McGowin

For the people of Minneapolis, Illinois, Los Angeles, and other places where ICE has disappeared their family and neighbors. In faith we pray that you will inspire you people to work for the liberation of captives, uniting of families, and an end to torture, imprisonment, and death within ICE prisons. May chains be broken and camps turned to rubbish heaps, we pray to you O Lord. Lord have mercy.

For the people of Minneapolis, Illinois, Los Angeles, and other places where ICE has disappeared their family and neighbors:

Christmas is not a Western story – it is a Palestinian one Christmas is a story of empire, injustice and the vulnerability of ordinary people caught in its path.

it must turn its gaze to Bethlehem — not the imagined one, but the real one, a town whose people today still cry out for justice, dignity and peace.
aje.io/mnp9x2

This Christmas, our invitation to the global church — and to Western Christians in particular — is to remember where the story began. To remember that Bethlehem is not a myth but a place where people still live. If the Christian world is to honor the meaning of Christmas,

Prophets, Pharisees, and Preparing for the Kingdom — CHRIST OUR ADVOCATE Prophecy is radical, it goes right to the root of the issue: rootedness in status is actually rootlessness and doesn’t bear good fruit. Prophecy is pruning: only truth can proceed. Lies, slandering, a...

"Prophecy is radical, it goes right to the root of the issue: rootedness in status is actually rootlessness and doesn’t bear good fruit. Prophecy is pruning: only truth can proceed."

Read Sunday's sermon from @aaronmharrison.bsky.social:

Our little church, @advocatewheaton.bsky.social, which is only three years-old, has gotten significant online attention recently. Much of it has been positive, focusing on the activism of our lay people... 1/5

We give you thanks, O Lord our God, for your goodness in bestowing upon this church the gift of the episcopate; and we pray that, joined together in unity with our bishops and nourished by your holy sacraments, we may proclaim the Gospel of redemption with apostolic zeal; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

A collet for the consecration of Samuel Seabury

— From the Episcopal Public Policy Network

Strengthen all who advocate for food security and move the hearts of leaders to act with compassion and urgency. Sustain your church to be a voice for justice and a source of comfort for those in need. We ask this through Jesus, the Bread of Life, who feeds the world in love. Amen.

Many worry that SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) and WIC (Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children) benefits will not reach those who depend on them parents fear their children may go hungry, and communities brace for needs they cannot meet alone.

For Families Facing Hunger During the Government Shutdown
God of sustenance, who fed your people in the wilderness and satisfied the hungry with good things, hear the cries of families increasingly fearing the loss of food assistance as the government shutdown continues.

It’s Not the Pharisee’s House — CHRIST OUR ADVOCATE If the Church is the body of Christ, which scripture testifies that it is, then it must be a place where God invites us to learn to tell the truth, about ourselves and about him. The Pharisee’s tithes...

"The truth of the Church as Christ’s body is alive and active and doing what Christ commands it to do: justify the ungodly."

Read Sunday's sermon from @aaronmharrison.bsky.social

Elevate their hearts, rooted in your peace, so that their voices may echo your justice. In the name of Christ. Amen. 
(Episcopal Public Policy Network)

Make your prophets and public witnesses steadfast, not conforming to the ways of this world in complacency, but always shaped by the hope of your kingdom. Renew their strength in the face of insult and injury.

A Prayer for Weary Advocates:

God of justice, you gave your prophets bold voices and strength when they spoke truth in lands that rejected them. We turn to you with heavy hearts as the news bears constant witness to cruelty, violence, and fear, and your peace advocates are weary.

Today many remember James “Jimmy” Baldwin.

“I imagine one of the reasons people cling to their hates so stubbornly is because they sense, once hate is gone, they will be forced to deal with pain.”
#JamesBaldwin

"I love America more than any other country in this world, and, exactly for this reason, I insist on the right to criticize her perpetually."

- James Baldwin

+Eternal rest grant unto him, O Lord, and let light perpetual shine upon him. May his soul, and the souls of all the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace. And may the Lord have mercy on those of us who remain. Amen.

Almighty God, who gave such courage and endurance to Blandina and her companions that by their deaths many hearts were turned to you; Grant that we, in accordance with their example, may also gladly endure all that is required of us as we witness to you in our own day; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

A collect for the Feast of St. Blandina and her companions:

Jesus: show me the novel you are reading.

Me: I’m not really reading one rn.

J: you have spoken truly, for you are trying to read 4 novels rn and they’re all over 800 pages long.

Me, changing the subject: what’s your opinion, do audiobooks count as reading?

Gold box containing the collect text (Almighty God, who has revealed to your Church your eternal Being of glorious majesty and perfect love as one God in Trinity of Persons: Give us grace that, like your bishop Gregory of Nazianzus, we may continue steadfast in the confession of this faith, and constant in our worship of you, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; who live and reign for ever and ever. Amen.), underneath which is an icon of Gregory of Nazianzus with his name arching over top and "bishop and theologian" arching underneath.

A collect for the Feast of St. Gregory of Nazianzus:

Join us tonight at 6:30 as we mark Maundy Thursday.

More information regarding this service, as well as a full list of additional Holy Week services, can be found at our Upcoming Events page:
www.christouradvocate.org/upcoming-eve...

O God, the King of Saints, who strengthened your servants Perpetua, Felicity, and their companions to make a good confession and to encourage one another in the time of trial: Grant that we who cherish their blessed memory may share their pure and steadfast faith, and win with them the palm of victory; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

A Collect for the Feast of St. Perpetua & St. Felicity

(Icon by Br. Robert Lentz, OFM
trinitystores.com/collections/...)

...Raise up a host of courageous Shiphrahs and Puas—neighbors, co-workers, and other bystanders—to disrupt deportation efforts and make the measures so slow, painstaking, and costly as to be utterly abandoned.

Lord, in your mercy; Hear our prayer.

Anchor logo image with title: Prayers on the Eve of Mass Deportations

Prayers on the Eve of Mass Deportations 🧵
www.christouradvocate.org/blog/prayers...

Eeeek! It’s ready for download. #householdsoffaith