Prayer is intimate, personal, and often public. The Bible tells us to pray ceaselessly, which can feel a little overwhelming! There are small ways to incorporate prayer into daily life to keep your conversation with God going strong.
Yass, Jesus! is hosted by Danny Franzese and Azariah Southworth. Our producers are Ross Murray and Meredith Paulley. Sound, music, and post-production by Chris Heckman. Special thanks to Sophie Serrano and Sam Isfan.
Yass, Jesus! is brought to you by Audity. Audity execs are Ryann Lauckner, Steve Michaels, and Jessica Bustillos.
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Daniel Franzese
Azariah Southworth
Ross Murray
Daniel: [00:00:00] Hello, Kings and Queens and in betweens, sinners, saints, I don't know if I is or ain'ts. Welcome to another petitionary episode of Yass, Jesus! I'm Daniel Franzese and as always, I'm here with my bestie for the restie, Azariah Southworth. Sit back and relax in the pew pew pews. We're going to be talking about prayer today.
So just relax because here at Yass, Jesus!, we believe...
Azariah: God is picking up what you're laying down.
Daniel: If you let it aside, God can hear it.
Azariah: Don't get overwhelmed on how to pray. Just go with the flow, man.
Daniel: Yeah, man, just relax. Okay. So sit down and enjoy yourself. As we get into some [radio beeping] Gay Christian News.
Azariah: Pope Francis is in love with gay Catholic ministries, at least the gay friendly nuns. So Pope Francis has sent an encouraging letter to sister Jeannine Gramick, an American Nun, thanking her for [00:01:00] 50 years of ministry to LGBTQ Catholics. In the letter, Pope Francis wrote thank you, sister Jeannine for all your closeness, compassion and tenderness. Sister Janine founded the Catholic LGBTQ organization New Ways Ministry. She started it when she was just a young spring chicken at 29 years old. She was in graduate school and befriended a gay man who left the Catholic church for the Episcopal church. In his apartment, she organized mass for gay and lesbian people who had left the Catholic church.
Daniel: Oh, this is so needed. And so sweet actually.
Azariah: Yeah, but here's the real tea and it's piping hot. The Vatican didn't always like sister Jeannine's work with all the queers.
Daniel: Oh, you don't say.
Azariah: She was investigated and censored by the Vatican for her work soon after she started new ways ministry.
Daniel: No, see, and now the Pope is all writing letters and praise and mercy. That's how it [00:02:00] happens. Nice turnaround sister Janine.
Azariah: Yes. And she is still going strong. She went to Cardinal Wilton Gregory in Washington to show him the letter and allegedly, he said to her 'sounds like your pen pals.'
Daniel: All right. Wilton, be a little more excited, but yay for sister Jeannine Gramick.
Azariah: Yeah. Yeah, awesome.
Daniel: Something to praise about, you know, and speaking to that as it's time for the praise report and prayer request. This is the part of our show where if you have a little something extra you want to thank God for and hallelujah about , well we'll amplify it with our voices and tell our listeners. And then if you have a little something that you need a little extra prayer with, uh, we will add it to our prayer list.
And so we'll, we will ask our listeners to do the same. Let's start with the praise report. What we, what do we got going on Azzie?
Azariah: This praise report comes from our listener D. And D wants to get praise for none other than gospel Bill. I guess D listened to the episode 'hot for gospel bill' and wanted to share that he [00:03:00] went, or D went to the church camp at dry Gulch where gospel Bill was filmed.
Daniel: Oh my god I'm so jealous. That is all I wanted to do when I was a kid.
Azariah: So take a listen to D's voicemail for us.
voicemail: Hi sinners and saints, just wanted to send in a praise report for queer friendship. Listening to this past week's episode, I was really glad you covered gospel bill because it took me back. In junior high I went to church camp at dry Gulch in Oklahoma, a Western themed camp that prepared me for fetish nights at many gay bars.
Fern and I kissed, both of our first, in the jail where gospel bill locked up the town centers. It was awkward, but then both of us started laughing and two decades later, we still are two queer brothers who grew up in a Pentecostal mega church and have seen each other through all the heartbreaks and all the joys and all the conversion therapy attempts and all the moves to the big city and all that.
So we didn't keep kissing. We did lip sync for our youth group as Whitney and Mariah, to when you believe as prince of Egypt played behind us. All that to [00:04:00] say, queer boys found ways to survive. And I'm thankful for Yass, Jesus! Because you've been a big part of my return to the faith and survival during the statement of panty. Thanks folks.
Daniel: Oh D that's so awesome. You sound like me and Azzie if we would have known each other when we were young, that is so cool. Wow. I love that so much. You kissed in the city jail. I mean, just adorable.
Azariah: I really think that movie that he mentioned with Mariah Carey and it was every gay church voice, just like ultimate soundtrack. I wonder if we need to do a survey on that.
Daniel: Yeah. D if you have video of that, or even just the audio of you guys singing that song, we would love to hear it. Thank you so much for that message. You gotta send us some more of these praise reports? This is so good. It's just so Jesus.
Azariah: I love that.
Daniel: I love it so much. Thank you for that.
Now we also have a prayer request, you guys. So this comes from Veronica. Veronica says 'I've [00:05:00] recently been realizing that I'm trans, trans feminine slash trans woman. And I would really like support and prayers in coming out to my hopefully supportive family, friends. Sincerely Veronica PS. My name was stolen from Heather's 19 degree, gag me with a spoon.' You know what, I'm gonna pray for you, Veronica. Uh, love that name by the way, but I'm going to pray for you, Veronica, that you get all of this. I know me and Azzie, like, you know, when we hear stories like this, we talk about it, even off the air, about how much our trans siblings need our prayer.
And we are so here for, and so excited about you on this journey. It's going to be a long one and hopefully it'll be easier for you than it is for most, but we are definitely supporting you and your family here Yass, Jesus! Uh, is totally hear from you. And if anyone has anything to say, just be like, what's your damage, Heather?
Azariah: And Veronica, that's not stolen, honey. That's given.
Daniel: Yeah. It's giving what it needs to be giving Veronica. So, you know, [00:06:00] as much as this is a prayer request, it's also a praise report for you finally getting to live your truth. We're very happy for you. Um, you guys, we're going to take a little break and we'll be right back with the scripture of the day.
All right, Azzie it's time for the scripture of the day scripture, the scripture of the day it's soul food. It's the scripture of the day Azzie tell it to us.
Azariah: Yes, it is. And it's from first Thessalonians 5:16
'rejoice always. Pray without ceasing. Give thanks in all circumstances for this is the will of God and Christ Jesus for you.
Daniel: Ooh, I really liked that one. I don't know if that one, if I've read that one, if I have it, hasn't been a long time. Um, that gives me a little bit of spirit because today here on the show we want to talk about prayer. Now, prayer is an act that is so intimate, so personal, and yet often so public, I think it gets [00:07:00] overwhelming sometime for folks. And we have a lot of guests that don't want to pray at the end, you know, because it is something personal to them. And we understand that, you know, some people think that they need to pray in a certain way or they have to put the words together, right.
Azariah: Yeah. And I can relate to that pain, uncomfortable. Prayer is just a conversation with the creator, telling them what you're thinking and feeling, what you're thankful for or what you are worried about. It's, it's like having a friend who will listen and empathize.
Daniel: Obviously prayer is a big theme in the Bible that we're told about people who pray, how to pray when to pray, what's the wrong way to pray and that we should be praying all the time.
Azariah: And you know, God said his house will be a house of prayer, so we are part of the house of prayer, darling. Yes.
Our scripture of the day told us to pray without ceasing. And I don't know of anything I can do without ceasing, no matter how much I love it, but we have other things to do Danny. [00:08:00] And at some point we'll need to eat.
But we can turn whatever we do into a prayer. Think about putting the intentionality into your daily tasks with prayer . Think of this.
Daniel: I'm folding the laundry, pray about laundry, give thanks to the fabulous fashion sense. People say this is weird, but a lot of people were like thanking their clothes they were throwing out when the Marie Kondo joy craze came around. But why not thank the ones you keeping? Pray for those who can't afford quality clothing, be grateful.
Azariah: Or imagine this. You're at the store and see an attractive person. Pray, you don't flashlight near them and they notice you for the beautiful person that you are.
Daniel: Okay. That seems like a little pointed, uh, if not a little bit of a stretch, but you know, you'll see this one coming up. Okay. So I'm in the club, right. And I'm shaking my booty with all my fellow leathery men folk, and I'm making my dance a prayer.
I'm giving thanks for my fabulous life, making each move, a prayer of joy in my body and the [00:09:00] creation all around me. You know, the Ross, that's actually something I do. Like I find a lot of joy in dance. Like to me, it's letting it all go on the dance floor. I have a music list call a super Sunday soul kind of like music playlist.
And I put songs on there that aren't like, God, as a DJ that aren't traditionally or you know, that aren't traditionally um, songs that people would think that are about God. You can follow me on apple music if you want to get my playlist. But the thing about it is, is anything can be made into a prayer, it's, it's whenever you're rejoicing using your gifts, whenever you're letting loose, whenever you're feeling like that sense of calmness and that release , in a way that is a prayer.
Azariah: And like Madonna says your prayer is taking me there, Danny. When I see you out on that dance floor, Danny, my gawd.
Daniel: Hey, I cut a rug, like crazy uncle Barry at the wedding. I'm like the, you know, this is a lot of joy in that, like my mom was saying, like, you know, if you see the first person dance at a wedding, everybody looks at them and they go, oh, they're so weird. And they usually just dancing with kids, but, you know, kids have that [00:10:00] sensibility, that freedom, you know, and cousin Barry's just up there turning the party. And I think thatthat's a prayer.
Azariah: Amen. Well,, the Benedictine monks had a regular prayer schedule where they would hear a bell, stop, what they're doing and offer a prayer. And they scheduled this around their day.
Daniel: You can do that too. Think of prayer as a transition point in your day, you know, the first thing you do when you wake up. Uh, win the morning, win the day. You know, when you, when you depart for work, uh, you know, grant your patience from all the jerks that we have to always deal with in jobs, doesn't matter where you are. That lunchtime you're grateful for the food, you're grateful for the moment of peace. The end of work, oh, thank God I'm going home. Dinner, thank you for this meal before bed. I need this rest, please. You know, uh, let it be fulfilling.
Azariah: Or you can have spontaneous prayer triggers. Our freakin deacon has developed a practice that he offers a prayer whenever he hears a siren. [00:11:00] So he said that a siren is a sign that someone is in trouble somewhere, so they must need prayer, no matter what their situation is at the moment. I like that. That's a good one.
Daniel: Oh, I'm gonna take that one with me as my little act it good this week. Thanks. Freakin Deacon Ross Murray. You know, prayer is not just a wishlist. God, isn't Santa right? It's not just about what you want. It's about what's going on with you, you know, the fastest way to get something that you want is to be grateful for what you have and show gratitude.
Azariah: Mmhm, and if you need a good way to organize your prayers, you can try to go through this list of really, really basic emotions such as I'm sorry. Thank you. Help. And a good wow when you see that sunset, that beautiful view, whatever.
Daniel: Oh yeah. My mom always says, try asking God, try thinking God for three things before you ask for one, you know, and try to just thank God about the day before you set your foot off your bed onto the floor. Just like waking up and say, thank God for another day.
It really, those kinds of small practices, [00:12:00] those affirmations are super helpful. But is there a wrong way to pray? Like according to one Bible story, the answer is yes. And it's worth bringing it up here. Now don't use prayer as a way to brag. Take a listen to this story.
Azariah: This is the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector from Luke 18, verses 9 - 14.
Jesus also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and regarded others with contempt. Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other, a tax collector.
Daniel: Okay. I got to interrupt here because it should be clear that tax collector is pretty much Bible talk for a bad person that we should just assume will always be evil. It might not mean that to us, but it was pretty much a shorthand for the people who are hearing this story. Uh, tax collectors, conspired with the occupying Roman forces to take money from everyday people. Nobody liked or trusted them. I still don't. Uh, but so putting a tax collector in the story was pretty [00:13:00] much telling the audience who the villain is.
Azariah: The Pharisee standing by himself was praying thus. God, I thank you that I am not like other people- feeds, rogues, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week. I give a 10th of all my income, but the tax collector standing far off would not even look up to heaven, but was beating his breast and saying, God, be merciful to me a sinner, I tell you this man went down to his home justified rather than the other, for all who exalt themselves will be humbled, but all who humble themselves will be exalted.
Daniel: Yeah. If you try to use your prayer for self promotion, God will read for filth. God ain't Instagram. God is not looking for no tik tok influencer. He's looking at you kid.
Azariah: The celestial library is open. You might hear some preachers, a televangelist, praying on air and think, [00:14:00] damn, I can't pray that way. I guess God only wants to hear grand speeches. Speaking from experience, not so my friends.
Daniel: Now, every regular listener here, all of our yachts. So it's know that we end our episode with a closing prayer. Now let me tell you a little secret. Okay. We pretty much make a lot of that up on the spot. Okay. Yes. I'll admit me get some notes and we get a little recap of what we talked about in the episode, but our main theme is probably the first petition of the prayer, but then our freaking deacon, Ross Murray just recaps the gay Christian news, as well as the prayer requests and praise reports and what we say about them is really up to us and what we are feeling in the moment.
Azariah: For me, when I pray, I don't always know where I'm going with the prayer what's coming next. And that's ok. I just remind myself, it's not about the perfect words because we are feeling it and expressing it more than we ever could.
Daniel: Same here. That's what prayer is. It's just feeling what you're feeling in the moment. God doesn't need organized paragraphs or eloquent words. God just wants to know what [00:15:00] you're thinking and feeling.
Azariah: And if you were feeling really angry, like the shittiest thing just happened, you can be angry at God. Sometimes a 'fuck you, god, that was a shitty thing,' is the breast, best prayer that we can come up with.
Daniel: You know, I think God can handle it. I, you know, I don't know if I've ever gotten, I mean, I did dare God one time when I was coming out of the closet, like dare him to bring me a girlfriend, you know, and look where it brought me. Um, look, God knows exactly what you're going through. God knows what you're feeling and he's feeling it along with you. God might also be feeling a fuck you as well, and to those who hurt you or to the bad thing that happened. So yes, you could use the profanity swear to God when you're mad, laugh with God when you're feeling that glee through your body. Be who you are in front of God, he knows who you are.
Azariah: Yeah, exactly. And God made us humans and sometimes. Part of fully expressing our humanity is [00:16:00] saying, if, fuck you for some people, you know, like it's the language that just some people have, maybe that not everyone has. Maybe it's something...
Daniel: sometimes there's things that you just have to be angry about.
Azariah: And God's unconditional love covers that. And as long as you don't make that the foundation of what you meditate on every day, you know, speak what you need to speak, and God is gonna meet you where you are. But prayer is the foundation of our relationship with the divine, embodying all that it is in the moment. Sometimes profane, sometimes sacred.
The Psalms are an entire book of prayers and they spin all the range of human emotion. There's joy, but there's also worry and suffering. Everything you are feeling is in the Bible and the prayers in the Bible so closely mirror our human emotion.
Daniel: It's even totally okay. To not know what you're going to say to God. Like sometimes have you ever felt like you're feeling something and you don't know the words to express it? You know, I reached out to the holy spirit at [00:17:00] that point. I'm like fill in the blanks because sometimes we have emotions where we know that things are really good or really bad, but just words don't seem to do it justice, you know? Sometimes things are so divine or so wretched that we can't humanize them. And there is a scripture passage for that.
Azariah: Yes, there is. Listen to these words when you are feeling overwhelmed with prayer and don't feel like, you know how to put what you're feeling into words. Romans 8:26- likewise, the spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words.
Daniel: Do you hear that? Do you hear that listeners? Do you know that you don't have to know how to pray because the holy spirit knows what you're thinking and what you're feeling and the holy spirit can put your unformed feelings into a message that God knows and feels intimately. I think about that when I think of musical theater, because [00:18:00] musical theater is this point where people are so filled with emotion that they don't know what to do, that they just burst out into song.
And we can't really always do that in real life. So I think we burst out into into prayer.
Azariah: For me growing up, that was what speaking in tongues was, you know, growing up Pentecostal spirit field, holy ghost, sanctified set apart, honey. Um, I remember when my mom, when she, when she was feeling something and she didn't know how to express it any other way, she just want to shun that at all away, but, you know, just started speaking in tongues. Um, but prayer is powerful and it's also very personal and easy. So make your prayer time, your own, do it however works best for you. Go in the middle of a field and scream or cry or write, or do your makeup as a prayer. But keep your connection between you and God.
All right guys, Yes Jesuits, our tied love offering charity act of good this [00:19:00] week is try out the method of prayer that we outlined for you in this episode. It has four parts and it's super simple. I'm sorry. Thank you. Help. And wow.
Daniel: We want to know how this prayer method works for you. Let us know, drop us a line at @Yassjesuspod or yassjesuspod.com. Now you guys, we have a song and we have active praise here on the show, and we want to spread the love to other queer Christian music and artists. If you're a queer Christian musician and you want us to play one of your songs, sent us an email to contact@YassJesuspod.com with a link where we can find MP3 files of the songs that you want us to consider.
Azariah: Are you the next CC Wyman?
Daniel: He said, you know, this DC talk. Well, you've been to DC. Talk to us, send us an email at contact@yassjesuspod.com. Now, please bow your head for the closing prayer, but not if you're driving because Jesus can actually take the wheel.
Okay, father, God, we just want to say that sometimes we don't know how to pray [00:20:00] and we can't come up with the word. So we are so thankful to know what we are thinking in the feeling and that your spirit can intercede with the size too deep for words. We want to thank you right now for sister Jeannine Gramick and her ongoing ministry with LGBTQ people. She's a Saint or at least she should be. And please give her the strength to let her ministry be strengthened.
Azariah: Yes. And we give thanks for D and for how dry Gulch of all places has grown and shaped him into the out proud gay man he is today.
Daniel: Amen, that is so affirming.
And we pray with Veronica that she can find support among her friends, family, and the doctors who will help her with her transition.
Yes, Lord, please give her the strength to just, just say what it is that she needs to say to let people understand that this is, this is truly who you planned her out to be. And we are so [00:21:00] grateful and thankful and wowed by our audience of Yass Jesuits who listen every week, we are so grateful for them and want to lift them all up in prayer and protect their families and protect them. And we thank you God, in your holy precious name. Amen.
Azariah: Amen amen.
Daniel: Hey, thank you all. Thank you. Thank you so much for listening to another episode of Yass, Jesus!
You can find us on social media @yassjesuspod or on our website at yassjesuspod.com. Now, if you liked the show, please consider becoming a monthly sponsor. You could find the link to do so in the show notes. And if you haven't yet leave us a review, it means a lot. Share us with a friend. They need it. Doing so helps us reach new people and helps grow our community and keep this show running.
Azariah: My knees forehead and pray if you need. You can now leave an audio prayer requests or praise rapport on our website, yassjesuspod.com. We would love to share your voice and your prayers on the show, so drop us a line or send us recording on yassjesuspod.com.
Daniel: Yeah, send us your praise reports, your prayer requests, your [00:22:00] episode ideas, guest ideas, or even just a really deep sigh. Um, we would love to hear from you and your heavy breathing on the other end of the lines, so just leave us a message at @yasjesus, or yassjesuspod.com.. Now Yass, Jesus is hosted by me, Danny Franzese and...
Azariah: and always on his knees as Azariah Southworth. I'm going to drive that into the ground. Music sound editing and all things audio are done by Chris Heckman.
Our show is produced by the freaking deacon, Ross Murray and Meredith Pauley. Special thanks to Sophie Serrano and Sam Isfan.
Daniel: I'm 'a kiss you in sinners jail. Yeah. This is brought to you by Audity. Audity execs are Ryann Lauckner, Jessica Bustillos and Steve Michaels. Now remember peeps, we are streaming and screaming on apple podcasts, Spotify, and wherever you get your podcasts.
Azariah: And God loves you on your knees standing up wherever you are, just as you are.
Daniel: So don't forget to keep praising the Lord, y'all.
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