Pentecost intercessions

1. This morning we're having our intercessions in eight different languages. This is a slightly adapted version of the English script we're using this morning.  Because the intercessions are all based around texts from the psalms it becomes easier for everyone to understand and less work for those drafting the intercessions. Members of our congregation (who come from many different nations) can read the psalm text from their own bibles and we know what they are saying because they English text is written in the service books. The introduction to the prayers, although it is in English, is being read by one of the American members of our congregation. 

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These intercessions will be led in multiple languages. The response to Kyrie eleison (“Lord have mercy” in Greek) will be Christe eleison(“Christ have mercy”)

Lord God, we give you thanks this Pentecost for the gift of the Spirit, who brings unity to the church enabling her to proclaim the good news to people from many different nations, speaking many tongues. We too are gathered from many nations and we ask you to hear us as we pray in faith.

(A prayer for the church, led in French) 
Give praise, you servants of the Lord, O praise the name of the Lord. Blessed be the name of the Lord, from this time forth and for evermore.(Psalm 113:1-2)
We pray for our bishops John and James and for our church, that she will be inspired and strengthened to proclaim the good news to all people.
Response: Kyrie eleison. Christe eleison

(A prayer for the poor, led in one of the African languages)
Lord, you will hear the desire of the poor; you will incline your ear to the fullness of their heart, to give justice to the orphan and oppressed, so that people are no longer driven in terror from the land. 
(Psalm 10:18-19)
We pray for the poor, and those who are struggling with debt at this time. 
R: Kyrie eleison.Christe eleison

(A prayer for peace, led in Yoruba) 
Come and behold the works of the Lord, what destruction he has wrought upon the earth. He makes wars to cease in all the world; he shatters the bow and snaps the spear and burns the chariots in the fire. (Psalm 46: 8-9)
We pray for peace on Earth, especially in Korea, in Syria and everywhere people are fighting.
R: Kyrie eleison. Christe eleison

(A prayer for the grieving, led in Japanese)
The cords of death entwined me and the torrents of destruction overwhelmed me.In my distress I called upon the Lord and cried out to my God for help. 
(Psalm 18:4, 6)
We pray for those who have recently lost someone they love, that God will comfort them.
R: Kyrie eleison.Christe eleison.

(A prayer for those who are ill, led in Mandarin Chinese)
They cried to the Lord in
their trouble, and he delivered them from their distress. He sent forth his word and healed them, and saved them from destruction.
(Psalm 107:19-20) 
We pray for those who are ill or in pain at this time 
R: Kyrie eleison.Christe eleison

(A prayer for the sorrowful, led in Welsh)
 The sorrows of my heart have increased; O bring me out of my distress. Look upon my adversity and misery and forgive me all my sin.
 (Psalm 25:16-17) 
We pray for those who are heartbroken or full of sorrow at this time.
R: Kyrie eleison. Christe eleison

(A prayer for the Lord to hear our prayers, led in Polish)
May the Lord hear you in the day of trouble, the name of the God of Jacob defend you; Send you help from his sanctuary and strengthen you out of Zion; 
(Psalm 20:1-2)
R: Kyrie eleisonChriste eleison

The intercessions finish with these words
 Merciful father,
All: accept these prayers for the sake of your son, our saviour, Jesus Christ. Amen. 

What I think should be done about Advent

Every year we hit the same problem. Everything goes purple 4 weeks before Christmas. There is a sense of waiting, of expectation, of pregnancy, of looking forward to something being about to happen. If you're lucky this might even last a week, and then (just as you were about to have some profound thought about the 2nd coming) in barges a large bloke dressed like a can of Coke with a ton of mince pies and a pack of parcels, yelling " ho ho ho, Merry Christmas!" and wacks your quiet reflection on the head with a football-sized Christmas tree bauble.

Then, if you keep Advent strictly (waving away the mince pies and stoutly refusing to sing a single carol till the 24th) just as you burst into song with "O come all ye faithful", get out your turkey and invite friends round, you discover that the party has finished and you're stood there blowing your party whistles in a room on your own, feeling like a damp squib. Everyone else has gone off to visit relatives and when they come back Christmas is definitely over. After having carols inflicted on them since December 1st they definitely don't want to hear another one for at least 11 months!

So we wait a feast that never comes. 

So what is to be done? 
Well, we can't move everyone else. They simply aren't going to shift. 
We could ignore Advent altogether (that's what a lot of people do).
Or we could continue to lead this double-life that we tend to lead. A sort of Jekyll-Hyde Advent-Christmas, when we sing carols celebrating the birth one minute and go to Ante Natal classes the next, but personally it never really feels quite right. (Although it could be said that that is a bit like the coming Kingdom of God really). We often celebrate something that isn't quite there. Its there one minute as we hear an answer to prayer or witness a miracle, and then seems to have gone the next as we hold a tissue while someone cries their eyes out). But life is confusing enough without this strange Advent/Christmas double life we lead.

But there is another way. We could move everything forward a bit! That's what I'd like to do!!!
Orthodox Christians begin Advent on the 15th November. This is great. At this point you haven't been too badly bombarded by elves and reindeer proffering bottles of wine. The bible readings at that time of year are already looking ahead to the 2nd coming, and Christ the King fits in with all that quite nicely. Then, although the Orthodox have 6 weeks of waiting before the 25th December, we could have 4 of them. We could do 4 weeks of expectation, longing, waiting all through the end of November, and could hold out against the onslaught of Yule for the first 2 weeks of December before throwing ourselves thoroughly into the party on the 2nd Sunday of that month, which would then give us around 12 days of festivity *before* the 25th rather than after. Howzat?? Suddenly we don't seem like awful party poopers, but we do get to wait and think about waiting properly before the party properly starts. Plus we get to join in the party properly instead of keeping a little corner of our heads that is still purple. So go on go on go on go on go on. We're not going to persuade everyone else to shift Christmas so lets shift Advent....

Simeon's Story (the extended version)

This story originally appeared in one of my multi-sensory books. Since then, it has grown a little bit, given extra colour by my visit to Jerusalem.

I've waited.for many many years,. Waiting is hard.
Waiting for something when you don't even know when its coming is even harder. And waiting for a promise that some people think is ridiculous; when people stare at you strangely or laugh in your face, is the hardest thing of all. Yet still I wait, and hold onto the promise that I was given.

It all began such a long time ago. My name is Simeon, and one night, when I was young, something incredible happened, somehow, in a way I cannot really explain, God touched me. It was like suddenly having the lights switched on in your life, after an eternity of groping around in the darkness. It was like the coming of the dawn. It was like suddenly falling in love. And that night God gave me a promise.

The promise was that I would not die before I saw the Messiah, the Christ himself, in the flesh. Which meant, of course, that it must be soon. That our liberation was coming soon. Each morning after that I awoke and sprang out of bed full of excitement, wondering if this was the day;

But since then it has been hard. I soon gave up springing out of bed, as each evening came, filled with disappointment and impatience. Now I have lived a whole lifetime longing to see the promise come true. All my friends have gone, and I am alone in my waiting. When I climb up the many stairs to the temple, with my knees shouting and complaining, I scan every face, to look for the One I long to see, but somehow I sense I will probably know where to look before I even turn my head.

And so we come to this morning. Today I have an inexplicable longing to visit the temple. And I do wonder if today really is the day, I am getting so old now that soon I won't be able to make it up the stairs at all. They will have to carry me there!

I arrive at the temple. Vast, colonnades and open space, columns and columns and far too many stairs. And in the fresh morning air and dappled sunshine there are many families queueing for the sacrifices. Lots of young boys being dedicated to God . But then as I glance at a couple standing at the front of the line with a young baby, something happens to me. I cannot stop staring at them, and I feel almost as if, at that moment, time has stopped. The rest of the world almost doesn't exist. I quickly move over to them, with more of a hobble than a run, and I ask if I can hold the child in my arms. His mother is so young, but she smiles at me proudly and gives me her baby. I pull the blankets away from his face and stare down. And I know. Deep down, in the core of my being. I know that this IS the Christ, and my wait is over.

I hold the child, and he gurgles and dribbles on my clothes helplessly. Yet in that gesture I sense some incredible mystery. Something like the power of God is in him, but he is helpless because he chooses to be. I lift him high into the air, throw back my head and laugh, and in my laughter a prayer comes out.

"Now you can let me, your servant, go home in peace,
Just like you promised me so long ago.
For my very own eyes have seen your marvellous scheme.
Salvation itself,
Held in the tiny fingers of a baby's hand.
The plans you have made in public
For the whole world to see.
A light that will shine
Before the strangers in far off lands.
And give fame and honour to your precious people Israel."

I see his mother's eyes grow wide with wonder and her husband smile proudly and hold her close. And, as I give the baby back, I turn and bless them, but warn the mother that she has heartbreak ahead. For that child will strip away the secrecy from many people's hearts and they will not like being exposed. They will cut him to the heart with a lance and as they cut his flesh his mothers heart will bleed as well. Yet this is many years away, and the boy must growup first. I offer the sacrifice for him , to buy him back from God, two small birds, and yet as they are offered I have this strange sense that I am not buying him back at all. He is buying me back, or will do so before so long.

Finally I say my goodbyes and I watch them walk away until they are small dots down at the bottom of the staircase, and as they disappear and merge with the crowds below, I know that I can finally rest. The Christ has come. The Christ has disappeared into the crowd, but he has come to live with us and now I can let go, knowing the promise has come true, and soon all the other promises will soon come true as well.

Magnificat 2012

I've been lyric writing again....
This is a magnificat which I've written with the hymn tune Lucis Creator in mind but with a tiny bit of tweaking I'm sure it would fit other Long metre tunes. (eg when I survey, tallis canon etc)
If you're not sure how Lucis Creator goes here it is....

The usual rules apply by the way. Feel free to tweak, project, print, remix, recycle etc within a worship situation.

The Lord is great my soul proclaims
My heart delights in his saving name.
He looked upon my loneliness
And generations call me blest.

Our mighty God has done great things
And holy is the name we sing
His mercy lasts from age to age
Through family trees on history's page

His powerful arm has shown great might
In scattering the proud from sight
The mighty kings will lose their crowns
The lowly raised, the proud cast down.

The hungry have been banqueted
The rich and powerful are not fed
He sends the rich ones from his door
the hungry ones are given more

He has recalled his promises
To Abraham and his children's heirs
His promise of mercy shall endure
To help his people evermore.

All glory to the Father, Son
And Holy Spirit , the Three-inOone,
Who was and is and ever shall be
Beyond the end of history.

A Meditation on the Orthodox icon of the Nativity (the birth of Jesus).

Here is the meditation that I used at the cafe church in St Mary's during the Epiphany weekend. We placed a large print of the nativity icon on a stand and printed copies of this meditation onto pieces of paper so that people could do the meditation in their own time.

Nativity Icon Meditation.
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Find a spot where you can see the icon clearly, then relax and allow God to speak to you through the picture. Gaze at the picture as a whole for a while. What do you like most about it? What do you dislike? Ask God to speak to you as you look at the icon more closely and use it as a basis for your prayer.

The background to this icon is a rocky and inhospitable world. Life can be hard sometimes. What part of your life is hardest at the moment? Tell God about this and ask him to help you with it.

In the centre of the icon is Mary, a larger figure than the others, in a cave. The town of Bethlehem has many caves used as stables and it is most likely that the stable where Jesus was born was one of them. Mary looks very tired after having given birth. What in life is making you weary at the moment? Tell God about this thing.

Yet this birth cuts into our rocky landscape, making our lives different. What difference has knowing about Jesus made to your life? Turn these thoughts into a prayer of thanks.

The baby Jesus is so tightly wrapped in swaddling clothes that he is helpless. He has given up his power and allowed himself to be made human and fragile. Yet as well as being ordinary, he is extraordinary too. The star beams joyfully down from Heaven pointing to the fact that Jesus is the light of the world. What part of your life is confusing at the moment and needs some light shedding upon it? Ask for guidance with this.

The ox and the ass are from a prophesy by Isaiah, "The ox knows his owner, and the donkey his master's crib" (Isaiah 1:3). The animals are also thought to symbolize the Jews and the Gentiles. (The ox is a "clean" animal in Jewish thought and the ass is "unclean"). This good news is for everyone. Think and pray for those who feel "unclean", outcast or excluded at the moment. Pray that they will experience the good news of this invitation from God.

The women on the bottom right are midwives. They remind us that Jesus was born in the same way as a normal human baby. The newborn Jesus would have needed washing, just as an ordinary human baby would. Remember that Jesus experienced all the everyday aches and pains of being human. He shivered when it was cold, sneezed in a dusty room, and he muscles ached sometimes too. Pray for someone who is in pain today.

To the left are the magi on their journey, on horseback, finding the territory tough. Pray for those you know who are finding their journey through life really difficult at the moment.

The tree at the base of the picture is the "Jesse Tree". It is taken from the prophecy calling Jesus the "root of Jesse" (the father of King David): "A shoot shall sprout from the stump (of the tree) of Jesse and from his roots a bud shall blossom. The spirit of the Lord shall rest upon Him" (Isaiah 11:1-2). The Jewish lineage of kings were cut off many years beforehand and ruled no more, but in Jesus the line of kings was restored. What things spring to mind that need restoration or renewal at the moment? Pray for those things.

The figure in the bottom corner is Joseph. He is pictured away from Jesus and Mary, almost out of the picture. This is because he was not directly involved in the miracle of Jesus’ incarnation and he looks very sad, as if he is doubting the miracle. The old man speaking to him represents the devil bringing new doubts to Joseph. Mary in the centre, from her reclining position, looks at Joseph as if trying to overcome his doubts and temptations. Pray for those who are tempted at the moment. and those with doubts. Is there anything that you find difficult or that you doubt about? Give your doubts to God and ask him to speak into them, giving you peace.

The angels are glorifying God and announcing the Good News to the shepherds, or singing. To the right, a young shepherd sits, playing his flute to express his joy at the Good News of Jesus’ birth. Pray for those who work to spread good news, and for those who really need to hear some good news today.

Who do you relate to most in the icon at the moment. What does this tell you about your life at the moment?

Finally give thanks for everything that God has shown you as you have prayed.

A brilliant letter

One of the loveliest stories to appear in the press recently has concerned Alex Renton, an agnostic who sends his daughter to a church school in Scotland. Recently he caught his daughter Lulu writing a letter to God which went "To God. How did you get invented?"

All credit to the Renton family. Rather than burning the letter up the chimney as his daughter asked or giving her some sort of pat answer. Instead, he e-mailed the letter to various church bodies. The Scottish Episcopal Church didn't get around to replying, nor did the Presbyterians and the Scottish Catholics did reply but gave quite a complex answer. Alex also sent the letter to “the head of theology of the Anglican Communion, based at Lambeth Palace” – and this was the wonderful response:

"Dear Lulu,
Your dad has sent on your letter and asked if I have any answers. It’s a difficult one! But I think God might reply a bit like this –

‘Dear Lulu – Nobody invented me – but lots of people discovered me and were quite surprised. They discovered me when they looked round at the world and thought it was really beautiful or really mysterious and wondered where it came from. They discovered me when they were very very quiet on their own and felt a sort of peace and love they hadn’t expected.
Then they invented ideas about me – some of them sensible and some of them not very sensible. From time to time I sent them some hints – specially in the life of Jesus – to help them get closer to what I’m really like.
But there was nothing and nobody around before me to invent me. Rather like somebody who writes a story in a book, I started making up the story of the world and eventually invented human beings like you who could ask me awkward questions!’
And then he’d send you lots of love and sign off.

I know he doesn’t usually write letters, so I have to do the best I can on his behalf. Lors of love from me too.
+Archbishop Rowan"

Isn't that brilliant? I think its one of the best explanations of God's "invention" that I've seen anywhere, to people of any age, never mind aged 6!

Anyway the Renton family were so impressed that they contacted the Times about it. And I'm very glad they did as the story deserves a wider readership.

Judgement

Here  I am, reposting my sermon from 28th November, and its all about judgement! Why on Earth would I want to preach a sermon about judgement you may ask?  Well, I thought it was about time we had a rethink about it, as we either get hopelessly negative and scared or we pooh pooh the fact that it might exist at all. Hopefully this redresses the balance and starts us thinking more positively!

Here is the address for the bible readings...

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We have now come into the season of Advent, when we look forward to the coming of Christ in three ways. Christ who came at Bethlehem 2000 years ago, Christ who comes to us and meets us at the altar each week and Christ who will come in glory to judge the earth.

As our reading from Isaiah chapter 2 put it “He shall judge between the nations, and shall arbitrate for many peoples; they shall beat their swords into ploughshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; “

We often see Judgement as bad. Talking about judgement makes us nervous because we are scared of being found fault with or rejected. It does not help that many of the times we hear the word in everyday life, it is used negatively. "Don't be so judgemental. The judge gave him ten years hard labour" . The rise of shows like X factor and Strictly Come Dancing and judges like Simon Cowell have made things even worse.  Or as  Bruno said of Ann Widdecombe's salsa "  It was unique and compelling, somewhere between horror and comedy. " Jesus, is not like any of these judges and we need to learn to flip those ideas on their heads.

If we look up judgement in a thesaurus, and then remove the suggestions with those more negative connotations we are left with this little list of suggestions of words with similar meanings.

astuteness, discernment, ingenuity, intuition, penetration, perception, savvy, sharpness and wisdom. Perhaps we should see the judge not as the one who wishes to jail us, but more like the penetrating perception of a body scanner in the hands of a skilled doctor, delving deep inside and trying to see what is going wrong in order to fix it.

One of the desert Fathers in the early church was asked by a certain soldier if God received a penitent man. And after heartening him with many words, the monk said to him at the last, "Tell me, beloved, if your cloak were torn, would you throw it away?"  he said, "No, but I would patch it and wear it." The old man said to him, "If you would spare your garment, shall not God have mercy on His own image?"

We are made in the image of God, and God loves us, and does not want to reject us or throw us away. God wants  to fix us.  Or as Coldplay put it

" Lights will guide you home

And ignite your bones

And I will try to fix you"

See the video of the whole song here .

We are broken people living in a broken world, and the judgement of God is not one that throws away. It is one that fixes whenever it can.

"They shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks"

The swords we heard about in that Isaiah reading did not end up in landfill. They were not burned or buried. They were moulded into something better. They were turned into ploughshares, a tool for growing crops and feeding the hungry. A weapon of death was turned into a means of saving life. A sharp edge is useful somewhere else!

Yet of course the problem in this day and age is that many people do simply throw away torn clothes and old swords, and many things end up in landfill that do not need to be there.We write off people too. Society finds it hard to accept that people can change, and is not often willing to give them second chances. But God not only gives people second chances, he gives them 70 times 7 chances, that is the extent of his love.

Henri Nouwen wrote these challenging words about how we deal with other people who have made mistakes "Some of us tend to do away with things that are slightly damaged. Instead of repairing them we say: "Well, I don't have time to fix it, I might as well throw it in the garbage can and buy a new one." Often we also treat people this way. We say: "Well, he has a problem with drinking; well, she is quite depressed; well, they have mismanaged their business...we'd better not take the risk of working with them." When we dismiss people out of hand because of their apparent woundedness, we stunt their lives by ignoring their gifts, which are often buried in their wounds."

One of the most challenging things about that Henri Nouwen quote is his insight that people’s gifts are often buried in their wounds. And it is true that when we allow God to work within us, He transforms our very woundedness into something that can help and heal other people, but in order to allow that to happen we have to open ourselves up to God working within us and learn to accept ,and love, and forgive ourselves.

One of the absolutions in the New Zealand prayerbook goes. “God forgives you, forgive others, forgive youself, through Christ God has put away your sin. Approach your God in peace.” I love that prayer and was sad that it didn’t make it into our current prayer book as an authorised text, because it underlines the fact that often the hardest task we have when we have done something we are ashamed of, is to forgive ourselves.

So if we look at judgement more as a body scanner than a high court judge we can see God's judgement  as more of a weeding-out of what makes us, our lives and our world unhappy. Or as psalm 72 puts it. “May he judge your people with righteousness, and your poor with justice.”

Those on the top of the pile may be afraid of anything changing. But for those on the bottom of the pile, the outcasts on the margins, and those who have suffered grave injustice the thought that someone is going to root out what makes life unfair for them becomes a good thing that they long for. For justice involves "fairness", and if all your life you have suffered from un-fairness and in-justice then the thought that someone will come and make things right and give you a fair chance is something amazing.

Some people would prefer not to think of God as judging at all. But, as someone pointed out to me recently, what would we call a judge who simply let a murderer walk away free?

The answer is "Corrupt".

Yet God is not corrupt. He longs to make things right.

...and we can help God in that task. Not by standing in the middle of town and shouting about God’s judgement like some Christians have done in the past, but rather by opening ourselves up to God’s body-scanning judgement here and now. By asking God to reveal what is wrong in our lives, and inviting in his healing love to fix it. Many people find it helpful to have a confessor or soul friend to do this with them. Others simply do it in a quiet place on their own - and if we mess up and find ourselves feeling guilty, saying sorry to God sooner rather than later can help - not letting our wounds fester. Then when the end comes and Christ returns in glory, we will have nothing to fear at all but much to look forward to, when justice finally comes to our world.