Morning Prayer Wednesday, 26 May 2021

Good morning, good Cornerstone people.

We are back worshipping in church but not yet all singing.

The sun comes up, there’s a new day dawning,
it’s time to sing your song again.
Whatever may pass and whatever lies before me,
let me be singing when the evening comes.

Remember not against us our former sins;
let your compassion make haste to meet us for we are brought very low.
Help us, O God of our salvation, for the glory of your name;
deliver us and wipe away our sins for your name’s sake.

Let the sorrowful sighing of the prisoners come before you,
and by your mighty arm preserve those who are condemned to die.
May the taunts with which our neighbours taunted you, O Lord,
return sevenfold into their bosom.
But we who are your people and the sheep of your pasture will give you thanks for ever,
and tell of your praise from generation to generation.

Psalm 79: 8, 9 & 12–14

Help us, O God of our salvation, for the glory of your name.
When faith is scorned and love grows cold, then, God of hosts, rebuild you Church on lives of thankfulness and patient prayer, through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Amen

They were on the road going up to Jerusalem and Jesus was walking ahead of them; they were amazed, and those who followed were afraid. He took the twelve aside again and began to tell them what was to happen to him, saying ‘See we are going to Jerusalem and the Son of Man will be handed over to the chief priests and the scribes and they will condemn him to death; then they will hand him over to the Gentiles, they will mock him, and spit on him, and flog him and kill him, and after three days he will rise again.’

James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came forward to him and said to him, ‘Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you.’

And he said to them, ‘What is it you want me to do for you?’

And they said to him, ‘Grant us to sit one at your right hand one at your left in your glory.’

But Jesus said to them, ‘You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink of the cup that I drink, and the baptism that I am baptised with?’

They replied, ‘We are able.’

Then Jesus said to them, ‘The cup that I drink you will drink and with the baptism with which I am baptised, you will be baptised; but to sit at my right hand or on my left is not mine to grant, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared.’

When the ten heard this, they began to be angry with James and John. So Jesus called them and said to them, ‘You know that among the Gentiles, those whom they recognise as their rulers lord it over them and their great ones are tyrants over them. But it is not so among you; but whoever wishes to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you must be slave to all. For the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many.’

Mark 10: 32–45

A psalm of contrition and a seeking of forgiveness, and a long section from Mark with the disciples unable to see what Jesus was leading up to in his ministry and what the ‘Kingdom of God’ that he talked about really meant.

I think we are no different from them in many ways.  We are looking at how we have to organise our activity and create a legal entity for God’s mission in Central Milton Keynes.  Is it about keeping things going in the way we have in the past? Or do we have to rethink what we are doing to be relevant to the people of today in Milton Keynes?

I have been reading a book by a vicar working in an area of ‘social deprivation’.  Its title is Being Interrupted and in it Revd Al Barrett talks about the ‘Kin-dom of God’, a more people-centred approach which he describes as de-centred, dis-located, dis-placed and dis possessed. The Bishop of Stepney, in a review of this book in the Church Times recently, wrote:

At a time when the church is institutionally and existentially anxious, diminishing in numbers and waning in public influence … it is not enough to hear the voices from the margins and the boundary places, or even to amplify them or give them voice. The church must allow itself to be changed by them.

That sounds radical stuff, but it is what has been preached throughout the history of the church, from our Lord through St Paul and generations of the faithful ever since.

Let us pray that Christians everywhere will receive inspiration from the Holy Spirit to have ‘dreams’ and then to make them happen.

Spirit of Love and Justice, work through our lives to make known Christ throughout the world.
Ignite in us your holy fire; fill us with the breath of love to reach all people and renew the face of the earth.

Amen

Let us pray for the world

There is a fragile peace in Jerusalem and Gaza, aid is reaching those who were starving in Yemen, but there are other places where suffering continues.  Goma is a city with nearly three times the population of Milton Keynes in the Congo Democratic Republic.  It is no stranger to conflict and hunger.  It is now threatened by a flow of burning lava from a nearby volcano which has already destroyed some houses on the edge of the city and everyone is being urged to leave immediately.

We give thanks for those signs that suffering is being relieved and we pray for all who are facing difficulties beyond their ability and are overwhelmed.  We pray for all international agencies and each individual who acts to remove want and suffering at this time.

O God we seek your forgiveness for the numerous injustices around us, for our inability to create a world of equality.
We pray for a deepening of our commitment to justice, for the ability to reflect on the many ways in which we offend people of other creeds, people of different sex, those of other nations and tongues.
Above all we ask for courage to stand up as witness-bearers for justice, though this may be against ourselves.

Amen

The sun comes up there’s a new day dawning,
it’s time to sing your song again.
Whatever may pass and whatever lies before me,
let me be singing when the evening comes.
Bless the Lord oh my soul, oh my soul, worship his holy name.
Sing like never before Oh my soul, I’ll worship your holy name.

‘Ten thousand reasons for my heart to sing’
by Matt Redman and Steve Angrisano

Don Head