Skip to main content

A Prayer...

During the past week the Methodist ministers on the Belfast District met for lunch, and after we were fed and watered, my friend Tim Dunwoody, the World Church Coordinator for the Methodist Church in Ireland talked to us about how we might better motivate and resource our congregations to be more effective partners in world mission. In conclusion he shared the following prayer written by a retired colleague, Rev. Robert Russell, who has served as a missionary in the Caribbean and as General Secretary of the Methodist Missionary Society in Ireland, but now has the misfortune of having to listen to me preach in Dundonald...
It's an appropriate word for the second Sunday in Lent, where the gospel reading from the lectionary for this year encourages us to take up our crosses and follow Christ:

God of compassion and generous love
Open our eyes and ears to see and hear your truth.
Save us from the assumption that riches are always
a sign of God’s blessing and favour.
Challenge us and make us uncomfortable with our lifestyle.
Forgive us that in our greed of wanting newer, bigger
and better things, we have allowed our vision of a new heaven
and a new earth to grow dim.
Save us from the pride of status and achievements.
Empower us to act justly and strive for justice.
Make us more like Jesus – humble and lowly of heart.
Give us grace to live by his Word and follow his example.
God of compassion and generous love,
We commit ourselves afresh to the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Amen


Selah
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A Woman of no Distinction

Don't often post other people's stuff here... But I found this so powerful that I thought I should. It's a performance poem based on John 4: 4-30, and I have attached the original YouTube video below. A word for women, and men, everywhere... "to be known is to be loved, and to be loved is to be known." I am a woman of no distinction of little importance. I am a women of no reputation save that which is bad. You whisper as I pass by and cast judgmental glances, Though you don’t really take the time to look at me, Or even get to know me. For to be known is to be loved, And to be loved is to be known. Otherwise what’s the point in doing either one of them in the first place? I WANT TO BE KNOWN. I want someone to look at my face And not just see two eyes, a nose, a mouth and two ears; But to see all that I am, and could be all my hopes, loves and fears. But that’s too much to hope for, to wish for, or pray for So I don’t, not anymore. Now I keep to myself And by that
2 comments
Read more

Psalm for Harvest Sunday

A short responsive psalm for us as a call to worship on Harvest Thanksgiving Sunday, and given that it was pouring with rain as I headed into church this morning the first line is an important remembrance that the rain we moan about is an important component of the fruitfulness of the land we live in: You tend the land and water it And the earth produces its abundance. You crown each year with your bounty, and our storehouses overflow with your goodness. The mountain meadows are covered with flocks and the valleys are filled with corn; Your people celebrate your boundless grace They shout for joy and sing. from Psalm 65
3 comments
Read more

Living under the Empire... (2) Where is Babylon?

We were driving back from school last week, talking about books that we had been reading and my younger son, Ciaran, asked me "Where is Babylon?" I have to confess that my history is better than my geography, and I said that it no longer exists as an inhabited city, but its ruins were to the north west of the current capital of Iraq, Baghdad. When I checked however, I discovered that it is actually about 50 miles south of Baghdad and the modern town is the administrative centre of the province of Babil... But just as the modern city is but a shadow of the historic capital of 2 ancient empires, first under Hammurabi in the 18th century BCE and then the "Neo-Babylonian" empire (under Nebuchadnezzar etc) in the 6th century BCE, so the earthly Babylonian empire/s was/were fleeting in comparison to the enduring metaphorical idea of Babylon. The original Empire under Hammurabi was probably the ultimate origin of some of the early Biblical stories, including the &quo
Post a Comment
Read more