Tag Archives: consumerism

Breath Prayers Based on Mark 12

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summer in the scriptures- Mark

Breath Prayers based on Mark 12:41-44
The Widow’s Offering
Silently pray the phrase after IN on your breath in. Then silently pray the phrase after OUT on your breath out. Take your time. Breathe deeply. Choose one, a few, or all of them as is most helpful to you. ⁠

IN: All I have
OUT: is a good gift from you

IN: All I have
OUT: is yours

IN: Jesus,
OUT: heal me of consumerism

IN: Jesus,
OUT: heal me of hypocrisy

IN: Jesus, deliver me
OUT: from performing and parading faith

IN: Generous One
OUT: Make me generous

IN: Faithful One
OUT: I trust you to provide

How do breath prayers help you?
Share a breath prayer you’ve written.

_______________

For the next few months, I’m reading a chapter from the Gospels each day. This is part of the Summer in the Scriptures reading plan sponsored by the Florida Conference of the United Methodist Church. Click Here for the reading plan.

You’re most welcome to read along and to join the Facebook discussion group, Summer in the Scriptures. You don’t need to be a Methodist or attend a Methodist church. All are welcome and all means all.

As part of the Facebook group, I’ve been supplying prayers based on the day’s reading. Feel free to post your prayers and observations based on the readings here or there as well.

May the grace of the Gospels, the challenge, and the call, inspire us to great faith and great good works in Jesus’ name. – Lisa <><

Breath Prayers based on Mark 12 © 2020 Lisa Ann Moss Degrenia
You are welcome to use this work in a worship setting with proper attribution.
Please leave a comment for information and permission to publish this work in any form.

Take Up The Cross, a prayer based on Matthew 16.24-28

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take-up-your-cross-0022Based on Matthew 16:24-28

Merciful Jesus, give me the courage to deny privilege
To lay down favor and safety
in order to take up the cross of opportunity and justice

Merciful Jesus, give me the courage to deny consumerism
To lay down convenience and gratification
in order to take up the cross of sustainability and generosity

Merciful Jesus, give me the courage to deny prejudice
To lay down apathy and segregation
in order to take up the cross of diversity and true love

Merciful Jesus, have mercy on me
Show me what to pick up and what to lay down
that I may lose and loose
in order to find and bind
all that is of you
that I may bear all that leads to life
and give me the courage to help others do the same
Amen

*****
For more inspiration, go to The Resistance and Fruit of Gratitude and Not Safe, both by Steve Garnaas Holmes.

Take Up the Cross © 2017 Lisa Ann Moss Degrenia
You are welcome to use this work in a worship setting with proper attribution.
Leave a comment for information and permission to publish this work in any form.

The 2016 TED Talk Experiment- Week 9

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TED talk blog graphic 2

Teach Girls Bravery, Not Perfection
Reshma Saujani
TED2016 Vancouver British Columbia, February 2016
Powerful. Game changing. Growing up, boys are encouraged to take risks far more than girls. To address this, Saujani started a company to teach girls to code. Learning perseverance, how to fail and try again, in coding in turn taught them to be brave and freed them from the debilitating trap of perfectionism.

Photos from a Storm Chaser
Camille Seaman
TED2013  Long Beach California, February 2013
The photos are as spectacular as the story at the beginning of this talk reminding us our interconnectedness with all of creation.

The Greatest TED Talk Ever Sold
Morgan Spurlock
TED2011 Long Beach California, February 2011
I have tremendous respect for the work of Morgan Spurlock. He immerses himself in situations, often at danger and discomfort to himself, in order to bring awareness and change through the medium of documentary filmmaking. This talk highlighted themes of transparency, risk-taking, marketing, and branding, as explored in the making of his film The Greatest Movie Ever Sold.

Why I’m a Weekday Vegetarian
Graham Hill
TED2010 Long Beach California, February 2010
Consuming meat is expensive, hard on the environment, hard on our health, and cruel to animals raised as if they were assembly line products. Consider cutting your meat consumption by 70% by only eating meat on the weekends.  

How to save the world (or at least yourself) from bad meetings
David Grady
TED @ State Street Boston, November 2013
Simple idea – find out the goal of the meeting before accepting the invitation to attend.

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I’m trying an experiment in 2016. Maybe you’d like to try it with me.

Here’s where I am
I’m tired of the spin. I’m tired of ideas, news, and entertainment really being one long sales pitch for profit or power.

I’m longing for creativity, curiosity, and inspiration. I’m in search of passionate people willing to speak to the truth and complexity of living with a heart of hope. I want to hear from authentic humans who are in the trenches working for the greater good.

I think I’ve found them in the TED community.

“TED is a global community, welcoming people from every discipline and culture who seek a deeper understanding of the world. We believe passionately in the power of ideas to change attitudes, lives and, ultimately, the world. On TED.com, we’re building a clearinghouse of free knowledge from the world’s most inspired thinkers — and a community of curious souls to engage with ideas and each other, both online and at TED and TEDx events around the world, all year long.”

TED’s been around for 30 years. I’ve heard about them and even watched a couple of talks, but I’ve never spent any concentrated time mining the good stuff. So….

Here’s the plan
Watch 5 enthusiastic, inspiring TED Talk presenters a week for a year.
Apply and share the goodness.

Prayer from Visions of a World Hungry by Thomas G. Pettepiece

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Indian street seller hands displaying green chickpeas. Photo by Jorge Royan via Wikimedia Commons

Indian street seller hands displaying green chickpeas. Photo by Jorge Royan via Wikimedia Commons

Prayer from Visions of a World Hungry by Thomas G. Pettepiece
Lord, I already know the best way to alter my life-style to the best advantage for all — live like Jesus. The Christian existence ideally is to imitate what you do. You send the sun and rain on everyone, you want me to bet back to the basic facts of life, to love without reservation, to distinguish between life’s needs and life itself, and seek first your kingdom knowing you will meet all my other needs.

Still it is easy to trust in the “things” of today and feel like it is up to me to see that humanity survives. Keep me from undue worry and pride. Remind me that life is a gift — not a right, and that my attitude toward the ultimate resources and values in life will determine how the earth’s resources will be handled and provided for those who need them. I have already formed many habits of consuming and acting. Guide me in aligning my personal priorities to conform to my awareness of a world hungry. May my life-style become more compatible with our biosphere and supportive of peoples around the world.

Lord, help me choose a simpler life-style that promotes solidarity with the world’s poor, helps me appreciate nature more, affords greater opportunity to work together with my neighbors, reduces my use of limited resources, creates greater inner harmony, saves money, allows time for mediation and prayer, incites me to take political and social action.

May all my decisions about my style of life celebrate the joy of life that comes from loving you. Amen

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Visions of a World Hungry by Thomas G. Pettepiece. (The Upper Room, 1979)