January 20, 2023

Epiphany reflection from Elder Liz Jenkins

Dear Lake B fam,


Over the last couple of Sunday mornings we’ve had a chance to hear from six different Lake B elders, sharing their recent epiphanies—what God is revealing to them—and what they’re doing with that revelation.


It’s been a rich time. I wanted to share with you all a prayer I wrote, based on some of the things I heard in these six stories. I invite you to pray this if you like, and to remember all the other people in our community doing the same thing.


Peace to you this week.
Liz


God of our ancestors,
There has never been a person, a family,
a generation you have not seen.
You saw their struggles and their joys,
their celebrations and their desperation.
We honor them, and, in so doing, we honor you.
Your love encompasses them as surely as your love encompasses us.


God who dwells in hard histories,
You give us strength to see and not deny the past.
You walk with us as we reshape narratives, fill in the gaps,
remember things as they happened
and not how we wish they were, or what we were taught to believe.


God of the advocates,
Thank you for the gift of knowing that we were already praying,
even when we didn’t know it.
You have been in every plea for justice,
every act of care for another human being,
everything we did to make sure someone knew they had value
and were not forgotten.
Help us move toward justice, love, and peace,
trusting you are near even when we don’t feel you.


God who kicks down doors,
Give us courage to face our places of privilege.
Give us the nerve to push for equity.
Open the doors that need to be opened
and tear down the doors that need to be torn down.
Invite us to make good trouble with you.


God who is near to the lonely,
Help us accept our loneliness and find you,
somehow, in the murky midst of it.
When friends don’t know how to care for us, you are with us, still.
When comforting words fall flat in the face of our grief,
and well-intentioned platitudes just make us angry,
you make room for us to yell and cry and grieve.
Our full humanity is not too much for you.


God who invites us to lie down in green pastures,
You are not our boss.
You do not buy into capitalism’s lies that say we must always be working,
always producing, worth only as much as we produce and consume.
You are the God who rests.
You are the God who invites us to rest.
Overturn tables set with the greed of a few to the detriment of all.
Break the connection between money and value.
Restore our sleep, our bodies, our minds, our health,
our courage to resist these systems that were not built for us.


God who believes in us,
Remind us that there is more to us than we might know,
more than others might recognize.
Sing over us your songs of worth, precious value, wisdom,
courage to be exactly who you made us to be.
You created us as you wanted us to be.
Let no one tell us otherwise.
Fill us with hope for a future we can’t quite yet imagine.
May our dreams move in your directions.
Help us remember that each one of us is necessary.


God whose star the magi followed,
Reveal yourself to us:
your broad inclusivity, your redeeming power,
your advocacy, your table-turning justice,
your tender presence in our darkest times,
your rest, your restoration, your kindness,
the glory of your creation in us and around us.
Reveal among us the different kind of community you build.
Help us go a different way from the well-trod violent paths
so easily available to us.
Make peace in, among, and through us.
Amen



Congratulations and Important announcement from Pastor Lina:


Michael Won will be resigning from his full time role here as Lake B’s Youth Director after 4 years, effective January 31st. He has accepted a position as the editorial manager for Likelihood Seattle, a clothing boutique. This new role is an exciting opportunity for Michael to grow his leadership and faith in new ways. We will have a chance in the coming weeks to hear more from Michael and to celebrate with him. He will continue here at Lake B providing support to our young people through his participation in Sunday school and leadership of the weekly Youth Fellows program. We are working with Michael on identifying all the areas that will need support during this transition and ask you to pray as we do so! In the meanwhile, please join me in celebrating all that Michael has done here at Lake B in the past 4 years – providing a safe, meaningful and loving space for our young people.


More to come!

---