(Commissioned for Lenten resource in 2020 by St. Paul's UMC, Houston, TX) All prayers written by Rev. M Barclay, enfleshed #1 Spirit of God, when paths of transformation lead me into times of wilderness - periods of learning and unlearning, realities winding and unruly, may your presence be my steady companion. If I feel afraid of the unfamiliar or unknown - a stranger to where you are leading, remind me I do not go alone. All who seek your Wisdom are wandering. When I forget, remind me this is part of Love’s work. Help me to be patient with my journey, letting Love set the pace. If I feel...

1 -  we come from the earth, and to the earth we will return. a place, holy and dark, where divinity knits the web of life, queering beginnings and endings and beginnings. more of a sacred integration than a divine abduction, this is a gradual evolution, moving with respect for the way a life lingers. eventually and with time, destruction is made fodder for seeds. death, a nutrient for life. decay, a slow unfolding of future's potential. it's not without its complications - this claim of eternal composting - for one thing, it smells wretched. but it is honest. and we need more of that. and...

Pentecost is coming. It will be an end and a beginning. It will bewilder and confuse. Though some will fight it, the aching world calls it forth with urgency. Come, Spirit, come. The Spirit who moves like “a rush of violent wind…” Who appears like fire… Who is the breath of God… She comes to us unconcerned with order, wild with freedom, turning over anything and everything that stands in Her way. Let Her come and fill our mouths with words we didn’t know we could speak. Let Her come and help us hear in languages we once could not understand. She is being poured out. The people will prophesy....

Epiphany Searching for a glimpse of change, seeking liberation from colonizing forces, the magi journeyed, crossing foreign lands and borders with only a star as their guide. The same glimmer of hope that guided their way calls to us today. Through night skies and morning dew. Through community and in silent meditation. Through songs, ancient and new. Through art and bodies and creation. Through collectives of people who dare to break rules in the direction of a better world. It calls us to come and share our resources equitably, to come and delight in love enfleshed, to come and join in the...

Keep your proclamations of grandeur. Give me an easter as small as a seed. One that can be planted while it’s still cold outside. One that can be watered with tears, and demands time and patience to grow. I don’t need to know how large it will become, how long until it blossoms, or even if it will be pretty. I only want it to grow roots that dig deep down, striving for life in the underbelly of the world. Spare me the cosmic promises of other-worldly escape and point me to the Sacred possibilities within reach. Tell me again about how the nutrients born from decay keep even the saddest...

God in solidarity God takes on fleshand joins life in the struggle -this is what radical solidarity feels like.Lives and souls and bodies entangled.Risks and possibilities shared.We’re in this together.The mess, the beauty, the work.Don’t be afraid to feel hopeful.God’s promises are kept.God won’t opt-out or turn away.God won’t give up when things get tough.God won’t defend power, or privilege, or institutions, or traditionat the expense of freedom, or love, or liberation, or your worth.God’s with-ness is birthed at the margins.God knows what’s at stake.Let all who are weary, rejoice!All of...