Lindenwood University Chaplain's Office

03/11/2024

I have a book coming out in April! Preaching the Uncontrolling Love of God, edited by Jeff Wells, Vikki Randall, Thomas Jay Oord, and me. You can check out the link here https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1kRpuMcGyDRpb79q7kJt7negEQHZPWvd1m7EVofV2fA4/viewform?ts=65d644e6&edit_requested=true

01/06/2021

God is our light and our salvation; whom shall we fear?
God is our shelter and refuge in the days of trouble,
and our hope and joy on the days of celebration.
Day after day, we seek God’s face and the assurance of God’s holy love:
Merciful God, do not turn from us or hide your face from us.
Be our guide and our light instead. (from Psalm 27)
We pray for those who were injured and harmed in today’s attack on our Democracy. We pray for swift accountability for those who have perpetrated this grave offense against the foundations of our nation and all the good that we stand for. We pray for the mighty action of your Holy Spirit to guide our nation and each member of it to justice for all. Amen.

12/15/2020

The Chaplain's Office wishes our faculty, staff, and students a very happy Hanukkah!

09/28/2020

The Chaplain's Office wishes our Jewish brothers and sisters a blessed Yom Kippur.

09/13/2020

A Prayer for 9/11
When memories of terror reawaken the past, and experiences of death, loss, and grief,
then ...
In your sure hope, O God, bring healing to the world.
When anger and inflamed passion tempt us to respond with violence and seek revenge,
then ...
In your sure hope, O God, bring healing to the world.
When we are enticed to give in to the illusion that war alone will resolve conflict
between enemies, then ...
In your sure hope, O God, bring healing to the world.
When it feels like every menace, whether imagined or real, is a threat to our security,
and fills us with fear, then ...
In your sure hope, O God, bring healing to the world.
When religion is used as an excuse to exclude, threaten, or destroy others, forgetting or
ignoring all that unites us, then ...
In your sure hope, O God, bring healing to the world.
When we become stuck in the past, unable to respond to the challenges we face with
vision and hope, then ...
In your sure hope, O God, bring healing to the world.
When we wrestle with how to create a better future for our children, even to the seventh
generation, then ...
In your sure hope, O God, bring healing to the world.
When we struggle to find a new and peaceful way to live in the world, and forget that
you, O God, are our help and salvation, then ...
In your sure hope, O God, bring healing to the world.
O God of all peoples, nations and creeds: you have created us and rejoiced in the goodness
of creation, and have wept with us when have experienced death, loss and grief.
Send your healing presence into the world and endow all people, s, groups and nations
with your vision of unity and peace; so that we and all people may move on from the wounds of
the past and seek to live in harmony with one another; to the end that the goodness of your
creation may be restored, enhanced and sustained for the common good of all.
Through mercies of your love and grace, and in your sure hope, O God, bring healing to the
world. Amen!
This Litany of Healing and Hope for September 11, 2011 Copyright 2011 the Rev. Richard Garland. Used with permission.

06/04/2020

Members of the Lindenwood University Chaplain's team have watched the peaceful protests in our nation with hope and enthusiasm. When Christ commands us to love our neighbors as ourselves, I believe he meant it. When he was asked by the disciples about who qualifies as one's neighbor, he tells the story of the Good Samaritan. Samaritans differed from Jews in terms of both religion and race. In this parable, Jesus reminds us that regardless of race or religion, our neighbor is anyone who has a need. The Chaplain's office stands with those who demand freedom, rights, and safety for all of our neighbors. We unequivocally condemn racism and white supremacy as anti-Christian and contrary to the will of Christ.

06/04/2020

05/31/2020

Blessed Pentecost! As we celebrate the birthday of Christ's church we remember that the Spirit dwells and works in each of us. Although we may still be worshipping apart, we are one in the Spirit.

05/24/2020

Eid Al-Fitr Mubarak!

05/09/2020

This day, our God,
we pray for mothers.

We give thanks for mothers
who love and care for their children
and are loved and cared for right back.

But we also pray for women
who have longed for children
and don't and can't have them.

And we pray for women
who had children who shouldn't have—
for children who grew up
without the love and care they deserved and needed.

We pray for grandmothers—
for those for whom that turned out to be what they dreamed it would be
and for those for whom it didn't.

We pray for mothers with sick children
and children with sick mothers.

We pray for mothers with lost children and dead children—
children with lost mothers and dead mothers—
for those who grieve what they had
and those who grieve what they never had.
We pray for women who are afraid.

We pray for all the dilemmas and doubts
and fears, frustrations and heartaches
and richness and wonder
and sleeplessness
of parenting.

We pray for mothers who parent by themselves.
We pray for women who carefully negotiate life with step children,
and for women trying to adopt,
and women hoping fertility treatments will renew disappointed hope.
We pray for mothers whose children have grown up and moved out
and those whose children have grown up and not moved out.

We pray for women who mother the children of others,
and we pray for women who give birth
in every conceivable way—
to ideas and art and possibility
and wonder and joy—
to new life in job contexts and in relational ones.

This complicated day, our God,
we're reminded again
of just how much will not fit on a Hallmark card.
but does fit into Your full awareness of all that is—
that does fit into Your investment in love and grace
in and through all circumstances.

We pray for mothers
in all the fullness of what all it can mean—
informed by what we know
of all those we know—
gratefully trusting You to know so much more than we do or can—
gratefully trusting You with the hearts of those we love—
gratefully trusting You with all the deep pain and joy of this day,
in Jesus' name,
amen.
--author unknown

04/30/2020

Psalm 23
“The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing.”
Many of us have this memorized as, “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.” But most of us think that “shall not want” means “should not want.” But, that’s not actually what the Psalmist is saying. Instead, this passage means, ‘because God cares for me, I have all I need.’ For those of us who have enough, these words are a comfort. Is there good news here for those who are struggling? I think so. The Psalmist mentions that he has enemies. Even while God cares for the Psalmist, adversity is real. The promise of this psalm is that in adversity, God will provide us the resources we need to face our challenges. It is true that some people’s journey’s are longer and harder than others. It is also true that God will be with those who walk through the darkness. Our job as those who are not struggling is to do all we can to help those who do struggle.

04/24/2020

Quran 63:64: “Then tell Me about the seed that you sow in the ground. Is it you that make it grow, or are We the Grower?”
Corinthians 3:7: "So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow."
Our Muslim brothers and sisters begin their month-long fast today. Those who have the physical ability will not eat or drink anything from sunup to sundown until the evening of May 23. It is a difficult practice, one that encourages people to be aware of their dependence upon God for all good things. The fast encourages people to be especially grateful for the food they do have to eat. The fast encourages people to be more consciously aware of God and God’s constant presence in our lives through the sensations of hunger and thirst. It is a time of introspection, to ask forgiveness, let go of ways that obstruct one’s faithfulness and resolve to follow the good path God has set for us. It reminds those of us who do not fast to take some time to be grateful.
Let us pray, “Holy God, we lift up our brothers and sisters who begin their fast this day. Bless their Ramadan with faithfulness and fruitfulness. We lift up our thanks and praise for the goodness and blessings in our lives.” Amen.