John Street United Methodist Church: March 22, 2003 THIRD STUNDAY IN LENT

PASTORAL PARYER: 10 Commandments

O Lord, our God, as the world staggers and reels in shock and awe from the devastation witnessed in the fire and smoke over Baghdad, our eyes are turned in memory to the fire and smoke over Mount Sinai and our hearts are reminded and attuned both to the commandments of thy word and our covenant relationship with Thee. In a world of divided loyalties and plural allegiances; a world with many "gods" bearing such names as Wealth, Power, Success, Military Strength, Security, Nation, Comfort, Status, Pleasure and Indulgence, we hear again your voice thundering in declaration and command above the multiplicity of false and lesser deities, saying: "I am the Lord, your God, you shall have no other gods before me."

In a world where flags are treated with a sanctity not accorded many people, where weapons are fashioned into the image and likeness of the great god Power, where ornaments of gold are such emblems of status that especially the young will main and kill to possess such golden idols, where luxury cars, yachts, mansions, stock certificates, jewelry, oil derricks, and all other manifestations of material opulence stand as symbols of all-consuming passion and devotion, we hear your clear command, "You shall not make for yourself a graven image."

In a world where the elderly are all-to-often punished for their longevity, where age is mocked rather than revered, where parents are terrorized, victimized, abused and held hostage by their own children, and where the moral values and codes of conduct which upheld and sustained past generations have been rejected by self-seeking and indulgent offspring, we hear they command, "Honor you father and mother."

In a city, nation and world drenched in blood, where slaughter is sanctified and blessed by invocations of national interest, national security, patriotic duty, law and order, and quality of life and safe street necessity; where little children are tortured unto death by drug-crazed parents, and the innocent and unaware are murdered by drug-driven marauders, where tribal, ethnic, sexual, racial and religious difference is a reason for carnage, brutality, and execution, where thy children are allowed to starve to death not because of nature's capriciousness but rather because of human callousness, where capital punishment masquerades as a state's right rather than revenge, where freedom of choice too often becomes self-righteous rationalization for terminating the formative processes of life, and pro-life slogans become a diversion for the willing complicity and consent in the killing of little ones already born, and where the obscenity of the gun market is purified by the pietistic platitudes about the individual's right to bear arms, we hear thy clear and unequivocal command, "You shall not kill."

In a world were notions of responsibility in sexual relationships and union have been abandoned, and marriage vows are trivialized, where infidelity calls itself machismo and sexual allure has become the seductive ally of advertising, commerce and profit, where media coverage resembles more pornographic obsession than diligent reporting, and where the sexual proclivities of public servants and elected officials become more important to the curious and the obsesses than their legislative productivity, we hear your command, "You shall not commit adultery."

In a world where theft thrives and reigns, where hapless bystanders are mugged by the callous for the purchase price of pleasure or by those are desperate to feed themselves or their addictions, where public coffers are looted by those entrusted to be their guardians, and private holdings are snatched by the greedy, where human rights are poached by the privileged and the powerful, and hope is purloined by false promise, we hear your command, "You shall not steal."

In a world laced and ladened by lies, where jealousy and envy are prevailing passions among nations and within individual human hearts, where remedies tendered to eradicate exclusion and enlarge opportunities are viewed as threats to privilege, and where injustice and inequity are sanctions and preferred over sharing, where advocates of justice are labeled as trouble-making agitators, and ill-advised rabble-rousers, where racial and ethnic slurs, sexual stereotypes, and false images are employed by some of Thy children to harass, degrade and dehumanize their sisters and brothers in the human family we hear thy command, "You shall not bear false witness against or covet anything that is you neighbor's"

O God, write these your clear commandments indelibly upon our hearts and both imbue and empower us with a will to obey and a spirit of obedience.

Hear us now, O God, as we lay before thee the private concerns of our individual hearts in the silence of the following moments: .....

All these thing s we ask in the name of Jesus our Lord and Savior, who taught us to pray, saying:

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed by Thy name. Thy kingdom come; Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen.