“Churches are good for prayer, but so are garages and cars and mountains and showers and dance floors.” – Anne Lamott
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What next, PVCC?
I have been authorized by the Congregation to appoint five PVCC members to a team that will meet with David Hansen and myself to plan for September and beyond. David’s contract ends on August 31. What is PVCC’s structure after August 31? How does PVCC function after August 31? This team will explore those questions and others, and give a report to the Congregation that will require action at the July 31 meeting. If you would like to volunteer to be considered for this team, please email or call me. I will finalize the team by the end of this week.
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A Prayer from a Woman
This timely prayer resonates with me. This prayer, from Rev. Nadia Bolz-Weber, was publicized on Sunday, June 26, 2022.
Dear God,
The world has sought endlessly to quiet, hem in, shame and control this body, nevertheless, I persist in praising you that I was born a woman.
And I thank you for the generations of other women whose well of wisdom, and defiance, and beauty, and creativity I have drunk from; the waters of which have sustained me and set my shoulders back.
Thank you for our ancestors in the faith who knew their dignity originated in you and not in the whims of those who sought to dominate them. Help me draw not upon the power of doom-scrolling but upon the power of Mary’s song, and Jael’s hammer, and Shiphrah & Puah’s sneakiness, the Syrophoenician woman’s sass.
Thank you for the anger surging through this body that has conceived three and birthed two.
Bless that anger, God, and direct it.
And if there is any left over, let it not destroy me or those I love, but burn it off with the heat of pleasure, and desire.
And if the road ahead is long, Lord – and I fear it will be,
may there be belly laughing
may there be mutual consolation
may there be rest
may there be song
and I am serious about this one, God – may there be snacks.
For this and that for which I have no words – I thank you.
May these prayers of gratitude turn my fear into faith and my rage into purpose.
Amen.
— Rev. Nadia Bolz-Weber of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA)
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From the PVCC newsletter archives, this week in 1970: From the HEW hearings in Kansas City, it appears…the school board does not have any plan for meaningful integration. You are invited…to meet with other concerned citizens to discuss means of producing equality of educational opportunity for all Wichita children. The current plan…is considered inadequate by most black people and by many white people. It is hoped that some practical suggestions and a plan of action will result from this meeting.
— Melanie Naden, PVCC Moderator