Morning Prayer Wednesday, 9 December 2020
Good morning, Cornerstone friends, on what is likely, at first,
to be a wet morning in Milton Keynes,
but that need not deter us.
It is a new day and I hope you have sufficient time for some quiet reflection.
The Lord is full of compassion and mercy,
slow to anger and of great kindness.
He will not always accuse us,
neither will he keep his anger forever.
He has not dealt with us according to our sins,
nor rewarded us according to our wickedness.
For as the heavens are high above the earth,
so great is his mercy on them that fear him.
As far as the east is from the west,
so far has he set our sins from us.
As a father has compassion for his children,
so is the Lord merciful toward those who fear him,
…
Psalm 103; 8–13
Merciful Lord, as we come from dust and return to dust,
show us the face of our Redeemer,
that in our frailty we may bless your name and praise you all our days,
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen
1 Comfort, O comfort my people,
says your God.
2 Speak tenderly to Jerusalem,
and cry to her
that she has served her term,
her penalty is paid,
that she has received from the Lord’s hand
double for her sins.
3 A voice cries out;
‘In the wilderness prepare
the way of the Lord,
make straight in the desert
a highway for our God.
4 Every valley shall be lifted up,
and every mountain and hill made low;
the uneven ground shall become level,
and the rough places plain.
5 Then the glory of the Lord shall be revealed
and all the people shall see it together,
for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.
28 Have you not known?
Have you not heard?
The Lord is the everlasting God,
the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He does not faint or grow weary,
his understanding is unsearchable.
29 He gives power to the faint
and strengthens the powerless.
30 Even youths will faint and be weary
and the young will fall exhausted;
31 but those who wait upon the Lord
shall renew their strength,
they shall mount up with wings as eagles,
they shall run and not be weary,
they shall walk and not faint.
Isaiah 40: 1–5 & 28–31
‘Come unto me, all you who are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble of heart and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.’
Matthew 11: 28–30
‘My yoke is easy and my burden is light’ calls to mind those words in ‘The Messiah’.
The other reading set for today is from Isaiah Chapter 40,
also containing well known passages selected by Charles Jennens,
who gave a variety of scriptures to George Frederick Handel for his great work.
As part of the Church of England’s Advent programme, ‘Comfort and Joy’,
Revd Sam Wells of St Martin-in-the Fields, Trafalgar Square,
reminded us that comfort comes from Latin meaning ‘with strength’;
it is an assurance of God’s presence.
That meaning is particularly relevant when we find out
that Isaiah was writing to the Jews in Babylon at a time when they had the opportunity
to return to a ruined Jerusalem from their time in exile.
Many were hesitant: ‘Oh, it’s a long way through mountains and deserts
and anyway when we get there it is all in ruins.’
Isaiah says, if God wants it, he is able to deal with the difficulties if you just trust him.
He can even deal with the snags and remove mountains.
Our Lord is saying the same thing to his generation,
‘I am asking you to take on a load (yoke),
but it is not too much for you if you accept my assurance that you can succeed.’
What we need to say to ourselves facing this bit of an ordeal in 2020 is this same message,
‘Sure, it isn’t going to be easy, just try and you will fly through it – no problem.’
Let us pray for the Church, which is facing some daunting challenges,
internationally, in our own country and here in Milton Keynes.
These are challenges of limited resources,
failure to accept that we are increasingly seen as irrelevant by mainstream society
and unwilling to change to meet the needs of a broken world.
Here is one example:
the professional in the post of Director of Safeguarding for the Church of England
has resigned after the post was created only eighteen months ago
and with most of the programmes still to be put in place.
She is reported as stating this to a colleague:
‘Half of the leadership of the church knows that it needs to change to survive
but the other half feels that survival depends on preventing change at all costs.’
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
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
I have started reading Barack Obama’s book A Promised Land.
In the preface he refers to the next generation
and the choices they will have to make for a post-Covid society which includes this sentence:
In that world – of global supply chains, instantaneous capital transfers, social media, transnational terrorist networks, climate change, mass migration and ever-increasing complexity – we will learn to live together, cooperate with one another and recognise the dignity of others or we perish.
That sentence sums up the world very well and we do need most surely to pray for it.
We face seemingly intractable problems;
we humans need to change our lifestyles to maintain sustainable climate conditions
and to overcome the effects of the pandemic.
This does not only include the physical symptoms of Covid,
it includes the associated economic and social problems,
leading to a large increase in people dealing with mental-health difficulties.
Our country now has to find a way to keep a cordial relationship
with the EU nations and the rest of the world to sustain our economy.
The sermons from both Ernesto and Geoffrey Clarke last Sunday
followed the theme of the second Sunday of Advent, ‘Creation’.
Both of them referred also to how creation is a continuing process
and our own creativity in arts and science is related to that process.
Let us pray that this human creativity in ourselves
is used to bring light and love into the lives of others
and that this creativity will work in those with responsibility for national and international affairs
to make our world a safer place for all people
of whatever nationality, class or category they feel their existence is defined.
God our Father, you never cease the work you have begun
and prosper with your blessing all human labour;
make us wise and faithful stewards of your gifts
that we and all people may serve the common good,
maintain the fabric of the world and seek that justice
where all may share the good things you pour upon us;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen
May your day not be dampened by the weather
but may you feel showered with blessings
and aware that God has compassion for us his children.
May we all go in peace.
Don Head
