Last Night at BSM

May 11, 2015

Last night, Sunday, May 10th, 2015 at 4:00 our community gathered for worship.  Rev. Andy Greenhow preaching on John 15:9-17 about the danger and promise of knowing and showing up with love for one another.

We are looking forward to singing a lot of really great songs, but we’re particularly stoked to be singing Talkin’ Bout a Revolution by Tracy Chapman.

Our Congregation then offered the following prayers to God in worship as our Psalms of the Street.

I thank God for hope and for my wonderful children!

 

I cry out to God that I may not tire of being good, that I may pray and sacrifice for others without ceasing while receiving strength from the Living God.

 

I look for apt in Center City on South Phila. Pray that I get one ok. My friends gets himself to.

 

My prayer is for my spiritual journey in Christ. My concerns are for opportunities to work in the Ministry. I have been working in homeless outreach and will need prayer to sustain my efforts. I would like to serve more often in my city. Thanks.

 

In less than a week, I will tell my parents that I have found someone that loves me with a love that is a risk. He will not be what they expect or wish for. Pray with me that they will continue to love and support me once I tell them. Pray that the risky love I feel for him will be worth it.

 

This week I pray for the upcoming months and all the things that need to get done, for my sister making big decisions and making peace with her mind, for my ‘graduation’ from therapy and to stay in recovery. I pray for my friends’ health and for my own relationships, whatever they are. And I pray for the country and for the world—for better choices when it looks like there are none.

 

Lord I pray for my unborn children.

 

Dear Holy God,

THANK YOU for my mother and my mother’s love. I will never fully understand and appreciate the specific family you birthed me into. Show me how to love my mother better. Lord, please be with my Aunt *****; although she is only the mother of one living child, lavish her in the love of thousands. Cover her in *****’s love. Thank you for being a Mother.

Amen.

 

May I worry less,

and laugh more…

May we all.

 

Feel tired and lost.

*****

I NEED to get through this week. God help me. I feel very out of sorts and need to get right-sized. Feeling very aimless and annoyed. It all feels very sequential but not very consequential.

 

Pray for *****’ strength and resilience.

Pray for my bother, a police officer in Baltimore, also for strength and resilience.

And for both of these men. I pray most for relief, comfort and joy.

 

God,

Keep reminding me. Show me. Teach me. Strengthen me. I don’t want to feel sad and alone anymore.

Amen.

 

Dear Jesus, I often wonder if the Christian faith built around your name is nothing more than an elaborate lie designed to coddle us through the utter meaninglessness of existence. Yet…I keep sensing a call from you. Why won’t you leave me alone? Why don’t you understand that I’m in Hell, and I deserve to stay there forever? What is your fucking problem? Don’t you know that life is meaningless, that existence is a cruel cosmic joke, that the universe is all entropy and atrophy? Don’t you know that nothing matters? Don’t you know who I am? Don’t you know how hurt and broken and irreparable I am? What are you doing calling me? You should stop. Don’t you know I’m not worth it? I know all these things. How come you don’t? It makes no earthly sense.

 

The sure provisions of my God

Attend me all my days;

O may his house be my abode,

And all my work be praise!

There would I find a settled rest,

While others come and go;

No more a servant, but a friend,

And like a child at home.

Then, after worship, we had our community engagement groups.  These groups are a great way to get to know people, maybe learn something about yourselves, one another, and/or God, and get to know a few more peoples’ names.  This Sunday we had the following groups got on deck.

Spiritual Autobiography:  Sara Corse will lead a group that explores the development of faith and spirituality. Reflect on your own path and learn from each other. 

The Art of Self-Care: Self-care is one of the greatest gifts you can give to self and others. Join Tammy Daniels to share and explore the concept of self-care.

LGBTQ Fellowship: Join David Norse for a discussion of LGBTQ history and some of the special commemorations happening in Philadelphia this year. This group is open to all, but it will be of particular interest to those who identify as LGBTQ. 

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.