter Brueggemann
     from Prayers for a Privileged People

Grace and peace,

Anita Sorenson
Pastor for Spiritual Formation

I resonate with what W. David O. Taylor has to say in this Christianity Today article: "Each year, around the latter part of winter, Lent arrives. It nearly always surprises me. Here it is, once again, summoning me to change how I typically live." Some years, Lent sneaks up on me and I find myself ill-prepared. Other years, my life is colored by deep grief, and I can't imagine giving something up when it feels like my life is already barren. And still other years, I approach Lent with enough interior space to wonder about God's invitations for me in this important season of preparation.
 
I'm grateful that, whatever my participation (or disengagement) in Lent, each year brings a new opportunity. My appreciation for the church calendar and the rhythms of worship continues to grow each year. Even if I miss some of the richness of the season in a given year, I know that I will have another opportunity the next year. His mercies are new every morning—and every year! 

Like many things in the church, the church calendar is meant to help order our affections towards God. It doesn't mean that we somehow earn favor or special standing. It does not make us better or change our justification. However, these practices shape us, too — not in order to earn favor with God but as a way to be God's apprentices and follow how He says life works best. Dallas Willard reminds us: 

"We should not only want to be merciful, kind, unassuming, and patient persons but also be making plans to become so." (The Divine Omission, 29). 

Lent helps us make plans towards becoming more like Jesus.

This year, I find myself ready to engage in the season of Lent, which starts on March 2nd. I'm planning to read through Sister Wendy Beckett's lovely book, The Art of Lent. She describes and interprets forty full-color paintings for each day of Lent. Some friends of mine are committing to engage in an act of service each day as a family: picking up trash, bringing food to a neighbor, offering to help with yard work, etc. What does God have for you to do and experience this Lent?
 
Grace and peace,

Anita Sorenson
Pastor for Spiritual Formation

The family is God’s primary spiritual formation plan. It is in our households that we are taught what is most and least important and we begin to understand how we fit in this world that God has made. Parents, do you know the book Habits of the Household, by Justin Whitmel Earley? Earley is convinced that ordinary routines are extraordinary opportunities to live out the love of God in profound ways. He encourages families to reimagine and establish new habits and intentional rhythms (i.e. liturgies) around everyday routines in the daily chaos of raising kids. 

I was introduced to Earley’s ideas in The Common Rule, on developing holy rhythms of life that help us live more deeply rooted in God’s lifegiving Kingdom. We show what we love and value by our daily habits and we can place ourselves in a position to be transformed when we intentionally practice habits in our friendship with Jesus, individually and with others. Habits of the Household roots these ideas in the heart of the family. 

Can you think of our families as little “schools of love,” places where we have one vocation, one calling: to form all who live here into lovers of God and neighbor? In the many habits of a household, including waking, mealtimes, screentime, work, play, bedtime and conversation, we have the opportunity to “live liturgically” and practice the story of God over and over again. Deeply formed lives start in the family. We all need spiritual companions to help us to implement our desire to see our kids come to know, follow and love Jesus. Check out Habits of the Household.

Grace and peace,

Anita Sorenson

Pastor for Spiritual Formation

Scripture proclaims that human beings were created for in-person community (Genesis 2:18-24, Psalm 133:1-3), and that the presence of our Savior can be known as God’s people gather (Matthew 18:20, Hebrews 10:24-25). I have experienced that personally as our congregation has slowly and thoughtfully moved to meeting in-person again.

Unfortunately, reconnecting in the flesh does take effort and risk. It can be awkward or uncomfortable at first. And the rewards often arrive not right away, but over weeks, months, or even years. Pandemic days have forced us all out of the habit of gathering in person, and it is never easy to get back into a habit – whether it be exercise, practicing an instrument, or worshiping in a sanctuary. For many in our community, distance, health concerns, and other reasons will make remote participation at PasCov continue to be the best option.

So, we will strive to make the live stream of our worship service as robust as we can. Online options for ministry participation will continue to be available. But should health, mobility, safety, and travel plans allow, we hope you and your family will again take up the time-tested practice of in-person church. We believe you too will find a hunger in your soul answered. Christian community – it may be flawed, imperfect, and full of the foibles and failings of our broken humanity. But it is also an incredible gift. Come and receive it.

Grace and peace,

Anita Sorenson
Pastor for Spiritual Formation

Come. Holy Spirit! 

We pray to meet you in the depths of our hearts where we are so prone to fear and anxiety, so quick to forget that we are committed to Hope, to Love, intending to believe and acting on the principle that “all will be well, all will be well, and all manner of things will be well.” 

We pray to let you heal us—body and spirit—of those wounds and scars that are left over from old memories, early traumas and the hurts and slights that keep popping up in the course of our daily lives.

We pray to feel your energy surging in our declining bodies, in our brains that too often forget things these days, in our praying spirits that bog down with the enormity and complexity of this sad world.

We pray for the wounds of so many in so many places, with the accompanying fear that we can’t know where terror will break out next. We pray that you will keep up your powerful attack on the minds and wills of those who are heartless, greedy and self-serving only, and transform their hearts to ones of compassion and caring. 

We pray for your Presence in the created world, that as it struggles to survive and thrive, you will teach us how to cooperate with that healing, with your power to give us words and actions that will preserve and respect the beauty and sustainability of Earth’s resources. 

We pray that you, Holy Healer, will touch the bodies and spirits and minds of those who suffer, and where there is despair, replace it with hope and peace. 

And for all those areas for which we have words but can’t get them out, and for those things deep inside us for which we have no words, Spirit, turn them into creative and cogent expressions of our hearts to the Holy One—for what is loving. joyful, peaceful, kind and generous, and faithful in our walking and talking, singing and dancing, working and giving, hoping and living each day with imagination, energy and love.

Come, Holy Spirit, Come!

 Grace and peace,

Anita Sorenson

Pastor for Spiritual Formation

Lord Jesus,

We ask for
forgiveness of every debt,
provision for every need,
strength for every weakness,
comfort for every trouble,
healing for every sickness,
peace for every anxiety,
joy for every sorrow,
light for every darkness,
love for every longing, 
companionship for every loneliness,
presence for every absence,
meaning for every emptiness,
bread for every hunger, 
water for every thirst,
shelter for every storm,
and abundance for every lack. 

You are the miracle. You part the waters again and again, inviting us to ask, seek and knock.

We await your whisper in the silence and envision your Word bringing everything to life.

Amen.

Grace and peace,

Anita Sorenson
Pastor for Spiritual Formation

The world now is too dangerous
and too beautiful for anything but love.
May your eyes be so blessed you see God in everyone.
Your ears, so you hear the cry of the poor.
May your hands be so blessed
that everyone you touch is a sacrament.
Your lips, so you speak nothing but the truth with love.
May your feet be so blessed that you run
to those who need you.
And may your heart be so opened,
so set on fire, that your love,
your love, changes everything.

Celtic Christian Tradition

Grace and peace,

Anita Sorenson
Pastor for Spiritual Formation