| 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. |
YEAR C, EPIPHANY 8
(Sunday 8, Feb 25-29)
Luke 6: 39-49 (SERMON:
CREED-IBILITY GAP?)
1 Cor 15: 51-58
Isaiah 55: 10-13
Psalm 92: 1-4, 12-15
CALL TO WORSHIP
God is always true and dependable,
the rock where nothing flawed
exists.
It is good to
be able to give thanks to our God,
to sing praises to your name,
O Most High.
You shall go forth in joy
and be led forward in peace.
It is good
declare your love in the morning,
and your faithfulness by night.
PRAYER OF APPROACH
Loving God,
you are the Source and the Soul of the universe
and the nurturing Secret of every loving heart.
Together as a congregation we come to you,
some of us have gathered eagerly,
some have come dutifully,
some have prepared most prayerfully,
and some have arrived in a late rush.
But we are here, and glad that we are.
So that this hour of opportunity may not be
squandered,
we earnestly pray for the
blessed spur of your Holy Spirit,
so that eagerness may be shaped by love,
duty may be become enlivened with delight,
prayers may be tinctured with unselfish love,
and that rushed souls may find the core of your peace.
Then may we worship not to suit our own
inclinations,
but as your majestic love and
beauty deserve.
Through Christ Jesus, who
our host on this Lord’s Day.
Amen!
CONFESSION AND
PETITION:
Merciful God, we are all sinners, needing grace to
cover our sins and amend our lives.
We bow before you seeking forgiveness, and for
cleansing from the soot and souring of evil.
We also humble ask for whatever painful therapy is
needed to get us in better spiritual shape,
Holy God, awesome Friend of sinners,
please interfere in our daily
lives.
Please interfere as much as is good for us.
Make us hungry for whatever your deem most valuable,
to strive for this with
undivided tenacity,
to show particular love to
whoever you want us to love,
and to cherish those pleasures
which delight you most.
With every milligram of the free will you have given
us,
we choose to ask you:
Please don’t allow us to screw up;
make us yours today and forever.
Through the grace of Christ
Jesus our Saviour.
Amen!
ABSOLUTION
My friends, God is not about to give up on us. The
forgiveness of Christ is real and lasting. As far as the east is from the west,
so far and more has he removed the burden of our transgressions from us.
The peace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.
And also with you.
PRAYER FOR CHILDREN
[Note:
this prayer can be preceded by a word with children.
Show
them some sawdust and a plank etc.
One
blindfolded child is asked to lead another one.]
]
Why do you see
the speck of sawdust in another’s eye,
but do not notice the plank of
wood in your won eye”
Dear Lord Jesus,
thanks for your jokes with a sting
in them
that help us see how foolish we
can be.
We criticise those we don’t like,
But you pray for them.
We hate saying sorry,
But you forgive us before we even ask.
We pretend we know the way,
But you really do know the way.
Teach us, and help us,
to be sincere triers,
even though often
we are likely fall short
of your example.
Amen
COLLECT
Loving God, you are the light in the eyes of a
believer, and the strength in the legs of the follower. Foster in our lives an integrity of spirit, word and deed. Deliver us from
anything that is counterfeit or insipid. Inspire us to see more sharply and to
follow more thoroughly, that we may be numbered among those who genuinely live
by faith. Through Christ Jesus our role model and our
Saviour.
Amen!
SERMON: CREED-IBILITY GAP?
Luke 6:42-43
How can you
say to your brother: “Brother, let me take the speck of sawdust out of your
eye,” when you yourself have a plank stuck in your own eye? You hypocrite,
first take the plank out of your own eye, then you
will see clearly enough to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.
No good tree
bears bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit. For each tree is revealed
by the fruit it bears. Figs are not picked from thorn trees, nor are grapes
picked from bramble bushes.
Luke 6: 46
Why do you
call me Lord, Lord, yet
do not do the things I tell you.
One of the toughest things Jesus asked of his disciples, was to be known by their fruits.
He asked for harmony between what we say we believe
and what we do about it.
CREDIBILITY GAP?
Credibility Gap? Bad news.
Always bad news. The rift between what we say we
believe and what we do. Credibility gap. A thorn tree
pretending to be a fig. A bramble posing as a grape
vine. Perhaps we should call it a creed-ibility gap. Jesus tackles hypocrisy head on.
On a big scale it is easy for us to spot the gross
creed-ibility gaps in others. For
example, clergymen jockeying for a coveted elevation. Or a congregation
loudly singing “love divine all loves excelling” while some of its members are
involved in an internal fracas. Or the occasion when my wife and I were
travelling in Spain, we viewed the glittering gold and bejewelled treasures
held behind thick glass in a cathedral, then stepped out into the wintry
morning to find malnourished and bedraggled street kids kicking a tin can
against the Cathedral walls . Or when a high decibel,
moralistic preacher is caught “having it off” with a the
wife of the church organist. Or when a motor-mouthed, Christian, ever intent on
“witnessing,” is
known by her workmates as the laziest person in the office.
We notice such big things and rightly feel
embarrassed. But how many other, more low key, bad fruits are there? By their fruits
you shall know them. Is there a creed-ibility gap in
our lives?.
We are, regrettably, to some degree in a ‘no win’
situation.
For a Christian, no matter how saintly, there is
bound to be a credibility gap. The gap between what we espouse and what we
manage to achieve, is likely to be substantial. What our Lord Jesus taught,
what his life exemplified, is a target we will often miss. We may sincerely aim
at it, but the arrow of our lives will either fall short or fly wide of the
mark.
Sooner or later, others will notice our sins of
omission or commission. Sooner or later, at work, or in recreation, as a
neighbour, or at home among our family, each of us will fall short of the mark.
Others will note it and we will realise we may have discredited the Lord we
serve. Some failure is inevitable.
Therefore an active Christian is a prime ‘patsy” on
which disgruntled cynics can vent their spite. For a Christian, no matter how
saintly, there is bound to be a credibility gap.
A CHEAP WAY OUT
There is a cheap way out of this: Change your creed,
lower your standards, set up an easier target. Then you can never be called a
hypocrite. Be agnostic, stand for nothing, declare yourself a thorn bush or a
bramble, and others cannot take cheap shots at you.
Many adopt what I call “opinion-poll values.”
Thse are what the contemporary
prophet, Jim Wallis in the USA, might call “wet finger values.” In one of his
famous anecdotes, he describes how a group of low-income mothers, many of them
single mums, had come to Washington to lobby politicians. With his tongue in
his cheek, he advised them how to quickly recognise the politicians among the
crowds. They would be the ones who walked around Washington with a wet index
finger in the air to see which way the wind was blowing. Politicians become
addicted to testing the wind and adjusting their policies and their speeches
accordingly.
I guess there are forms of wet-fingered
Christianity. Religious folk who adjust their message to fit
the prevailing moods of a community.
There are others who tailor their religion to neatly
fit and smooth over their own misshapen lives. Wet fingered semi-believers love
to seen attending the kind of easy going church which which
is intent on offending none in the community.
This is the cheap way out of the dilemma caused by
Jesus. Alter the creed. Sugar coat the message. Shift
the target until you can easily score or even hit the occasional bull’s eye.
AIM HIGH BUT DON’T BE ANXIOUS
Where does that leave those of us who refuse to take
that cheap option? Do we just plod on, being anxious or discouraged or even
sink into spiritual mire or despair?
Thank God that is not the only way to go. Our
failure to live up to what Christ asks of us may be the source of some
embarrassment, but it should not lead to anxiety or despair.
In terms of our standing with God; things are not so
grim. Our deeds are not the deciding factor. We only have any standing
through the saving grace of Christ Jesus. That lord with his healing cross is our only salvation.
We are not justified in the eyes of God by our spiritual and ethical
achievements. Only God’s inclusive love lifts us up to stand tall.
Of course non-believers will spot our credibility
gaps. Of course some of them might poke fun at us, sneering: “And you call
yourself a Christian?” That is embarrassing. More than that, it rightly grieves
us when something we have done or failed to do, seems
to brings the Gospel into disrepute.
But how do we react? Do we either lower Christ’s
high bar or slip into anxiety and defeatism? Never! The Christ who sets us such
a high standard also the one who “eats with taxgatherers
and sinners.”
Fall a thousand times, and he is there to lift us up. He gives us
a place to stand in the presence of God.
For the disciple of Jesus, each day is like being
born again. That does not make for lazy Christianity. We try to make each new
day one of fruitful love and faithfulness. Perhaps we only hit the bulls eye once or twice each day, but at least we have a
sincere shot at the target set by Messiah Jesus.
RECAPPING
Let me underscore this theme:
One of the toughest things Jesus asked of his disciples, was to be known by their fruits.
No good tree bears bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit. For
each tree is revealed by the fruit it bears. Figs are not picked from thorn
trees, nor are grapes picked from bramble bushes.
He asks for congruity between what we say we believe
and what we do about it.
If that is all there is to Jesus, then we are in
trouble. If the hard core of Christianity is a requirement to bear fruits as
perfect as those of Jesus, then we are all doomed to failure.
But if the crux of our faith combines our sincere,
although modest, fruitfulness together with his saving grace for sinners like
us, then failure is not such a disastrous word.
If
we are not graduates but students (most of us primary level)in
the school of Christ,
then we can sincerely try to correct faults without guilty
self-flagellation.
If
the church is not a gathering of elite spiritual athletes but a hospital for
sick souls,
then we will always find hope for tomorrow..
If we are not so much members of an elite dining
club but a community of common folk who both run a soup kitchen for the
destitute, and eat the same food ourselves, then we move closer to the peace
which Christ brings.
It is by grace we are saved. Through
faith in Christ Jesus.
Most of the harsh critics of Christianity just do
not get this. Either they can’t or they won’t.
They get stuck on the invalid premise that Christians are those who
pretend to be superior beings. Too often we allow them to define us that way.
If we permit that, we will either end up bogged in discouragement. or we may slyly adapt our religion to fit our easy grasp.
By the grace of God, let us do everything we can to
narrow the creed-ibilty gap. Let us expect to produce
some grapes and some figs; maybe not enough to feed a city but enough to
encourage a few hungry souls around us. We of all people can afford to aim high
yet sometimes fall short.
A PRAYER OF GRATITUDE
*This prayer works best with
two readers.
Blessed be God, who through our Lord Jesus Christ
who has showered upon earth’s human family grace upon grace.
Blessed be the
day when Christ was born, and the hours spent in the nurture of Mary and Joseph, his
survival as a refugee and his family’s
safe return to Nazareth.
Blessed the lessons the growing child received in
the school of life, from the prayers and Scriptures in the synagogue, the
festivals at the temple, the faithfulness of ordinary villagers, and the rural
rhythm of seed time and harvest.
Blessed the
Spirit who descended on him at his baptism in the Jordan, his time spent alone
in wilderness, the early halcyon days of his public ministry when people spoke
well of him.
Blessed his parables, blessed his brief sermons, blessed his inclusive
love, his healing compassion and his stern rebuke of all hypocrisy.
Blessed be the
hard road he took to Jerusalem, his cleansing of the temple, his courage under
arrest and abuse, his dignity in the judgement halls, and his final climb to
Golgotha.
Blessed that afternoon when he died at the hands of
sinners, with supreme grace forgiving his crucifiers, and commending his spirit
into the hands of his heavenly Father.
Blessed be
that borrowed grave in which his body lay, blessed the end of sorrow on the
third day when amazed women ran from the tomb in fear yet joy.
Blessed the holy meals he has continued to share
with his followers to this very day. Blessed the grace that
gathers us before God as his redeemed sisters and brothers.
Blessed be
God, who through our Lord Jesus Christ who has showered up upon us blessings
without measure.
Blessed be God.
Blessed be
God.
Blessed be God forever.
PRAYERS OF INTERCESSION
God of all love and pure delight, please be with all
those contemporary friends of Jesus, who find their chief delight in producing
good fruits.
Bless those dear souls who persist in situations
where Christian faith is unwelcome; where fruits must struggle in a hostile
environment, where soul-mates are few and abuse or persecution can be a daily
cross to bear. May they always know your grace and peace.
Bless those rugged souls who dare to stand up as
prophets in those lands where a few people prosper inordinately while millions
exist in poverty and hopeless drudgery. May the witness of your prophets bring
forth fruits of repentance, proved by a new passion for justice and mercy.
Bless all the common folk who in our community try
to love and serve you, day be day, without notable success and maybe with
scarce encouragement from family or friends. May they find joy in small
victories and contentment in knowing that they give of their best.
Bless all your suffering ones, alone or with
families, in hospitals or trying to cope at home. May they be given the best
medical care that is available, and receive it from carers who have generous
souls and gentle hands.
Bless all who will suffer or die this day;
especially those unfortunate souls who will be all alone. From
road accidents or from disease, in anonymous city flats or in the outback
wilderness places. May they sense your eternal arms around them, and
find peace at the last.
Bless all of us gathered here today, and the many
dear ones who are attached to us by familial ties or bonds of friendship. May we all find your light
in our moments of confusion,, you mercy in times of shame, your healing when we
are sick and afraid, your courage if we are pressured to give in, your
gentleness when we are tempted to be too forceful, and your rebuke whenever we
try to deceive ourselves with fatuous excuses.
Through Jesus Christ, our role model and our
liberator from fear, evil, and inertia.
Amen!
A BLESSING FOR THE JOURNEY
May the love of God surround you in your lying down
and your rising up.
May the grace of Christ support you in your going
out and your coming in.
May the Holy Spirit enfold you in that blessed
fellowship which transcends
this life and its mortality.
Amen!
Go on your way giving thanks that you will never
travel alone.
Amen!
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