| New Book now Available Here is an anthology of over 1100 brief prayers and thought-starters, for each day of the year, with almost 400 original prayers by Bruce Prewer. Included is both a subject index and an index of authors-- an ecumenical collection of about 300 different sources. |
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| Title: Brief Prayers for Busy People. Author: Bruce D Prewer ISBN 978-1-62880-090-6 Available from Australian Church Resources, web site www.acresources.com.au email service@acresources.com.au or by order from your local book shop or online on amazon. |
John 18: 33-37....
Revelation 1:4b-8....
2 Samuel 23:1-7....
Psalm 132:1-18.
ENTRY INTO WORSHIP
Today is both the end and
climax of the Christian year.
Today we indulge ourselves in a holy nonsense
which is in fact the most beautiful truth:
we celebrate the festival of
Christ the King.
He had no troops and built no
palace,
yet his rule is now boundless.
He had no throne and wore no
crown,
yet as a king he is on his own.
The truth, grace and peace of
Christ the King be with you all!
And also with you.
OR
Grace to you and peace from
the Holy One who always has been,
is today, and always will be.
Grace and peace from Jesus
Christ, the faithful witness, the first-born from the
dead and is now supreme above all the kings of the earth.
To
Him who loves us, and has freed us from our sins by his blood,
and has given us a new kingdom where we are all priests to
his God and Father,
to Him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen!
PRAYER OF APPROACH
Let our worship, loving God,
reach up as tall as the humility of our King, and bend down as deep as his
glory.
Keep us hushed in a stable,
grateful among sinners, overawed as our feet are washed, adoring beneath a
cross, and jubilant outside an empty tomb.
With his Spirit endowing us,
may we serve you boldly, effectively and merrily. To the glory of your name, and the extension of his kingdom.
Amen!
CONFESSION AND FORGIVENESS
Come my sisters
and brothers in Christ, let us apply to the throne of
grace, where more forgiveness awaits us than this world could ever contain.
Let us pray.
Humble king of love, your grace reaches through
races and nations, neither favouring the righteous nor despising the uncouth;
Lord have
mercy.
Lord have mercy.
Humble king of love, your
hopes for us are not deterred by human rebelliousness. indifference
or ignorance;
Christ have
mercy
Christ have mercy
.
Humble king of love, you find
us in our wandering and save us from all that would cut us off from the light
of God;
Lord have
mercy.
Lord have mercy.
God of countless mercies, we confess our sins to you,
knowing that you see our need much better than we do. Please forgive not only
the sins we recognise, but also the many to which the culture in which we live
may have blinded us. Uncover any private subterfuge, reprove our compliance
with community evil, and bring us again into the blessed condition of grace. Through Christ Jesus our Redeemer. Amen.
FORGIVENESS
Family of God,
it is not your fate to carry burdens of guilt, or to be obsessed with
painstaking yet vain self-justifications. There is no one who pardons more
completely than our God, and no Saviour whose peace is sweeter than that of our
Christ. Receive into your heart and mind the rejuvenating life of the Holy
Spirit.
Amen!
PRAYER FOR CHILDREN
Dear Lord Jesus,
if you were a king who lived in places,
we would never get to know you.
If you always had police and
body guards around n you,
we would never get near you.
If you wore a golden crown
and sat on a throne,
we might not even like you very much.
Thanks for not being at all
like that
Thanks for being born in a
stable,
for having ordinary people around you,
and for wearing a crown of thorns.
Thank you for having a
kingdom bigger than the universe
yet being happy to live within our human hearts.
Amen.
PSALM
Note: I find the set Psalm 132 not very suitable
for Christian liturgy. I much prefer the song of
David in Samuel 23.
A SONG OF DAVID--2 SAMUEL 23:2-7
It is the Spirit
who speaks through me,
God’s word is on my human
tongue.
Truly the God of Israel still
speaks,
the Rock of the faithful says to even me:
“When a ruler does the right
thing by the people,
humbly with utter respect for God,
it is like the dawn of a bright, new day,
like morning with not a cloud in the sky
and like sun showers that green the earth.”
Only because of God my family
will go on,
they are held in a covenant that will endure.
All things will dovetail into
God’s plan,
by God my deepest desire shall prosper.
The godless are as worthless
thorns thrown aside,
but not to be touched with bare hands.
Tackle evil with the iron
head of a long spear
and let it be consumed at the seat of a fire.
© B.D. Prewer 2002
KING?
King is your word not mine;
Friend I am, and
not very choosey,
pagans and prostitutes,
publicans and sinners,
grace is my kingdom.
King is your word,
not mine;
Servant I am, no
one beneath me,
feet washer and waiter,
serving the least,
love is my kingdom
King is your word,
not mine;
Physician I am,
all free of charge,
touching the leper,
expelling the demons,
health is my kingdom.
King is your word,
not mine;
A seer I am,
seeing God’s word
in mustard seed and yeast,
wildflower and ravens,
truth is my kingdom.
King is your word,
not mine;
Tradesman I am,
honing my craft,
familiar with wood,
hammer and nails,
grace is my kingdom.
© B.D. Prewer 2002
COLLECT
Most holy Friend, you have
given us a King like no other, crowned with thorns and enthroned on a cross.
May he enlighten us and inspire us until we find wonder in simple things and
glory in humble service. For through
him, and with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, we rest our highest our
hopes and our deepest longings. All praise and honour be yours for ever and
ever.
Amen!
SERMON 1: LEFT HANDED POWER
John 18:37a
Pilate said to Jesus:”So you are a king?” Jesus replied: “King is your word, not mine.
The reason I was born, the reason I came into the world, was to bear witness to
the truth.”
What kind of a king is Jesus?
Or should, indeed, we even call him our king?
When Jesus stood before governor Pilate, who had the power? Prisoner
or judge? Who wielded the power derived from kings or emperors?
With the advantage of
hindsight, we might say that Jesus had surprising power. But if we had been
standing there near the judgment seat, I doubt whether it would have occurred
to us that power lay anywhere else but in the hands of Pilate. It was the Roman
procurator who handed Jesus over, first to be flogged, and then to be
crucified.
The truth is both these men
held power. But they were different kinds of power. Pilate’s power was the kind
we are accustomed to see. But the power of Jesus was an odd thing; unusual,
unexpected, and from the view point of many, it was a bizarre power. [Did you
know that bizarre is an old Basque word from Spain which meant ‘beard”. Clean
shaven folk of other lands thought these beared visitors were decidedly odd. So
my friends, if you look at my countenance and call me bizarre, I won’t be
insulted]
LEFT HANDED & RIGHT
HANDED POWER
The kind of power Jesus
wielded was what I will call left handed power. The phrase is not original; it
comes from the first daring prophet of the Reformation, Martin Luther.
(Although I
cannot place where I have read it!)
The kind of power which
Pilate exercised was right handed power. That is usually the kind of power
indicated whenever the word is commonly used.
These two descriptions of
power fit in well with contemporary understanding of the brain. The right hand
is under the influence of the left hemisphere of the brain. This hemisphere
specialises in logical, analytical thought, careful planning and scheming, and
direct actions. The left brain is the “get these things done efficiently right
now” fellow. Almost with out exception, our idea of a king relates directly to
right handed power.
The left hand is controlled
by the right hemisphere of the brain. This is the poetic, sensitive, romantic,
imaginative, person-sensitive, intuitive and serendipity fellow. A hemisphere
who deals with the seemingly insubstantial powers things like of faith, hope
and love.
THE VALUE OF RIGHT HANDED
POWER
Right handed power has been,
and still is, very useful in some ways. It can plan and plant your vegetable
garden at the right season; it can get your foot mended if you put a fork
through it. It can plan and build a house, a motor car or a computer. It can
organise you to lift a piece of meat with gravy on it to your mouth without
gravy dribbling down your shirt. It can put your shirt in a washing machine and
have it dried in time for that shirt’s next outing.
Right handed power can shape
political ideas and put them into practice, or plot the downfall of political
opponents and pursue their demise to the very end. It can chart the way
economic factors shape a society, and give rulings in an industrial court. It
can organise essential services like a police force, and carefully detect and
hunt down a cunning criminal. That old ‘left brain-right hand’ partnership is
able to genetically engineer foods, perform heart transplants, make high court
rulings, send cameras into outer space, and find cures for diseases.
Right hand power, when it
functions within humanitarian guidelines, can be a marked blessing. (But is it
ever humanitarian without left hand power also being used?) . In the religious
sphere there have been right hand heroes like Moses, with his military know
how, his social and legal expertise, and his unsentimental application of
authority. However, right hand power
like that of Moses has grave limitations. It cannot produce and maintain good
relationships, create friendship, and put itself in another person’s shoes. It
cannot construct mercy, integrity, loyalty, good humour and love.
If we think for a moment
about the parent child relationship, we can see the advantages and the
disadvantages of right hand power. Most parents use a mixture of right hand and
left hand power to bring up their children. Right hand power sets firm
guidelines, and enforces them: “You shall go to school, clean your teeth, help
with the dishes, and go to bed when it’s time. No, you can’t have a new pair of
Nike joggers; yes, you may buy that shirt; no, you will not use your sister’s
lipstick; yes you may have a second helping of ice cream.”
But if that is the only power
used, the plight of the child is grave. They need all the intuitive, emotional
nurture as well. As they grow up, right hand power becomes obsolete as a means
of helping them. Just try telling your 17 year old to
go to bed at 8.00 p.m., don’t listen to music, don’t be friends with that
creep, and so on. You can give orders but it won’t achieve much. You can try
shouting louder, and that is not very effective. You can try telling them to
“shape up or ship out”, usually with the opposite result to the one you wish.
You can even threaten to cut your young adult out of their inheritance, and it
will buy you nothing but bitterness.
In relationships, which are
90 % of what life is all about, right handed power has a host of limitations.
LEFT HANDED POWER
Thank God (literally!) for
left handed power. Left handed power respects, trusts, and nurtures the inbuilt
resources of the other person. It intuits what is going on and encourages or
discourages without demanding. This power can forgive and restore broken
relationships; it can envisage great possibilities for others. Left handed
power will do bizarre things like apologising, repenting, or making costly
self-sacrifices with no thought of personal reward
Jesus was the ‘supremo’ of
left handed power. His parables are wonderful examples of it. The prodigal son and the father’s love. The good Samaritan being excessively caring. The
vineyard workers who come late in the day being paid the full wage, the same as
those who worked all day. His parables are about grace, and grace is a
markedly left handed gift.
His deeds were left handed.
They were grounded in love and self giving. He cared for others more than he
cared for his personal reputation. He had meals with disreputable characters. he had time for prostitutes and adulterers. He was crazy
enough to have respect for Romans and Samaritans, as much as he respected his
own people. He refused to be bound by the multiplicity of regulations
propagated by the right hand, religious power freaks.
The ultimate example of his
left handed power is his embracing of cruel suffering and death. To throw one’s
life away at about the age of 33, was an illogical and
apparently fruitless thing to do. As Paul later wrote, the whole business of
the cross seems gross stupidity to those who only trust right handed power. It
is foolishness to some and a scandal to others. Jesus seemed to have wasted his
life. Yet the results are more profitable than any other one life that this
world has known. If this world is to have any future, it will only be in
concord with Christ’s style of left handed power. Right handed power can limit
injustice and abuse but it cannot redeem and recreate.
The right handed power of
militarists, scientists, politicians, or of fundamentalist religions, will not
bring the world safely through this century. We need more and more left handed
power, where persons are respected, compassion is encouraged, justice is loved,
and glad self-giving is prized far higher than survival of the loudest,
toughest and greediest.
CHRIST THE KING
Today we don’t celebrate
Pilate and his power but Jesus. We celebrate “Christ the King,” crucified and
risen. The only kingship which we honour
is his left handed brand. It is a king with wounded hands that we celebrate.
Jesus has not changed. The
one whom we, in poetic imagery, recite “sits at the right hand of God” does not
alter his values. He has not had a change of mind. Christ does not now
regretfully say: “I tried that left handed power once and it didn’t work. Next
time, ‘at my coming’, I will use right hand power to tidy up the mess.”
Only left handed power can
tidy up the mess. Forgiveness, trust,
respect, compassion, integrity, self giving love, love and yet more love.
Christ is our king, our only legitimate source of power and authority. He is
the way, the truth and the life.
In some cases you may fear
that your tried left handed power, but it did not seem to work. It was the same
with Jesus. It often did not seem to work. Yet it did profoundly work, and
continues to do so at the very foundations of reality. With the hindsight of
the centuries we can see clearly that it is the only thing that really works
for the salvation of humanity. The left handed power of love is the only way
ahead towards the fulfilment of individual and communal life.
If we are going to use the
word “king” for Jesus, let us throw away the trappings and muscle of royal
‘pomp and circumstance’ and honour Christ as he really was and is and ever will
be.
SERMON 2: KING AMONG THE BEASTS
Daniel 7: 1-18
John 18: 33-37
Strong nations like to
identify with wild creatures. The American eagle, the Russian
bear and British lion, the Chinese dragon. And within the minor league,
we have Australia with its boxing kangaroo. (Kangaroo?
Don’t laugh! When that “old man kangaroo” stands up to his full 2 metres, his
powerful claws to slit a man open from his chest to his crutch!)
Why birds and beasts? Why do
we go to the animal kingdom for symbols to represent our nations? Maybe it is
because nations put their trust in what they see as powerful animal
characteristics? Maybe worldly kingdoms (to our shame!) seek to exploit or
dominate the weaker realms by using brutish attributes?
Brute
power, greed, stealth, cunning?
Such sub-human, brutish
traits are regarded as “must have” virtues of politics, both national and
international. Instead of political parties and nations drawing themselves up
to their full spiritual stature, and using their highest potential of heart,
mind and soul, they settle for employing those primitive traits we share with
the birds of prey, wild beasts of the jungle, and the serpents in the grass. Except
we go to the lowest extremes. Human
beings often act worse than wild animals ever do. We employ our physical power
in savage ways that wild creatures rarely attempt.
In absolute contrast we have
Jesus, who fully employs the highest and truest human attributes. He calls us
into a unique kingdom where the most beautiful of human characteristics reign
supreme. We sum it up by calling Jesus the King of love. He is the living truth
of what it means to be fully human. The politics of love, which rule his high
realm, eclipse the politics of worldly greed and brute strength
As Jesus stood as a prisoner
before the judgement seat of Governor Pilate, he tried to convey this higher
realm by saying: ‘My kingship is not of
this world....... You say I am a king? For this I was born, for this have I
come into this world, to bear witness to the truth.”
The contrast between the
realm of Pilate and the realm of Jesus could not be starker.
But who has got it right?
When push comes to shove, who in fact is the real ruler of this world? The savage beast or the divinely human? The jostling
kingdoms and their armies are represented by Pilate while that lone love
kingdom is represented by Jesus?
In the final clash, who has
the muscle?
DANIEL’S DREAM
Let us look for some
enlightenment from a dream. It is a dream from long ago. We find it recorded in
the Old Testament Book of Daniel, chapter 7.
We are told that Daniel
experienced this dramatic dream in which he recognised the history of the
brutal times in through which his people had survived.
He saw rising out of the
cruel sea four successive beasts. Keep in kind the fact that in Hebrew thought
the sea stood for the godless chaos that was around before God took a hand in
taming things. So out of the realm of godless chaos emerged these four terrible
beasts. Each of these nightmarish creatures had ruled the world for a time.
The first beast was like an
enormous lion with eagles’ wings. This clearly represents the Babylonian
Empire. The national symbol of the Babylonian Empire was the fearsome griffin.
Under Nebuchadnezzar the Jews had been crushed and thousands of them driven off
like cattle into exile.
The second powerful beast
that emerged out of the godless chaos was a bear, which crushed all around it.
In its massive jaws dribbled the bloody ribs of its last victim. The bear
stands for the Median Empire which mercilessly crushed both small big nations.
Then a third beast clambered
from the cruel sea and claimed domination. This was a leopard with wings, the
nation symbol of the Persian Empire. Although in the dream it was a beast,
under King Cyrus the Persians did allow Jews to return to their homeland and
commence rebuilding their temple. Things were on the up.
But not for
long. The fourth beast made the
others seem almost like pet guinea pigs in comparison. Listen to the
description in the Book of Daniel.
Behold a fourth
beast, terrible and dreadful, and exceedingly strong.
It
had great iron teeth, devouring and breaking into pieces, and trampling
the remnants under its feet. It was different from all the
ugly beasts
that ever came before it.
Here we have the ruthless
empire of the Macedonian Greeks, first under the ruthless Philip and then under
his even more ambitious son, Alexander the Great. The Macedonians would
tolerate no dissent. Armed with iron weapons, including the super weapon of
that era, the 3 metre long lances, this beast ruled from Greece to Egypt,
throughout the whole Middle East, From Egypt to Afghanistan and down into
India. Later, under
one of Alexander’s successors, the much loathed Antiochus IV, all Jewish
worship and religious festivals were banned. In appalling sacrilege, a statue
of the Greek God Zeus was erected in the temple at Jerusalem.
Such are the four beasts came
up out of the godless chaos of a turbulent sea to dominate the nations. Their
arrogance and cruelty is typical of what happens whenever the brutish
attributes of human nature take precedence over the divine attributes.
Daniel was writing about his
world. Yet is applies equally to all the brutish politics of our world, before
and since the time of Daniel. The Romans and the Moors, the
Crusaders and French, the Ottoman Turks and the Spanish, the British Empire and
Hitler’s Nazis.
The beasts were rampant when
some of our forebears settled in Australia and massacred thousands of
aborigines. The brutish side of human nature is never far below the surface. It
is what happened more recently with the ethnic bloodshed in Rwanda. It is what
is happening when terrorist bombs slaughter civilians in Bagdad or London or
Bali. It is what happens when a super power with the high public ideals such as
the USA, incarcerates prisoners in Gutanamo Bay in Cuba so as to evade both the
civil justice system and the Geneva convention.
The beasts emerge out of the
oceans of chaos and employ their formidable strength, those formidable jaws and
their steely talons to cause mayhem on earth.
Get this clear: There is no
hope in the beasts. There never was and never will be. If the beasts are all we
have to look forward to, then this world is doomed.
THE SON OF MAN
Daniel’s dream did not end with the four great beasts. Something new happened,
and this segment of Daniel’s dream was rampant with hope.
Daniel saw a shining throne
and God, that Holy Being who had existed from before
time began, sitting in judgment. The final beast with the iron teeth was
destroyed and the others were stripped of power and confined.
Then fifth being arrived. Not
this time from out of the cruel sea, but on the clouds of heaven Not a beast, not even tame beast, or a cute one like a koala
or a puppy. This fifth dream being looked just like a human being, and is
described as the son of man.
In Daniel’s dream God looked
upon this son of man with favour and joy. And this man had no shame to hide or
fear to feel in the presence of God. To this son of man was given rule over all
peoples and their kingdoms.
His was not a temporary
kingdom like that of the beasts. The realm of this son of man would never pass
away.
Daniel’s dream means that the
future of the world is not committed to the ruthless arrogance superpowers or
master races. It in entrusted into the hands of the one authentic human being.
The son of man in whom divine attributes take
authority over the brutish traits. A person in whom love and
truth find perfect expression.
JESUS, THE SON OF MAN
What a remarkable dream! What
an astounding faith! In the face of power politics and clashing armies, of
brutal regimes and laws, this person who lived a little before the
time of Christ, could see through the clouds of war to the
light on the hill. He could see that “Ancient of Days, that Holy God and the
chosen son of man to whom authority would be given.
We Christians recognise the
embodiment of the dream in the coming of Jesus our Christ. Jesus,
the only authentic human being to have graced this planet. Jesus our
Messiah, renouncing physical power and completely trusting that loving God who
created the human soul to be in God’s own image.
Look upon your true son of
man, my friends. See your only valid human brother and your only authentic
king.
Look at him.
See him being born in his
royal apartments: a cowshed, straw, animals and wide-eyed shepherds.
See him undertaking his royal
education: a refugee’s flight, a mother’s wise counsel, a carpenter’s shop, and
a village school.
See him recruiting citizens
of the new kingdom: fisherman and tax collectors, little children and half-caste Samaritans.
Prostitutes, beggars and one demented woman named Mary of Magdala. The lepers
and the lame, a Roman centurion and also a freedom fighter named Simon the
zealot.
Hear him issuing his royal
edicts:
Be happy if you are poor, yours is the kingdom of God.
Be happy if you are hungry, you shall be satisfied.
Be happy if you mourn your loss, you shall be comforted.
Be happy if you are merciful, you shall receive mercy.
Be happy if you are sincere, you shall see God.
Be happy if you are a peacemaker, you shall be called the
children of God.
Now follow this son of man to
his glorious coronation. Watch some soldiers plait a crown from thorns and
thrust it on his head. Hear the hammering of nails and see him lifted up
against the darkening sky.
Behold the man! Behold your
Lord!
WHAT HOPE?
What hope has this son of man
against the fearsome beasts that continue to emerge out of the sea of evil, and
flaunt themselves? Every hope. In fact he is the one
sure hope. All else will self destruct or be destroyed.
As in Daniel’s dream, so also
the New Testament has no doubt about the ultimate outcome. The son of man is
our certainty. Christ Jesus and his way, is the only way for humanity to go
forwards. Indeed Jesus, the true son of
man, is the shape of the future. All else is at the worst, damned, and at its
best only secondary.
Pilate said to Jesus: “So you are a king?”
Jesus answered: “You are the one who si saying that I
am a king. For this one thing I was born, for this one thing have I come into
this world, to bear witness to the truth. Every one wants the truth will hear
my voice.”
My friends, on this festival
of Christ the King, take your anxious eyes off the contemporary beasts that
rage around the world. Fix your eyes on Jesus, the son of man in whom all
purest hopes will find fruition.
God has staked his life on
this son of man, who came not to throw his weight around, but to serve and give
his life as a ransom for his sisters and brothers.
THANKSGIVING
Holy God, most
awesome Friend, we give you thanks and praise for the unspeakable gift of
Christ Jesus, regal in humility, royal in grace.
Wonderful the baby
that shepherds adored,
the infant
that Mary suckled,
the child that learned the hard lessons of life.
Wonderful the hands that touched lepers,
the arms that embraced little children
the fingers that anointed blind eyes.
Wonderful the smile that welcomed outcastes
the frown that rebuked the arrogant
the tongue that told parables of grace
Wonderful the courage that led him to
Jerusalem
the faith that agonised in Gethsemane
the love poured out on the hill of Golgotha.
Wonderful the lips that gave the first
Easter greeting
the wounds that witnessed to his reality,
the Spirit which he breathed on disciples.
Wonderful his humility seated at the right
hand of God
the glory he shares with the ‘nobodies' of the world
the promise that he is here for us to the end of time.
Most awesome God,
help us to honour Christ our king through all the ups and downs of life.
Finally, at the end of our time, may we honour him in our dying and then within
the embracing mystery of our ongoing in your eternal kingdom. All gratitude and
thanksgiving, praise and glory be given to you for
ever and ever.
Amen!
LITANY OF
PETITION: HEALER OF HURTS
Let us brings our prayers before Christ our
physician-king.
Come to us, Healer of hurts.
Touch us with your fingers and we shall be
saved.
Come to broken hearts and grieving spirits,
to wild anxieties and lost sanity.
Come Healer of hurts. / Mend us and we shall be whole.
Come to rocky marriages and sore divorces,
to sleepless nights and lost self-confidence.
Come Healer of hurts.
/ Mend us and we shall be whole.
Come to broken dreams and painful memories,
to betrayed values and lost opportunities.
Come Healer of hurts.
/ Mend us and we shall be whole.
Come to broken wills and dried-up love,
to abandoned hopes and lost faith.
Come Healer of hurts.
/ Mend us and we shall be whole.
Healer of hurts, Lord of perfect wholeness,
Come to us with your holiness;
Come Healer of hurts.
/ Let our reordered lives express
the beauty of your peace.
(Adapted from page 56, “Prayers For The Twenty-first Century”
“© B.D. Prewer 2000© Open Book Publisher)
SENDING
OUT
You are the sisters and
brothers of the great Servant King. No humble task in beneath him, no mercy is
withheld; no person is to him a waste of space.
May your faith be big enough
to learn from him, and to daily welcome the inflooding of his humble yet
resolute Spirit.
The grace of Christ Jesus be
your only boast,
the love of God be your unfailing resource,
and the fellowship of the Spirit be your deepest joy.
Amen!
