| 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. |
 |
| 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, TRINITY SUNDAY
John 16:
12-15
Romans 5:
1-5
Proverbs 8:
1-4 $ 22-31
Psalm 8
(Sermon 1:
“Adventures in Community”)
(Sermon 2:
“Does the Trinity Grab You?”)
PREPARATION
I bind unto myself this day the strong name of the
Trinity.
The
Creator’s gifts of earth and sky,
the flowing
creeks and fertile land,
the winter sun
and summer moon,
the roaring
sea and golden sand.
I bind unto myself this day the Christ who wears our
human clay.
The Baby
sleeping in a stall,
the Healer
touching our disease,
the Man of
love upon the Cross,
the risen
Friend who hears our pleas.
I bind unto myself this day the Spirit who is here to
stay.
The Breath
that makes the broken whole,
the Truth that
flows like liquid light,
the Wind that
sweeps my dusty soul,
the Fire that
warms the darkest night.
From now unto infinity,
The strong name of the Trinity.
(Inspired by St Patrick)
OR -
With joy I
greet you in the name of the Holy Trinity.
The grace
of our Lord Jesus Christ,
the love of God,
and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit,
be with you all!
And also with you!
God is
always far higher than our loftiest thoughts,
much closer than our most intimate experiences,
far more complex and awesome than our best creeds,
and more grace-full than our most sacred hopes.
Let us
worship God!
PRAYER OF
APPROACH
Most wonderful God, you have shown by your actions
that you provide for us like a Parent, rescue us like a Brother, and encourage
us like an elder Sister. Beyond that point you are the Ultimate Mystery. As we name you Father, Son and Holy Spirit,
neither permit our partial knowledge lead to arrogance, nor allow our ignorance
to erode our confidence in what you have truly revealed. By the light you have
surely given, let us walk with cheerful faithfulness. For yours is the kingdom
of love, the power of love and the glory of love, now and ever more.
Amen!
CONFESSION AND ASSURANCE
My friends, led by the Spirit, let us seek the love of
God through the grace of Christ Jesus our Saviour. Let us pray.
Spirit of truth, something in our hearts say: “We are
made for light and truth’. But our anxieties and doubts divert us back into the
lies and prejudices of the world:
Create in
us a clean heart, O God,
and renew a right spirit within me..
Prince of peace, something in us whispers: “We are
intended for concord.” But our inner conflict reacts with the world’s strife
and leaves us suspicious and aggressive.
Create in
us a clean heart, O God,
and renew a right spirit within me..
Father of love, something within us wants to sing: “We
are created for love.” But a discordant self-interest allies with the world’s
greed and inhibits our will to love others.
Create in
us a clean heart, O God,
and renew a right spirit within me..
God of Jesus and our God,
forgive us and straighten us out.
You are truth:
Help us to
really trust you.
You are peace.
Overcome
our disharmony.
You are love.
Fill us
with compassion.
Loving God, we thank you that our prayers are answered
before we speak
them. By your saving grace, we are certainly a forgiven and redeemed people.
Thanks be to God.
Amen!
ASSURANCE
Sisters and brothers, though I am just another sinner
being saved by God, by the authority of Christ Jesus I tell you plainly: Your
sins are forgiven. Receive Christs’ grace, and accept the enabling power of the
Spirit, that you may not make the same mistakes again.
Amen!
PRAYER FOR CHILDREN
We are Small, You are Big
Wonderful
God,
You are really big,
you are
bigger than the world
and all the
stars in the skies;
Yet you can
become small enough
to live in
my young heart.
Please
squeeze you way in
and fill
every corner of me
with your
love.
Amen!
(Adapted from
‘Prayers for Aussie Kids.’ Ó B D Prewer & Open
Book Publishers.)
PSALM 8
Holy Friend, God our True God,
how awesome is
your name in all the world!
Your glory is greater than a billion stars
yet you enjoy
the songs of infants and children.
Their praise is a stronghold against foes
and their joy
silences the vengeful enemy.
When I look at the skies, the work of your little
finger,
the moon and
the stars which you have destined,
what are human
beings that you think of us,
mere earthlings
that you care for us?
Yet you have made us little less than gods
and have
covered us with glory and beauty.
You have put us in charge of your handiwork,
placing the all
under our stewardship;
The sheep, cattle and creatures of the bush,
the birds of
the air, plains and billabong,
the fish and
dolphins that live in our seas,
and whales
that make paths through the ocean.
Holy Friend, God our True God,
how awesome is
your name in all the world!
© B.D. Prewer 2000
COLLECT
Everloving God, you have disclosed yourself
to us as a loving creator, redeemer and inspirer.
We have
named you Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and worship you as One God, the source
and goal of all things seen and unseen.
Please
continue to give us your light, that we may walk in it
without stumbling, to the praise and glory of your holy name.
Amen!
SERMON 1:
ADVENTURES IN COMMUNITY
What makes a great human being?
If you believe in a god, then your idea of a great
human being will closely resemble the kind of god you worship. For example, if
your God is the supreme Enforcer, then the more your become like your God the
more you will try to push others around. Or if your God is vengeful, so will
you be.
It is natural for any devotee to strive to become like
their God. We try to behave like that which we believe in. Therefore, the
doctrines we believe, the creeds we say, really matter. The true believers will
be shaped by their gods.
This morning I want to look at two ways of conceiving
God: 1/ God as the absolute Individualist. 2/ God as Community.
GOD THE ABSOLUTE INDIVIDUALIST
For some God is the absolute Individualist, the autocratic
Dominator.
This represents a strong stream of thought. We find it
in the Jewish religion, in some classical Greek philosophy, in Islam, and it is
also in one strand of Christianity. God is the ultimate soloist. He is the true
absolute Monarch. He is lofty, utterly self-sufficient, not needing any other
being for company.
This solo God holds all power and takes no advice on
how to use it. He is augustly independent, essentially unaffected by the
fortunes of any other person. God the individualist is alone without
loneliness. Eternal without weariness. He is utterly
unruffled and content, everlastingly superior to all else. He is God the self-sufficient, unattached to
time, space or even eternity. This God enjoys his own company without boredom. In
fact, one may be a little naughty and suggest that this solo God is rather like
an eternal Narcissus.
For better or worse, this God is usually depicted as a
masculine. His more fervent worshippers would get very hot under the collar if
it were suggested the solo God could be anything but male. He is God the male
dominator.
If people have this kind of a God, it should not be a
surprise to discover that those who are the powerful individualists are seen as
most successful. The strong, determined, solo performer is highly admired.
Many adore leaders who are made in the image of that
great Soloist whom they worship. The top dog in politics, sport,
literature, art, or entertainment is lionised. The way to
greatness it to outstrip one’s rivals. To be a winner, the last person
left standing, that is the way to be a great person.
In a tennis analogy, the popularity of singles players
outranks doubles players, and for many players (thankfully not all; note Leyton
Hewitt) a victory in the team matches of Davis Cup competition ranks nowhere as
high as a Grand Slam singles victory.
The God who is dominator is mirrored by -
the strong, ego-centred politician, who rules in Washington,
Damascus, or Canberra,
the footballer who jokes about breaking collar bones and
terrorising rookies,
the powerful academic who ruthlessly grinds the theories of
others into dust,
the rugged Union boss who stands out against from pressures
within and without,
the aggressive business man who rises above others and
dominates the market,
the media boss who creates and empire and seeks to make and
break governments,
the TV. personality who can
dominate the ratings and win gold “logies,”
the religious leader who is astute at speaking and ruling
others, yet is not very good at listening, adapting, or serving.
It is
ranks high in Hollywood’s mythology: Superman, is the
ultimate self-sufficient winner, who cannot even reveal his identity to Lois.
Those who worship God the individualist,
either make themselves in his image or pay homage to those who have succeeded
big time.
With these so called “great people,” any open display
of emotion (except that of excited self-congratulation when they win an Oscar
or an election) is frowned upon. No weakness is ever admitted, no sincere
apology likely to be made. Public tears are the ultimate sign of character
weakness.
So, to sum up this section: A religion which worships
an aloof, solo-performer God, produces a clutch of
rampant human individualists. You will find plenty of them in Western countries that are
the inheritors of the Hebrew solo, Yahweh, but also in countries where Islam,
the religion of submission, holds sway.
GOD AS COMMUNITY
Now, at the high risk of making a fool of myself, I
want to offer you the alternative of a Trinitarian God. Today I put it to you
that the doctrine of the Trinity should save us from rampant individualism.
(“ Fool?” Yes, whenever preachers try to speak about the
Trinity, they will either make a fool of themselves or commit a grave heresy--
usually both. If you want to play it safe, you just recite the formula “God in
three persons, blessed Trinity” and say not another
word.)
All our language about God is appallingly inadequate,
but Christians have clung on tenaciously to the Trinity as a way of preserving
the tiny truths that God has revealed to us.
Maybe our formula of the Trinity is only 1% of the truth about God, but
it is a critical 1% that makes all the difference.
FATHER
As a father, I realise how grossly inadequate it is to
talk about God as Father. Only some one as brave as Jesus of
Nazareth would dare to come up with such a word. In fact, I remind you
that he brought the Aramaic word “Abba” into the centre.
The “Abba” was not a patriarchal, monarchical, Father
of the Hebrew race. The best translation is either Dad or Daddy. This is the
tender, forgiving, welcoming, Persona; the one that comes down the small
child’s level and sits on the floor; the one who plays games, tells stories,
and picks the child up and carries it on shoulders. In fact Abba is rather like
those brave “new age guys” who become house dads while their wives follow their
career.
There are some qualities which are usually labelled as
“feminine” in that word “Abba”. In Abba the feeling side of a
persons come to the fore. Abba is the parent of the prodigal son, who
throws dignity to the wind and runs to meet and hug the young fool on his
return home from the pig pens..
THE SPIRIT
If the Father image is inadequate
so in the word “Spirit”. It is a slippery concept with which to think about
God. Yet there seems no better word in our language through which we can
describe the God who is invisibly here now; intimately here. When we say Spirit
we remove all barriers to contact between Divine and human. Spirit to spirit (person to person) can meet
and have fellowship. God unseen,
untouchable, uncontrollable, yet nearer to us than any thing or any other
person can ever be.
In the Bible,
The word Spirit is used to describe God’s personal
presence in this world, creating things and creatures, and recreating that
which has fallen into degeneration.
The Spirit is that fire in the belly which made
prophets discontented with the injustices of society and led them to speak the
hard truth to people who did not want to hear.
The Spirit is the holy Witness that endorsed Jesus at
his baptism and sent him on his mission to preach, teach and heal.
The Spirit is the divine Intimacy that empowered the church at Pentecost, and continued to pour gifts upon the young church in
action.
The Spirit personally made it possible for you and I to have faith.
The Spirit can be helpfully seen as the feminine
nature and activity of God, giving birth to, and then nurturing the children of
God. In the ancient Syrian Church the motherhood of the Holy Spirit was a familiar
and treasured part of the truth of God. (For that matter, in Hebrew the Spirit
is a feminine noun; it deviated to neuter in Greek, and then swapped to
masculine in Latin -- and thence into the English language).
THE SON
When we come to the Son, there are still some hurdles.
(As many a seven year old child has proved by asking Mum or Dad: “If Jesus was God, was he
talking to himself when he prayed?”).
Nevertheless, with Jesus we have a real human being
with a real story. Here is not a religious concept but an unforgettable life.
Jesus is a human being in whom God dwelt without reserve. Look on Jesus in
action and you see God at work Here is a God who can laugh and cry,
thirst and suffer. Here are tears rolling down the cheeks of the one, unique
visible expression of God.
God the Son is not an outsider who redemptively drops
us a lifeline from above, but is one of us in the hazards of human existence.
The human race is being saved from the inside. God in Christ is the Divine
insider. And at the end, the Son gives himself absolutely on the cross so that
through his love-victory, we might through his saving grace know the Father in
the fellowship of the Spirit.
There we have it: We have been shown the Abbaness of God the Father, the Intimacy of God the Spirit,
and the costly grace of God the Son. One God yet a community of persons. It may be only 1% of the truth about God but
it is the 1% that makes all the difference.
COMMUNAL; THE HIGHEST FORM OF EXISTENCE
The Trinitarian formula insists that the nature of God
is closer to a loving community than to a lofty individuality. The highest form of existence, of personal
being, is communal. God is communal. A choir singing at perfect pitch and in
perfect harmony is closer to a definition of God than a lone soloist singing
his heart out.
If this is the God we worship, then true greatness
lies in the direction of community rather than in self-sufficient
individuality. We will find the true meaning of being a person in fellowship.
The church community reflects God (or should!) far better than a lone minister
or priest, no matter how gifted that pastor may happen to be. Individualism is the way of limitation,
diminishment, and death. Growth takes place when we give to others and receive
from others; when we know we need them and they need us.
I quote the eminent theologian Jurgen
Moltmann;
“The Trinity is a unity of a special
kind. It is a unity that is sought by humans in their community with each
other. It is anticipated and foreshadowed in their love towards one another. It
is experienced in the ecstasy of joy and gratitude and in moments of mystical
unity.”
“God wills to recognise and reflect the
Divine Self in human community”
A final question: What kind of wonderful creatures
might we become if, in the fellowship of the church, we begin to model ourselves not on
individualism but on God’s com-unity?
And a final quote:
“The ritual of domination is subjugation; the ritual of community is hugging.”
(Moltmann)
SERMON 2:
DOES THE TRINITY GRAB YOU?
Does the
concept of the Holy Trinity grab you?
It did not
grab me when I was young.
When I
became a Christian,
one of my first intellectual struggles centred on the doctrine
of the Trinity. At the age of 18 years
the whole thing sounded confusing to me - like an intellectual contortion invented by some perverse
prodigy in mental gymnastics.
The only
reason the Trinity did not become a stumbling block
was that I had a minister at that time who, on the Sunday
following a week of my intellectual wrestling, preached on the topic. What is surprising (in retrospect) is that it
was not even Trinity Sunday when he preached on the theme of Trinity. It was if
it was meant just for me. And maybe it was. Yes?
In his
sermon my pastor frankly admitted that his mind could not grasp
three-in-one and one-in-three.
(What a relief! I was not the only numbskull!) Instead he concentrated
on the revelation of God to the Jewish people as loving Creator, of God in
Christ Jesus as loving Saviour, of God as Holy Spirit who personally inspires
us day by day.
How’s that?
I still remember it over fifty years later.
Surprising
things happen in preaching.
Isn’t it
amazing how when sermon and a particular human need come together on the same
day, a remarkable divine/human dialogue takes place? A
meeting of heaven and earth? A grace event?
TRINITY AND
MYSTERY
Since that
day I have read and studied much,
toiled and agonised much, prayed and worshipped much. Today
I remain an utterly convinced Trinitarian. However I confess my mind stretches
and creaks, twists and warps, strains and finally gags whenever I try to put a
neat intellectual net around “God in three persons,
blessed Trinity.”
I cannot
possibility conceive of God in his-her-their essential nature.
I am happy
these days with the word Mystery. I use the word “Mystery” not to denote
something about which we know nothing, but to describe a God about whom we know
just a little, and realise that it is only a little. An ever so precious
little! A life changing little!
HISTORICALLY
SPEAKING
The belief
in the Trinity took some time to form.
The
doctrine of the Trinity was not set down in neat phrases by Jesus, or by that
eloquent theologian whom we know as the Apostle Paul. Today, Trinity Sunday,
does not celebrate an event in Christ’s life, nor an
event in the church like Pentecost, but is a later doctrine of the church. Which in turn was an attempt to conserve the essential core of
Christian understanding held by the apostles.
The first
record we have of the word trinity being used (Greek: “trias”)
was in 180 A.D. At that stage it did not hold the carefully
phrased meaning that was made orthodox by the later councils of the church. But
the guts of the faith was there in the earliest
Christian communities.
Just as it is reflected today in the Lectionary readings for Romans 5 and
John 16.
One God in
three persons, became standard belief
from the fourth century on. The Eastern church
and the Western church differed on whether the Holy Spirit “proceeded from the
Father” or “from the Father and the Son”, but in most ways there was a common
mind. Teaching the Trinity guarded the core truths of the Christian faith and
practice.
OUT OF OUR
DEPTH
God is
always too big for our little minds.
Whenever we
try to spell out the notion of the Trinity, most of us, maybe all of us, end up
in the territory of one heresy or another. We get out of our depth.
At times I
worry about the way some Christians speak
of the persons of the Trinity. Too often in popular
Christianity I encounter not trinitarianism but tritheism; that is, three-god-ism. Which means Jesus, the
Holy Spirit, and the Father are like three separate entities who sometimes meet
in council. When this happens, I fear the notion of Trinity becomes more of a
stumbling block than it need be. But as long as these folk (who verge on tritheism) bear the fruits of Christ, my praying for them
and with them may be wiser than worrying about them.
No doubt
there are other Christians who worry about me.
Perhaps
whether I stray into Unitarianism? Or maybe the ancient
heresy of modalism? Certainly I don’t believe
I stray. But they are entitled to worry about me if they so wish. And to pray
for me, I hope.
KEEPING THE
FAITH
Something
priceless has been revealed to us.
That little
which we do know about God (by God’s initiative) is summed up in the teaching
of the Trinity. And that revealed knowledge, though little,
defines and shapes Christian people with an understanding of the world and our
place in it which is distinctively ours.
Whenever we
dialogue with others,
secular people or other religions, we dare not minimise the
loving God who shines awesome beyond those words : “Father, Son and Holy
Spirit.” If we do, we will have traded in the only thing which makes us what we
are as Christians. God is the ultimate Mystery.
We believe
what we believe, by God’s grace.
We respect
Jews but we are not Jews. We respect Moslems but we are not Islamic. We respect
Buddhist and Hindus, but we are not them either. We are Christians. It is the
light we have been given at our origins and which is reinforced through the
ongoing experience of the Christian community. We must witness to that light
and allow God to use our witness in whatever ways are divinely appropriate.
Is our
trust in a Triune God a stumbling block?
Would we be
better at evangelism if our teaching did not hold at its core such a complex
doctrine? I doubt it. When it comes to the crunch, I do not believe there are
people who reject Christianity because of the doctrine of the Trinity.
Rejection
usually has other causes.
They might
reject it because Christ asks too much of them. They might reject it because
the deeds of some Christian people don’t closely match our creeds. They might
reject it because they have been brainwashed by secular hedonism. The might
reject Christianity because of the disunity of the churches. They might reject
faith because it would mean giving up some pet sin. They might reject it
because they find it hard to belief in a God of love when there is so much
suffering in the world. But not once,
not ever in my experience,
have I found a person who rejects our message solely because of
the Trinitarian creed.
AN
ADVENTURE IN LOVE
As a
convinced Trinitarian
I will not resile from this blessed, three-pronged, smidgen of
knowledge, given through Divine revelation.
That smidgen is like pure gold. The doctrine of the Trinity may sound
academic and clumsy, but behind it lies a remarkable
and beautiful God who is fundamentally and intimately here for us in creation
and redemption. It is a faith which prepares us for adventure.
Love is the
key.
At its
heart Trinitarian faith is more about being loved and loving in response, than
about a wordy formula. A love to share not a doctrine to dissect.
No ivory
towers here!
Trinitarian
faith is for practitioners not analysts. A guide for adventurers, not arm chair
theorists.
Come, my
sisters and brothers,
let us with joy and humility continue on with this adventure
together.
WE BELIEVE
We who are
members of the household of faith declare:
The Lord our God is One, and we
shall love the Lord our God
with all
our heart, and mind, and soul and strength
This is the
One who has patiently and lovingly created us, nurtured us, and who prepares
a future for us
beyond all imagining.
This is the One who amazingly and lovingly came to our
aid in Christ Jesus, who teaches us
a brighter way, and by the grace of the cross, delivers us
from evil.
This is the One who intimately and lovingly is among
us in Spirit, creating the community
of the church
and inspiring us to deeds of justice and mercy.
In the name
of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit,
we who are members of the household of faith declare:
The Lord our God is One, and we
shall love the Lord our God
with all
our heart, and mind, and soul and strength.
Ó B D Prewer 2003
OR
WE BELIEVE
Yes, we believe; O that we could believe more fully!
We believe in one, holy, loving Mystery at the heart
of time and eternity
from whom and for whom all things are created,
whose purposes undergird and interweave all things,
and by whom all things move towards a glorious consummation.
We believe in one Christ, chosen and anointed by the
holy Mystery,
called to achieve what no human being has achieved before or
since,
whose life, teaching, suffering, death and resurrection
reveal the Mystery as absolute love and redemptive grace.
We believe in one Holy Spirit, the inspirer of this
creed we affirm,
the energetic Presence of the Mystery in our dailyness,
who in the midst of evil and sin gives us new birth into a
family
where the young dare to have vision and the old still hold
on to their dreams.
I believe in the universal church which in spite of
its grave flaws
is a chosen servant, redeemed by Christ and inspired by the
Spirit,
called to serve the Mystery throughout the world
by being a reconciled and reconciling community of grace.
I believe in eternal life, flowing free, abundant
and limitless,
already among us and within us with surprise and
opportunity,
leaping all barriers and transcending all decay and death
that with Christ we may love, enjoy and praise the Mystery
forever.
Yes, we believe; O that we could believe more fully!
Amen!
Ó B. D.
Prewer 2005
INTERCESSIONS
As we pray for others, we also ask God to increase our
capacity for genuine love.
Let us
pray.
Loving, three-person’d God,
you are the Friend of people who are neglected or rejected. Please enlarge our
awareness and stretch our compassion to include those folk who are edged out by
circumstances (or
by an awkward personality) into an isolation that they do not really want.
Make us aware of those in our own neighbourhood who
are feeling forgotten or isolated from the main stream of community life.
Please
stretch our compassion and show us the best ways to assist.
Make us aware of those living in remote places, or
those who are lost in big cities, whose need for friendship and support is not
being met.
Please
stretch our compassion and give us the will to make a difference.
Make us aware of refugees and migrants who are finding
it difficult to feel included and valued in our community and nation.
Please
stretch our compassion to reach beyond race, skin colour and culture.
Make us aware of folk who are hungry for a community
of faith but are anxious and tentative when visiting our congregation.
Please
stretch our compassion to include strangers in our midst.
Make us aware of any in our regular membership who
float around the edges of our fellowship without feeling they really belong.
Please stretch
our compassion until all are valued as our sisters and brothers in Christ.
We know loving Friend, that
you are already working in the lives of these for whom we have prayed. We
dedicate these prayers, and whatever talents we have, to cooperate with your
work of gathering into your love all the lonely and unwanted people of the
world.
Through Jesus Christ our Saviour.
Amen.
SENDING OUT
Father, Son
and Holy Spirit;
We bind unto ourselves today the strong name of the
Trinity.
Amen!
Go out into the world with courage and cheerfulness.
Go in the
name of the Creator whose love is as everlasting arms.
Go in the
Saviour whose grace is as a cup that is full and overflowing
.
Go in the
name of the Counsellor whose fellowship is sweeter than honey.
Amen!
Bind unto yourself this day, the strong name of the
Trinity.
Amen!
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