Morning Prayer Wednesday, 6 October 2021

Good morning, Cornerstone friends, and welcome to our time together to reflect and pray.
On this day the Church remembers the work and witness of Martin Tyndale, translator of the Bible into the English language,
who was martyred in 1536.

Incline your ear, O Lord, and answer me,
for I am poor and in misery.

Preserve my soul for I am faithful;
save your servant for I put my trust in you.

Be merciful to me, O Lord, for you are my God;
I call upon you all the day long.

Gladden the soul of your servant,
for to you, O Lord, I lift up my soul.

For you, Lord are good and forgiving,
abounding in steadfast love to all who call upon you.

Give ear, O Lord, to my prayer
and listen to the voice of my supplication.

In the day of my distress I will call upon you,
for you will answer me.

Among the gods there is none like you, o Lord,
nor any works like yours.

All nations you have made will come to worship you, O Lord,
and shall glorify your name.

Psalm 86: 1–9 Common Worship, Daily Prayer

God of mercy, who in your great love drew your Son from the depths of the Pit,
bring your people from death to life, that we may rejoice in your compassion
and praise you now and for ever.

Amen

He [Jesus] was praying in a certain place, and after he had finished, one of his disciples said to him, ‘Lord, teach us how to pray, as John taught his disciples.’ He said to them, ‘When you pray, say:
Father, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come.
Give us each day our daily bread.
And forgive us our sins, for we ourselves forgive everyone indebted to us.
And do not bring us to the time of trial.’

Luke 11: 1–4 New Revised Standard Version

Jesus gives a very simple pattern for us to follow which has been used in different forms and languages to the present day. This passage is so familiar that we often do not take the immensity of it. We begin by calling God:

‘Our Father’

Rowan Williams in his book Being Christian writes, ‘Jesus begins his instructions on prayer by telling us to affirm that we stand where he stands.’

‘your kingdom come’

‘Jesus speaks to God for us, but we speak to God through him. You may say what you want – but he is speaking to the Father, gazing upon the depths of the Father’s love. And as you understand Jesus better, as you grow up a little in your faith, then what you want to say gradually shifts a bit more into alignment with what he is always saying to the Father.’

Rowan Williams

‘give us each day’

‘And only when you have begun with that affirmation, that imagining of a world in which God’s light is coming through, only then do we start asking for what we need. And what do we need?

We need sustenance, mercy, protection, daily bread, forgiveness; we need to be steered away from the tests that we are not strong enough to bear.’

‘That in a nutshell is prayer.

Rowan Williams

There appears to be no reference in this pattern for us to pray for other people ,but there are many instances elsewhere in the scriptures where our Lord and the Apostles have shown that we should pray for one another not just for ourselves.

A prayer for the Church:

Almighty and everlasting God, increase in us your gift of faith that,
forsaking what lies behind and reaching out to that which is before,
we may run the way of your commandments and win the crown of everlasting joy;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Amen

A prayer for the world:

Creator, open our hearts to peace and healing between people.
Creator, open our hearts to provide for all children of the earth.
Creator, open our hearts to respect for the earth, and all the gifts of the earth.
Creator, open our hearts to end exclusion, violence and fear among all.
Thank you for the gift of this day and every day.

Native American

Let us close with the version we use regularly:

Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us.
Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil.
For the kingdom the power and the glory are yours now and forever.

Amen

Being Christian is published by SPCK. There is one copy for sale on the bookshelf of our church.
I would recommend this to any of you.

Don Head