Last Night a BSM

February 1, 2016

Last night, our Coordinator for the Youth Initiative and Alternative Breaks Devin Johns brought us a word from Luke 4:21-30 entitled “Disrupt.” Devin preached about how in this passage Jesus disrupts the narrative of his listeners. Jesus not only disrupts the narrative of the powerful, but also of his own people. This disruption comes through Jesus preaching, or his speaking and enacting a word in the world. We all share the calling to preach in this way; to speak and enact a word in our world about income inequality, racism in our criminal justice system, homelessness, poisoned water in our cities, and any other injustice. We are called to disrupt the narrative in the world around us.

Tony and the Motley Order Choir led us in: Our Generation, What’s Going On, Wade in the Water, Powerful, and Takin’ it to the Streets.

Our community also offered the following prayers:

Dear God, thank you for the voices of beauty and disruption. Please call to ******. Thank you for blessing **** and I as a unit—please help us make you the center of our life. Please lead us in the week and your world. Thank you. All my love, ******.

 

Keep brining us along Lord. Holy Spirit give us wisdom and courage to make our city a better, kinder place.

 

My friend ***** is looking for a new job. Thankful for the wonderful people that call BSM home.

 

Please pray for ******** as she is going through a though time now…feeling unappreciated at work and without a plan for making change disrupting status quo.

 

I love this congregation for disrupting the usual churchy narratives.

 

Lots of uncertainty. Man I’m tired of praying that.

 

I am so grateful that You have given me a voice and heart to do Your tune my heart to SING YOUR GRACE and let my hands WORK IT in the WORLD it is well with my soul I know that’s a responsibility so keep me thinking right.

 

Thank you Lord for the small group gathering, may it grow fruitful and abundant for the congregants and community. Thank you for bringing my colleague to service, may he find a deeper relationship with you and church home.

 

Follow my call especially in figuring how it meshes with what partner is doing. How we might support each other, build lives together, and follow what our call from God is. Prayers my partner can have opportunities to learn more about God and be able to articulate faith. For exciting times in the future, safe travels.

 

Dear Heavenly God, I praise your name and all your works—the good and the those I don’t understand. Help me to seek you as you really are. Teach me to love better. I thank you for friendship and family. Please be with those incarcerated, EJI and Eastern University. You are Holy. Amen.

 

For BSM its community and pastors. For a kinder Philadelphia. For Amigos de Jesus and Honduras. For **** and the Kids. For my Mom, *****, *****, and *****. For the Windmills and paper birds. For small groups and their success.

 

Thank you for your grace and your love. Unconditional love. Thank you for challenging me. Thank you for always forgiving me. Thank you for never turning your face from me.

 

Lord—For ****’s safety and healing—open her eyes and give her the support she needs. For *****.

 

Dear Lord, I have started looking for a new job—help me find a place to disrupt the narrative. Thank you for a weekend of being still, of being close. Please continue to watch over and heal ********’s respiratory system. Thank you for options, for Love, for Hope. Help me to rest in those, and to not sit in my anxieties and help me to be faithful.

 

Please bring peace to this and all other communities in this world, give wisdom to the people to elect worthy leaders…

 

Please pray that I will stay focused and do well for the rest of this semester and that I will find ways in my daily life to disrupt the narrative.

 

Prayers for discernment at work.

 

That God will calm my anxieties and give me peace.

 

Lord God Almighty, disrupt us so that we may be disruptors until your kingdom comes. Amen.

 

Please pray for my best friend who has been lost in spirit and needs help finding balance.

Broad Street Ministry is a broad-minded faith community committed to extending radical hospitality and creating a spiritual home for all, especially those who feel like they don’t belong anywhere else. For more information click here.