Mt. Gilead Missionary Baptist Church, Southeast

04/29/2026

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03/03/2026

From our poetics library, by Robert Monson

When home is far behind

Home is not always a beautiful word,
Especially when you’re trapped far away,
And fear envelops, chaos singing a tune of chaos.
And on those days when home is far away,
Hope being a distant memory,
May a love so pure
So potent
Guide you to the place where your soul-body-mind-everything
Can rest in the gentleness that it deserves
May peace be the bread that you eat
And kindness be the water that you drink
On your way back home where you belong
And if nobody is there waiting for you,
I pray that you know that it is ok to come home
To yourself

[img description: a dark purple photo with these words - May peace be the bread that you eat, And kindness be the water that you drink, On your way back home where you belong, And if nobody is there waiting for you, I pray that you know that it is ok to come home, To yourself]

10/16/2025

"allowing hope to shape our acts of justice and mercy in displacement and trauma is a bold thing to do
I think
because it can, and perhaps must, conjure up the ghosts, the terrors in our lives
that come as dancing specters
haunting goblins
moaning trolls
who remind us again and again
that we are far too human
to try to do this life all by ourselves
and we cannot always be in control or seek to be in control
you see, I think lament can be a good thing
because lament is often the sign that we are seeking
yearning
chasing hope
not just a hope in the divine
but the hope that God loves us
God rocks us
God cares for us
God will heal us
but perhaps not in the ways we expect or want
hope means we have opened our eyes, hearts, minds, souls, very spirits
and now see and feel and touch and smell
the joy and the agony living in the fractures of creation
that is the irony of hope
for in our yearning for it
we often walk far away from it as we try to come home to it
we often live into the small and narrow spaces of life that stunt our growth
and demand far too little of us
because far too little is expected from us
or far too little gives us comfort
..I don’t think hope is the end product on the assembly line of our lives
no, I think it is simply a part of the journey
part of the way in which we come to know God’s way in our lives with a richness that ripens and ripens and ripens...
and an enormous part of our task as members of faith communities is to make sure that no one is alone or caged or marked as less than because we must be there as witnesses and disciples
perfect and deeply imperfect
and we demand restored humanity"

- Dr. Emilie Townes
IMMIGRATION, REFUGEES, AND REFLECTIONS ON DISPLACEMENT
https://www.ctsnet.edu/at-this-point/displacement-trauma/

[img description: a blue photo with these words - allowing hope to shape our acts of justice and mercy in displacement and trauma is a bold thing to do I think because it can, and perhaps must, conjure up the ghosts, the terrors in our lives that come as dancing specters haunting goblins moaning trolls who remind us again and again that we are far too human to try to do this life all by ourselves]

10/12/2025

Read the latest in Tough Mind & Tender Heart from Robert Monson at https://mailchi.mp/219ff7e60768/the-launch-of-tough-mind-tender-heart-14183640

[img description: a dark purple photo with these words - I pray love finds you today, love that reminds you that there is more than enough room in this world for nuance, for beauty for grace overflowing. and I pray that unconditional love/care/support be the anchor that holds you when cruelty comes, I pray that beauty and love show you how to be brave.Robert Monson]

10/05/2025

From a 2022 issue of Liturgy that Matters, a call to worship from Rev. Molly Bolton.

[img description: a green photo with these words - When we long for gentleness, You, oh God, are a Kind Grandparent. When we need to rage, You, oh God, are the Crashing Sea. When we yearn for freedom, You, oh God, are a Flung-Open Gate. When we need the sustenance of beauty, You, oh God, are the Rising Moon. When we wished to be witnessed, You, oh God, take our face sweetly in your hands. You meet us where we are. You meet us here today. Rev. Molly Bolton]

09/11/2025

From our liturgy library - one of three variations of the disciple's prayer:

Our Holy Mother,
in your glory, we rise to courage.
Your gentle power uplifts.
Your ferocious care protects.
As empires rise and fall,
your brave love sustains
all the earth, era after era.
Provide for us and all –
let every basic need be met
and all excess be redistributed.
May your graciousness move us
to be gracious with others
in accountability and repair.
We strive to live in alignment
with ourselves, each other, and the land.
Keep us from all that deceives and destroys.
On your paths, we find life abundant.
In your company, we return to ourselves.
Under your wings, we shelter each other.

- m jade kaiser

Read them all at https://enfleshed.com/blogs/liturgies/disciples-prayer-the-lords-prayer/

[img description: a sage photo with these words - We strive to live in alignment
with ourselves, each other, and the land. Keep us from all that deceives and destroys. On your paths, we find life abundant. In your company, we return to ourselves. Under your wings, we shelter each other. m jade kaiser]

08/23/2025

May our sadness not be our end, but draw us deeper into honest community, human connection, and the rich wisdom of our inner lives and bodily truths that testify against the cruelties that surround us, that our actions may follow.

"Gentle Presence,
Patient Listener,
Holy Holder of it all,
My prayer is this:
I am so sad.
It’s not an ask.
It’s not a confession.
It’s an offering.
The only one I have today.
I’m praying it with hope.
I know grief is a lifeline -
tethering me to the world that should be.
The one worth fighting for.
As a practice of faith,
I will not deaden these feelings
that let me know all is not well.
I will not adjust to cruelty or disregard for life,
detaching myself from humanity - mine or others.
I will not allow once imaginable scenarios
to be turned into everyday losses
that no longer pierce my soul.
And so here are my tears,
And here is my tired body,
And here is my foggy, distracted mind
bearing witness to the place within
that aches for the ones I love,
for friends and strangers,
for everyone being pushed into impossible situations.
My sadness is a testimony.
It is not my only one.
Tomorrow, hope or fight or curiosity
will bear their truth,
and pull me back into the labors I love,
in the company of others.
But today the only riot in me is this sorrow,
refusing to quiet your cry from within:
'We are made for so much better than this.'”

- M Jade Kaiser, enfleshed
An oldie from our our liturgy library

[img description: a photo of sand with a line of broken rocks crossing diagonally on the right side. These words sit on top - a prayer for the days when there's only sadness.]

08/08/2025