fingernails

Response #34 Grease

chasezforeman Chase Responds Tags: , , Leave a comment

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Mysterious Theologian: Chase

Greasy God, you stain my fingers when I’m working hard… whether I am sealing toilets, repairing bikes, or lubricating skid steers and backhoes. You got your hands dirty when you created me. You got your hands dirty when you saved me. You get your hands dirty when you love me. I give thanks for you, Greasy God, and ask that you stick with me and stain me. I ask that you continue to form me and shape me and as often as is necessary stain my fingers and remind me that though these may be my hand they were meant to do God’s greasy, grimy, good work.

Amen.

Response #13 Nails on a Chalkboard

chasezforeman Chase Responds Tags: , , , , , , Leave a comment

Ahh! Ben! Why?!

Prayer of Grating Anguish

God, I’ve been praying for deliverance so much recently. Everything screams out at me. I can’t escape the shrill tone of suffering that haunts your creation. My twitter feed updates me on very clear suffering around the world. The news rolls me around in the details of every possible tragedy. You gave me a heart and a brain so I know that there is even more beyond what I can hear. Jimi Hendrix didn’t save us from the sound of nails on a chalkboard and Jesus didn’t save us from our suffering. There’s things I can hear, but I can’t change. And God help me! The things I can’t hear I don’t stand a chance of changing. But God, you see them, you change them. You ask too much of me. You’re on notice God, your deliverance is incomplete.

Amen

Response #6 Fingernails

benmckelahan Ben Responds Tags: , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

Mysterious Theologian: Ben

First of all, Chase…maybe you should talk to someone about your relationship with fingernails…

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Oh Sacred Fingernail, just as you formed the letters on the tablets of stone given to Moses, so too you traced every detail of my being into the dust which you gave life.  In your own image, you gave me fingers with which to caress and examine your creation.  Protect their tips from doors slammed in anger, trunks closed in thoughtlessness, and boxes dropped in weariness. Scrape away my fear, that like Thomas’s finger, I too may venture into the wounds of injustice in your resurrected and incarnate love.  And when anxiety overwhelms me, let me chew on the truth that you are always at my fingertips and taste all the places through which you have journeyed with me. Amen.

Challenge #6 Fingernails

chasezforeman Chase Challenges Tags: , , , , , Leave a comment

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Ben, I’m sure you would agree that fingernails are gross. Why do you think some men and women choose to paint them? Yeah, maybe they’re making a statement, but it’s a double whammy: they get to make a statement and cover up these yucky little things attached to our fingers. Our fingernails get dirt underneath them. This is especially true when we don’t keep them trimmed. Some people say “I’ll scratch your back if you scratch mine…” Gross! And furthermore I’ve watched a lot of Law and Order… what are you trying to frame us for? And let’s top this huge piece of disgusting pie with a festering cherry: some people chew their nails. Ugh Benjamin, I’m sickened just thinking about fingernails, so I’m going to stop and let you pray… Gross, I just remembered boogers.