Upside-Down Prayer Stations (Sermonless Sunday) ~ Luke 6:27-35

 

²⁷ “But to you who are listening I say: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, ²⁸ bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. ²⁹ If someone slaps you on one cheek, turn to them the other also. If someone takes your coat, do not withhold your shirt from them. ³⁰ Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back. ³¹ Do to others as you would have them do to you. ³² “If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love them. ³³ And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners do that. ³⁴ And if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, expecting to be repaid in full. ³⁵ But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. ~ Luke 6:27-35

Blessing Station

²⁷ “But to you who are listening I say: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, ²⁸ bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.”

Listening to Jesus isn’t easy, especially when he invites us to bless others who have wished us harm. But Jesus’ upside-down kingdom truly seeks to vanquish our enemies by seemingly killing them with kindness. He seeks to free us from the tyranny of others by not allowing them to determine our response or dictate our actions. Jesus encourages us to not give them that power and to live into way of being that seeks to remake the world through mercy, generosity, and blessing.

Prayer Activity:

Who are you tempted to curse or speak badly about? Ask God to listen to your heartache and in return take a moment to listen to the God who suffered terrible violence, offered love to enemies, and invites you to do the same. Now, consider writing a brief blessing for the person on the paper provided and tie your blessing to the cross as an act of prayer. If this feels too difficult, invite God to heal and restore you and then hand the person over to Jesus to be blessed by him. Write their initials on a piece of paper and tie it to the cross.

A Prayerful, Peaceful Mad-lib

They will beat their swords into plowshares
    and their spears into pruning hooks.
Nation will not take up sword against nation,
    nor will they train for war anymore. ~ Isaiah 2:4

The upside-down peacemaking teachings of Jesus aren’t simply a phenomena of the New Testament but anchor deeply in the Hebrew Scriptures where the prophets speak of a time when God will come, teach us his ways, and violence will be no more. At that time, Isaiah announces, weapons of war will be transformed into helpful tools that feed people.

Prayer Activity:

Pick up a card and carefully consider the fact about gun violence that it presents. Offer a prayer in response. Now, turn the card over and read the prophecy of Isaiah where the weapon is updated from “sword” to “gun.” As a prayerful act of imagination, fill in the blank and offer a prayer. What would you like to beat the gun into? When you’re done, tack your new paraphrase to the board that is right in front of you.

NOTE: Each card will have one of the four facts.

Firearms remain a leading cause of death for children and teens and have exceeded motor vehicle fatalities as a cause of death for eight consecutive years.

Gun suicides rose for the sixth consecutive year, accounting for nearly two-thirds of all gun deaths.

2025 has already witnessed one hundred incidents of gun violence on school grounds resulting in thirty-two deaths and ninety-eight injuries.

In 2024, there were 488 mass shootings. A “mass shooting” is an incident where four or more people are killed or injured by gunfire.

On the other side it will read:

“Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord,
    to the temple of the God of Jacob.
He will teach us his ways,
    so that we may walk in his paths. . . .
They will beat their guns into

                                                  . . .
Nation will not take up gun against nation,
    nor will they train for war anymore. ~ Isaiah 2:3-4

Merciful like God

³⁵ But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. ³⁶ Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.

Jesus invites us to become “children of the Most High” by acting upside down like God and mimicking his kindness “to the ungrateful and the wicked.” Take a look at the four quotes from such “children” who worked for peace and justice. Which quote are you drawn to?

“Darkness cannot dive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.” ~ Martin Luther King, Jr.

“Peace begins when the hungry are fed.” ~ Dorothy Day

“Jesus said it is not enough to limit your love to your own nation, to your own race, to your own group. You must respond with love even to those outside of it, respond with love to those who hate you. This concept enables people to live together not as nations but as the human race. We are now at the stage of history where we will either take this step or perish.” ~ Clarence Jordan

“People always say that I didn't give up my seat because I was tired, but that isn't true. I was not tired physically, or no more tired than I usually was at the end of a working day...the only tired I was, was tired of giving in.” ~ Rosa Parks

Prayer Activity:

Carefully and prayerfully copy the quote onto a piece of paper for you to take with you. Let the words of the quote inspire a prayer. What might God be calling you to pray for or to do so that you too act like a child of the Most High?

Sowing Seeds of Generous Peace

“Give to everyone who begs from you… love your enemies, do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return.” (vv. 30, 35)
Jesus reminds us that violence and poverty often arise from fear, scarcity, and mistrust. His peacemaking calls us to a radical, upside-down generosity that disrupts cycles of greed and harm. By giving freely, we weaken the grip of violence and build peace rooted in trust, compassion, and the sharing our resources.

Prayer Activity:

Take one of the nametags and write the opposite word for any of the following words (fear, scarcity, mistrust, greed) and place that tag on a Ziploc bag. Now take one scoop of bird seed and place it in the bag. Sometime next week, sow those seeds generously for the wellbeing of the birds. Both now and when you share that seed, pray for those living in poverty or trapped in cycles of violence. Ask God to replace fear with seeds of peace, scarcity with seeds of abundance, and hatred with seeds of love. Pray for the courage to live generously and trust that God’s mercy is greater than the powers of violence and poverty.