Lazy Sunday Reading: We cannot do everything, and there is a sense of liberation in realizing that...

Archbishop Oscar Romero - much like Ben Franklin and Mark Twain - may have said less than what he is said to have said. Apparently written by soon-to-be Bishop Ken Utener of Saginaw (eastern Michigan), the poem/prayer is beautiful and one I was led in at a parent's orientation at our daughter's school a couple weeks ago.


It helps, now and then, to step back and take a long view.
The kingdom is not only beyond our efforts,
it is even beyond our vision.
We accomplish in our lifetime only a tiny fraction
of the magnificent enterprise that is God's work.
Nothing we do is complete, which is a way of saying
that the kingdom always lies beyond us.
No statement says all that could be said.
No prayer fully expresses our faith.
No confession brings perfection.
No pastoral visit brings wholeness.
No program accomplishes the church's mission.
No set of goals and objectives includes everything.
It may be incomplete,
but it is a beginning, a step along the way,
an opportunity for the Lord's grace to enter and do the rest.
We may never see the end results, but that is the difference
between the master builder and the worker.
We are workers, not master builders; ministers, not messiahs.
We are prophets of a future not our own.
This is what we are about.
We plant the seeds that one day will grow.
We water seeds already planted,
knowing that they hold future promise.
We lay foundations that will need further development.
We provide yeast that produces far beyond our capabilities.
We cannot do everything, and there is a sense of liberation
in realizing that. This enables us to do something,
and to do it very well.
Amen.

Chicago Days 1 - Prayer Vigil in the 14th District

I've been trying to start a Chicago Tuesdays for the last two weeks, but that just never got off the ground. Hopefully, this can be a regular or semi-regular feature next week. But for now, I thought I'd share this prayer vigil announcement for anyone who lives in the Shakespeare District or around here in Chicago. We (including my church, Urban Vineyard) are participating this Thursday evening, and if you live nearby, I ask you to consider showing up as well:

VIGIL AND SPECIAL WORSHIP SERVICE

"Prayer Vigil for Peace to Stop the Violence in Our Community"

Churches and Houses of Worship that partner with the 14th District Police Department invite neighbors from the 14th District and beyond to attend a Vigil and Special Worship Service to Seek God for the Peace of our Community.

Our theme verse is Jeremiah 29:7 "Seek the peace of the city; Pray to the Lord for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper."

We will also be offering prayers for the families who have been hurt by violence this year.

Neighborhood young people will be leading us in songs, skits, and prayers.

Thursday, November 19, 2009

6:30p.m. Meet at the corner of Division St. & Spaulding Ave. for walking procession

7:00p.m. Worship Service at Church of God 3301 W. Lemoyne (773) 235-2958

WHO: 26^th Ward Alderman Maldonado, 14^th District Chicago Police Commander J. Escalante, Ten CommunityChurches and 100 community residents

Participating churches: Abrego del Altisimo, Armitage Baptist Church, Church of God, Humboldt Park Ministerial Association, Iglesia Mision de Valle, La Capilla de Barrio, Episcopal Church de Nuestra Senora de las Americas, Salvation and Deliverance, Vineyard Christian Fellowship, Iglesia de Agape.

For more information contact: Officer Iraida Torres, 14^th District CAPS Officer 312-744 -1261,
Iraida.Torres@...

Rosita De La Rosa

Logan Square Neighborhood Association (LSNA)

Prevention Specialist Director / Intergenerational Organizer

2840 N. Milwaukee Ave.

Chicago, IL. 60618-7401

(773) 384-4370 x10 www.lsna.net

rositadelarosa@...

For Your Lenten Consideration...

Renowned pastor, author and Bible translator Eugene Peterson meditating on the so-called "middle voice" - which lays somewhere between the active and the passive voice in ancient Greek grammar.

My grammar book said, "The middle voice is that use of the verb which describes the subjects as participating in the results of the action." I read that now, and it reads like a description of Christian prayer -- "the subject as participating in the results of the action." I do not control the action; that is a pagan concept of prayer putting the gods to work in my incantations or rituals. I am not controlled by the action; that is a Hindu concept of prayer in which I slump passively into the impersonal and fated will of gods and goddesses. I enter into the action begun by another, my creating and saving Lord, and find myself participating in the results of the actions. I neither do it, nor have it done to me; I will to participate in what is willed.

- Eugene Peterson, quoted by Philip Yancey in Prayer: Does It Make Any Difference?