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  "description": "A Prayer for the Week and Resources for Sunday, July 5, 2026",
  "path": "/faith-montage-gathering-as-misfits-and-strangers-letuspray/",
  "publishedAt": "2026-07-02T13:03:52.000Z",
  "site": "https://www.reyes-chow.com",
  "tags": [
    "LetUsPray",
    "The Revised Common Lectionary",
    "The Narrative Lectionary",
    "next section of my Faith Montage",
    "Everything Good about God is True: Choosing Faith",
    "slide versions",
    "when I am in the pulpit",
    "Faith Montage",
    "For Those Fighting Christian Nationalism",
    "RCL Year A Readings (NRSV)",
    "Genesis 24:34-38, 42-49, 58-67",
    "Psalm 45:10-17",
    "Romans 7:15-25a",
    "Matthew 11:16-19, 25-30",
    "NL Summer Readings (Ruth & Esther)",
    "CEB",
    "Esther 7:1-10, 9:1-2, 20-22, 29-32",
    "Luke 1:68-72",
    "Vanderbilt Revised Common Lectionary",
    "The Narrative Lectionary from The Working Preacher",
    "Subscribe now"
  ],
  "textContent": "****Weekly #LetUsPray****\n\nI offer this weekly #LetUsPray as a way to stay anchored amidst the turmoil of the day. Paid subscribers have access to liturgical resources and sermon prompts based on the week's readings from The Revised Common Lectionary and/or The Narrative Lectionary.\n\nSummer FAith Montage\n\nThis week I continue with the next section of my Faith Montage from Everything Good about God is True: Choosing Faith. I hope some of these passages will speak to your soul. If you are interested in using slide versions, I am slowly litanizing (Is that even a word?) the entire montage. Paid Subscribers have access to a PDF of the entire montage for personal or congregational use.\n\nFor you pastors out there, I don't know about you, but I generally dread preaching on July 4th. It has often been because many of the churches that I have served have sacrificed themselves at the altar of \"let's just get along,\" or I simply was not brave enough to tackle Christian Nationalism and toxic patriotism.\n\nThis July 4th, you better believe that I am taking on both of those when I am in the pulpit. I'll expand in the worship resources section, but I am going to try and come at it from two directions: we critique because we want the best for things we love, and we are all closer to crossing the line of kindness to cruelty than we would like to admit.\n\nBut first, we continue working our way through my Faith Montage as we see how and why we gather as God's people. If you need a specific prayer addressing Christian Nationalism, here is one: For Those Fighting Christian Nationalism.\n\n* * *\n\n### Gathering as Misfits and Strangers #LetUsPray\n\n _Let us pray —_\n\n _By dirt roads and oceans vast, across concrete highways and infinite skies,\nby coercion and by consequence, by circumstance, and by choice —\nour journeys converge._\n\n_Ancestors and saints,\ngenerations past,\ngenerations of today,\nand generations yet to come._\n\n_We arrive, we mingle, and we observe._\n\n_We step forward, we step back, we pause, we try again_\n\n _We engage in a divine dance,\nthese bodies, the body,\nall in a space that is God’s,_\n\n_These bodies embody the depth and texture of the Divine,\nseen and unseen,\nknown and unknown,\naddressed and avoided._\n\n_These bodies are not always in control,\nminds betraying,\nbodies breaking down,\nemotions in disarray,\nmind, body, and spirit,\nswirling, swirling, swirling._\n\n_Misfits and strangers uniquely gathered like no place other.\nGathered by love,\ngathered to love,\ngathered even when we are unable to love,\nand gathered especially when we feel undeserving of love._\n\n_Woven together in moments momentary and lingering\nto worship God,\nto know what it is to belong,\nto celebrate the jubilance of life,\nto grieve when life is loss,\nto lament and to confess,\nto forgive and to be forgiven,\nto worship, to pray, to march, to nap,\nto argue, to ponder, to weep, to laugh,\nto discern the mind of Christ and the will of God,\nto love the other as the world would not want us to love\nourselves,\nto affirm and proclaim that we belong to one another,\nand in turn we belong to God._\n\n_— Amen._\n\n* * *\n\nHoping that you experience belonging in many ways and in many places!\n\nPeace,\n\n## LITURGY AND PREACHING PROMPTS\n\n#### 12th Sunday in Ordinary Time, July 5, 2026\n\nRCL Year A Readings (NRSV)**:** Genesis 24:34-38, 42-49, 58-67 | Psalm 45:10-17 | Romans 7:15-25a | Matthew 11:16-19, 25-30\nNL Summer Readings (Ruth & Esther) **(** CEB**):** Esther 7:1-10, 9:1-2, 20-22, 29-32 (From Sadness to Joy) Accompanying text: Luke 1:68-72 (God Saves [Biblical] Israel)\n\nIn writing liturgy, I attempt to be economical with words while addressing the events of the day in ways that help people find grounding in their faith. For readings, I refer to the Vanderbilt Revised Common Lectionary **(RCL)** and The Narrative Lectionary from The Working Preacher **(NL)**. Paid Subscribers should please feel free to use any of the liturgical resources with or without attribution.\n\n### This post is for subscribers only\n\nBecome a member to get access to all content\n\nSubscribe now",
  "title": "Faith Montage: Gathering as Misfits and Strangers #LetUsPray",
  "updatedAt": "2026-07-02T13:03:52.251Z"
}