Looking into the lectionary - We say and pray her name: Sonya Massey

Next Monday through Friday, the Outlook will shut down for a week of sabbath. We will pre-schedule our worship resources to post on the website and our Looking Into the Lectionary newsletter to arrive in your inbox on Monday. However, we won't be able to answer any questions or comments you send until we return on August 12. August 11, 2024 Twelfth Sunday after Pentecost  1 Kings 19:4-8 “It is enough, now, O Lord.” Elijah has hit his breaking point. Perhaps you have, too? Or maybe you recall a time you reached your breaking point, when you prayed, “It is enough,” when you meant, “It is too much. I can’t go on from here.” Or maybe you can recall a time when you looked at your community, your city, your nation, the world, and asked God, “Haven’t we had enough?” We trust in God, and yet we also wonder, how much is enough to bear, enough to learn what God is trying to teach us? Enough with the gun violence, God. We can’t take one more school shooting. We can’t bear one more innocent death. Enough with the warring madness, God. We can’t bear any more babies dying or people taken hostage or hospitals bombed. Enough with the natural disasters, the floods, the wildfires, the Category 5 early-season hurricanes and the deadly heat waves, God. The earth is boiling and praying its own desperate prayers. Enough with the anger and political divisiveness, God. We can’t bear any more leaders whose rhetoric fuels rage and spills into violence. We can’t bear another dinner or Sunday school class or committee meeting where we tiptoe around each others’ views, walking the knife’s edge of our political divisions. Elijah’s prayer of desperation arises out of a wilderness of suffering. He is in Beersheba, on the run from Queen Jezebel, who wants to kill Elijah for killing the prophets of her god, Baal. No one can run forever. Not even a prophet of God. Elijah came to the end of his physical, emotional and spiritual rope. He can’t go one step further. He collapses under a broom tree and prays for God to take his life. It’s in these lowest of low moments when we learn to be honest with ourselves and with God, when we are finally forced to confess that we can’t do it all, that we aren’t completely self-reliant, that we could use some help. In our text for this Sunday, it’s important to note the kind of help that Elijah did and did not receive from God. ... Read the rest of the commentary on the website. Order of worship for August 11, 2024, by Teri McDowell Ott We say and pray her name: Sonya Massey by Teri McDowell Ott Hope in Christian fellowship (August 11, 2024) by Samantha Coggins Waiting and hoping — Christian ed for Children by Joelle Brummit-Yale Want the worship resources for August 4, 2024? You can find them here. IN CASE YOU MISSED IT... Overcoming biases: Navigating secular employment as a bivocational pastor Packard N. Brown offers strategies for demonstrating your value and transferring skills across work cultures. Hasta que haya equidad: The importance behind the General Assembly approval of RSG-05 Vilmarie Cintrón-Olivieri, former co-moderator, discusses the significance of the assembly's resolution to consider and support Hispanic Latino-a-é ministry. Kamala Harris’ multi-religious identity is a map of the future She would be the first presidential candidate with a diverse personal religious and spiritual history that is now far more representative of America’s multi-faith makeup. — Yonat Shimron CMEP holds prayer vigil before Israel’s prime minister addresses Congress Churches for Middle East Peace prays for immediate end to violence in Gaza. More than 200 Christian leaders sign letter calling for cease-fire in Gaza The letter comes as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visits the U.S., where he is expected to address Congress on Wednesday and meet with President Joe Biden on Thursday. — Chloë-Arizona Fodor, Jack Jenkins At the Olympics, athletes show guts, glory – and a lot of ink, including tattoos that profess their faith Gustavo Morello, a scholar of religion, writes about tattoos. Get to know Jihyun Oh, the PC(USA)’s new stated clerk The Outlook sits down with Jihyun Oh to talk about her priorities and vision for the PC(USA) as the newly-elected stated clerk. Decommissioned: The elimination of Missionary Advisory Delegates and the transformation of PC(USA) World Mission Jonathan A. Seitz, who has served as a mission co-worker for 15 years, reflects on GA's decision to end the role of mission advisory delegates.