Advent Prayer Station Thoughts

Some thoughts for Advent Prayer Stations:

Advent Prayer Stations:

Station 1 – Toys

Dump Truck, Melting Paper, Markers, Water, Instructions

Instructions: The joy of a child unwrapping a Christmas toy is often a highlight of the season, but we are often too wrapped up in our “toys” and things of this world to hear God calling out to us or too see God acting in the world. What “toys” keep you from fully hearing God? Write them on the translucent film and then place them in the dump truck, when done, you may drive the truck over to the water and dump your load into the water where it will melt away.

Station 2 – Music

Strips From Old Hymnal, Stapler, Instructions

Instructions: Look through the strips of music and lyrics from our seasonal songs, find one that touches you and add it to the paper link chain. Read over the choices of others and consider the meaning of the season in the life of the church and the world.

Station 3 – Trimming

Glass Ornaments, Construction Paper Scraps, Tinsel, Pens, Instructions

Instructions: This is the season where we trim our trees, but it's also a good time to consider trimming our lives. We can do that by trimming off the things we don't want in our life, or by trimming our life with the beauty of things we want more of. Think about how you'd like to trim your life, write down your desires on a scrap of paper and place it in a glass Ornament and offer it up to God.

Station 4 – Coloring

Crayons, Print Outs Of Christmas Story Pictures, Instructions

Instructions: We often think of Christ as the light of the world, but light doesn't just bring illumination, but also the brilliance of colour. Find a picture that touches you and sit for a moment and add colour to it.

Station 5 – Hope to the Poor

Basket of Pennies, Money Box, Instructions

Instructions: Many cannot afford the kind of Christmas we may be able to afford. Many do not have enough to even eat or have shelter. Take a coin from the basket and hold it. Consider how we may be able to share what we have with others. Pray that God will give you strength and wisdom to find ways to give freely and generously, then place your coin into the giving box.

Station 6 – Watching and Waiting

Candle Lit, Prayer, Instructions

Instructions: Sit and watch the flickering of the light, think about how God coming to light the world through Christ is a flickering light in the world today, the places where the light is bright, and the places where it seems a bit less likely to stay lit. Read the prayer below and think about how you watch for God in the world today:

The advent of our Lord is near and we long for his coming

We long for new light to shine where there has been darkness.

The advent of our Lord is near and we long for him to call us home

We long for new hope to reign where there has been death and despair.

The advent of our Lord is near and we long for him to appear

We wait on tiptoe attentive to all the signs of his coming

God we have caught a glimpse of your Messiah healed world

And we long for its coming

We long for the place where all beauty comes from

The place where all life is renewed

God we live in anticipation of Messiah’s birth and the world’s rebirth

And we long for its coming

God we long to come home to your world of wholeness and peace

Home to your eternal world where love reigns over all. - (Prayer by Theresa Cho)

Station 7 – Words of Hope, Peace, Love, and Joy

Scrabble Tiles, Instructions

Instructions: We are called to bring the Hope, Peace, Love, and Joy of Christ to all the world. Think about ways you can bring these things to the world and add them to the puzzle, If you can't find a place your words will fit, start a new puzzle, and see if someone later can make a connection between them.

Station 8 – Christmas Cards

Christmas Cards, Pens, Instructions, Marked Directory

Instructions: Think about someone who may be lonely this time of year (if you need help, check the directory) and write them a Christmas Card and address the envelope. Place your sealed envelopes in the sleigh and we will make sure they get delivered!

Station 9 – Light of the World

World Map, Stickers/Stick Pins, Instructions

Instructions: Jesus knew what it was like to be an outcast, to be at risk, to be an outsider, to struggle in a world where powers rage. These struggles are all over the world. Take a sticker and place it on the map in a place where you know people need peace and prayer.

Station 10 - Kingdom Thoughts
Air Dry Clay, Instructions
Instructions: Part of the waiting of Advent is not just historical, but ongoing today as we wait for God's Reign here on earth.  Use the clay and the creative abilities God has given us to create an item, or symbol, or word that represents part of what God's Reign looks like and add it to the scene on the table.

Station 11 - Memories
Christmas Smells (Peppermint, Gingerbread, Potpourri, Pine, etc.), Instructions, Markers, Paper covering Table
Instructions: Take in the various smells around the table and write down what memories they bring about,  As you look over your memories, see what prayers they inspire, maybe for yourself, maybe for others, and take a moment to share those prayers with God.

Station 12 - Prepare ye the way
Soil, Gutter, Spade, Seeds, Instructions
Instructions: We are called, as John the Baptizer was, to prepare the way of God, to make the ground fertile, and to plant the seeds of faith.  Take a moment to till some soil and add a seed and as you do so consider the places in your life where you can help prepare the soil and plant the seeds for others to find justice, peace, love, joy, and thus find God.

Station 13 – Walking in the light

Electric Candles, Garland set up as a spiral on the ground, Instructions, Small Table, Space

Instructions: Take a couple of deep breaths before beginning. Step into the spiral, and walk quietly to the middle thinking about the year gone by. Think about places you felt close to God and places God felt further away. Once you get to the middle pick up and turn on a candle, as you walk back out, find a place where it seems appropriate to set your candle along the garland and leave your candle there.

"Rules" for School

There is a blog floating around talking about a seemingly college age female who is giving some high school freshmen a list of rules (suggestions) for life in high school based on her experience.  I really struggle with it, in large part because the parent writing the blog refers to them as rules, and in part because much of it feels like the church rules we put in place because we want to protect "ours" from "that" culture.  So instead here are my suggestions ("Rules") for students (in the school of life):

1. Surround yourself with people who you can trust and who want the best for you.
2. Think before you act, every actions has consequences
3. Don't let anyone make you feel damaged, you are in the image of God
4. Set boundaries you are comfortable with, and make others stick to them no matter what.
5. Always have a person who you can tell EVERYTHING to
6. Be careful how you let someone into your life, but make sure to risk yourself when you feel it could be worth it.
7. If you think someone may be putting you at risk in any way, step away from them.
8. If someone hurts another person, go out of your way to take care of them and show them love
9. Communicate with God, do this via words, art, music, whatever.  And listen for responses in the world.
10. Take time away from all of the distractions of the world, it will help you hear truth.
11. Be nice to those who seem concerned about you. Listen to them, and sometimes trust them even when you disagree.
12. If you find yourself lying to those in #1 or #11, you may be in a place you really don't want to be.  Step away.
13. Say No when in doubt. If your Yes can't be enthusiastic, take time to think about what's really going on before moving forward.
14. Don't stop just because you feel like you failed or are stuck, keep swimming, stuff happens, figure out what you're going to do next and do it.
15. Write.  Tell you story and put it down in words or art regularly. We are not just in a moment, we are our stories.
16. Find community.  Not just like minded people, not just people your age, gender, race, orientation, politics, etc.  Find diverse people you can trust and who will push you to change.
17. If it doesn't build up others, don't do it.
18. Don't think you have all the answers or the right way to do something. When you feel this way you can devalue and judge others, and make it easier for others to do that too.
19. Wait, think, dialogue before forming opinions. Your immediate reaction may be right, but the emotions involved in that moment may cause more problems
20. Think before you post.  Nothing is private, all we do is shared, see #2.  Also not everyone may understand context they are distant from.

As I wrote these, I realized how defensive the initial list seemed to me.  Some of these are still a bit more defensive than I'd like them to be, but I hope they read more proactive and connected to the wholeness of who we are as humans created in the image of Love.

Bohemia's Six Word Story of Faith

So a friend of mine posted to the #SixWordStoryOfFaith thread happening on Twitter a variation on the first two line of Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody and it made me think of the great testimonies in the song.  I can think of at least one person in my life that could use almost all of these lines (except a couple as noted) to describe their faith. So here it is:

Is this real of just fantasy?
Caught in landslide no escaping reality
Open eyes, look to the skies
A poor boy, needing no sympathy
Because I'm Easy come, Easy go,
Little high, low, anyway wind blows
It doesn't Really matter to me

Killed a man, with a gun
Pulled my trigger, now he's dead
(okay admittedly those last 2 lines have little to no way I can make them connect alone)

Life just begun, now thrown away

Didn't mean to make you cry
If I'm not back by tomorrow
Carry on as if nothing matters

My time has come, sending shivers
Body aches, good bye, good bye.
Got to leave you, face truth

I do not want to die
I've never been born at all
See a silhouette of the man
Buffoons, will you do your dance (Scaramouche will you do the Fandango)
Thunder and lightning are very frightening
Falsely accused just like Galileo, magnificent... (Context of Galileo Galileo)

Just a poor boy, nobody loves me
A poor boy from a poor family
Spare my life from this monstrosity

Easy Come Easy Go . . . Let Go
It will not let me go
Let me go, No don't go
A devil's set aside for me
You think you can stone me?
Think you can spit on me?
Love then leave me to die
You can't do this to me
Gotta get out of here now

Nothing really matters, anyone can see
Nothing matters anyway the wind blows

A Good Friday Sermon Unpreached

Today I am posting various artwork to create an online stations of the cross for my church.  There are many interesting images that I found as I googled the various stations, great images pointing to racism, sexism, discrimination, but done in ways that so often offered chances at redemption, showing a God whose humanity was bigger than any way we can divide ourselves.  Yet, there was one that stood out and hit me hard.  

When looking for something for Station 9: Jesus meets the women of Jerusalem, I googled images based on the words Jesus do not weep for me and found something striking: a number of pictures of Miley Cyrus on the first page. What does this have to do with Jesus and the women of Jerusalem?  

Luke 23 includes the text for this station:
A great number of the people followed him, and among them were women who were beating their breasts and wailing for him. But Jesus turned to them and said, “Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children. For the days are surely coming when they will say, ‘Blessed are the barren, and the wombs that never bore, and the breasts that never nursed.’Then they will begin to say to the mountains, ‘Fall on us’; and to the hills, ‘Cover us.’ For if they do this when the wood is green, what will happen when it is dry?”

I can't say exactly why Miley Cyrus ended up connected to this or even if the connection is direct. It could as easily just be someone who is upset by what they think she has become as some connection to the scripture.  Either way though the idea of Jesus weeping for or because of Miley Cyrus seems a bit off.

Yet, this is often the stuff we weep over, things that happen within the culture where we assume we have the answers for another.  We claim we weep for the future, for our children who are growing up in a land of lawlessness and sexualization, yet we don't trust God to be in control, we want to make the decisions on what Jesus should cry over. 

"Jesus, do not weep for me, but for those who see something good in this celebrity..."
"Jesus, do not weep for me, but for those who follow this type of politics..."
"Jesus, do not weep for me, but for those who hear your voice saying something I don't..."
"Jesus, do not weep for me, but for those who live differently..."

Yet, when we do this we become those who decide for Jesus, and thus for others, who they are, what they should be, and how they should live.  Jesus chooses to continue his journey to death in this story.  He does not ask for mourning, instead warning us that if those close to Jesus could not see what God was all about, how could those who do not have Jesus as a reference to God living in the world.  

Those who could not see who Jesus was were afraid of him, afraid that his choices would damage their place in the world.  They believed that a world without Jesus was one they could control, but we have seen time and again that God is the one in control.  We cannot choose who Jesus weeps for, because Jesus weeps for all whom God loves that are not with Jesus and for those who will not discern what God is doing in their own lives and in the world. Jesus doesn't weep because he's worried about others, but because of pain in his heart.

We cannot know the heart of another, just  those women could not understand why Jesus was at peace with the path he was walking.  We so often want Jesus to weep over the choices of another so that we can feel that Jesus is patting us on the back for not being like them.  Yet, we see time and again that God's way is one of surprising love and grace for those who society, even religious society (often especially religious society), outcasts and despises.  Not just those weak due to station in life, but also those weak due to their own choices, those who seem far from God are often closer than we'd like to think.

So let us go forth this Good Friday, not seeing ourselves as those who are right, or with the answers, but as those who do not live as Jesus did.  Those who weep due to worry, not do to pain.  Those who want control, and in wanting control have let the wood become dry, falling short of being the church that gave all, short of the God who gave all, short of the call we received upon creation.  May we weep for ourselves, but then may we remember that this weeping is not forever, for we are the ones called to join Jesus in bringing about this new world.  A world of love, a world of diverse ways coming together as God brings us together in Christ's image, not as we make others into our image.

Youth Sunday Service

The following is the service they youth I work with created and led this week.  It began with the theme of "God is There, Listening" and I think was a very moving and powerful service worth sharing:

PROCESSIONAL
(iPod Plays Below My Feet, pitchers brought forward and poured into aquariums)

PSALM OF THE DAY
I put all my hope in the Lord
    He leaned down to me;
    he listened to my cry for help.
He lifted me out of the pit of death,
    out of the mud and filth,
    and set my feet on solid rock.
        He steadied my legs.
He put a new song in my mouth,
    a song of praise for our God.
Many people will learn of this and be amazed;
    they will trust the Lord.
Those who put their trust in the Lord
    who pay no attention to the proud
    or to those who follow lies,
    are truly happy!
You, Lord my God!
    You’ve done so many things—
    your wonderful deeds and your plans for us—
        no one can compare with you!
    If I were to proclaim and talk about all of them,
        they would be too numerous to count!
You don’t relish sacrifices or offerings;
    you don’t require entirely burned offerings or compensation offerings—
    but you have given me ears!

THE WELCOME
Leader: O praise the Lord with me,
People: Let us exalt God’s name together.

Right Hand of Fellowship
As we begin our worship this morning, let us take a moment to great one another sharing the peace of Christ.
Leader: The peace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.
All: And also with you

Call to Worship
Leader: Eternal God, we say good morning to you.
People: Hallowed be your name
Leader: Early in the morning, before we begin our days,
People: We praise your glory.
Leader: Renew our bodies as fresh as morning flowers,
People: Open our eyes, as the sun casts new light on the darkness
Leader: Deliver us from all captivity
People: Give us wings of freedom like the birds in the sky to begin a new journey.
Leader: Restore justice and freedom, as a mighty stream running continuously as day follows day
All: We thank you for the gift of this morning, a another new day to work with you. 

Songs  of Praise
Days of Elijah 
Firm Foundation

Prayer of Confession
Leader: When we feel we cannot go any farther, he picks us up and tells us he knows.  
People: When I feel I cannot sink any lower, he pulls me out and tells me he sees.
Leader: When we feel that the pain can't get any worse, he takes it away and shows us he cares
People: When I feel that I cannot open my heart, he reaches in and and show me he can.
Leader: When we think our lives cannot get any harder
All: I turn to him. He's always there.

Prayer of Illumination
God, Give us seeing eyes, hearing ears, and understanding hearts.  May your word be like fire, and a hammer that breaks the hardest rock into pieces. May we experience it's world changing power. AMEN

Genesis 21 verses 8-21
The boy grew and stopped nursing. On the day he stopped nursing, Abraham prepared a huge banquet. Sarah saw Hagar’s son laughing, the one Hagar the Egyptian had borne to Abraham.  So she said to Abraham, “Send this servant away with her son! This servant’s son won’t share the inheritance with my son Isaac.”
 This upset Abraham terribly because the boy was his son. God said to Abraham, “Don’t be upset about the boy and your servant. Do everything Sarah tells you to do because your descendants will be traced through Isaac.  But I will make of your servant’s son a great nation too, because he is also your descendant.”  Abraham got up early in the morning, took some bread and a flask of water, and gave it to Hagar. He put the boy in her shoulder sling and sent her away.
She left and wandered through the desert near Beer-sheba. Finally the water in the flask ran out, and she put the boy down under one of the desert shrubs. She walked away from him about as far as a bow shot and sat down, telling herself, I can’t bear to see the boy die. She sat at a distance, cried out in grief, and wept.
 God heard the boy’s cries, and God’s messenger called to Hagar from heaven and said to her, “Hagar! What’s wrong? Don’t be afraid. God has heard the boy’s cries over there.  Get up, pick up the boy, and take him by the hand because I will make of him a great nation.” Then God opened her eyes, and she saw a well. She went over, filled the water flask, and gave the boy a drink. God remained with the boy; he grew up, lived in the desert, and became an expert archer. He lived in the Paran desert, and his mother found him an Egyptian wife.

Leader: The Word of The Lord
All: Thanks be to God.

Anthem
"Who Am I"

Mark 4 verses 35-41
On that day, when evening had come, he said to them, “Let us go across to the other side.” And leaving the crowd behind, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was. Other boats were with him. A great windstorm arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so that the boat was already being swamped. But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion; and they woke him up and said to him, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” He woke up and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” Then the wind ceased, and there was a dead calm. He said to them, “Why are you afraid? Have you still no faith?” And they were filled with great awe and said to one another, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?” 

Leader: The Gospel of God.
All: We Praise You, Lord Jesus

Children’s Message
Read Mark text from Spark Story Bible. Acted out. Congregation behind kids make storm sounds as led along with story.

Prayer: 
God who knows when we're afraid,
You are always with us.
Help us to always remember 
the hope we have in you.
Amen

Romans 8 verses 22-27
We know that the whole creation is groaning together and suffering labor pains up until now.  And it’s not only the creation. We ourselves who have the Spirit as the first crop of the harvest also groan inside as we wait to be adopted and for our bodies to be set free.  We were saved in hope. If we see what we hope for, that isn’t hope. Who hopes for what they already see?  But if we hope for what we don’t see, we wait for it with patience.
In the same way, the Spirit comes to help our weakness. We don’t know what we should pray, but the Spirit himself pleads our case with unexpressed groans. The one who searches hearts knows how the Spirit thinks, because he pleads for the saints, consistent with God’s will.

Leader: Thy word is a lamp unto my feet.
All: And a light unto my path

Hymn
Leaning on the Everlasting Arms

Sermon
“God In Our Storms”
(There will be a progressive storm created in the aquarium on the chancel as the sermon occurs)
Devon:
Everyone faces struggles in their lives. As life continues storms show up. It either comes out of nowhere or gradually builds until everything blows up. Storms are different for everyone. Whether they are illness that creep up and then affect a family or a failure that comes out of nowhere, every storm brings its problems but there is always a light at the end of the storm, something to continue your faith. Each of the scriptures talked about today, shows how the peoples faith was tested and the storms came but God and Jesus brought the light and the end of the storms.(Make clouds with shaving cream)

One can generally tell when a storm is coming. The skies start to darken and the wind starts to pick up and you know that something is coming. You can tell the storm is coming in the first scripture because Sara again is upset with Ismael and Hagar. This shows one-way a storm comes up on someone, giving you time to prepare. It allows them to prepare for the upcoming issue that may impact your life. I can relate to this because as we get closer to the end of the year, finals and the impending doom of a month full of exams are right around the corner. The storm is approaching but because I know it is coming I have time to prepare and study for them. 

But life does not always give you a warning before the storm pops up. This is evident in the second scripture, when the storm pops up while the disciples are in the boat and Jesus is asleep. There is no warning for the storm and their faith is tested. They are scared and have to call on Jesus to help them. This is very much like when someone suddenly gets diagnosed with an illness. It takes you by surprise and can change your life and those lives around you. Storms affect us all in one way or another but faith and hope found in God help us get through, and keep us from being defeated.

Alex:
Everyone goes through a time in their life, wether it is a day, a week, a month, or even longer where it seems as though everything in your life is awful. This is when the storm hits. (Make rain with food coloring) When the rain is pouring so hard, that you cant see three feet a head of you when driving. This is when you have to pull over and let the storm pass.  However, when dealing with intangible things, that you cant actually put in a box and lock away, this is not always so easy. 

In Genesis, after Hagar is kicked out of her house with her child, she eventually reaches a point where she breaks down and leaves her child, knowing she cant do anything else. However, God hears her cries without her even directing them to him. He sends someone to help her and save her child, to continue her life. God understood what she needed, even when she did not know how to express her fears.

 Romans also shows that even when we do not share our worries with god willingly he hears our groaning and is there for us to lean on and for him to help. When we think we are so deep down in a hole that no one can hear us, God can and will always listen for us. 

Sometimes, as in Mark, when the disciples begin to even blame God and wonder if he cares that they are all about to drown, we begin to feel as if he will not be there to hear us. Maybe that he has others to take care of and who need him more. We may be in a rain storm, but somewhere else there are those who are dealing with a hurricane. But as soon as the disciples called Jesus’s name, he awoke and came to help them. He was listening the whole time, even though they didn’t realize.

 There are times, when the storm that is happening all around us, that we can barley hear ourselves! Personally, my storm hit two weeks ago. Now I am playing lacrosse with games and practices everyday on a team that I am wholeheartedly committed to, I am also acting in Fort Johnson’s show Hello Dolly, as my fourteenth show, and trying to finish out my senior year at Academic Magnet strong. Two weeks ago, lacrosse and play started to come together and on top of that I had a lot of drama with the people in my life that I love and the schoolwork began to pile up. Then I got to take the SAT on saturday for the third time trying for a scholarship, because a five hour test is the simplest way to de-stress after a long week right? During this time I remember thinking I wish I could just open the bible and hear God speak to me about how to move past the pain, the hurt, and the tiredness that was surrounding me, but I didn’t know where to look. But I don’t have to just look to the bible, I can look to him and pray to him to help me through the storm. In this case it was both literal and figurative because it poured rain all that week, however when the sun finally came out on saturday, after taking the SAT it was gorgeous and I knew that I had made it through (Turn on light behind aquarium) and I had faith that everything would work out the way it was supposed. 

Sometimes it is hard to find that rock to stand on, when out of no where it has been swept out from under us. God will be there though, standing with you and holding you steady through your storm, making sure you make it out and holding your faith and hope with you. 

Brooke:
Kaos is enevitable. Pain is enevitable. Loneliness is—well I have gone to church here my entire  life, ive listened to many a sermon and we all know how it is the messages start to blend together but bits and peices stick out, one piece that will always stick out to me is the day Philip said he was never lonley because god was always with him. Well , I thought, what god is he talking to because I have certianly felt lonley before. I only wish someone would have told me sooner that god is always there he is always listening and that loneliness could be a myth if we let it become one. 

There is a poem by Dana Gioia that goes like this, “The world does not need words. It articulates itslef in sunlight, leaves and shadows. The sunlight needs no praise peircing the rainclouds, painting the rocks and leaves with light, then dissolving each lucent droplet back into the clouds that engendered it.  The daylight needs no praise and so we praise it always greater than ourselves and all the airy words we summon.”  Once adrian asked us to go around and each tell him in our own words what we thought the holy spirit was. I had never even thought about this before but managed to stammer out— The holy spirit is like a glowstick that is inside of everyone all the time and all we have to do is shake our glowstick to feel gods love a love so thick that words cannot bind it. A love we carry with us through our lives to give us hope to give us the courage to face any storm that comes our way. 

God has a plan for each and everyone one of us, we may not know what that is but god stands by us leading us to figure out the path he has laid for us. Through his son Jesus Christ or a well, or maybe even the rainbow that appears after a storm God’s light is inside of our hearts beyond our sins beyond our storms and beyond our words. 


Prayers of the People
We invite each of you to now take a moment and use the markers and thin translucent materials found on the ends of your pews to write down a word or two that describes a storm in your life or the life of someone you love.  For our prayers of the people we ask you to bring them forward and place them in the water that was brought in to start our worship found in front of each rows of pews.  The paper will melt away and the words slowly fade.  This is us giving our storms to God, knowing the hope promised by our God who listens to our every prayer.

(People come forward to U2s '40' Live Version)

Lord, we bring all of this and even more things we cannot even bare to share to you.  We give it all over to you, asking those things that you taught your disciples to pray saying: 

Our Father who art in heaven, 
hallowed be Thy name. 
Thy kingdom come, 
Thy will be done, 
on earth as it is in heaven. 
Give us this day our daily bread; 
and forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors; 
and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. 
For thine is the kingdom 
and the power 
and the glory, forever. 
Amen

Profession of Faith
Apostles Creed

Offering
"From This Valley"

Prayer of Thanksgiving
Giver of all gifts, attender to all prayers, help us to live as we pray. Through these gifts and our rededication to your purpose, may our lives be answers to prayer to those seeking some sign of your presence in this world.  Make us a blessing, that through our acts of love, generosity, courage, and service your Spirit blesses the world.  Amen.

Sending Song
"Our God"

Benediction
Go and know that the Lord goes with you: Let God lead you each day into the quiet place of your heart where he will speak to you.  Know that God loves you and watches over you, listening to you with gentle understanding and is with you always, wherever you are and however you feel, may the blessings of God – Father, Son, and Spirit – be yours forever.  Amen

Translations

I asked people to give me some scriptures to translate this early morning and I was given Ecclesiastes 3 and the Song of Simeon, so here are my versions of those texts (or parts of them):


Ecclesiastes 3:1-8

There is an intended desire for every moment under the sky and an appointed time for all things

A moment to pluck what has been planted, and a moment to plant

A moment to die, and a moment when we come forth

A moment to fortify, and a moment to break through

A moment to restore, and a moment to destroy

A moment to frolic with excitement, and a moment to wail out a dirge

A moment to make joyful sounds and a moment to cry bitter tears

A moment to break free and a moment to hold tight

A moment to gather things and a moment throw things away

A moment to throw away and a moment to preserve

A moment to be lost and a moment to seek and secure

A moment to speak out and a moment to be still

A moment to sew together and a moment to split apart

A moment to come together and a moment to battle

A moment to be foes and a moment to have affection for others


Luke 2:21-35

And then when 8 days were complete at the time of his circumcising,  he was called Jesus according to his character, just as the messenger had so called him in the time prior to when he came to be in the womb. And then when the days of purification were complete as commanded by the law and custom of Moses, they led him up to Jerusalem to stand before the Lord for it is expressed by the Lord's law that every male who opens a womb is to be summoned and set apart to the Lord. And then they gave as the law of the Lord commands, an offering of a pair of turtle-doves or two nestling doves. And then a man in Jerusalem who was called Simeon who took hold of what was good and just, awaiting encouragement for Israel with a holy spirit upon him. And then the holy spirit made agreement with him to not experience death before he looked upon the Lord Christ. And then he went via the Spirit to the temple as they introduced the parents of the infant Jesus who were doing that which was customary for him. And then he welcomed him into his cradled arms and conferred himself to God saying: “Now I, your servant, can let go in good peace, just as you spoke. For I have experienced your salvation with my own eyes, that which you ordained completely before all people, an unveiled light to the world, the glory of your people, Israel.” And then his father and mother were awestruck at the ramblings about him. And then Simeon blessed them, saying to Mary his mother: “I perceive he is appointed for the falling and re-raising of the many of Israel and as a sign of opposition, which will bring piercing grief through your deepest parts, as the deep selfish of many will be revealed.”