Morning Prayer Wednesday, 3 March 2021
Good Wednesday morning, Cornerstone friends.
We are in March and the blackthorn trees are blossoming with bundles of white flowers.
Let us spend some time together before we move on to the rest of our day.
Be my strong rock, a fortress to save me, for you are my rock and my stronghold;
guide me and lead me for your name’s sake.
Into your hands I commend my spirit,
for you have redeemed me, O Lord God of truth.
But my trust is in you, O Lord,
I have said, ‘You are my God.‘
My times are in your hand;
deliver me from the hand of my enemies
and those who persecute me.
Make your face shine upon your servant,
and save me for your mercy’s sake.
Let me not be confounded
for I have called upon you;
but let the wicked be put to shame;
let them be silent in the grave.
Love the Lord, all you his servants;
for the Lord protects the faithful,
but repays to the full the proud.
Be strong and let your heart take courage,
all you who wait in hope for the Lord.
Psalm 31: 3, 5, 14–17, 23–24
Lord Jesus Christ, when scorn and shame besiege us and hope is veiled in grief,
hold us in your wounded hands and make your face shine on us again,
for you are our Lord and God.
Amen
Jesus, for the third time, foretells of his death and resurrection and teaches about leadership and service:
While Jesus was going up to Jerusalem, he took the Twelve aside, by themselves, and said to them on the way, ‘See, we are going to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be handed over to the chief priests and scribes, and they will condemn him to death; then they will hand him over to the Gentiles to be mocked and flogged and crucified; and on the third day he will be raised.’
Then the mother of the sons of Zebedee came to him with her sons, and kneeling before him, she asked a favour of him.
And he said to her, ‘What do you want?’
She said to him, ‘Declare that these two sons of mine will sit, one on your right hand and one on your left, in your kingdom.’
But Jesus answered, ‘You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I am about to drink?’
They said to him, ‘We are able.’
He said to them, ‘You will indeed drink my cup, but to sit at my right hand and my left, this is not mine to grant, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared by my Father.’
When the ten heard this, they were angry with the two brothers. But Jesus called them to him and said, ‘You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones are tyrants over them. It will not be so among you; but whoever wishes to be great among you must be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you must be your slave; just as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve and give his life as a ransom for many.’
Matthew 20: 17–28
The readings in Lent all lead us to the Passion of our Lord and his Resurrection.
The gospel has a feel of the Last Supper and Jesus washing his disciples’ feet,
reminding us that this act was reinforcing much that he had already taught them before.
It reminds me of two verses from the hymn from Africa that we often sing:
Kneels at the feet of his friends,
silently washes their feet,
master who acts as a slave to them.
Jesu, Jesu,
fill us with your love,
show us how to serve
the neighbours we have from you.
Loving puts us on our knees,
serving as though we are slaves:
this is the way we should live with you.
Jesu, Jesu,
fill us with your love,
show us how to serve
the neighbours we have from you.
The disciplines we take on in Lent get their reward,
not on a splashing out of chocolate and roast lamb on Easter Sunday,
but in our ability to be more effective in our mission to the city.
This was made clear to us on Sunday in both the sermon from Revd George Mwaura
and the leading of the intercessions by Adrian Boynton.
Let us pray for the church as it works out a response
to the guidelines published by the government for removing restrictions.
We pray for the preparations for bringing the building of Christ the Cornerstone
and our Ecumenical Christian Community back into fuller activity.
We pray for similar renewal within other churches in Milton Keynes and beyond.
Almighty God, by whose grace you kindled the fire of your love within your servants
to build a presence in Central Milton Keynes as a shining light to our city:
inflame us with the same spirit of discipline and love,
so that we might ever walk before you as children of the light
to bring honour and glory to your name in loving service to all your people.
Amen
The numbers that are quoted to us daily of progress
in dealing with this outbreak of highly infectious disease are encouraging,
but the continuing suffering is causing more people to suffer from stress,
particularly fir those in the medical professions.
Let us give thanks for their service and remember them this morning.
Loving God, we thank you for all who are working hard to care for those who are sick.
We thank for their compassion, strength and diligence,
for all the labour that is visible and all that goes unseen.
May your love surround all who work in hospitals and care homes,
with your love and compassion encourage and strengthen them in the days ahead,
calm any fears and anxieties and may they find rest and comfort in your loving presence.
Amen
Schools can reopen from next week.
Teachers and support staff will be busy in preparation for receiving pupils back
with added complications of providing covid tests for those in secondary schools
and for making assessments of progress for those who will leave school
for a life of work or higher education.
God our Father, you give us insight to seek understanding
of the world you have made for us.
Grant the help of your Holy Spirit to all parents and teachers,
give them wisdom and patience to lead and guide the younger generation
to an awareness of their abilities and of your purpose for each one
as they grow to take responsibility for their own lives.
May we all continue to grow into the knowledge
revealed in Jesus Christ, your Son, our Saviour.
Amen
We need to be thankful that spring has arrived.
We live in a place which is safe with provision of good services for our needs
compared with many parts of the world.
In some places there is conflict bringing upheaval and causing whole communities
to fear for their lives and communities to flee from their homes.
In some places there is no health service available at local level
nor educational facilities, and the current pandemic is uncontrolled.
In some places there is poverty and lack of food and people are dying of starvation.
The United Nations agencies have reported on places
where all three of these disasters exist at this time:
in Yemen, in Ethiopia, in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Let us pray for peace in the world.
Come, Lord, into our world of military might and political blindness,
overturn out tired ideas of power and fame,
until your wisdom invades the understanding of our leaders
and the understanding of all of the minds of people like us,
who feel that we can do nothing.
Give us grace to see how each action or failure to act
can add to or alleviate the suffering in our world.
Help us to make our love for each other real today
so that the power and glory will be yours alone.
Amen
Have a day of wonder, everyone;
may we all end the day with the blessing that our time has been well spent.
