Woodland Lutheran Church Town of Rome

06/11/2026

Jesus, you are the Good Shepherd, and you are the guy with the whip chasing livestock out of the Temple. You are the guy dining at a Pharisee's house, and you hang out with folks with diseases and disabilities. You are gentle and acerbic, and patient and sick of it. It is so easy to typecast you as the holy Santa Claus, opening wishlist prayers by the bagful, firehosing the world with grace. That is made-up, thumbs up, plastic Jesus. Continue to challenge humanity with your mysterious, confusing, push-the-envelope, loving self. We will keep trying to catch on. Amen

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06/10/2026

Holy Jesus, you came to Jerusalem to die. Not like soldiers who march in battle afraid they will die but fight like hell to prevent it. No, you came teaching and healing until death silenced you. You taught and loved despite your terror and overwhelming sorrow. We let fear of what the neighbors will think stop us dead in our tracks! Holy Spirit, embolden us so that neither death nor life, neither things present nor things to come will ever stop us from living Jesus' courageous love for all. Amen

06/09/2026

Sing birds! Warble of your loves. Chirp of your hatching young ones. Call to the sunlight. Tell us of your bird's eye view. Tweet your family sagas, when God formed your kind. What is life like unencumbered with hate, jealousy? Territorial is different from vindictive. Do you dare share with us your nobility? Even the Holy Spirit took your form. Lord, may we rise to the call of sharing this world with your birds. Amen

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06/08/2026

Be gentle with us, Holy God. In the vastness of all the universes, we are not even specks of dust. We are crushed and bruised and broken so easily. We think ourselves so mighty, and augment our strength with jet fighters, backhoes, race cars, and fi****ms, but we are tiny, temporary little beings in your great order. Protect us from scorching heat, frigid cold, hurricane winds, and quaking earth. Keep us safe from avalanches, and monsoons, and storms that ravange the lands. But your creation doesn't do us in nearly as often as we come after each other. Holy God, protect us from ourselves and each other. We know not what we do. Amen

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06/07/2026

Woodland Lutheran Church Town of Rome 6-7-2026

06/07/2026

"Go and learn what this means, 'I desire mercy, not sacrifice.'"
Jesus, quoting God in the book of Hosea

God of justice, if our religion is about saved and damned, we can find Bible verses to back it up. If we believe the world is going to hell in a handbasket and we need to become a pure, insular community, we can find support in the Bible. If we want You to bring down vengeance against those who have harmed us, there are lots of Psalms we can pray. If we want to force our brand of religion on others, on whole countries, there is some stuff in the Bible we can bend toward our will. But there is one theme You speak over and over through the prophets, by the Holy Spirit, even in the words of your son, "Love God with everything you are and everything you have, and love your neighbor as you love yourself." Lord, guide us to make your love our religion. Amen

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06/05/2026

Lord of love, you created us to be in community with all you have made, to love and to be loved. In this season, couples will make vows to each that their love will last as long as their hearts beat. Your love is pure and alive, undulating, full of color, sound, and shape. Our love always has an eye on ourselves, twisting toward the so very powerful ME. Lord God, work your wonder in each couple that your love permeates their every thought and action, that your fragrance may perfume their lives together and may sweeten humanity. Bless these lovers to be a blessing. In the name of love itself, Jesus Christ, Amen.

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06/04/2026

God of silent strength, bless those who don wig, scarf, or ball cap on their way to face the world. Hold the foreheads of those whose chemo has them hunched over the toilet. Embolden those tiptoeing through the roaring waiting. Cradle those haunted by "what if?" And for those through whom you minister: physicians, nurses, friends, family, Holy Spirit grant them light to walk through the valley of the shadow of cancer. Amen

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06/03/2026

Today, Lord God, we choose your joy. We choose joy despite exhaustion. We choose joy over grousing. We choose the joy of self-care over the misguided pride of running ourselves into the ground. We choose the joy of giving and helping over hoarding. We choose the way of Jesus, the way of the cross, over the way of this world's hedonism. Today we choose joy. Amen

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