March 3, 2022

Evan Blaire Taylor

 

Community Connections:	WTS MDiv Student, Community Engagement Fellow, Editor of Wesley Journal, Vice-President of Association of Black Seminarians; Digital Minister, Metropolitan African Methodist Episcopal Church, DC.
Movie Title:	A Life of Meaning Making

A Prayer for Taking Up Your Cross
~ Luke 9:18–25

Lord God,

Open our ears to hear you clearly,
Open our eyes to see your wisdom,
Open our minds to study your word,
Open our hearts to feel your presence,
Open our hands to take up our cross,
Open our mouths to pray and speak as you have taught us,

Call us to relationship with our neighbor,
Call us to commune with creation,
Call us to solidarity with the oppressed,
Call us to service to community,
Call us to shalom,
Call us to reconciliation,

Enliven us with vigor for the work ahead,
Engage us in co-labor with you,
Emancipate us from the expectations of the world,
Empower us to use our gifts, talents and treasures for you and your kin-dom,

Help us to rely on your power, your strength and your understanding,
Help us to follow Jesus’ lived example,
Help us to be quick to remember and slow to forget,
Help us to be aware of your presence, Help us to be attune to your callings to us,

Show us who we are,
Show us what is ours to carry,
Show us who and how we ought to be,

Free us from the fear that holds us captive,
Free us from the wounds that guide our actions,
Free us from the bias that colors our ability to see,

May we remain embodied in the divinity, worth, dignity and sovereignty only you can provide,

In the matchless name of Jesus, Amen.

Reflection: How might you discern your calling(s); what cross is yours to carry and the embodiment necessary to co-labor with God?