WELCOME This week, in our time of worship, we continued working our way through Luke's Gospel, and paid a wee visit to the Book of Acts.
Our readings: Luke 7:1-23 and Acts 10:1-8,21-35.
Reflection One of my favourite films is ‘Four Weddings and a Funeral’,
and I was slightly reminded of it as I looked at our readings for today…
except in this instance, it’s more a case of
‘two centurions and a widow' which, if it were a film, would have one of those wee inserts in the end credits, adding in John the prophet with a wee dialogue to underscore the point of the whole story:
‘Are you the one…?’
‘Actually, yeah…’
Both are big readings, with a rather large cast, and quite a lot going on. As to the people involved, if you were to try and classify most of them, they're divided into 'insiders' and 'outsiders', with a strong emphasis on the outsiders.
For Luke, the umbrella under which these passages sit is very much about identity and belonging.
And right at the centre …is Jesus.
(physically, in the case of the Gospel reading, and working through Peter by the Spirit, in our reading from Acts) Now, there’s quite a lot going on in our readings, but, if you were to distil them down, you’d find two key questions being discussed:
Who is Jesus? and…
Where is he to be found?
Having recounted Jesus' 'sermon on the plain', Luke moves on, as do we:
getting into the more nitty gritty of Jesus’ public ministry.
Jesus’ identity is very quickly established through the praise and acclaim of the crowds who clamour to see who he is. Here, in these early days of his ministry, the people realise that there’s something different about Jesus –
he may be a carpenter’s son, but there’s more to him:
at the very least, Jesus is a prophet.
And, as word spreads around the countryside-
it’s not just Jewish people who are hearing of his words and deeds, which is where our first centurion comes into the picture,
as does the grieving mother in Nain.
In choosing to highlight their stories, and the story of Cornelius in Acts, Luke’s keen to point out that Jesus is for everyone, not just the perfect, select few;
indeed, that Jesus goes beyond the bounds of culture, class, creed,
and is there for friend, and enemy alike. This latter, particularly in the case of our two centurions who are very much a part of the machine of the oppressive state that controls Judea. Interestingly, in both cases, it is the local Jewish people who vouch for their characters - yes, they are Romans, yes, they're in the military, but even though their enemies, they're... decent men. And so, in both cases, these outsiders are helped - if we're all Jock Tamson's bairns, then the principle is even more so when it comes to God: we are all God's children.
But what of the widow? Here is a picture of grief at its most stark, and also of social collapse. The woman’s lost not only a child but the shape of her future.*
With her son gone, she has no means to sustain herself. In this moment, as she takes her son for burial, her grief is fresh, raw and it's in this moment that Jesus enters the scene. Moved with compassion, the son is restored to life, and the mother, restored to her son. Where is Jesus? He’s right there with her, in her grief. In this story, Luke demonstrates that Jesus is not remote, not detached: Jesus is found on the road of mourning, in the public place of heartbreak,
where loss has stripped everything back.* Who is Jesus here within this story?
Jesus is the compassion of God
made visible.
And then, we have John - John who is languishing in prison
at Herod’s command.
And, acting almost as a post-script to what Luke is trying to tell us about Jesus, the plain question is asked:
‘Are you the One, or should we look for another?’
And rather than answering in a parable Jesus sends back the reply, quoting from the prophet Isaiah, telling of all that he’s been doing: the signs of God’s kingdom of heaven breaking in to earth.
It’s his way of saying to the followers of John:
‘Tell John, yes, I am.’
Jesus is indeed the One of whom prophets spoke,
the One who continues in the line of prophets,
but is more than a prophet:
he is God’s own Son
walking in the midst of humanity
and all we experience. And, in faith, I have to believe that Jesus
is there in every situation of sorrow and grief
amongst the people of Venezuela right now,
just as he is in the wider world; just as he is in each one of our lives –
with us in sorrow, pain, anxiety, despair, and with us in joy, and laughter, and all the goodness of life as well.
At Christmas we refer to Jesus as 'Immanuel' –
meaning ‘God with us’. So, where is Jesus?
With us.
In his poem, ‘The Call’ 17th century poet and priest, George Herbert expressed his own understanding of who Jesus was to him: not only the way, the truth, and the life, but his light, his strength, his joy, his love, his heart. The poem is copied below. Who is Jesus? And where is he? Luke, in both his gospel and in the Book of Acts gives us some compelling answers. And, like George Herbert, while we might not write poetry about it, what of our response? Where are we when it comes to Jesus and who do we say he is? Amen.
'The Call'
Come, my Way, my Truth, my Life;
Such a Way as gives us breath,
Such a Truth as ends all strife,
Such a Life as killeth death.
Come, my Light, my Feast, my Strength;
Such a Light as shows a Feast,
Such a Feast as mends in length,
Such a Strength as makes his guest.
Come, my Joy, my Love, my Heart;
Such a Joy as none can move,
Such a Love as none can part,
Such a Heart as joys in love.
*with thanks to this week's Spill the Beans material...
Hello and welcome to our online reflection based on our Sunday morning service of worship.
Welcome is very much the theme today, as we hear of a feast to which Jesus was invited and see just who was ‘in’ and just who was ‘out’....
Notices
Just a couple of notices to flag up:
Tues 9 June, 10:30am funeral of Morag Forrest. This will be in the church and then followed by her committal across at Roberton Cemetery.
Please do keep the family in your prayers at this time.
Clydesdale food bank: As this is a communion month, the food bank box is once again in the church vestibule and ready to accept any donations of food and hygiene products – if you’re able to help, that would be very much appreciated.
The box will be uplifted on the last Sunday of the month
and, as ever, thanks in advance. To help online, please go to this LINKto make a donation.
After this he went out and saw a tax-collector named Levi, sitting at the tax booth; and he said to him, ‘Follow me.’ 28 And he got up, left everything, and followed him. 29 Then Levi gave a great banquet for him in his house; and there was a large crowd of tax-collectors and others sitting at the table with them. 30 The Pharisees and their scribes were complaining to his disciples, saying, ‘Why do you eat and drink with tax-collectors and sinners?’ 31 Jesus answered, ‘Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick; 32 I have come to call not the righteous but sinners to repentance.’ 33 Then they said to him, ‘John’s disciples, like the disciples of the Pharisees, frequently fast and pray, but your disciples eat and drink.’ 34 Jesus said to them, ‘You cannot make wedding-guests fast while the bridegroom is with them, can you? 35 The days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast in those days.’ 36 He also told them a parable: ‘No one tears a piece from a new garment and sews it on an old garment; otherwise the new will be torn, and the piece from the new will not match the old. 37 And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; otherwise the new wine will burst the skins and will be spilled, and the skins will be destroyed. 38 But new wine must be put into fresh wineskins. 39 And no one after drinking old wine desires new wine, but says, “The old is good.”’
Reflection
For our time of reflection, one of life's big questions: What if the hokey pokey really is what it's all about? 'In, out, in, out, shake it all about, you do the hokey pokey and you turn yourself around, that's what it's all about.'... But is it? This, as we think about the ‘in’, ‘out’ in relation to our gospel reading for today, in which we see some who think of themselves as the ‘in’ group, and those who they consider are ‘out’.
So what have we got here in our text?
There’s Levi, who we know more familiarly as ‘Matthew’.
Levi’s a tax collector.
Levi is based in Capernaum – which is loosely being used by Jesus and his disciples as a handy go-to base from which to travel around the surrounding countryside of the Galilee region.
Capernaum is a port town, a trading centre, a busy place.
A useful place for a tax collector to set up his business –
and, no doubt, Levi’s set up his tax booth so it’s right in the midst of things:
a place where he can easily access those who are obliged to pay tax.
His is a face that would be well known and because of his career, Levi is generally the last person anyone really wants to have dealings with.
In the time, and place, and cultures of the day, there are all sorts of pecking orders, hierarchies.
Levi lives in a land where a foreign power rules – the occupying Romans.
They have their own particular customs, rituals, culture, their own social niceties and levels of status.
Given they’ve taken over the country, the Romans consider themselves at the at the top of the pile:
the ones who are most definitely ‘in’.
And because they view themselves as conquerors, they very much look down on those they’ve conquered and, who they were essentially, oppressing.
Outwith the Romans, there were the Jews, whose land it was, and who had their own particular customs, rituals, culture, and ways of classifying people who to them were either ‘in’ or ’out:
which people were important and which ones weren’t;
who was contributing, and who wasn’t;
who to include and who to avoid at all costs.
Now, if the Romans looked down on the Jews,
the Jews looked down on those who were not Jewish, those they called ‘gentiles.’
But, whether Jew or Gentile, all of them have to pay their taxes to the Romans.
And, while Levi’s not a Roman, he works for them,
and has built up substantial wealth in doing so.
In the eyes of his own people, the Jews, just because of the nature of his work, Levi’s considered to be of dubious moral character, a collaborator and a traitor.
But there’s more:
because he also spends time with people of all kinds, there are those in the Jewish religious hierarchy who view him as ‘unclean’.
While it’s a cause of upset and offence to the pharisees and the scribes that Jesus both calls Levi to follow, and then accepts a dinner invite, I’d hazard a guess that no one is more surprised than Levi at being asked to hang out with Jesus and his followers. And unlike the followers who were fishermen, Levi just can't simply return to his job should things not work out: there's no Plan B, no going back. When Jesus invites Levi to come and follow him, well, a little like the hokey pokey, Levi turns himself around – for to repent means just that, to turn from what you’re doing.
In doing so, he discovers that, for the first time in however long it’s been, he’s less a case of being ‘out’:
he’s in.
He belongs.
It’s a cause for celebration.
The sign of his belonging is further seen by Jesus willingly accepting a place at Levi’s table for a feast. To sit at table and share a meal was a sign not only of sharing hospitality, it was a symbol of relationship - you were considered an extension of the family.
Jesus sits with Levi and his friends - those considered completely 'out' by the Scribes and Pharisees - and it completely messes with their whole social, religious, and hierarchical understanding of how the world worked.
Jesus was a rabbi, one who was supposed to know the Law,
Jesus was one of 'them'.
What on earth was he playing at?
Grace.
Simply, grace.
Grace is about God’s gift of life and goodness, of God’s enduring love for humanity.
It reflects his nature to love without limits, to love freely, unconditionally, whether we ‘deserve’ that love, or not.
And so, Jesus reminds the scribes and the pharisees that they are already ‘in’ –
they already know God’s grace.
Jesus doesn’t need to sit and eat with them …
he needs to be with those who feel cast out:
the ones who in so many ways within their lives have never really felt they’ve been included,
who’ve never felt they’ve belonged,
who’ve never felt that they deserved God’s grace:
the ones who’ve felt that God’s love is not for the likes of them.
Sitting at table, Jesus is showing those gathered at the feast that they are not ‘them’…
not ‘the others’,
but that they are utterly loved and held within God’s grace, just as much as the scribes and the pharisees are – in God’s eyes, there is no ‘them’, only ‘us’.
Last week, we were thinking about God as Trinity:
the three and oneness of God –
and we thought about the concept of Trinity within the framework of relationship:
One God, in perfect community –
bound by love, which unites, not excludes.
God, as a Trinity of love, calling us into a relationship of love –
with God, and with one another.
In a week in which we are invited to come to the table where Jesus is host, this story reminds us that as with Levi, his grace is extended to us,
for, as with Levi and all those gathered around the table for that particular feast so long ago,
we gather to share in the meal of grace created for all who follow,
and, in doing so, to turn their lives around -
and discover, that in him, as with Levi,
so too, we are welcome,
we are included,
bound together in a relationship of love with him.
Who are the ones we might think of as ‘them’,
the ones we think of as ‘out’ not ‘in’?
How might we turn ourselves around from that way of thinking, and so extend God’s grace, God’s love?
The story of Levi’s calling, of Jesus breaking bread with him and the company of those considered by some as ‘outcasts’ is a story of profound grace:
about a life turned around.
It’s a story that calls us to rejoice that no one is beyond hope,
no one is beyond God’s love and grace.
And it’s a story that challenges us to share that grace.
May you know the blessing of God's grace, this day and everyday. Amen.
Let's pray:
Gracious God, In a moment of quiet prayer, we pray for all who are on our minds and in our hearts this day, and bring to you our own particular needs…
Lord, we commit the week ahead to you.
Shine your light into every situation so that we can see where you are at work and follow your lead.
Send us out as people of hope to bring your love into every place you lead us.
Welcome. First, some notices, and thereafter a reflection and prayer...
Church notices
Sun 7 June, 10:30am: Service of Holy Communion - we join together this coming Sunday to share in the sacrament of the Lord's Supper. It is an open table, for Jesus is the host and he welcomes all.
Tues 9 June, 10:30am: the funeral of Mrs Morag Forrest will be held in the church at Abington, and thereafter, the committal will be at Roberton Cemetery. Please do keep the family in your prayers at this time.
Clydesdale foodbank month: over the month of June, we will be collecting items to deliver to the food bank. If you would like to donate but can't get to church, you can send an online donation HERE
Reflection for Trinity Sunday
In the church calendar, the Sunday following Pentecost is known as 'Trinity' Sunday. It's a time in the year where preachers and theologians can come a little unstuck, trying to explain what is essentially, really rather inexplicable: God as One yet Three, but Three yet One. We try, in our limited way to describe the limitless God, who is so much more than the sum or our words and stretches of imagination can fathom.
Back in the day, the early Christians, trying to distil the essentials of the faith into a handy 'catch all' to help teach people the basics about God, put together Creeds. One of these was the Athenasian Creed and you can almost hear the writers of this sighing just a little as they struggled to describe the God who is more than we can fully comprehend: God the Father: incomprehensible; God the Son: incomprehensible; God the Holy Spirit: incomprehensible. Bless them, I love them for trying to do the impossible. However, mystery is not always a bad thing and I suspect that we'll cope if we haven't got the answer to every single question about God this side of heaven. This, I say, because what we do know of God is what we see in Jesus. And while it is always absolutely right to ponder and ask questions, and wrestle with this matter of what it is to be God’s people, and while theology is important, the most important starting place for theology is to remember that, for all our attempts to try to explain God, God can’t be put into a box – and, when humans tried to do that to Jesus, he simply rose from death itself and out of the box we’d tried to put him in.
One way that I find helpful to try and get my head around this One in Three and Three in Oneness of God, is by thinking of God within the terms of relationship. Augustine, a 5th century African theologian who I have a lot of time for, used this idea of relationship to help understand the nature of God, and also, how that sat within the nature of what it is to be human. He used love as his building blocks: God as One and then as Three seen in: God as the one who loves, God as the one who is beloved, and God as love itself. The very core of God being love and energised by love: a love that looks to the other, looks out, that is generous, giving, sharing, and spreading that love beyond just the circle of relationship within that perfect community of love which is God.
And what of us? Jesus is love made into flesh and blood and bone showing us what love looks like: not a private solitary thing – but something that is lived within community, joyfully, creatively. If we want to know what God looks like – what God thinks, and feels, and wishes, we look to Jesus who points us to love – for love is at the heart of who God and the reason why God does anything. So, mirroring that relationship of God we, who are created in God’s image, might use a day like Trinity Sunday to ask:
How do we love?
Who do we love?
What is the impact of that love on others? For, if love is the very heart and motivation of God, then as his creatures, so love should be at the heart of our lives, as we navigate this life of faith.
The priest and poet, Malcolm Guite, wrote the following sonnet for Trinity Sunday, which I leave you with (you can find this, and other sonnets in his collection 'Sounding the Seasons', published by Canterbury Press - do check his work out, he's excellent).
In the Beginning, not in time or space,
But in the quick before both space and time,
In Life, in Love, in co-inherent Grace,
In three in one and one in three, in rhyme,
In music, in the whole creation story,
In His own image, His imagination,
The Triune Poet makes us for His glory,
And makes us each the other’s inspiration.
He calls us out of darkness, chaos, chance,
To improvise a music of our own,
To sing the chord that calls us to the dance,
Three notes resounding from a single tone,
To sing the End in whom we all begin;
Our God beyond, beside us and within.
Malcolm Guite
Prayer God, Creator,
for your glory shining forth in sky and sea,
in the changing light on the hills,
in the flight of birds,
in the plants of the field
for the gift of life in all its fullness,
we thank you.
Jesus, Redeemer,
for blessing children,
healing the sick,
raising up the lowly,
suffering the brokenness of the world
in your own body
that we might have fullness of life,
we thank you.
Holy Spirit, Comforter,
for breathing new hope and strength into our lives,
breaking down barriers,
drawing human beings together in love,
resisting all that diminishes fullness of life,
we thank you.
Holy Trinity,
in all that we do and say and are,
may we always choose life,
for ourselves, and for our neighbours.
Amen.
As you move into a new week, may you know God walking with you through the moments and the days. God bless
Today we mark the promised coming of the Holy Spirit to the followers of Jesus - and, in a sense, we celebrate the beginning, the ‘birth’ day of the church.
It’s one of the Sundays in the church calendar when we’re reminded of the power and mystery of God, of God who is both Creator of the universe and all things, as well as the God who knows each of our names.
We’re also reminded that we are all a part of something that is so much bigger than us: while we’re the church visible in this small
corner of the earth, we’re also a part of the church that reaches all around the world; we are both a gathered, and a scattered people. As well as this, we belong to the church ‘invisible’ –
all those who have walked in the footsteps of Jesus, down through the centuries who learnt about Jesus and passed the stories about him along to others.
In all of that, so there’s the sense that to celebrate the day of Pentecost comes with more than a little bit of awesomeness – in the true meaning of the word: God mysterious and yet known, God unseen and yet seen in each one of us who are created in God’s image.
A prayer for Pentecost Holy Spirit,
we pause in your presence,
aware that you do not arrive quietly or on our terms.
You move like wind:
unseen, uncontained, disturbing what has settled too easily.
You burn like fire:
not to destroy, but to refine,
to bring light where we have grown used to shadows.
Meet us here, in all our difference and expectation;
in our longing for clarity, and in our fear of what change might demand.
Slow us down enough to notice where you are already at work,
often ahead of our plans and beyond our control.
Loosen what has grown rigid.
Open what we have closed for safety’s sake.
Give us ears to hear your voice in unfamiliar accents and unsettling truths.
As we listen in this moment,
kindle in us a fire that does not rush to certainty but stays awake to compassion.
Let it shape our words, and our lives.
... ... ...
Renew us, remake and reshape us;
may we be braver in love,
wider in welcome,
and ready to follow wherever your Spirit leads.
Come, Holy Spirit.
Stay with us.
Move among us.
Make us alive.
Amen.
On the 'birthday' theme for Pentecost, the fabulous Tabitha made us a Pentecost cake to share at morning tea. It went down well!!
Michael Leunig cartoon on the theme of rest/ recharging
Hello - just a wee catch up. Given we're cutting back a wee bit from weekly online worship, I'll try to pop in here on a regular basis just to touch base and give you a flavour of what we've been doing in worship onsite in the church building at Abington....
Our theme for worship this week centred around Sabbath and rest. We explored the tradition and history of Sabbath and then reflected on some stories found within Luke's Gospel: Luke 6:1-11 and Luke 13:10-17
While there are a number of ways to enter into these texts, such as the power and authority of Jesus; healing; Jesus' run-in's with the religious authorities, the overriding theme that links both is found within the concept of Sabbath and Sabbath rest. Often the Pharisees are cast in a very bad light as 'killjoys', overburdening people with rigorous rules and regulations. This would be to dismiss them too easily. It could be argued [and has been] that the Pharisees were the progressives of the day, trying to find better ways to connect heart and soul to God. Their instrument to do this was through the Law: a useful code of conduct and practice that, if adhered to, would help to ensure a person was in a good relationship with God.
Within the contexts of our readings today, however, Jesus is not challenging the concept of Sabbath, and trying to destroy it, rather, he's trying to better restore it to its original purpose as that which is life-giving, joy-giving, a re-creation, and way to wholeness. Sabbath is not the master of humanity, it is the servant, enabling people to find their joy, their meaning, to have space to recharge. If even God rested, having made all of creation, then, that is a model for us to do likewise. And Sabbath is also about liberation. When Moses receives the Ten Commandments, the 4th Commandment requires God's people to remember the Sabbath and provides further reasoning: Sabbath is done to remember their freedom, having been delivered from slavery out of Egypt. Under the rule of Pharoah, conditions become increasingly harsh, and more and more bricks were required to be made - taking time off was not possible. Under the rule of God, time off is part of what it is to be one of God's people. Slaves don't get time off; free people do. By the time of Jesus, and the Roman Empire, Sabbath was embedded into the culture; it was a practice that marked Jewish people out from other nations. While some Romans may have seen the benefits of a day off to recharge, mostly, the idea of Sabbath was ridiculed, and thought of as laziness.
Within our modern society, busyness and being constantly on the go, has become widespread. Sometimes the pace of life can feel truly relentless and to take a break is seen as a sign of weakness. This was epitomised in the film 'Wall Street' through the character of Gordon Gecko, who summed up the attitude in his oft-quoted 'Lunch is for wimps'. To rest, then, is to be subversive, counter-cultural, an act of resistance in a world where too often, human beings are viewed as merely cogs in the machine. Whether a Saturday or Sunday, or whatever day of the week, as God's people, let's challenge the prevailing culture and choose rest; rest that reminds us that we are God's people, that we live within God's creation [take time to smell the roses, and in so doing, appreciate the one who created them], a practice which restores and recharges us and helps us to be whole.
May you find breathing spaces and places of rest this week,
In a week where climate change and political corruption seem to dominate, and, in my own preparations for Sunday worship and reflecting on a widow's mites, a prayer...
I would praise you
but in times like these,
praise is hard.
I would praise you
but all around, politicians lie, cronyism is rife,
and those in power care little for the least of these.
I would praise you
but worldwide, oil spills kill,
ice caps melt, temperatures rise,
and apathy and greed are killing our planet.
I would praise you
but everywhere, COVID creates fear,
the poor are still poor,
and refugees flee their homes,
looking for safe harbours to take them in.
I would praise you
for in times so hard,
praise is all I have.
I would praise you for all around, leaders fail and fall
and only you are faithful, and reign forever.
I would praise you
for worldwide, even marred,
creation bears your imprint
and your sheer will holds and heals it still.
I would praise you
for everywhere you watch over widows,
strangers, orphans
and feed the hungry,
and lift the ones bowed down.
I would praise you
because in times so hard,
times like these,
praise is both call to faith and call to action.
I would praise you
because all around mortal plans crumble into dust
and your promise lasts for all generations.
I would praise you
because worldwide, you sustain all that is
and lives, and moves, and has its being.
I would praise you
because everywhere, you champion the oppressed
and bring the light of hope into the darkest places.
I would praise you
even when, at times, the offering of praise is made
This Maundy Thursday, there’ll be no shared meal around a table for there’d be more than two households who’d gather; no washing of feet, nor a beloved disciple coorying in; no touching, no hugging— and where a kiss is a betrayal on a variety of levels.
In a time of pandemic, when simple touch can lead to death, how then to show God’s love, to do as Jesus has done for us?
Loving one another is: a facemask worn; the skoosh of sanitiser, falling cool upon hands when making entries and exits; making space— at least two metres.
There are other ways to practice love— to touch hearts without touching: be deliverers of medicines, of food, of news, or, stay home— for that, too, is an act of loving service.
Support the local food bank. Phone a friend, ask them how they really are— and give the gift of listening when, timidly, they tiptoe past ‘fine’ and move into harder honesty.
This Maundy Thursday, we follow the command to love by touching other’s lives... without touching.
In Sunday's worship, there was a short clip entitled 'Love is'
The full text, which didn't all make it to the clip, is below.
A lovely piece from the Rev. Roddy Hamilton, which I shamelessly borrowed!
Lord Jesus Christ,
in this world where hopes are so often dashed
and dreams so often broken,
we remember today the faith in the future you brought to so many,
both through your coming and through your resurrection from the dead.
Lord Jesus, where faith has died and dreams have faded,
may hope flower again.
We remember how Mary and Joseph looked forward
to the day of your birth,
how shepherds and magi caught their breath in wonder
as they knelt before you,
how the hearts of Anna and Simeon leapt in anticipation,
and how your disciples
and the crowds that flocked to hear you gave thenks,
convinced that you were the Messiah, the one God had promised,
the long-awaited deliverer come to set them free.
Lord Jesus, where faith has died and dreams have faded,
may hope flower again.
We remember how that vision of the future
was shattered by events to follow –
your pain, humiliation, suffering and death –
hope ebbing away as the lifeblood seeped from your body –
an end to their dreams, an end to everything.
Lord Jesus, where faith has died and dreams have faded,
may hope flower again.
We remember how the news spread that the tomb was empty,
the stone rolled away, your body gone,
and how despite it all,
your followers could scarcely bring themselves to hope –
afraid to take the risk of faith
in case they should face the heartache of losing you once more.
Lord Jesus, where faith has died and dreams have faded,
may hope flower again.
But we remember finally how you appeared,
in all your risen glory –
in the garden,
in the upstairs room,
on the Emmaus road,
by the Sea of Galilee –
and the dream was born again,
the smoldering embers of faith rekindled.
Lord Jesus, where faith has died and dreams have faded,
may hope flower again.
Lord Jesus Christ, a world is waiting,
hurting,
longing,
searching for hope,
crying out for meaning,
hungry for some reason to believe in the future.
Come again in your living power,
and bring new life to all.
Lord Jesus, where faith has died and dreams have faded,
may hope flower again.
A MID-WEEK PRAYER/
Loving God,
If we are ill, strengthen us.
If we are tired, fortify our spirits.
If we are anxious, help us to consider the lillies of the field and the birds of the air.
Help us not to stockpile treasures from supermarkets in the barns of our larders.
Don't let fear cause us to overlook the needs of others more vulnerable than ourselves.
Fix our eyes on your story and our hearts on your grace.
Help us always to hold fast to the good,
See the good in others,
And remember there is just one world, one hope,
One everlasting love, with baskets of bread for everyone.
In Jesus we make our prayer,
The one who suffered, died and was raised to new life,
In whom we trust these days and all days,
Amen.
Easter doesn't end on Easter Sunday - a wise person once said 'now every day is Easter.'
Traditionally, the season of Easter lasts for 50 days to Pentecost.
Christian faith communities across the world read again the Bible stories reflecting the
appearance of Jesus...
In the spirit of Easter, two poems for meditating upon this week
CHRIST OF ST JOHN OF THE CROSS (Inspired by the painting 'Christ of St. John of the Cross' by Salvador Dali.)
And still his head is bowed,
The cross uncluttered now
By family and friends,
Adrift;
Unearthly brightness ghosts his outstretched arms,
God's well-belovèd son.
The storm is spent.
No ripples break the water's calm.
Two fishermen seek comfort
In their nets
And, in the eastern sky,
A new day dawns. by Dee Yates
EASTER IONA
Listen. There is nothing except the wind.
The sheep lie in boulders in the fields,
The first few lambs shelter to the south-east of their mothers.
The moon swims through cloud, a rim of gold,
Yet never flows clear into open sky, never burns the sea with light.
Is there a God in all this blackness,
The huge emptiness of night? How small we are
When our lights go out, when all we can comfort our dark with
Are candles. In the end, each and every invention is not sufficient
To cure our loneliness, to take away our fear,
To solve the riddle of death. We can fly to the moon,
But we cannot heal the flaw in a broken soul.
Easter. How we took the only one who ever truly knew us
And murdered him. That night the dark must have seemed so close,
The emptiness so huge. The disciples
Blown away into troubled corners of Jerusalem,
Their hope broken, their lives lost.
Far away east, a black blood stains the sky;
The cold is bad, like a wound, it hurts the heart,
Twists like a rusted knife. Morning is many miles away;
Resurrection, awakening, they seem nothing more than a story
In some half-forgotten book, and yet Easter is becoming real
A little every second, the candles are being born across the hills
Until, at last, they conquer night, they light an impossible morning,
A beautiful hope.
Good Friday:
It is a paradox;
they call this day 'good' when so much sadness and violence and despair
wells up and covers the land in the darkness of grief and hope lost.
It is a paradox:
we worship the upside down God who upends our words,
who bids us open our eyes to new ways of seeing, being, understanding.
Bad Friday is turned good,
for out of death, springs life.
We walk through the darkness of this day,
remembering...
sorrowing, even,
taking time to ponder the great love story
shown in the One who loved humanity with the whole of his very being.
And we continue walking -
as hope is reborn,
as the story merely pauses a moment:
for, this is not the end;
we walk through the darkness of this day
and move onwards, toward the light. MUSIC/ Within our darkest night
a chant from the Taize Community...
St Augustine said that when we sing, we pray
twice. Use this simple chant as a prayer -
either to listen and pray with, or to sing it as a
form of prayer as we think of the One whom
the darkness can not overcome...
Within our darkest night, you kindle a fire that never dies away, never dies away...
PRAYER/ Holy God,
on this Good Friday,
we stop, make time,
and wonder once more at your love for us.
We do not understand why Jesus had to die,
why he had to endure
the pain and suffering of the cross.
On this day of days,
we pause awhile
to meditate and contemplate
the death of Jesus.
We come to wonder
at the sacrifice of our beloved Lord.
We come in silence,
awe and amazement
unsure of what to say or do,
knowing that we need to be here.
Draw near to us
and reveal to us ever more clearly
your love for us, now and forever.
Amen.
READING/ Luke, chapter 23 This is a long reading. As you read, perhaps pause in different places, take a moment of quiet to reflect on the verses, then move on... reading in prayerful contemplation. 1Then the assembly rose as a body and brought Jesus before Pilate. 2They began to accuse him, saying, ‘We found this man perverting our nation, forbidding us to pay taxes to the emperor, and saying that he himself is the Messiah, a king.’ 3Then Pilate asked him,
‘Are you the king of the Jews?’
He answered,
‘You say so.’ 4Then Pilate said to the chief priests and the crowds,
‘I find no basis for an accusation against this man.’ 5But they were insistent and said,
‘He stirs up the people by teaching throughout all Judea, from Galilee where he began even to this place.’ 6 When Pilate heard this, he asked whether the man was a Galilean. 7And when he learned that he was under Herod’s jurisdiction, he sent him off to Herod, who was himself in Jerusalem at that time. 8When Herod saw Jesus, he was very glad, for he had been wanting to see him for a long time, because he had heard about him and was hoping to see him perform some sign. 9He questioned him at some length, but Jesus gave him no answer. 10The chief priests and the scribes stood by, vehemently accusing him. 11Even Herod with his soldiers treated him with contempt and mocked him; then he put an elegant robe on him, and sent him back to Pilate. 12That same day Herod and Pilate became friends with each other; before this they had been enemies.
13 Pilate then called together the chief priests, the leaders, and the people, 14and said to them,
‘You brought me this man as one who was perverting the people; and here I have examined him in your presence and have not found this man guilty of any of your charges against him. 15Neither has Herod, for he sent him back to us. Indeed, he has done nothing to deserve death. 16I will therefore have him flogged and release him.’ 18 Then they all shouted out together,
‘Away with this fellow! Release Barabbas for us!’ 19(This was a man who had been put in prison for an insurrection that had taken place in the city, and for murder.) 20Pilate, wanting to release Jesus, addressed them again; 21but they kept shouting,
‘Crucify, crucify him!’ 22A third time he said to them,
‘Why, what evil has he done? I have found in him no ground for the sentence of death; I will therefore have him flogged and then release him.’ 23But they kept urgently demanding with loud shouts that he should be crucified; and their voices prevailed. 24So Pilate gave his verdict that their demand should be granted. 25He released the man they asked for, the one who had been put in prison for insurrection and murder, and he handed Jesus over as they wished.
26 As they led him away, they seized a man, Simon of Cyrene, who was coming from the country, and they laid the cross on him, and made him carry it behind Jesus. 27A great number of the people followed him, and among them were women who were beating their breasts and wailing for him. 28But Jesus turned to them and said,
‘Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children. 29For the days are surely coming when they will say, “Blessed are the barren, and the wombs that never bore, and the breasts that never nursed.” 30Then they will begin to say to the mountains, “Fall on us”; and to the hills, “Cover us.” 31For if they do this when the wood is green, what will happen when it is dry?’
32 Two others also, who were criminals, were led away to be put to death with him. 33When they came to the place that is called The Skull, they crucified Jesus there with the criminals, one on his right and one on his left. 34Then Jesus said,
‘Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing.’
And they cast lots to divide his clothing. 35And the people stood by, watching; but the leaders scoffed at him, saying,
‘He saved others; let him save himself if he is the Messiah of God, his chosen one!’ 36The soldiers also mocked him, coming up and offering him sour wine, 37and saying,
‘If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself!’ 38There was also an inscription over him, ‘This is the King of the Jews.’ 39 One of the criminals who were hanged there kept deriding him and saying,
‘Are you not the Messiah? Save yourself and us!’ 40But the other rebuked him, saying,
‘Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? 41And we indeed have been condemned justly, for we are getting what we deserve for our deeds, but this man has done nothing wrong.’ 42Then he said,
‘Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.’ 43He replied,
‘Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in Paradise.’ 44 It was now about noon, and darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon, 45while the sun’s light failed; and the curtain of the temple was torn in two. 46Then Jesus, crying with a loud voice, said, ‘Father, into your hands I commend my spirit.’ Having said this, he breathed his last. 47When the centurion saw what had taken place, he praised God and said, ‘Certainly this man was innocent.’ 48And when all the crowds who had gathered there for this spectacle saw what had taken place, they returned home, beating their breasts. 49But all his acquaintances, including the women who had followed him from Galilee, stood at a distance, watching these things.
50 Now there was a good and righteous man named Joseph, who, though a member of the council, 51had not agreed to their plan and action. He came from the Jewish town of Arimathea, and he was waiting expectantly for the kingdom of God. 52This man went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. 53Then he took it down, wrapped it in a linen cloth, and laid it in a rock-hewn tomb where no one had ever been laid. 54It was the day of Preparation, and the sabbath was beginning. 55The women who had come with him from Galilee followed, and they saw the tomb and how his body was laid. 56Then they returned, and prepared spices and ointments.
On the sabbath they rested according to the commandment.
We give thanks to God for His word contained in scripture, Amen.
PRAYER/
Forgiving God,
we come before you,
on this most difficult of days,
prayerful, reflective,
and forever thankful,
for the love poured out,
on all humanity, in the life and death
of your son Jesus Christ.
How can we weather the sorrow
that comes as we reflect on the events
that we remember today?
How, O God, can we stand,
in this place
in your salvation...
when our ancestors,
nailed our Saviour to a cross?
How?
In your forgiveness, which surpasses all.
Loving God,
we offer ourselves to you;
in your mercy, we pray that your love,
shown on that day,
and every day since,
continues to shine a light in our lives.
How can we thank you,
when you have given everything for us?
For our lives, our loves, our joys.
How, O God, can we express our gratitude
for the constant embrace of your love,
for the knowledge of the life of Christ,
on this day, as we remember the darkest day?
How?
In your love, which surpasses all.
Gracious God,
we commune with you and are glad,
as spiritual descendants of those
who walked with,
wept over, buried,
and loved Jesus.
We come also, and are mortified
at the betrayal, torture, rejection and denial
of Christ, our Saviour.
We are a people of contradictions.
How can we call ourselves your people,
most loved by your constant care,
gathered up in your eternal love,
forgiven and blessed today and always,
saved through that darkest hour of our history?
How?
In your grace, which surpasses all.
Eternal God,
on this day of sorrow,
we cannot escape the promise of hope,
the surety that the darkness will pass,
and the light of the world will shine forever.
Amen.
MUSIC/ Jesus, remember me -
Use this simple chant as a prayer -
either to listen and pray with, or to sing it
as a form of prayer as we think of the request
of the man hanging next to Jesus
Jesus, remember me, when you come into your kingdom, Jesus, remember me, when you come into your kingdom.... REFLECTION/
What could have been said?
In the garden, surrounded by friends,
knowing what is coming,
defence rejected,
no-one lost.
Jesus accepted the cup that was given.
What could have been said?
Before the high priest,
no denials,
only truth.
The Messiah questioned and rejected.
Jesus stands, accused and beaten.
What could have been said?
Before Pilate,
no arguing, no violence,
his kingdom is not of this place,
those who belong to the truth,
belong to Christ.
Jesus is imprisoned.
What could have been done?
Sentenced to death,
here is the man
that no earthly power could contain,
flogged and crowned.
Jesus is sent to death.
What could have been done?
Crucified,
the king of the Jews,
hung from a cross,
taunted, robbed, broken,
it is finished,
our Saviour has been killed.
What could have been done?
He died for us,
gave everything for us,
he is buried, and will rise again,
in love, for us.
What can we do?
PRAYER/
Holy one,
on this day when we remember
Jesus dying on the cross,
suffering pain and breathing his last,
we come humbly before you.
We come to say thank you
that Jesus loved us so much
that he was willing to die for us.
We come to say thank you
that Jesus knows exactly what it feels like
for all people who suffer pain and loss,
fear and rejection,
trauma and persecution.
Lord God,
our world is still a place
where too many people die at the hands of violence,
where too many people suffer persecution,
where too many people die alone and often in pain...
a world now feeling jangly, disjointed,
as we find ourselves living in strange times...
Lord, many of us are fearful -
we think of the power of microbes
that can bring entire systems,
whole countries and continents
to a standstill.
Lord Jesus,
you are in our midst,
Light in our darkness
and so we pray that, as the world walks
through this present darkness
we find your comfort and strength.
Be with all who watch and wait this night:
for deliveries of food, medicine, ventilators
and for safe working equipment...
for news of loved ones...
for clear test results...
for patients to recover...
for the end of the shift and welcome sleep.
Lord,
give us patience and hope,
help us not to give up,
and help us to do your will -
whatever that might be,
that your glory may shine brightly
in a world full of pain and suffering.
Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayer.
Amen.
MUSIC MEDITATION/ What wondrous love is this
An old and beautiful hymn forms the setting for a montage of Good Friday images to reflect on...
EPILOGUE/
A dark day draws to a close,
a barren place
filled with shadows and death,
loneliness and uncertainty.
We leave with thoughts of what might have been.
What’s next for us?
Where do we go from here?
Maundy Thursday:
This is the time when we recall the Last Supper.
We follow in the footsteps of others before us;
we walk back in time and walk into an upper room where Jesus gathers with his friends.
He will speak to them of the ways of the Kingdom.
He will show them what real leadership looks like.
He will share bread and wine and create a meal to remember.
This is the last gathering before the darkness finally takes the light
and the love of God is silenced.... READING/ John 13:1-17 1Now before the festival of the Passover, Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart from this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. 2The devil had already put it into the heart of Judas son of Simon Iscariot to betray him. And during supper 3Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going to God, 4got up from the table, took off his outer robe, and tied a towel around himself. 5Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel that was tied around him. 6He came to Simon Peter, who said to him,
‘Lord, are you going to wash my feet?’ 7Jesus answered,
‘You do not know now what I am doing, but later you will understand.’ 8Peter said to him,
‘You will never wash my feet.’
Jesus answered,
‘Unless I wash you, you have no share with me.’ 9Simon Peter said to him,
‘Lord, not my feet only but also my hands and my head!’ 10Jesus said to him,
‘One who has bathed does not need to wash, except for the feet, but is entirely clean.
And you are clean, though not all of you.’ 11For he knew who was to betray him; for this reason he said,
‘Not all of you are clean.’ 12 After he had washed their feet, had put on his robe, and had returned to the table, he said to them,
‘Do you know what I have done to you? 13You call me Teacher and Lord—and you are right,
for that is what I am. 14So if I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought
to wash one another’s feet. 15For I have set you an example, that you also should do as I have
done to you. 16Very truly, I tell you, servants are not greater than their master, nor are
messengers greater than the one who sent them. 17If you know these things, you are blessed if you do them.'
MUSIC MEDITATION/ 'The basin and the towel' by Michael Card...
PRAYER/
When we find the kingdom
in the most generous of acts,
silently arriving
in a cupful of water,
may we pause
and recognise where we are,
O Saviour of the basin and towel.
When the moment is shaped
in an act of giving
and the kingdom unveils
what it is really about,
may we pause
and recognise what is happening,
O Saviour of the basin and towel.
When the words have gone
and the doctrine spent
and the act of giving
is all we have,
may we pause
and recognise the truth,
O Saviour of the basin and towel.
May we bless the brokenness of heaven
which has fought against the words of religion
that has too often lifted itself up
and given itself power
and lauded itself over others
that we might pause in this place
where she reveals herself
in acts that are self-giving
and sacrificial,
serving the world
and all within,
and may we draw breath
in the truth of it all:
a kingdom unlike any other
humble,
forgiving,
serving,
redeeming.
When the darkness shifts
and the truth is revealed
and the moment arrives
and we do not understand,
may we pause
and recognise the moment,
O Saviour of the basin and towel.
Amen. READING/ Matthew 26:17-19 17 On the first day of Unleavened Bread the disciples came to Jesus, saying,
‘Where do you want us to make the preparations for you to eat the Passover?’ 18He said,
‘Go into the city to a certain man, and say to him, “The Teacher says, My time is near; I will keep the Passover at your house with my disciples.”’ 19So the disciples did as Jesus had directed them, and they prepared the Passover meal. ... ... ... 26 While they were eating, Jesus took a loaf of bread, and after blessing it he broke it, gave it to the disciples, and said,
‘Take, eat; this is my body.’ 27Then he took a cup, and after giving thanks he gave it to them, saying,
‘Drink from it, all of you; 28for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for
many for the forgiveness of sins. 29I tell you, I will never again drink of this fruit of the vine
until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.’ 30 When they had sung the hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.
REFLECTION/ THE MEAL
The evening was unusual, to say the least. There was nothing out of the ordinary in us eating in the company of Jesus. We had done it often, but outside, a picnic on the grassy slopes of a hillside maybe, folk joining us- one or two or, occasionally, thousands, though always with enough food to go round. Sometimes we had been invited into a home and been given a meal - at Simon's mother-in-law's house when she was ill - with Martha, Mary and Lazarus on frequent occasions.
But this was different. Jesus had arranged it so that we would, all twelve of us, be there in a
room with Him. We were to celebrate Passover. It was what Jewish people everywhere did, a
recalling of how the Jews had escaped death by the smearing of blood from the sacrificial lamb,
onto the lintel of their door, so that the angel of death passed over them.
So we were all seated round the table, a motley assortment of men, if ever there were.
One so sure of himself, given to boasting that would go with Jesus to the ends of the earth.
Another who disliked Jesus' way of doing things and wasn't afraid to say so. One rescued from
a dubious job, working for the government, collecting taxes; a fourth who was a fanatic,
not afraid to kill for his belief. And the rest of us, quieter, staying out of the limelight, uncertain
of our place in the scheme of things. We all called him teacher, for that is what he had been to us,
these last three years. And Jesus rose from the table , tied a towel round his waist, took a bowl of water and a cloth and began to wash our feet. Our feet, dusty and soiled from the road, all calloused skin and broken nails and blisters. It was unlovely, embarrassing. Embarrassing because this was something we ought to have done for each other and for Him and we hadn't, too proud, maybe, to be the one to do this menial task. Jesus went on to say that this was an example of what we must do - that we must be willing to do the job of a servant, however lowly that job might be.
We were to love one another.
But this was not all.
Then he took bread and broke it and gave it to us.
'This is my body given for you.'
The same with the cup of wine past round the table:
'This is my blood poured out for you.'
I was confused, I have to admit.
'Do this in remembrance of me.'
I didn't understand what he was saying. All I knew was that something momentous was happening, that this Passover meal superseded all such meals that had taken place in years past.
It was a few days later that I realised the significance of the words he had spoke in that upper room and the look of suffering on his face as he left the table and went out into the night. by Dee Yates TAKE, EAT.../
At the edge of everything lies this—
when we cannot understand the world
and the questions it asks us to answer,
when we cannot hold onto the world
because it is running out,
when we cannot hear what is truth and what are lies
in a cacophony of conflicting doctrine,
when we are fed up with control and a religion of power
that decides who is saved and who is not,
when we cannot find the words that express our faith any longer
within a religion that has lost its meaning,
when we can no longer sit comfortably
and feel connected with a polarised world,
when we have nothing left to say
and the words make no sense anyway,
when the story feels like it is coming to an end
and the Saviour is living on borrowed time,
when the darkness has greater hold than the light
and the rumours of conspiracy continue to grow,
when the disciples are confused and do not understand
and the Saviour is quiet with a darkness in his eyes,
when we feel the crack of a broken heaven
appearing in everything we thought sure,
at the edge of everything lies this—
a table:
bread,
broken;
wine,
waiting;
take,
and eat.
PRAYER/
Holy God,
we have remembered that final meal
shared between Jesus and his disciples;
we have remembered his life,
we have remembered his death,
and we look forward to celebrating his resurrection.
Before that happy day,
we remember his suffering,
his pain,
and his desolation on the cross;
we remember his loved ones
looking on from a distance,
unable to offer any comfort,
and we remember the men who sat at his feet
dividing up his belongings as if he was already dead.
Holy God,
on this night
when we remember the sacrifice Jesus made for us all,
help us to offer ourselves as a living sacrifice,
willing to let our egos go
and instead, choosing to serve you
body, mind and soul.
May we be renewed and refreshed,
confident and bold,
ready to share your love
and your story
with all people.
Amen.
ONWARD...
Bread:
blessed, broken, given—
his body.
Wine:
thanksgiving, sharing, drinking—
his blood, poured out for many.
On this night, a meal is shared among friends at table.
On this night, darkness gathers.
In a garden,
where prayers are offered,
and disciples sleep,
the sound of coins jingle in a purse
as footsteps march in time growing nearer:
the hour is at hand...
Wednesday: 30 pieces of silver...
The week turns...
a shift occurs. There, in conversation among friends,
gathered around a table,
darkness creeps into
the chambers of a wavering heart...
The light fades, night creeps in
and minds wander about what might be.
The light fades, night gathers pace
and darkness tempts doom-laden choices.
The light fades, night settles upon us
and Jesus looks around his friends.
The light fades, it is night
and Jesus is with us a little longer... READING/ John 13:21-32 21 After saying this Jesus was troubled in spirit, and declared, ‘Very truly, I tell you, one of you will betray me.’ 22The disciples looked at one another, uncertain of whom he was speaking.
23One of his disciples—the one whom Jesus loved—was reclining next to him;
24Simon Peter therefore motioned to him to ask Jesus of whom he was speaking.
25So while reclining next to Jesus, he asked him, ‘Lord, who is it?’ 26Jesus answered,
‘It is the one to whom I give this piece of bread when I have dipped it in the dish.’
So when he had dipped the piece of bread, he gave it to Judas son of Simon Iscariot. 27After he received the piece of bread, Satan entered into him. Jesus said to him, ‘Do quickly what you are going to do.’ 28Now no one at the table knew why he said this to him. 29Some thought that, because
Judas had the common purse, Jesus was telling him, ‘Buy what we need for the festival’;
or, that he should give something to the poor. 30So, after receiving the piece of bread,
he immediately went out. And it was night. 31 When he had gone out, Jesus said, ‘Now the Son of Man has been glorified, and God has been glorified in him. 32If God has been glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself and will glorify him at once.
REFLECTION/
Do quickly what you must do.
The words of Jesus to his betrayer:
do quickly what you must do.
Words for us today
for the Christ who came
to feed the hungry,
to clothe the naked,
to heal the hurting,
to free the prisoner,
and to remove the bonds of oppression
urges us to be about his business.
Not the business of betrayal
but the work of speaking up
and of living out
good news for all.
And the business
of continuing the revolution
that Jesus began.
Do quickly what you must do.
PRAYER/
Lord Jesus,
as we walk this week with you,
we take time to think about betrayal.
In particular your betrayal by Judas.
What does it mean to betray?
How do we recognise it?
Are we complicit in it?
As you sat that night with your friends
you spoke of being betrayed and named it:
Lord in the quiet of this time and in the silence
help us to identify
those times when we have let you down
and help us to name them.
... ... ... ... ...
Lord in the quiet of this time and in the silence
help us to identify
those who have betrayed us
and help us to name them.
... ... ... ... ...
In this week when we wait with you
forgive us the times
when our words and actions have betrayed you.
As we wait
help us to forgive those who have betrayed us.
Help us to learn from our experiences
and to find light
in the darkness of our guilt and feelings of betrayal.
Let that light be revealed in the glory that is yours
as we witness again your Passion
and remember you loved Judas
as you love us.
Lord hear our prayer. Amen.
MUSIC MEDITATION/ My song is love unknown
A fresh take on the traditional hymn...
PRAYER/
In a world where many feel betrayed and forgotten,
we pray for your guidance.
Help us to shine your glory
into those places and situations created when
someone or something has been let down.
For women, men and children,
abused and broken by those who claim to love them,
we pray for freedom and healing.
For those places of conflict and war between neighbours
and where words are intended to create hostility,
we pray for peace and calm.
For your creation and all its inhabitants
in places where destruction and decay
have been caused by human action or inaction,
we pray for new life and reconstruction.
Help us be the people to find ways
of bringing your glory into focus in all these situations.
Lord, hear our prayers. Amen.
CLOSING/
The gears have been set in motion,
the one who will betray has been let loose into the night,
and so do we step out into the darkness
considering what Jesus makes of us,
and committing to live into his hope, into his grace, into his love.
