Morning Prayer Wednesday, 2 December 2020
Good morning, Cornerstone friends, wherever you are.
This is the last day of lockdown and tomorrow, if you are inclined,
you can get back to visiting the shops and doing a few more things that we should not do today.
Before then, let us consider some Bible readings and share some prayer time together.
The Lord is my shepherd; therefore can I lack nothing.
He makes me lie down in green pastures and leads me beside still waters.
He shall refresh my soul and guide me in the paths of righteousness
for his name’s sake.
Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil;
for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.
You spread a table before me
in the presence of those who trouble me;
you have anointed my head with oil
and my cup shall be full.
Surely goodness and loving mercy shall follow me
all the days of my life
and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.
Psalm 23
O God our Sovereign and Shepherd,
who brought again your Son Jesus Christ from the valley of death,
comfort us with your protecting presence and your angels of goodness and love,
that we also may come home and dwell with him in your house for ever.
Amen
[Jesus in his ministry in Galilee had travelled north into the district of Tyre and Sidon and now returns.]After Jesus had left that place he passed along the Sea of Galilee, and he went up the mountain where he sat down. Great crowds came to him bringing with them the lame, the maimed, the blind, the mute and many others. They put them at his feet, and he cured them, so that the crowd were amazed when they saw the mute speaking, the maimed whole and the lame walking, and the blind seeing. And they praised the God of Israel.
Then Jesus called his disciples to him and said, ‘I have compassion for the crowd because they have been with me now for three days and have nothing to eat; I do not want to send them away hungry for they might faint on the way.’
The disciples said to him, ‘Where are we to get enough bread in the desert to feed so great a crowd?’
Jesus asked them, ‘How many loves have you?’
They said, ‘Seven and a few small fish.’
Then ordering the crowd to sit down on the ground, he took the seven loaves and the fish; and after giving thanks he broke them and gave them to the disciples and the disciples gave them to the crowds. And all of then ate and were filled; and they took up the broken pieces left over, seven baskets full. Those who had eaten were four thousand men, besides women and children.
Matthew 15: 29–37
The first week of a new year for the Church
and we have the most familiar of psalms with memorable phrases of great comfort –
He shall refresh my soul –I will fear no evil – my cup shall be full–- and the final verse,
Surely goodness and loving mercy shall follow me
all the days of my life
and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.
The Gospel is also one which reminds us of the care that God has for us.
We could just remain passive, feeling the love of God always surrounding us like a warm blanket.
I do not think this is the whole message of Advent for us.
Our Lord had been away for a time and even on that ‘sabbatical’ he had healed people.
Certainly, on his return to Galilee, he healed many who had followed him into the hills,
and then performed a miracle of loaves and fishes feeding a great crowd.
The message of last Sunday’s Sermon is that God became fully human as a little baby,
not born to princes or rulers, like the Gautama who became enlightened as Buddha,
or to the merchant class like Mohammed, the founder of Islam.
He was born into an ordinary struggling family
and chose his special followers from fishermen, minor public servants
and people from the margins of society.
How ordinary, yet how extraordinary.
We cannot stay under the warm blanket.
We have to grapple with real life, not just our own
but that of others who we are called to serve.
We have to share that love of God with all that we meet.
Some thoughts to carry with us from Bishop Alan’s Sermon:
‘Do what God did this Christmas – become fully human!’
‘Embrace the full spectrum of being human.’
‘I am human – I think nothing human is alien to me.’
When we have authority, leadership, the privilege of wealth and abilities,
we should exercise leadership by service and use our wealth and abilities by sharing.
Let us pray for the Church preparing for Christmas,
and this week preparing to open up our buildings again for public worship,
but with restrictions (no congregational singing, no sharing of ‘the peace’ or ‘bread and wine’ at the altar). We pray for all those preparing our buildings for next Sunday.
Heavenly Father you have called us in the body of your Son Jesus Christ
to continue his work and reveal you to the world;
give us the courage to overcome our fears and to seek that unity
which is your gift and your will through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen
Let us pray for the world and for our nation.
We are living through the most uncertain times that many of us have experienced,
almost akin to being at war.
We pray for all who are sick or troubled by these times,
those who mourn the loss of loved ones,
those who struggle with loss of their livelihoods,
those with no homes, those who have no money for food.
We pray for all who have responsibilities;
those working to create a safe vaccine for this virus;
those in administration and government;
those keeping our public services functioning;
those who are providing the things we need for our daily lives, such as food and care.
Almighty God and Father,
you have so ordered our lives that we are dependent upon one another:
prosper those engaged in maintaining the fabric of society
and direct their minds and hands
that they may rightly use your gifts in the service of others,
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen
Eternal God, as Mary waited for the birth of your Son, so we wait for his coming in glory;
bring us through the birth pangs of this present age to see with her our great salvation
in Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen
Have a stress-free day, good friends, one that leaves you with a feeling of thanks to God.
Don Head
