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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, SUNDAY 24
11-17 Sept
Luke 15: 1-10
(Sermon
1: “Lost and Found”)
1 Timothy 1: 12-17
Jeremiah 4:
11-12 & 22-28
Psalm 14
(Sermon
2: “The Fool Says There is no God.”)
PREPARATION
On this sparkling morning in springtime, when nature
bursts with new life and beauty, I greet you in the name of the risen Christ:
The joy of the Lord Jesus be with you all:
And also with you.
We have come to celebrate the God of creation, the
God of salvation, and the God of loving inspiration.
O come, let us
bow down, let us worship God who is our Maker.
OR—
When the living God restores the fortunes of his
people, we shall laugh and celebrate.
The grace of
God overflows for each of us with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.
To the King of all ages, immortal, invisible, the
only God,
be honour and glory forever
and ever. Amen!
PRAYER OF APPROACH
Holy God, holy Friend, teach us to adore you without
constraint, to serve you without complaint, to be in awe of you without fear,
and to love you beyond all that is dear. Through Christ Jesus
our Lord.
Amen!
CONFESSION AND ASSURANCE
“The living God looks upon the children of earth,
to see if there are any who
live wisely
and with all their mind and
heart, seek their God.
There are none who are really good, not even one of
us.
All have gone astray, and each person has been
corrupted.”
Let us pray.
We thank you, God of love, for the good things we
have managed to accomplish, the temptations we recognised and overcome, and for
the wrongs, small or large, for which we have been able to make restitution. It
is good to know we have not always been foolish nor
rebellious sinners.
Yet we have not lived, most holy Friend, with the
glory you intended for us. We have not even lived up to our own meagre
expectations. We fail you, we fail those around us, and we disappoint
ourselves.
As you have graciously done in the past, look now
upon our patchy lives and work that miracle of grace which is beyond human
endeavour. Pity our folly and failure,
forgive our sins; both the sins we see and the ones to which we are blind. Save
us from the chronic perversity in our nature and bring us to your peace.
Thank you, loving God. We are grateful that humanity
continues to be your project. Our brokenness is brought together by your
almighty tenderness, our wounds are dressed by your steady fingers, our foolish
moves are countered by your long sighted strategies, and our small stock of
faith is tended by your patience.
Wonderful is your saving love! Through
Christ Jesus our Saviour.
Amen!
ABSOLUTION
My sisters and brothers, it is written: “This saying
is a certainty and worth our full acceptance: that Christ Jesus came into the
world to save sinners.”
God forgives all those who turn back and seek grace.
Because we are God’s project, those who trust the grace of Christ shall never
be defeated. God is ever faithful, ever sure.
Thanks be to God!
PRAYER FOR CHILDREN
Good
Shepherd
Jesus, our Good Shepherd,
we, like sheep, can be foolish
things,
following others
and getting into trouble or
lost.
Please show me
that when I think I am being
cool
I may be just acting like a fool.
Amen!
PSALM 14
The fool who imagines himself sophisticated,
keeps telling himself: “There is
no God.”
Such fools are open to corruption,
they end up being good for
nothing.
The Holy One who made the stars
looks into the lives of all
earthlings,
seeing if there are any who are
wise enough
to seek for themselves the
truth of God.
But all people have lost their way,
each has become corrupted.
No human being can be called good,
not even one person on this
earth.
They are not as smart as they think they are,
evil infects every thought and
deed.
Many overeat while others starve,
not taking the Holy One into
account.
Such foolishness is in for a terrible result,
but good fortune is on the side
of believers.
Fools throw the poor into consternation
but God remains the champion of
the weak.
O that more liberation would come soon,
salvation among the people of Zion!
When the Holy One restores our fortunes,
God’s children shall be glad
and celebrate!
Ó B.D.Prewer 2006
POEM: FINDERS KEEPERS?
A foolish thing
this wandering sheep
face to the stubble
nibble after nibble;
then by its own stupidity
becomes bleatingly lost.
A well worn thing
this silver coin
passed around
from hand to hand;
then by some simple accident
becomes silently lost.
A wondrous thing
this Shepherd grace
not giving up
though bruised and torn;
then like an Easter shout of joy
heaven toasts one lost soul found!
© B.D. Prewer 1993 and 2012
COLLECT
God our holy Shepherd, you are the hope of those who
are lost, and joy of those who are found; please give us the will to utterly
trust you. Save us from the silly notion that we always know best, and call us
back from those down-hill paths that lead to confusion and desolation. Bring us
at last, with all your people, into that fold where nothing can ever again be
lost. Through Christ Jesus our Saviour.
Amen!
SERMON 1: LOST AND FOUND
Luke 15:1-10
To be lost is not much fun.
I was a lost child.
From a vivid childhood memory, I can assure you
being lost is bewildering, frightening and awfully
lonely.
To be found is an incredible joy.
The fear and confusion and loneliness are banished
by a kindly smile and loving arms.
Such is the joy that Jesus is emphasising in the
parables of the one sheep, and the one coin, that were
lost but were later found. Joy, not only on earth but in heaven, is the point
he is making. Today the Gospel offers us again those famous words:
Come, rejoice with me for I have found the sheep
which was lost.
Come rejoice with me for I have
found the coin which was lost.
Followed by:
And so I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven
over one sinner who repents than over
ninety nine righteous people who need no repentance.
JESUS AND THE LOSERS
Jesus specialised in finding the lost.
Those who knew they were
lost and those who did not. Especially those whom we today
losers.
In the four Gospels, we encounter a Jesus who has a
burning compassion for those people who were relegated to the fringes of
respectable community life. He reached out to what one preacher has called ‘the
least, the last and the lost’.
The ‘least’: like little children, or the mentally
ill; or the woman under a taboo who dared to touch the hem of his garment.
The ‘last’: like the crippled man by the pool of
Bethesda, or the man living naked among the tombs; or the lonely woman by the
well.
The ‘lost’: like the despised tax collectors, or
prostitutes, the bewildered Nicodemus, or the rich young man who went sadly
away.
The God of the Gospels loves the least, the last and
the lost. These are the special focus for Jesus ministry. Nothing gave Jesus
more joy than seeing losers recover their dignity as the children of God.
PARABLES: LOST SHEEP AND LOST COIN
Now let us look at the stories of lost sheep and the
lost coin.
One lost sheep is not a newsworthy event in Australia. There
is nothing romantic about the way we treat sheep. For us they are just 1,000,
or 5,000 or 10,000 head, to be mustered by dogs that are directed (these days)by the men on a trail
bikes. Many contemporary give their sheep the best veterinary care. Other leave them much of the year to fend for themselves. A large
number of sheep end their days as a pathetic mob of trembling mutton that are packed like sardines on to a ship bound for the Middle
East.
Biblical times could not be more different. Small flocks, often of 20-30, each sheep with a name, each shepherd
living seven days a week with his flock. One lost sheep was a
significant event. The shepherd would herd the rest of the flock into the
safety of a fold, and then set out to look for the missing one.
In the parable of Jesus, one is missing from a very
large flock. It numbered of 100. This fellow had sheep to spare! Yet the
shepherd goes off searching for the wanderer until it is found, returning home
with it on his shoulders (a picture often found in ancient art). So precious is
the one sheep, that they throw a party. Just think of that! A party in the
honour of one recovered sheep!
God is like that, said Jesus: And so I tell you, there will be
more joy in
heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety nine people who need no
repentance.
One lost coin is not a newsworthy event, either. Have you
noticed how our silly little Aussie two dollar coins seem to have a highly
developed aptitude for getting lost around the house? When one goes missing I
look briefly, but if it does not turn up easily I ignore it. Let it stay in the
dust under the frig or the sideboard, or wherever; it
will no doubt turn up some day when I’m not looking for it.
Yet in Jesus’ story the woman immediately lights a
lamp and goes searching. She does not give up until she has that solitary coin
held tightly in her hand. Then she proceeds to go over the top! She throws a
party in honour of the recovered coin. These ( the
shepherd and the woman) are really the ultimate party animals, don’t you
reckon?
God is like that woman, says Jesus. There is joy among the angels of God over
one sinner who repents, than over ninety nine righteous people who need no
repentance.
WHAT ABOUT A PARTY FOR GOOD PEOPLE?
At this point I must pause and acknowledge some
likely protesters. Some folk object to the thought of a God who rejoices more
over the recovery of one lost sinner than over the 99 righteous people who do
not get lost.
Their complaint goes like this: “It’s not fair? Here
are all these good, righteous, God-fearing people who by considerable effort, don’t get lost. They apparently miss out on having a
party in their honour. It does not encourage one to be righteous, does it? In fact, this seems like a severe devaluing
of goodness.”
Why do the wilful and the stupid get all the attention?
Why don’t the sheep that had the sense and the
loyalty to stay close to the shepherd, not get given a party? Why can’t the
coin that never falls away, but stays properly in the purse of the woman, get
some applause? Where is the rejoicing
in heaven when good, ordinary folk hang in there for God when others go
wandering away or drop off?”
I find this argument compelling............ in an
abstract way. But not in practice.
You see, where do we find these 99 righteous
persons?
In the whole of my life, I have not come across even
one of them yet. Who are they, where are
they? I have certainly not found them
among the ranks of the ordained clergy, nor dear congregation, have I found
them amongst the laity. Putting it bluntly, I am not going to worry about the
hurt feelings of the righteous until I meet one. On the day when I meet a truly
righteous person, then I will give the matter more thought.
Let me say with all respect, the people who protest
about the unfairness of the joy in heaven are no more righteous than I am. And
that’s not very righteous! Moreover, if there actually was one among us who was
truly righteous, I have a strong hunch (based on Jesus) that they would be
neither aware of their own goodness nor be jealous of God’s celebrations over
the recovery of the lost.
From the Bible viewpoint, we have all been numbered
among the lost.
Our predicament may vary: some may end up dirtier
than others, and some more bruised and torn , but in
God’s eyes we are all his lost children.
That is the tragedy of the universal predicament of humanity-: we all
became lost in a world where God intended us to be at home.
We lose our sense of direction. We get confused by
the intersections ahead of
us. We take the wrong turn. We nibble our way into trouble. We
slip through fingers and end up in the dark and dust. Our faith is flabby,
our love is not like the love of our Good Shepherd. Who is there among us who
has not at times felt a long distance from God?
Lost people bump awkwardly into each other, hurting
those around them. Lost people make bad choices convinced that they are 100%
right. The most brilliant mind is no more exempt than the humblest battler.
What is more, we find it extremely difficult to admit we were wrong, even to
those who are most dear to us.
If you doubt me on this read again Psalm 14.
As I see it, each of us should be extremely glad
that God is like a shepherd, or a woman who will not rest until the lost is
found. We should be most grateful that heaven throws a party when the lost are
recovered. For that is our party. Ours!
THE JOY OF BEING FOUND
This God of Jesus, who loves lost things, is the God
I want to proclaim. God is out in the weather each day finding us. Sometimes it
is a long journey. With some people it takes a lifetime before they allow
themselves to be found.
One long, summers day, when
I was nine years old, I became lost in the country in the vicinity of an
uncle’s farm. I did not even know whether I was missed; but of course I was. My
Dad, Uncle and the farm workers were combing the countryside, searching in
water holes and looking down wells. As the day wore on I was one very
bewildered, terrified and desolate little boy.
When the sun was low in the horizon, I was found by
one of the farm workers as he searched on a bicycle along the small county lanes.
He lifted me up with his big sweaty, muscled arms, placed me high on his
shoulders and rode triumphantly back to the farmhouse. Seventy decades later I
can still remember my relief and joy, and that of my father and the searchers,
when they all gathered back at the homestead.
That farm labourer, whose name I do not know, is
metaphor to me of the God who will not let me go. This is a God of strong,
muscled love; a God who can rejoice over the silliest sheep recovered, and the
cheapest coin retrieved.
SERMON 2: THE
FOOL HAS SAID “THERE IS NO GOD.”
Psalm 14:1
The fool has said in his heart,
“There is no God.”
That statement stands the widespread, popular,
secular wisdom on its head.
Generally it is belief in God that is deemed
foolish.
By belief I do not mean theoretical assent to the
existence of God. I mean a daily trust in a living God. It
such a trust in s God which many of those around us regard as naive and
foolish.
However, the Bible, Old and New Testaments does not agree.
The Scriptures (and our church history) feature
dozens of religious
fools who against formidable odds put their trust in the living God. Fools who believed in a God who is far beyond our human
understanding, yet who cherished human beings with a providential wisdom and
love.
Their critics, and ours, sees
this faith as nonsense.
For those hard headed people who pride themselves on
being realists, such belief in God is pitiful stupidity. Pitiful
stupidity? Yes. They pity us for our silliness, although if we persist
they can harden and pour scorn, or maybe heap something even worse, on our
heads.
Consider the Bible, church history, and the
contemporary world.
It is star-studded with believing men and women whom
the world regarded, at least at first, as pious idiots.
If the fashionable herd of humanity were writing
Psalm 14,
it would most likely read :
“The fool has said in his heart, “There is a God.”
FOOLS OF THE OLD TESTAMENT
Long ago were those fools Abraham and Sarah.
They left their familiar neighbourhood and nation,
and set of on a “wild goose chase” for a new land and new future that God had
in store for them and their descendants.
A crazy thing to do. Yet these fools found
their land and future.
Those whom the world counted as fools have said in
their hearts: “There is a God!”
Or that young, believing fool Miriam.
By the river Nile, discreetly watching her infant
brother Moses bobbing among the bulrushes in his cute little basket-boat.
Miriam did not despair when Pharoah’s daughter
claimed him. She was stupid enough to intervene, and managed to have the
child’s own mother appointed as wet nurse. Foolish Miriam and helped change
history.
The grown up Moses, another
fool.
When a fugitive in the
desert of Sinai, he reckoned he heard God speaking to him out of a burning
bush. O
yeah? He believed that God wanted him to liberate his fellow Jews from slavery
in Egypt. How stupid can you get, to believe that
stuff? Yet look what happened when Moses acted on his belief!
Another fool was called Hannah.
She believed in God enough to promise that if she
could bear a son she would lend him to the Lord. She bore a son named Samuel, and after he was
weaned, she did bring him to the temple at Shiloh. Handed him
over to the head priest, Eli. Only a fool would do that, huh?
The fool had said in her heart: “There is a God!”
Years later, when Samuel became the head priest of
that shrine.
The old fool went on a typical fool’s errand to find
a new king for Israel. And what kind of a guy did he select? He passed over
likely candidates and, believing God was speaking to his heart, he chose a teenage shepherd and “bush poet” called David. How about
that? Only one of God’s fools would make such a choice.
So the Old Testament goes on with more fools.
Those “loners” the prophets,
Amos, Micah, Hosea, all fools who believed. Remarkable
women fools like Esther and Judith. The reluctant
Jeremiah. The visionary Isaiah who was stupid enough to sing songs about
a special servant whom God would sent to save his people: “Wounded for our transgressions, bruised for our iniquities. Upon him
was the chastisement that made us whole, and with his stripes we are healed.”
The fool has said in his heart: There is a living
God!
What the arrogant world deems to be utter
foolishness, God has deemed to be wisdom.
FOOLS OF THE NEW TESTAMENT
The same theme of foolishness unfolds in the New
Testament.
That lovely, sweet fool,
teenage Mary.
This teenager reckoned her pregnancy was God’s gift
and that her child would be God’s most special person. Her husband to be,
respectable Joseph, was fool enough to believe her story and go ahead with the
marriage.
Jesus, the prophet from Galilee, was the supreme
fool.
After his baptism he was foolish enough to reckon
the heavens opened and the Spirit of God descended like a dove upon him. On the
strength of this experience, he went off into the desert and fasted for forty
days. Crazy stuff?
Then his silly ministry.
He did not cultivate the important people. He was the creator of
parables for the poor, friend of the outcastes, healer of diseases. A
remarkable fool who told his followers to go the
second mile, turn the other cheek, love your enemies and pray for those who
persecute you. It still sounds crazy advice, even today.
This choice fool has said in his heart, “There is a
God!”
The final gross folly by Jesus:
His last stubborn pilgrimage up to Jerusalem and certain arrest.
His
acceptance of betrayal by a friend,
His
refusal to argue his own case before governor Pilate,
His willingness to forgive those who crucified him.
By this world standards
this Jesus is the biggest fool of all time.
Yet this glorious fool has said with all his heart:
“There is a living God who loves us. God! Into your
hands I commit my spirit.”
This is closely followed by the foolishness of
Easter.
Disciples jumping around for joy shouting “He is risen!” Unique meetings behind closed doors. A
strange but wonderful meeting on the way to Emmaus. An
unforgettable breakfast on the shores of Galilee.
Then all the folly that gained mightier strength on
the day of Pentecost.
Peter and John in and out of
prison.
Stephen being stoned to death for his belief, yet as he is dying he prays for
those who are murder him, crying out: “Lord, do not hold this sin against
them.”
On to the stage comes that scholarly fool,
Paul,
the vicious persecutor turned
mighty missionary of Christ Jesus. Preaching the foolishness
of the Gospel of Christ Jesus across the Roman Empire. We see him up on
Mars hill in cultured Athens, invited to speak to the high council of Athenian
elders. But when he starts proclaiming Christ Jesus, crucified and risen” the
scholars and philosophers are embarrassed, and quickly usher him off the podium
and out the door.
Those 1st century Christian fools said in their
hearts: “There is a living God!”
MORE AND MORE FOOLS
The 2,000 C/hristian story
is about God’s fools.
The North African woman named Monica,
who reckoned her brilliant but
wayward son, addicted to the butchery of
Roman “games” in the arena, , was destined for better things
in God’s cause.
The young Italian “man about town”, Francis Bernardone,
who on the whim that he has
seen a vision of Jesus, gave his wealth and status away, to become a poor man
among the poor. This unstoppable fool even went so far as to preach a sermon to
the birds of the woodlands!
Other fools like Tyndale and Wycliffe,
paid dearly for their faith,
believing that people should be allowed to hear the Bible read in their own
native tongue.
John Huss of Bohemia,
a daring preacher in the
“Bethlehem Chapel” in Prague, offended Rome
so much that he was burnt at the
stake for his reformist ideas.
Katherine von Borer, a brave nun
who was foolish enough to take
church reformation seriously and even dared marry the dangerous trouble maker, Martin Luther of Wittenburg.
Susannah Wesley , a highly
gifted fool,
trained her sons from an early age
to be scholars and intrepid followers of Christ who would never allow
convention to stifle their love of the Gospel.
In the last century fools of God like Pope John 23,
who as an old man was elected as a stop gap, but seized the
opportunity and opened the doors of the Catholic Church to a new reformation.
Professor Graeme Clarke of Melbourne,
another one of God’s contemporary
fools, had a wild idea about developing a bionic ear for the deaf. He faced opposition, some of the most caustic
criticism coming from groups of those who were already hearing-impaired. Today,
thousands of people hear voices and music because Dr Clarke dared to follow his
dream and produce the cochlea implant..
More recently a foolish Christian couple in
Australia, after losing precious family members in the terrorist bombing in
Bali on October 12th 2002, pleaded for the tolerant treatment of the
perpetrators. They agreed to a TV interview, not to vent anger or express a
thirst for revenge, but to offer forgiveness. What glorious, holy fools!
Ah Yes! God’s holy fools has
certainly said in his heart: “There is a God.”--
WHO ARE REALLY THE FOOLS?
But in reality who are the true fools?
Who are the ones who miss the whole point of being
alive?
As the Psalm writer clearly understood, the real
fools are found among those onlookers. In particular those fools who make
another kind of leap of faith: jumping blindly into atheism. The atheist makes
an arbitrary decision that God does not exist, and by that decision they shut
themselves off from opportunity of knowing.
The Bible offends these sophisticated non-believers:
The fool has
said in his heart there is no God “
WE YEARN FOR THOSE WITHOUT FAITH
In a recent novel by Dean Koontz (One Door Away
From Heaven) the poor but loving aunt Geneva says to her troubled, cynical,
adult niece named Mickey:
Some times–
not often but once in a while– life can change for the better in one moment of
grace, almost a sort of miracle. Something so powerful can happen, someone so
special comes along, some precious understanding
descends on you so unexpectedly that it just pivots you in a new direction,
changes you forever. Girl I’d give everything I have if that could happen for
you.”
That is how I feel about those who do not believe.
Like aunt Geneva, I yearn for people to find the
reality of God. For a time of revelation. When “some precious
understanding descends on you so unexpectedly that it just pivots you in a new
direction, changes you forever.
Girl I’d give everything I have if that could happen for you.”
Where there is love, there will always be such a
yearning.
Girl I’d give
everything I have if that could happen for you.” We cannot just shrug our
shoulders. The fools of God continue to pray for others, to the God who can do
immeasurably more than we can ever ask or conceive.
PRAYER OF THANKSGIVING
For God our Good Shepherd, we give thanks,
Let us pray.
Shepherd God, always you have loved your people;
Sarah and Abraham, Rachel, Jacob, Joshua, Rahab,
Hannah, Hosea, Elizabeth and Mary. You are a God who goes looking for mere
nobodies and does remarkable things for them and
through them. We give thanks for your unceasing compassion and
faithfulness.
Shepherd God, when the time was just right you sent
to us one special, mature young Person, whose readiness to gather in the
stragglers, the rebels and the lost, has won him the
adoration of the centuries. We give
thanks for Jesus of Nazareth, our Friend, Saviour and Lord.
Shepherd God, when Jesus had completed his work, you
made more available to us your own Spirit, to be with us always. By your Spirit
you lead us and inspire us, teach, counsel and comfort us. We give thanks for
your Holy Spirit, the Advocate who never wearies, the
Friend who never sleeps.
Wonderful are you, great Shepherd of the world!
Wonderful are you, great Shepherd of the church!
Wonderful are you, great Shepherd of each lonely
soul!
Thanks and praise be yours forever!
Amen!
INTERCESSIONS
We are about to pray for others. This is both a
responsibility and a privilege. For in such prayers we stand in the shoes of
Christ Jesus, and are called to follow up our prayers with his kind action.
Let us pray.
Home-loving God, you are like a woman who treasures
all things in her household, grieving over even the smallest thing that becomes
lost. Please enlarge the scope of our compassion until our prayers align with
your wide love for all people on earth.
We pray for the millions in populous regions like
Asia. We confess that we tend to regard the suffering or death of a few
thousand as of no consequence. Yet by your will every heart beats and in your
love each life is precious. Please bless them with the same favour we ask you
to bestow on our dearest friends.
We pray for those citizens of our own country whom
we do not know. Many are to us only statistics; a certain number with aids, a
number with heart disease, a number mentally ill, and a certain number of road
accidents. Please be with each individual in their trauma and grief, and bless
every compassionate voice and hand that reaches out to them.
We pray for all other congregations and
denominations. Some we know a little, some we pray for occasionally, and many we
don’t want to have anything to do with.
On this day, please grace every congregation and denomination with those
rich blessings we seek for our own.
Home-loving God, we pray now for our nearest and
dearest, especially for any who are bewildered, rebellious, lost, hurting, or
sorrowing. Like a mother who treasures each individual and seeks the good of
all, so please be with these who are precious to us.
Through Jesus Christ our Good Shepherd.
Amen!
SENDING OUT
Christ calls us to share his love by offering our
own, especially to with those who have scant love in their lives.
That task is not easy. It is not easy for us to know
the best way, and some of those who need loving are prickly and ready to rebuff
us.
May the Christ who calls
you, give you the grace to make wise choices in the use of your limited time
and energy, and grant you the good humour to receive rejection without
impatience or anger.
Amen!.
God’s blessing be yours
and well may it safely keep
you.
Christ’s blessing be yours
and well may it ever heal you.
Spirit’s blessing be yours
and well may it thoroughly warm
you.
Now and ever more.
Now and
evermore. Amen!
(Adapted
from a Celtic blessing)
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