Louisiana Interchurch Conference

A Sunday blessing for those who preach:

May the gospel be good news
for the poor, the excluded, the frightened,
the weary, and the wounded.

May your proclamation make no peace
with cruelty or contempt.
May it widen the table,
restore human dignity,
and remind us that no person
is beyond the reach of divine love.

This is in person and virtual. Register to attend virtually.
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdoO8Wta_731XI3ook3GbLFncZBplzZ_WNMlqrbP4ByMia5lQ/viewform

Mark your calendars. Join us Sept 9. And find out what is happening in Alexandria, LA and in airports around the US.

In parternership with the Louisiana Interchurch Conference, the Center will host a free screening of ICE AIR: Inside America’s Secret Deportation Network.

ICE AIR: Inside America’s Secret Deportation Network is a multi-state investigative journalism project examining the billion-dollar domestic transfer system operated by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The investigation exposes how thousands of detainees are shuffled daily across domestic airports and state lines—often hidden from public flight tracking data—before being removed from the country.

All are welcome!

Date: September 9th
Time: 6:00 P.M. (50 min. film)
Registration: Free, on the Center website

A Sunday blessing for all who serve the church today:

For those who unlock doors and turn on lights,
prepare coffee and print bulletins,
tune instruments and teach children,
welcome visitors and tend sacred spaces:

May your service be filled with joy.
May you know that every act of care
helps create a place where someone
may encounter the love of God.

We give thanks for all who have said yes to this calling.

A priest is someone willing to stand between a God and a people who are longing for one another's love, turning back and forth between them with no hope of tending either as well as each deserves. To be a priest is to serve a God who never stops calling people to do more justice and love more mercy, and simultaneously to serve people who nine times out of ten are just looking for a safe place to rest.

For all who stand to preach today in the shadow of flags and fireworks:

May you hold the delicate line between love of country and allegiance to Christ.
May you proclaim a hope that is bigger than any nation, and a justice that does not stop at borders.
May you offer both gratitude for what is already good and the courage to speak of what is not yet whole.
And may your congregation leave more committed to being neighbors, peacemakers, and followers of the way of Christ.

So many of our clergy colleagues are in the midst of transitions. May this time of change be a blessing.

At this time of year, I am thinking so much about friends and colleagues who are on the move—who are leaving the communities they have known and entering into new forms of ministry as they begin new appointments, retire, or go on leave or a sabbatical. I wrote a blessing for one of those friends a while back and wanted to share it with you. If you are in any kind of threshold-y time, or know someone who is, this is for you.

THIS DAY WE SAY GRATEFUL
A Sending Blessing

It is a strange thing
to be so bound
and so released
all in the same moment,
to feel the heart
open wide
and wider still,
even as it turns
to take its leave.

On this day,
let us say
this is simply the way
love moves
in its ceaseless spiraling,
turning us toward
one another,
then sending us
into what waits for us
with arms open wide to us
in welcome
and in hope.

On this day,
in this place
where you have
poured yourself out,
where you have been
emptied
and filled
and emptied again,
may you be aware
more than ever
of what your heart
has opened to
here,
what it has tended
and welcomed
here,
where it has broken
in love and in grief,
where it has given
and received blessing
in the unfathomable mystery
that moves us,
undoes us,
and remakes us,
finally,
for joy.

This day
may you know
this joy
in full measure.

This day
may you know
this blessing
that gathers you in
and sends you forth
but will not
forget you.

Oh hear us
as this day
we say
grace,
this day
we say
grateful,
this day
we say
blessing,
this day
we release you
into God’s keeping
and hold you
in gladness
and love.

—Jan Richardson
from How the Stars Get in Your Bones: A Book of Blessings
janrichardson.com/books

Image: “Gesture of Grace”
© Jan Richardson
janrichardsonimages.com

What a day! Today was so full of hope and joy - the kind that is experienced within communities sharing love and unity across differences.

This morning included a meeting of Communities of Hope (a coalition of interfaith leaders) and the Mayor of New Orleans along with several of her staff members, sharing their hearts and plans for New Orleans.

This afternoon was a celebration of the refugees and immigrants who make our community beautiful and whole - hosted by Louisiana Organization for Refugees and Immigrants- LORI’s in Baton Rouge, with the Rev Dr JC Richardson as keynote speaker.

LA Interchurch Conference is so grateful to have been able to join both of these communities to celebrate our unity in the midst of differences.