Weekly Bible Study Notes and Worship Resources for Ordinary 20
Year C, Colour = Green
Introduction
Those who like to think of Jesus as being always mild and calm should re-read this morning’s passage from the Gospel according to St Luke. Jesus sounds cross and impatient with the blindness of His contemporaries. He lambasts them for focusing on superficial matters, such as forecasting the weather. But the attention and intelligence being used in this task should be applied to something far more significant: their rightness with God. People tend to see what they want to see and ignore things they would prefer not to know. We see aimless spiritual hunger manifested in our times. It is not that people do not believe – it is that some people would believe in just about anything! Money and time is thrown away on false predictions and superstitious methods of “foretelling the future”. It is as if some people are looking for a spirituality that you can buy (crystals, earth worship, numerology, white witchcraft, dream catchers etc.) and then put in a drawer and forget, forming a belief system which is so vague that it requires no effort. The Christian faith, rooted in the Jewish tradition,, offers a way of living which has been tried and tested over millennia by wise and good people. It has transformed lives, inspired great acts of courage and self-sacrifice (Paul lists the “cloud of witnesses” in the passage from Hebrews). Jesus’ teachings offer the two great precepts for living “love God and love your neighbour as yourself”. But the simplicity of the faith belies the great effort it requires on the part of the faithful. The more we learn about our Faith and the women and men who have followed it, the richer and more profoundly satisfying it becomes. It is both simple enough for a child to understand and intellectually challenging enough to absorb the wisest minds in history.
Opening Verse of Scripture Romans Chapter 8
Continue to live in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness
Collect Prayer for the Day — Before we read we pray
Almighty God, who sent your Holy Spirit to be the life and light of your Church: open our hearts to the riches of your grace, that we may bring forth the fruit of the Spirit in love and joy and peace; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. CW
Gracious Father, revive your Church in our day, and make her holy, strong and faithful, for your glory’s sake in Jesus Christ our Lord. CW
First Bible Reading Jeremiah Chapter 23:23-29
Am I a God near by, says the LORD, and not a God far off? Who can hide in secret places so that I cannot see them? says the LORD. Do I not fill heaven and earth? says the LORD. I have heard what the prophets have said who prophesy lies in my name, saying, ‘I have dreamed, I have dreamed!’ How long? Will the hearts of the prophets ever turn back - those who prophesy lies, and who prophesy the deceit of their own heart? They plan to make my people forget my name by their dreams that they tell one another, just as their ancestors forgot my name for Baal. Let the prophet who has a dream tell the dream, but let the one who has my word speak my word faithfully. What has straw in common with wheat? says the LORD. Is not my word like fire, says the LORD, and like a hammer that breaks a rock in pieces? NRSV
Second Reading Hebrews 11:29-12:2
By faith the people of Israel passed through the Red Sea as if it were dry land, but when the Egyptians attempted to do so they were drowned. By faith the walls of Jericho fell after they had been encircled for seven days. By faith Rahab the prostitute did not perish with those who were disobedient, because she had received the spies in peace.
And what more should I say? For time would fail me to tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets – who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, obtained promises, shut the mouths of lions, quenched raging fire, escaped the edge of the sword, won strength out of weakness, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight. Women received their dead by resurrection. Others were tortured, refusing to accept release, in order to obtain a better resurrection. Others suffered mocking and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. They were stoned to death, they were sawn in two, they were killed by the sword; they went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, persecuted, tormented – of whom the world was not worthy. They wandered in deserts and mountains, and in caves and holes in the ground.Yet all these, though they were commended for their faith, did not receive what was promised, since God had provided something better so that they would not, apart from us, be made perfect.
Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, who for the sake of the joy that was set before him endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of God. NRSV
Gospel Reading Luke 12: 49 –56
Jesus said to his disciples: ‘I came to bring fire to the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled! I have a baptism with which to be baptized, and what stress I am under until it is completed! Do you think that I have come to bring peace to the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division! From now on, five in one household will be divided, three against two and two against three; they will be divided:
father against son
and son against father,
mother against daughter
and daughter against mother,
mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law
and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.’
4He also said to the crowds, ‘When you see a cloud rising in the west, you immediately say, “It is going to rain”; and so it happens. And when you see the south wind blowing, you say, “There will be scorching heat”; and it happens. You hypocrites! You know how to interpret the appearance of earth and sky, but why do you not know how to interpret the present time? NRSV
Post Communion Prayer
Holy Father, who gathered us here around the table of your Son to share this meal with the whole household of God: in that new world where you reveal the fullness of your peace, gather people of every race and language to share in the eternal banquet of Jesus Christ our Lord. CW
Commentary
The movies of the Wild West were part of my growing up we dressed as cowboys and had guns in holsters. The gun favoured by characters Billy the Kid and Wyatt Earp was the Colt Single Action Army Revolver, you might have tried to swirl one around your index finger before shooting your best friend as tried to beet you to the draw. This gun which was such as fundamental part of the scenes like the OK Corral was known as The Peacemaker. Now that seems an odd name for a weapon which killed so many people and earned the reputation as being the ‘Gun that won the West’. It is incongruous that a weapon of such mass destruction could possibly be called a thing of peace? The same contradiction comes to us from the Bible reading today from the Gospel of Luke. Jesus has been announced as the Prince of Peace a bringer of peace to humanity and yet Jesus now tells us that he is not a bringer of peace but of fire. There seems to be a mismatch between all we had expected and what is now proclaimed from the mouth of Jesus himself. So which is it, is he about bringing peace on earth or division?
We need to understand that we are in a critical time in the Gospel story, Jesus is on his way to Jerusalem. As he gets ever closer to that moment of truth which will end ultimately in the cross, opposition to him and his mission is growing and becoming increasingly aggressive. There are now serious death threats and plots against his life by the Jewish leaders who perceive him to be a threat to their very way of life. Jesus is advocating a complete change in the way that people understand and worship God and how society itself is ordered. Jesus is calling for peace but that peace does not entail the perpetuation of the status quo. The peace of Jesus is nothing short of a revolution in which the rights of ordinary people are not disregarded by the rich and powerful. The needs of those in poverty, the weak and the ones without voices in the current establishment had to be listened to and raised up. Proclamation of peace meant that it was no longer possible to stand by and watch, it required action against those who took advantage of an unjust social hierarchy. This was something in which Jesus would lead by example. Since Jesus was bringing this new radical peace he would himself receive a baptism of fire, one of pain and death.
Jesus would lead where his followers would be expected to follow, they would not be allowed to stand idly by. Peace does not happen by itself, if they desired to see peace then they too must become Peacemakers, they would have to make it happen.
This stance of refusing to accept injustice, challenging corrupt power and being prepared to suffer in the process was one which Jesus modelled for his followers and inevitably it therefore would require difficult decisions. There was a choice to be made between following the example set out by Jesus, or looking after one’s own interests. Those who disturbed the usual way of doing things would not be seen as Peacemakers, but rather Troublemakers. Those who benefit from the usual way of doing things benefit from silence and self preservation sometimes demands that we look the other way. Division already exists, but Jesus goes to the root causes of that division and demands that the veneer which covers the subjugation of the poor to allow ‘business as usual’ must be destroyed.
When Jesus speaks of division in families, fathers and sons, mothers and daughters he includes a quotation from Micah Chapter 7 Verse 6 a passage which warns of imminent crisis and tells that the only way forward is complete trust in God. Jesus makes the observation that whilst people can read the signs in nature and forecast the weather, they are incapable of seeing what is going on around them in society. Jesus was doing a new and radical thing, evidenced by miraculous signs of healing and feeding and teaching. He was challenging the shocking abuses in the religious system, the corruption in the religious leaders, could those who knew when rain was due not see that in Jesus God was doing a new thing among his people? This was a wake up call to anybody who would listen, change is coming so take action now in the same way that you would if you knew there was a tornado approaching land!
Today we are challenged to read these verses afresh, to question our complacency with injustice, to consider our own quietness and reluctance to disturb systems from which we receive benefit. We are challenged to read afresh God’s word and hear uncomfortable truths which unsettle us. Jesus calls his followers to carry a cross, that is something which we each have to pick up and allow its message to bring fresh challenges to our daily lives. Charles Royden
In both the Old and New Testament passages the thrust is on God’s people acting in a way which is real and true to their faith, not something which looks close on the outside but in reality is a long way from the real thing. The peace which Jesus speaks about in Luke is real peace, not something that just papers over the cracks in the name of unity. This quest for real peace stems from our walking with God and wanting to do His will. It is built on a passion and compassion for change, justice, and renewal, themes which Isaiah implicitly challenges the Israelites with in the Song of the Vineyard, the title of today’s Old Testament passage. It’s not a ‘peace at any price’, a peace which fails to place Gods will at the very centre of its existence. For the Israelites and for us the message is clear. Put the Kingdom of God first, and everything else falls into place. Putting the Kingdom first does not guarantee peace and harmony; it will involve personal and societal change and will almost certainly encounter resistance (all change does) and possibly rejection. Seen in its proper context this passage is subversive stuff! But it’s what we are called to do and be as Christians. To take our place and fulfil our role in bringing about God’s kingdom on earth. Sam Cappleman
Hymns
- Fill thou my life, O Lord my God (Richmond)
- Safe in the shadow of the Lord (Creator God)
- Dear Lord and Father of mankind (Repton)
- It is a thing most wonderful (Herongate)
- What a friend we have in Jesus (What a friend)
- Ye servants of God
- Majesty
- Come let us sing of a wonderful love
- The kingdom of God is justice and joy
- I watch the sunrise
- O day of peace
- Guide me O thou great Jehovah
- Give thanks
- Let all the world
- Give thanks
- Judge eternal
- O perfect love 517
- Blessed assurance 59
- Forth in thy name 159
- Praise my soul
Prayers for Sunday and the week ahead
"Prayer is a plant, the seed of which is sown in the heart of every Christian.
If it is well cultivated and nourished it will produce fruit, but if it is neglected, it will wither and die."
You are the great God — he who is in heaven. You are the creator of life, you make the regions above. You are the hunter who hunts for souls. You are the leader who goes before us. You are he whose hands are with wounds. You are ho whose feet are with wounds. You are he whose blood is a trickling stream, You are he whose blood was spilled for us. Prayer of a Xhosa Christian from Africa
O thou, from whom to be turned is to fall, to whom to be turned is to rise, and in whom to stand is to abide for ever; Grant us in all our duties thy help, in all our perplexities thy guidance, In all our dangers thy protection, And in all our sorrows thy peace; Through Jesus Christ our Lord. St. Augustine (340—430)
Father, I am seeking: I am hesitant and uncertain, but will you, O God, watch over each step of mine and guide me. St. Augustine (354-430)
Blessed are you, creator of all, to you be praise and glory for ever. As your
dawn renews the face of the earth bringing light and life to all creation, may
we wake refreshed from the depths of sleep, open our eyes to behold your
presence and strengthen our hands to do your will, that the world may rejoice
and give you praise. Blessed be God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Blessed be God
forever. (After Lancelot Andrewes, 1626. Common Worship)
Let me know you, my knower; let me know you as I am known. You are the energy in
my soul: enter it and shape it to yourself, so that you may hold it as your
possession, without fault or blemish. This is my hope; this is why I speak as I
do. This is the hope that brings me delight; for I delight in the source of my
salvation. (St Augustine 354-430)
Additional Resources
20th in Ordinary Time, Year C, Green
Opening Verse of Scripture 2 Tim 1 v 7
God has not given us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power and love and self control.
Collect Prayer for the Day-Before we read we pray
Ever-loving God, your Son Jesus Christ gave Himself as living bread for the life of the world; give us such a knowledge of His presence that we may be strengthened and sustained by His risen life to serve you continually; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen (New Zealand Prayer Book)
First Bible Reading, Isaiah Chapter 5:1-7
I will sing for the one I love a song about his vineyard: My loved one had a vineyard on a fertile hillside.
He dug it up and cleared it of stones and planted it with the choicest vines. He built a watchtower in it and cut out a winepress as well. Then he looked for a crop of good grapes, but it yielded only bad fruit. "Now you dwellers in Jerusalem and men of Judah, judge between me and my vineyard. What more could have been done for my vineyard than I have done for it? When I looked for good grapes, why did it yield only bad? Now I will tell you what I am going to do to my vineyard: I will take away its hedge, and it will be destroyed; I will break down its wall, and it will be trampled. I will make it a wasteland, neither pruned nor cultivated, and briers and thorns will grow there. I will command the clouds not to rain on it." The vineyard of the LORD Almighty is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah are the garden of his delight. And he looked for justice, but saw bloodshed; for righteousness, but heard cries of distress.
Second Bible Reading, Luke 12 v 49 - 5
"I have come to bring fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled! But I have a baptism to undergo, and how distressed I am until it is completed! Do you think I came to bring peace on earth? No, I tell you, but division. From now on there will be five in one family divided against each other, three against two and two against three. They will be divided, father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law." He said to the crowd: "When you see a cloud rising in the west, immediately you say, 'It's going to rain,' and it does. And when the south wind blows, you say, 'It's going to be hot,' and it is. Hypocrites! You know how to interpret the appearance of the earth and the sky. How is it that you don't know how to interpret this present time?
Post Communion Prayer
God of our pilgrimage, you have willed that the gates of mercy should stand open for those who trust in you: look upon us with your favour that we who follow the path of your will may never wander from the way of life, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen
Commentary
The book of Hebrews was almost certainly written to a group of readers thoroughly familiar with the Old Covenant, probably mainly Jewish Christians, perhaps even a group of Jewish priests, as there is a big focus on ceremony of Jewish worship throughout the book. Whether priests or not, having become Christians they have now left Jerusalem to find a place to live and worship, possibly Antioch or Caesarea but still have hankerings for the splendour of Temple worship and the place they played in it. They are beginning to get persecuted for their faith and things are beginning to be a bit tough for them. So, given that the book in part at least is dealing with the threat of apostasy back to Judaism it’s not surprising that it addresses the question of how it is possible to approach God. It does so by presenting the Christian life in the context of a story which is fundamental to Judaism, the Exodus and the importance of faith from the Red Sea encounter forwards. And for the writer of the book of Hebrews, the destination is again the Promised Land, only this time it the Promised Land of Heaven and the Passover of the Jews has become the Passover of Christ.
Importantly the letter shows how the early Christians understood the harmony between the Old and New Testaments and how they understood the redemptive work of Jesus in terms of God’s whole plan of salvation. The writer highlights that Jesus brings a new and living way of entering into a true and spiritual relationship with God. It is for this reason that he states the importance of ‘Let us keep our eyes fixed on Jesus’, rather than reverting back to their old ways of engaging with God with its material trappings and ceremonies.
We too can sometimes get carried away with the material things that surround our faith, our churches, our organisations our structures, rather than on having a spiritual relationship with God. How much time do we, for example, spend alone with God, reading His word and praying as opposed to coming to church or doing church activities. Clearly there is an overlap but we need to make sure the focus and centre of our faith is in the right place and we keep our eyes fixed on Jesus. Similarly, the law, with which the Jews were so familiar, was only a means to an end, not an end in itself. Over the years they lost sight of that reality. We can do the same, when the structures of our religion become the end in themselves not the means to an end, a deeper and more spiritual walk with God.
Hebrews, perhaps more than any other book in the bible reminds us of the importance of our spiritual heritage. It also reminds us too that our faith needs to be firmly fixed on Jesus, on our spiritual relationship with God through His ultimate sacrifice. He is the beginning and the end of our faith, the leads us in our faith and brings it to perfection, the author and finisher, the alpha and the omega, the beginning and the end. Sometimes it’s easy for us to get distracted by our doubts, distracted by the minutiae of our faith, the things that are not really that important, the things from our heritage, and not on Jesus Himself.
Through their perseverance and radical faith the Hebrew Christians laid the basis and foundation of a church that was to last an eternal lifetime. The theme of true, non-hypocritical faith is also seen in Luke’s gospel. Through hypocrisy and their slavish adherence to their own ways and the unwillingness to hear a new message of salvation, the Pharisees have rejected Jesus. Similarly, in today’s gospel reading, the crowds, because of their hypocrisy, refuse, or are unable to see the key moment of salvation history unfolding before their very eyes. Jesus’ ministry reveals God’s plan and purpose to the world but the crowds do not see this. They seem able to interpret the material world but not the spiritual one, the present time. Sometimes we too find it hard to see God at work in our own world when if we see things from God’s perspective, perhaps miracles are happening all the time. We just don’t recognise them because we are so used to seeing life from our own world view, rather than that of the creator. Sam Cappleman
Commentary
Jeremiah tells us something of God’s greatness — He is everywhere - not just a ‘local’ God of limited influence. The children at Thurleigh Lower School used to sing the song “ Far beyond the Universe,” that contains the line, “There is nowhere I can go where His love cannot reach me” - a wonderful thought for us all in our daily lives - and in Jesus, God who “fills the heaven and the earth” dwells with us.
Luke and his readers would understand that Jesus and his message were the signs by which everyone ought to have interpreted “the present time”. They ought to have known that the age of God’s rule had already begun. The kingdom of God was breaking in on history: life would never be the same again; God was disclosing his nature and purpose; God in Jesus was reconciling the world to himself. But people who were (like us) weatherwise, remained spiritually insensitive.
May we recognise, welcome and respond to signs of God’s kingdom today. And may we rejoice to run our race of faith looking to Jesus who died for us, rose and is exalted on high. He was obedient to death on the cross as Paul says in the letter to the Phillippians, “so God exalted him to the highest place…. That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”
What encouragement this is to us all. And we are invited to do it in company with the millions of saints on earth — and all those who have gone before! Richard Ledger.
I find this very helpful in thinking about the nature of God. God is….
God is the Word, which became flesh and dwelt among us. (John 1.14)
God is the Light, that no darkness can totally obliterate. (John 1.5)
God is the Peace, that reaches out to us in life’s fiercest storms. (John 14.27)
God is the Hope, that gives confidence of a brighter future. (Romans 15.3)
God is the Comfort, that reaches even our deepest sorrows (2 Corinthians 1.3)
God is the Healing, for self-inflicted wounds of wilfulness and sin. (Revelations 22.2)
God is the Forgiveness, that shoulders the burden of our follies. (John 1.9)
God is the Love, that never writes us off, whatever we have done. (John 3.16)
God is the Life, which hold us secure to the gates of death and beyond. (John 11.25)
Edmund Banyard
Commentary
In some ways the New Testament reading seems rather strange, especially in the context of Partnership and ecumenism! Peace, harmony and unity are exactly the results we would expect through a relationship with Jesus aren't they? And indeed they are the results, if we understand peace and this passage in the way Jesus is speaking. The peace and harmony we have in Jesus arises from the unity we have with God and with what God is doing in our world and the solidarity we have with those travelling along the same path.
The play on words in Hebrew in the last verse of the Old Testament passage gives us an insight into this. The Lord looked for justice mishpat, but saw bloodshed mispat; He looked for righteousness tsedaqua, but heard tseaqua (a cry that attends anarchy, for example, just like the cry of the rabble by which justice when Jesus was before Pilate). The words, spelling and pronunciation are close, but in reality their meanings are very different.
In both the Old and New Testament passages the thrust is on God's people acting in a way which is real and > to their faith, not something which looks close on the outside but in reality is a long way from the real thing. The peace which Jesus speaks about in Luke is real peace, not something that just papers over the cracks in the name of unity. This quest for real peace stems from our walking with God and wanting to do His will. It is built on a passion and compassion for change, justice, and renewal, themes which Isaiah implicitly challenges the Israelites with in the Song of the Vineyard, the title of today's Old Testament passage. It's not a 'peace at any price', a peace which fails to place Gods will at the very centre of its existence.
For the Israelites and for us the message is clear. Put the Kingdom of God first, and everything else falls into place. Putting the Kingdom first does not guarantee peace and harmony; it will involve personal and societal change and will almost certainly encounter resistance (all change does) and possibly rejection. Seen in its proper context this passage is subversive stuff! But its what we are called to do and be as Christians. To take our place and fulfil our role in bringing about God's kingdom on earth.
And our Partnership at St Marks and Putnoe Heights is proof of the reality of God's peace. The strength of our unity and harmony comes from the fact that we try not to paper over the cracks but try to understand each other's point of view, whatever is being discussed, and then move forward together. Clearly there is always room for improvement, ways that we could do things better and areas that we still need to work on, but often as Christians we look at the things we need to change and forget to give thanks for the progress we've made! (Reverend Dr Sam Cappleman)
Commentary
Those who like to think of Jesus as being always mild and calm should re-read this morning’s passage from the Gospel according to St Luke. Jesus sounds cross and impatient with the blindness of His contemporaries. He lambasts them for focusing on superficial matters, such as forecasting the weather. But the attention and intelligence being used in this task should be applied to something far more significant: their rightness with God. People tend to see what they want to see and ignore things they would prefer not to know. I am continually amazed by the aimless spiritual hunger manifested in our times. It is not that people do not believe – it is that some people would believe in just about anything! I am continually appalled by the money and time thrown away on false predictions and superstitious methods of “foretelling the future”. It is as if some people are looking for a spirituality that you can buy (crystals, earth worship, numerology, white witchcraft, dream catchers etc.) and then put in a drawer and forget, forming a belief system which is so vague that it requires no effort. The Christian faith, rooted in the Jewish tradition,, offers a way of living which has been tried and tested over millennia by wise and good people. It has transformed lives, inspired great acts of courage and self-sacrifice (Paul lists the “cloud of witnesses” in the passage from Hebrews). Jesus’ teachings offer the two great precepts for living “love God and love your neighbour as yourself”. But the simplicity of the faith belies the great effort it requires on the part of the faithful. The more we learn about our Faith and the women and men who have followed it, the richer and more profoundly satisfying it becomes. It is both simple enough for a child to understand and intellectually challenging enough to absorb the wisest minds in history. The Reverend Dr Joan Crossley
Commentary
Although the sermon today is based on the passage from Hebrews and Jesus’
words in the Gospel of Luke, I do not want us to ignore the prophet
Jeremiah. Because the Book of Jeremiah has a steady lament running through
it, his name has become a byword for misery and complaint. Is that a fair
summation of the prophet? The prophet Jeremiah was active in Jerusalem
during the tragic period of the city's destruction by the Babylonians, So it
is very much a history of a period of violence insecurity and conflict.
Jeremiah prophesied during the reigns of various kings: beginning in the
thirteenth year of the reign of Josiah (626 BCE), and then Jehoahaz,
Jehoiakim, Jehoiachin, Zedekiah, and during the brief rule of Gedaliah ben
Ahikam, whose assassination in ca. 585 BCE marked the end of the Jews in
Judah and Jerusalem.
Jeremiah famously prophesied disaster. For him the doom which he felt
threatened his people was caused by their neglecting of their faith and
turning away to false idols and preoccupations. So disgusted was he with his
fellow Jews that he suggested that it might be better to surrender to the
Babylonians and accept their domination by the Superpower rather than
struggle on in spiritual decay. Jeremiah was regarded as a traitor or
defeatist and was declared an outlaw during the reign of Zedekiah and placed
in detention until the destruction of the city by Nebuchadnezzar. So why
should we read the Book of Jeremiah, which appears to be a long list of
incomprehensible names interspersed gloom and doom? Jeremiah bears
re-reading because in amongst the darkness is a bright thread of hope in
God’s fidelity to his people. The prophet continued to believe in God’s love
even in the midst of war and utter destruction. It takes great courage to
hold the faith when everything points against it. Jeremiah knew that God was
faithful, even if His people were not, and believed in the ultimate triumph
of love. The Rev Dr Joan Crossley
Meditation
My name is 'I Am'
I was regretting the past, and fearing the future Suddenly my Lord was speaking: ‘My name is I am’.
He paused. I waited. He continued.
‘When you live in the past, With its mistakes and regrets, it is hard to stop.
I am not there. My name is not ‘I was’.
When you live in the future, with its problems and fear. It is hard. I am not there.
My name is not ‘I will be’
When you live in this moment, It is not hard. My name is ‘I am’
Found in a church in Porchester
Not there when needed? ‘Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died,”’ (John 11.21 NRSV)
Where were you, Lord, when I really needed you? Why was there no answer to my prayers, the most urgent prayers I have ever prayed, was it some fault on my part? And it’s not just me — an unexpected diagnosis, tragic accident, sudden redundancy, marriage breakup, untimely death. . .. Where are you, Lord, when our world falls apart and we need you so very much? Lord, when we do have to face really dark times, help us to hold on to our faith, that you have been that way before us, and that you are with us now, sharing our distress and supporting us, even though for the moment you seem very far away.
The risen Christ says: ‘And remember, I am with you always, To the end of the age (Matthew 28.20 NRSV)
Edmund Banyard
Meditation
Frank Baum was a newspaperman who put his writing talents to use in a series of children's books about a fairyland called the Land of Oz. His characters had wonderful adventures. Frank Baum later adapted his book into a musical. 20 years after his death, a musical film called "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz" in 1939. In the story there are four unhappy characters: a scarecrow who thinks he has no brain; a tin woodsman who thinks he has no heart; a lion who thinks he has no courage, and a girl called Dorothy who thinks she has no power to change anything in her life. These four characters - all thinking little of themselves - believe that if they reach the Wizard of Oz he will change them so that they have the qualities and talents they would like. What they discover is that the Wizard doesn't force people to change; instead he cares about them. He sends each of them an invitation to see in themselves what they had not seen before. And so the scarecrow discovers that he already does have a brain. The tin woods-man realises that he does already have a heart. The lion possesses all he needs to be courageous. Dorothy has what it takes to change things in her own life. When Dorothy returns to Kansas (from where she had been taken by a tornado) she says to her aunt: "Oh, Aunt Em, I've been to many strange and marvellous places, looking for something that was right here all along...right in my own back yard!"
God our Father, each person is unique and special to you. We pray that individuals may discover in themselves the treasures you have given them, and develop and put to good use the qualities they hold in trust from you. I pray that I may promote goodness and happiness, by treating others with respect and care and understanding.
Meditation
“Stand up! Stand up for Jesus! Ye soldiers of the Cross, lift high his royal banner; it must not suffer loss.” That well-known hymn was written in the reign of Queen Victoria, when Britain was at the height of its period of Imperial expansion. This was a time when huge tracts of Africa and the Indian sub-continent were under British rule. The seizing of other nations’ possessions: dominating them, converting them to British customs and laws not only seemed right but was perceived as being our destiny as a nation – it was known as the “white man’s burden”. Christianity went hand in hand with this kind of military domination. Christianity was imposed on the native populations and was seen as being a way not only of saving the souls of the benighted foreigners but of imposing discipline and order on them. Imperial warfare therefore had a spiritual dimension, since it brought new souls to the faith. This hymn seems to be both about battle against an external enemy and about fighting spiritual battles. There are still battles to be won for Jesus. The enemy, though, isn’t as easy to identify or as easy to dominate. The last great battle we all fight is against ourselves, against our own greed, materialism, self-centeredness and indifference. It is a constant battle, against an enemy which is evasive and hard to put down, but we have to continue to “fight the good fight” against our personal weaknesses, so that the truth of Jesus may triumph.
Meditation
Being judgemental is a very unlovable characteristic. “Judge not that you shall not be judged” is a phrase we all know, but most of us do judge others. Apparently 60% of your view of someone is established within the first ten seconds of seeing them. In an instant your mind sums up someone and either accepts or rejects them as a potential ally, love-object or friend. It is probably a useful human trait, dating back to more violent times when it was vital to be able to sort out who was likely to want to kill you on sight. But we all have to exercise self-restraint on this issue. I have heard really good people scornfully summed up and dismissed because their face, clothes or manners don’t fit the acceptable mould. What a dangerous and short-sighted approach to our fellow humans! It would be nice to think that churches were immune to this kind of careless cruelty, but actually they aren’t. One of the churches in a neighbouring deanery was worried about attracting “the wrong sort of people” from a new housing estate because “we might not be able to control them”. Churches can all to easily become a club for Christians, where everyone is expected to conform and fit in.
Prayer
Saviour God, humanity longs to live in peace. We pray for your healing peace; for those racked by guilt or regret, for those caught up in turbulent relationships, for those burdened by illness or sorrow. Humanity longs to live in peace, but not peace at any price. We pray for those who stir up dissension; by questioning the ways of society, by being open and honest, and by searching for the truth. Amen
Spirit of God, your church longs to live in peace. We pray for your healing peace; between denominations, within individual churches, in our own hearts. Your church longs to live in peace, but not peace at any price. We pray for those who stir up dissension; disturbing us with new visions and ideas, criticising our apathy and complacency, and provoking us o think afresh about our calling. Amen From Companion to the Revised Common Lectionary, Intercessions, Christine Odell
Here, O Lord, is my poor heart, an empty vessel ready to be filled with your grace. Here, O Lord, is my sinful soul, waiting to be refreshed by your love. Here, O Lord, is my mouth created for your praise and ready to proclaim the glory of your name, now and for ever. Amen Dwight Lyman Moody, 1837-1899
God, who from old, taught the hearts if your faithful people by sending to
them the light of you Holy Spirit: grant to us by the same spirit to have a
right judgment in all things and to evermore rejoice in his holy comfort.
Amen.
Heavenly Father, help us to live this day and each day, as if it were our
last. Amen
Take my body, O Christ, to do your work, for here on earth you have no body
now but mine. Take my hands to be your hands and my feet to walk in the ways
of your feet. Take my eyes to be the eyes of your own compassion shining
forth upon a troubled world; for your own mercy’s sake. Amen Teresa of
Avila, 1515-1582
God our Father, be near to our children growing up in the peril and
confusion of these times. Guard them from the forces of evil at work in our
society, and lead them in the paths of goodness and truth; enable us as
parents, grandparents, family members or as friends to give them at all
times the security of our love and the help of our example and our prayers.
Amen (Edward Peck)
O God, you are my God, for you I long;
for you my soul is thirsting.
I long for you like dry, weary land without water.
Give me your strength and your glory.
I wish to praise you all my life fill my soul as with a banquet.
I cling to you; hold me close in your hands.
Psalm 63
Increase your grace in us, O Lord, that we may fear your Name beyond which nothing is more holy; that we may love you, beyond whom nothing is more loveable; that we may glorify you beyond whom nothing is more worthy of praise, and that we may long for you beyond whom nothing is more desirable; and grant that thus fearing, loving, glorifying and longing we may see you, face to face; through Christ our Lord. Amen Desiderius Erasmus, 1466-1536