| 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, SUNDAY 32
6-12 November
Luke 20: 27-38
(Sermon
1: “God of the Living”)
2 Thess 2: 1-5 & 13-17
Haggai 1: 15b
to 2:9
(Sermon
2: “Remember Your First Love?”)
Psalm 145: 1-5
& 17-21
PREPARATION
We are here
in the name of Jesus Christ,
to worship the God who gave us
life and who sustains our every breath,
and to praise the Spirit who
enlivens our hearts and enlightens our minds.
Great is our God and deserves our greatest praise,
God is awesome beyond all our imagining.
Each generation shall pass on the good news to the
next,
and shall publicly celebrate God’s saving
actions.
OR–
The Eternal God is near when we call for help,
near to all who cry out with
sincere hearts.
Such worshippers shall have their needs met,
their cry is heard and God saves
them.
Our mouths
will sing your praise, O God!
Let all living
things bless your name forever!
Let us worship God.
PRAYER OF APPROACH
Most wonderful God, you are Holy and your name is
Love. By your Spirit unite the many melodies of our separate lives into one
holy harmony of worship. In this hour prepare us for all the other hours of
this week, that every place and every task may be
holy. Let your name be our inspiration and your glory our highest joy. In the name of Christ Jesus.
Amen!
CONFESSION AND
ASSURANCE
“The Lord our God is just in all his ways, and kind in all his
doings.”
Let us pray
Most Holy God, we confess to you and to each other
that we are rarely just in all our ways, and far from being kind in all our
doings. What we want to be and what we actually are,
are two different things.
Our lives are a miss-mash of astuteness and
stupidity, of moral strength and cowardice, of kindness and meanness, of
openness and cunning, of sincere love for you yet also of conniving self
interest.
We need both your justice and your kindness to
convict us of our sins, to forgive and cleanse us, and to save us from the
power of evil in the days that lie ahead. We need your mercy to wipe away shame
and disabling regrets, your light to give us our bearings, and your friendship
to delight with us in our happiness and to comfort us in our sorrows.
Please grant to us, loving God, the grace of a new
beginning and the joy of an enlarged love for you. Give us a passion for all
your loving ways. Through Christ Jesus our Brother and
Redeemer.
ASSURANCE
Sisters and brothers, Holy Scripture says: “The Lord
is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. The
Lord is good to all and his mercy is over all his works.”
In the name of the living God, through the grace of
Christ Jesus the Son, and with the authority of the Spirit, I declare to you
the forgiveness of sins and the life that is eternal!
We will extol
you, our God and Saviour,
and glorify your name forever
and ever!
Every day we
will praise you,
and glorify your name forever
and ever.
PRAYER FOR
CHILDREN
Blow
Away Our Fear
Dear God,
whenever we think about being dead
and a cold shiver runs up our
back,
come liek
the wind and
please blow away our fear.
Remind us that you have prepared
a bigger, brighter, life
ready for us
on the other side of the door
of death.
Thank you for raising Jesus from the dead
and for promising that we shall
live
with him.
Amen!
PSALM 145: 1-5 &17-21
I will extol you, my God and humble King,
I will adore your name for ever and ever.
As each new day dawns I will adore you,
and sing your praises to the end of time.
Great is the Lord Jesus, and deserves our greatest
praise,
he is
wonderful beyond all our imagining.
Each generation shall pass on the good news to the
next,
and shall publicly celebrate his saving
actions.
I will think long on your radiance and beauty,
I will dwell on the lovely deeds you have
done.
You give better than justice wherever you go,
you are
firmly loving in everything you do.
Our Messiah is close to all who call his name,
to all who speak to him from the heart.
He satisfies the hunger of those who bow in awe,
he hears every cry and saves them all.
The Lord Jesus
stands by those who love him,
but all wickedness must be wiped out.
My mouth will always sing praises to Messiah!
Let every living thing adore his name for
ever!
© B.D. Prewer 2000
THE DEAD DON’T CLING
“Those who attain the resurrection
do not marry or are given in marriage”.
The dead don’t cling
to less than perfect joys,
or bind themselves
to vows that might disable.
They don’t seek love
that’s limited by years
and meet no more
at just one kitchen table.
The dead don’t cling
to loving that excludes,
or seek one soul
to be the only friend.
They now belong
to a much larger whole,
and love the One
who links the one to all.
© B.D. Prewer 1993
COLLECT
Author of life, nurturer of those live lovingly,
please increase in us the capacity to live it to the full. Let no voice
misguide us, no fancy delude us, no sight confuse us, and no setback delay us
as we travel towards the beauty of your kingdom of light. Through
Christ Jesus, the pioneer and finisher of our faith.
Amen!
SERMON 1:
GOD OF THE LIVING
Luke 20:38
“He is not the
God of the dead but of the living”
Luke 20: 38
It’s hard to be wise when others people are
critical, and place us under pressure.
(In
fact, I have an undeveloped theory that for many people their apparent IQ will
vary
largely according to the level of security they are feeling
in a particular situation)
Jesus handled pressure situations
magnificently/creatively/daringly.
His brilliance is, I believe, closely linked to his
utter trust in God; his abiding sense of security.
THE GOSPEL FOR TODAY
In the Gospel today Jesus was being “set up” by the
conservative Sadducees.
These men dogmatically rejected all Scripture except
the first five books of the Old Testament. As they saw it, there did not appear
to be any belief in eternal life in those five books. Sadducees enjoyed poking fun at those who
believed in a resurrection. On this day
they had Jesus in their sights.
They try a ridiculous hypothetical:
“Teacher. Moses wrote that if a man’s
brother dies, leaving a wife but no children, the man must marry her and rear
children for his brother. Now, there were seven brothers. The first took a wife
and died without children. And the second, and the third brother married her,
and finally the whole seven
married and died without children. After this the woman
died. When the resurrection happens,
whose wife shall she be? All seven had her as wife.”
Silence. Can’t you picture the crowd
listening , some shaking their heads, and maybe some
critics starting to smirk as they think: “Get out of that one, upstart
carpenter!”
Jesus bounced back at those Sadduccees,
with two counter attacks:
1/ He did it by using a passage from one of those
first five books which they did hold to be God’s word. He quotes from Exodus
chapter 3.
Even Moses
showed that the dead are raised, in the passage about the burning bush, where
he calls the Lord “The God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of
Jacob.” See now, he is not the God of the dead but of the living; for all live
in him.
In effect he said: “Don’t play funny games with
me. Your own Scriptures condemn you.”
2/ What is more,
resurrection life is not a projection of this life; not things as they are now
going on and on forever! It is something utterly more wonderful. A transformation.
“The people of
this old world marry and are given in marriage, but those who are worthy to achieve the new age and
resurrection from the dead, neither marry nor are given in marriage. They
cannot die any more. They are like angels and are children of God when they are
children of resurrection”
“But as for
the question as to whether the dead are in fact raised, even Moses in the
passage about the burning bush, speaks to God as being at that moment ‘the God
of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’. If God is still their
God, they must be still living. God is not the God of the dead but of the
living; to him all live.”
(This argument of Jesus may not convince your agnostic
acquaintances; but it was perfectly logical within the framework that the
Sadducees were using.)
Some of the Pharisees, who did believe in
resurrection, gave a begrudging acknowledgment: “Teacher, you have spoken well.”
The Sadducees however, publicly humiliated, moved
off to finalise their plot for the death of Jesus. There is a sharp irony here: Because the
Sadducees did not believe in any possibility of life beyond death, they thought
that by having Jesus killed he would be silenced for ever. How wrong they were!
I WANT TO UNDERLINE THREE THINGS
1/
Jesus strongly affirmed God’s gift of eternal life.
Don’t
you be put off by today’s distant cousins of the cynical Sadducees; who want to
make fun of eternal life. God’s love is faithful-love; CHESED! Dependable for ever! ‘They cannot die any more, but are like the angels and are children of
God, having become children of resurrection.”
2/ We are foolish
to try and predict, or picture, the nature of eternal life.
The
Sadducees made themselves look ridiculous with all
that stuff about one bride and seven husbands. Any picture we try to draw with
pen or words, must depend on images from this mortal
life. Projecting that on to eternity it will always look pathetically
ridiculous. Eternal life must be other than this life. In his poem “One Day”
Ray Matthew highlights this fact:
For nothing that I have now as my self
Is like what one day I will have to be.
And all that I have now as my very
own
Will one day be as alien as the sea.
When it comes to talking about the hereafter, I
resonate with the words of St Paul: “What
eye has not seen nor ear heard nor the mind conceived,
God has in store for those whom love him.”
3/ Resurrection is not some natural ability that
we have.
Resurrection is not native to us. It is a remarkable
gift from the grace of God. Absolutely
free! Always in the gospel we get back to grace.
Some ancient Greek philosophers believed that
we are, by nature, immortal spirits; the human body and life on earth was a
crude prison. We are like caged eagles.
For them immortality was our right, which at death could be restored as
we escape to our true element.
Others, like the Oriental pessimists and cynics went the other way. These
said we die like any animal and that is it.
Look at Ecclesiastes and you will find this pervading mood of weary
despair.
But the Christianity that flowed from Jesus
said two things —
To the pessimists:
“No! You are wrong. We are not like a dead dog or lion. There is a gift
of life after death. God offers it through faith in the resurrected Christ.”
To the immortals:
“No you are wrong. The body is not a cage; it is a good gift for now.
Death is for real; we really die, not escape through a loophole. But God gives us anew gift of life: Resurrection
life: Gift! Bonus! Grace!”
Jesus made the difference. This faith in eternal
life is consistent with everything Jesus was, did and taught. It is consistent
with what happened to him, and with the amazed
disciples as they joyfully floundered around in the reality of Christs’
resurrection.
THIS I BELIEVE.
I believe. I believe that one day (
in a day beyond all days) you will be wakened as from a deep sleep,
unlike any other sleep you have known before.
You will be wakened, not by sunshine filtering through
blinds; not by the call of a magpie or the song of a thrush; not by an alarm
clock or a radio. Not even by the gentle kiss of a loved one.
But you will be wakened by the steadfast-love of God
who will lift you up with the gentleness of almighty
power into a new life, which nothing is this world has prepared you for except
love. Only love!
All doubts and fears will be gone. You will be
elevated by “the God of the living” to a joy and peace beyond anything that
mortal minds can conceive.
When that happens, the words of this little sermon
will seem paltry, and even the visionary words of the Holy Bible will seem an
inadequate echo of the real thing. Now we see dimly, as through a smoked glass;
then we shall see with absolute clarity – face to face. Thanks be to God!
SERMON 2: REMEMBER YOUR FIRST LOVE?
Texts: Haggai
1: 2-11-.
A funny thing happened to me on the way to this
sermon: I was mugged by an inconvenient few verses form the Bible.
I had misread the chapter and verse in the Book of
Haggai as listed in the lectionary for this Sunday. Instead of commencing at
chapter 1 verse 15, I started at chapter 1 verse 2. I’m glad I made the
mistake. For those verses hit me between the eyes.
It’s a remarkable thing that! The Bible has a way of
getting past our defences and hitting us with a sharp insight. Just when we are
going along smoothly, and we think we know what we are going to say or do, the
Living Word can leap at us from our blind side and bring us to our knees.
HAGGAI’S MESSAGE?
The burden of the brief Book of Haggai is the need
for rebuilding the temple of God in Jerusalem; this happened during the 2nd
year of the king Darius the Mede, a Chaldean emperor who ruled over a mighty
empire of subjugated kingdoms like Judah. Previously the Jews had been
conquered and scattered, their temple plundered and destroyed. Now the tide was
slowly turning.
Little by little some of the Jewish population had
returned. They came back home from exile and rejoined the survivors. A new
governor had been appointed , and a High Priest
invested. Farms were again producing food, markets were well stocked,
comfortable homes were being built, and some businesses were thriving. Many
Jews were again prosperous.
Yet the temple still lay in ruins.
Prophets like Haggai, burning with the word of God
in their guts, said: “This will not
do! Why is the house of God the last
thing to be rebuilt? Is that how much God means to you? You live in houses
panelled with the cedar of Lebanon, while God’s house is still rubble. Don’t
expect to find happiness while this state of things continues.”
Let me now read you verses 4, 5 & 6.
Is this the
right time for you to live in timber panelled houses while the house[of God] lies in ruins? Therefore says the Lord of
hosts: Consider how you have fared. You have sown much and harvested little;
you eat but never have enough; you drink but you never have your fill; you
clothe yourselves but no one is warm; and he who earns wages puts them into a
bag with holes.”
There are two possible interpretations for these
words.
1/ The first is that God
was punishing them by sending poor harvests. Against this interpretation is the
fact that Haggai speaks as if many are already well off. His reference to their
houses panelled with expensive timber confirms their present prosperity.
2/ The second
interpretation features the discontent of materialism. Because they have not
got their spiritual priorities right, they will never be content with any
amount of prosperity. Until they start giving rather than grasping, until
they give time and money to rebuild the temple of God, they will remain
miserable “critters.” Their wallets will always seem to have holes in them.
They will think they never have enough. Without God central in their lives,
they will always be disgruntled.
THE SEED OF DISCONTENT
This second interpretation is the one that hit me
between the eyes, when during last week, I read this passage. It spoke directly
to me and the acquisitive culture in which I live.
“You have sown much and harvested little; you
eat but never have enough; you drink but you never have your fill; you clothe
yourselves but no one is warm; and he who earns wages puts them into a bag with
holes.”
God was low on their wish list.
Those Jews who after chaotic, destructive times had
re-established themselves in the promised land, had
given their God, the Lord of hosts, low priority. Me first,
God later. Therefore true happiness would elude them. They would end
each day feeling they had not received enough of the good things of life. The
harvest, no matter how good,
would never seem to be the bumper one they wanted. No matter how
much gourmet food was on their dining table, they would finish a meal still
feeling strangely empty. Even with the best available wines served at their
dinner parties, those wines would not come up to their expectations.
Although they might be dressed in the best clothes,
in the very latest fashion, they would not be happy with what they had. They
would bring home a full pay packet but the cash would be spent so quickly that
it would seem that their purses had holes in them.
You have sown much and harvested little; you eat but never have enough;
you drink but you never have your fill; you clothe yourselves but no one is
warm; and he who earns wages puts them into a bag with holes.”
Haggai saw through their outward prosperity to their
spiritual poverty. The fact that the temple lay in ruins while they built
themselves up-market houses (Mc Mansions!)was a
barometer of their spiritual poverty. God had been moved from central place in
their lives; the Lord has been pushed to the margins. The word God had become a
pious irrelevancy. To rebuilt the temple would be a
costly exercise; yet it would prove that God was no longer marginalised.
THE PROPHET WORD TO US
Maybe we need a few prophets like Haggai among us
today. If ever there was a possession-glutted society it is ours.
This not only applies to the most
wealthy, it goes for nearly all of us. “Things” and yet more things are
our lust. A multitude of foods and drinks are our fascination. Clothes are
marketed to “make us feel good.” Motor cars are a status symbol. Our houses and
furniture are supposed “to make a statement.”
But is our society a happy one?
I think not. Snowed under a plethora of possessions,
we are a miserable lot of critters! So miserable that we are looking all the
time for new diversions, be they entertainment, tourist destinations, internet
“affairs”, alcohol or other drugs, or just another dose of “shopping therapy.”
As a society we are such a miserable and mean lot.
We seem to deeply resent social welfare being
provided for the poor, homes and hope being given to refugees, land being
returned to native peoples, and rehabilitation being given to prisoners. The
wealthier we are the more we want to avoid the taxes that provide for the
welfare of all.
As a community and nation we never have enough!
Therefore says
the Lord of hosts: Consider how you have fared. You have sown much and
harvested little; you eat but never have enough; you drink but you never have
your fill; you clothe yourselves but no one is warm; and he who earns wages
puts them into a bag with holes.”
Without God we become a rabble of malcontents; only
held together in the semblance of a community through proliferating laws and
regulations, larger prisons and more police officers on our streets..
AND THE CHURCH?
My friends, I fear we in the church also get caught
up in this mania.
Outwardly we keep the faith. Yet God becomes increasingly marginalised
and we embrace the material things that lead to discontent. Society is
pressuring us all the time to adulterate our first love for God.
A temple is a good start. Yet it is not enough that we have a building dedicated to God, nor that we pay for its
upkeep. Building temples does not entirely solve the problem. Something more
basic is needed.
Without doubt, most church people are utterly
committed. I have been humbled by the devotion of many who will give their all
for God, not counting the cost. Some are amazingly self-giving and
extraordinary happy people.
But far too many of us have a foot in two camps, God is among our priorities, but not in the top
position. As a result we may be wistful, dutiful Christians rather than buoyant
ones.
For over 40 years I have been aware of some generous
aged and invalid pensioners; many devotedly give a tenth of their meagre income
to God, and with a big smile still have room for yet more generosity. At the
same time the overall giving of a congregation indicates that many other affluent
members have other priorities. Some offer God ‘tips,’ as if he were a taxi
driver, waiter in a restaurant, or room service in an
hotel; or they may offer the loose cash or small notes they may happen to have
in their pockets at the time.
If we wait until we have what we think is enough
before we start putting God first,
we will never get there. And I mean never! Our money bag will always seem to
have holes.
TWO OLD SAYINGS
I am reminded of two old sayings, one from Scotland
and one from Africa.
In English one from Scotland goes:
“A man’s
hunger will never be satisfied until his mouth is stuffed with worms.”
The second from St Augustine is better known:
“God, you have
made us for yourself and our hearts are restless until they find their rest in
you.”
When one’s inner spiritual house, our soul, is not in order,
then no amount of money,
possessions, holidays, power, or popularity will relieve our inveterate
discontent.
Therefore says
the Lord of hosts: Consider how you have fared. You have sown much and
harvested little; you eat but never have enough; you drink but you never have
your fill; you clothe yourselves but no one is warm; and he who earns wages
puts them into a bag with holes.”
THANKSGIVING
# for 2 voices
We thank you generous God, we are embraced by the
Gospel.
We rejoice in
the story of the liberating life of Jesus, the son of Mary:
who although he was rich, for
ours sakes became poor.
We recall with gratitude how he spent time with
ordinary folk, and the care he took with the weak, the meek. the
confused and the abused.
We rejoice in
the story of his patience with all kinds of mentally ill people, for his
healing of the diseased and the disabled people.
We give thanks for the forgiveness and peace he brought to
troubled souls, and his compassion for those whom religious communities
scorned.
For the mystical paradox of self sacrifice, for his suffering and
death, whereby abundant new life has been established on earth.
We rejoice in how he surprised the disciples on that
first Easter Day, and in his promise that he would continue to be with them to
the end of time.
We give thanks
for the never-ending story of his Presence with us now, as he promised; and the
eternity that is around us and within us as we meet together in his name.
We thank you, wondrous God, that although the story
is wonderful, we have seen hardly anything yet compared to the joy that is in
store for us.
Praised be
your name for ever and for ever.
Amen.
INTERCESSIONS
Our needy neighbours around the world are far too
numerous for us to be able to assist them all.
But having given what practical aid to the few we
can, we can then go wider and include all in our prayers.
Let us pray.
God our most holy Friend, your Spirit fills all
things, no newborn baby cries without you caring, and no elderly person sighs
outside your loving providence.
You are the resilient Energy that creates and
recreates life. Please let your fecund power be with all creatures and all
people.
Please
germinate seeds
of new
health in the sick,
of hope in
the despondent;
seeds of
comfort in the sorrowing,
of faith in
the confused,
of courage
in the frightened,
and of joy
in the faithful
Please
germinate your seeds
of peace among the
warring,
of
forgiveness within the embittered,
of humility
among the strong,
and trust
within the reconciled.
With your
seeds of saving grace,
please
redeem and heal us all.
Loving God,
let all things pulse with the
energy of your boundless love,
and earth become a mirror of
the kingdom of heaven.
Through Jesus Christ our
living Lord.
Amen!
SENDING OUT
As you go to love and serve the Lord, I offer you
this old Celtic benediction.
God bless to you the earth beneath your feet,
the path whereon you go,
the place wherein you rest.
Evermore and evermore, God bless the way you take.
God bless to you the faith whereon you set your
mind,
the love whereon you set your heart,
the hope whereon you set your life.
Evermore and evermore, God bless to you your life.
AMEN!
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