world

Let God be my portion

/ Eric Mathews / Leave a comment
Parable of the hidden treasure, Rembrandt or Gerard Dou, via Wikimedia Commons
 
Let the eternal God be the portion of my soul;
let heaven be my inheritance and hope;
let Christ be my Head and my promise of security;
let faith be my wisdom,
and love my very heart and will.
and patient persevering obedience be my life;
 
and then I can spare the wisdom of the world,
because I can spare the trifles that it seeks.
 
Richard Baxter, 1615-1691, English Puritan
 
______________________
 
 
Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, 
where moth and rust destroy 
    and where thieves break in and steal, 
but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, 
where neither moth nor rust destroys 
    and where thieves do not break in and steal.

Help us look for you, Lord

/ Eric Mathews / 1 Comment
The Christ Mosaic, Maria Laach Abbey Germany, via pikpik
 
Jesus,
   how clearly we see you at Christmas time,
   cradled by Mary,
   protected by Joseph,
   worshiped by shepherds,
   honored by kings,
   enshrined on the altar,
   and loved by the world.

But, oh, Lord,
   help us look for you, too,
   among the taxes of life,
   and the wanderings of rootless travelers.
   In the world’s smelly stables,
   and in makeshift mangers.
   In sweat-like drops of blood
   and rough-hewn crosses, humanly fashioned.
   Help us look, Lord –
   and help us find!

Not only at Christmas,
   but throughout a New Year
   that it might become indeed
   ‘the year of our Lord’.

Mary Sue Rosenberger 1940-2020 American author, nurse and chaplain
Prayers Encircling the World
________________________________

Hosea 10:12

Sow righteousness for yourselves,
   reap the fruit of unfailing love,
and break up your unplowed ground;
   for it is time to seek the Lord,
until he comes
   and showers his righteousness on you.
________________________________

What is one practice you can adopt that would help you seek Jesus throughout the year?

God’s rescue operation and new creation

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image by geralt via pixabay

 
Lord, we dream about justice.
We glimpse for a moment, 
    a world at one, a world put to rights, a world where things work out, 
    where societies function fairly and efficiently,
    where we not only know what we ought to do but actually do it.
And then we wake up and come back to reality.
 
…from the very beginning, two thousand years ago,
we the followers of Jesus have always maintained that
 
You took the tears of the world and made them Your own,
    carrying them all the way to Your cruel and unjust death
    to carry out God’s rescue operation,
and that You took the joy of the world and brought it to new birth
    as You rose from the dead and thereby launched God’s new creation.
 
N.T. Wright, 1948-, British New Testament Scholar, retired bishop
 
______________________
 
 
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: 
The old has gone, the new is here!  
All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ 
and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: 
    that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, 
    not counting people’s sins against them. 
And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation.
 

may the Holy Spirit work in the Church today

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Heavenly Father, in the mighty name of our Lord Jesus Christ,
    we want to thank you for the Church which is your own creation.
We want to thank you for the way you have enabled your servants,
    by the power of the Holy Spirit, 
    to propagate your Gospel throughout the world.
We thank you for the zeal that you implanted 
    in the hearts of those early missionaries
    who brought the good news to foreign lands like Africa.
It is our prayer, Almighty God, 
    that the power of the Holy Spirit may work in the Church today, 
    that the hearts of the people may grow from strength to strength,
    that they may be able to withstand the obstacles that come their way
    in their endeavors to make your word reach all corners of the world.
Revitalize your Church and let your presence 
    be with all who are called by your holy Name.
Help each of us to live according to your will 
    so that your glory may be found in your Church.
Let everyone in the Church have zeal to exalt your Name.
 
Prayers Encircling the World, slightly modified
 
________________________________
 
 
So the church throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria 
    had peace and was being built up. 
And walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, 
    it multiplied.
 

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prayer for young people

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Photo by Etienne Girardet on Unsplash

 
Father, we pray for young people growing up 
    in a difficult and dangerous world.
We pray for those who are unemployed,
    who have not worked since they left school and have never earned any money.
We pray for those who are taking their first steps in their skill, trade, or profession.
We pray for those who feel they have no support from the adults around them
    and who grow resentful at what they see to be their indifference.
We pray for those who are caught up in violence,
    either giving it or receiving it.
We pray for those who are morally confused and uncertain of what is right or wrong.
We pray for young Christians as they strive to live out their faith 
    in an unsympathetic world.
Father, you are head of all the family.
Hear our prayers in Jesus’ name.
 
Michael Walker, Baptist writer and lecturer
 
___________________________
 
 
You who are young, be happy while you are young,
    and let your heart give you joy in the days of your youth.
Follow the ways of your heart
    and whatever your eyes see,
but know that for all these things
    God will bring you into judgment.
So then, banish anxiety from your heart
    and cast off the troubles of your body,
    for youth and vigor are meaningless.
 

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open my hand

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photo by Oladimeji Odunsi on Unsplash
 
 
You have called me to open my hand
    so that you can fill it.
 
But I would not open my hand.
I held the world tightly 
    and kept my hand shut.
I would not let it go.
 
But please God,
    open my hand for me.
And do not only open my hand, 
    but also open my mouth –
  and not only my mouth,
    but my heart also.
 
Grant that I may know nothing but you,
    that I may count everything as loss compared to you,
    and that I may strive to be conformed to you.
 
Jeremy Taylor, 1613-1667, English cleric, imprisoned during the Protectorate
 
__________________________
 
 
I am the Lord your God,
    who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.
    Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it.

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Lord of ultimate power

/ Eric Mathews / 1 Comment

photo by Christian Lue via unsplash
      

Father, source of all power, 
We confess that we do not always use the powers you have given us as you intend. 
Sometimes we are afraid of the power we wield, 
        and so do not use it at all; 
  at other times we are careless in our use of it and harm others; 
  at yet other times we deliberately misuse it to achieve our own selfish ends. 
We confess our misuse of our God-given powers, 
    and ask for your grace to use them properly in the future.
 
We think of the power of the nations of the world. 
In international affairs it so often seems that events are out of our control, and rule us. 
Father, help us to see how national power can be wielded for the fulfilment of your will.
 
We think of the power of economic systems. 
Often we feel enmeshed in a system which is not fair 
    and yet cannot be changed without causing immense hardship. 
Father, help us to become masters of economic forces 
    and to order them for the purposes of justice.
 
We think of the power of governments. 
They now touch our personal lives at so many points. 
Father, may politicians and civil servants use their powers responsibly 
    and respect the rights of individuals.

Give us the courage to challenge them when they are wrong, 
    and willingness to share in the processes of government ourselves. 
May the power of governments everywhere be used for the good of all.

Father, yours is the ultimate power. 
We see evidence of it everywhere in the world, 
    but most of all in Jesus Christ. 
In him we see the power of your love: 
    weakness and death did not destroy him and you raised him from death. 
May that same power of love be in us.

Caryl Micklem, 1925 – 2003, English minister and hymn writer
 
______________________________
 
 
His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, 
    through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence,
    by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, 
    so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, 
    having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire.

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challenging the powers

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Christ Preaching, called La Petite Tombe, Rembrandt, via Wikimedia commons
 
 
Vulnerable God,
    you challenge the powers that rule this world
    through the needy, the compassionate,
    and those who are filled with longing.
 
Make us hunger and thirst to see right prevail,
    and single-minded in seeking peace;
    that we may see your face
    and be satisfied with you,
  through Jesus Christ.
 
Janet Morely British author, poet, and Christian feminist
 
___________________________
 
 
Looking at his disciples, he said:

“Blessed are you who are poor,
    for yours is the kingdom of God.
Blessed are you who hunger now,
    for you will be satisfied.
Blessed are you who weep now,
    for you will laugh.
Blessed are you when people hate you,
    when they exclude you and insult you
    and reject your name as evil,
        because of the Son of Man.

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You rule this world

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The Son of Man Enthroned, Lawrence OP, via Flickr, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
 
Blessing and glory and wisdom
and thanksgiving and honour
and power and might
to you, Lord Jesus.

You rule this world
with love and grace.

There are days when we have a hard time seeing it
but you have promised that
you are moving all creation toward that time
when God will get what God wants —
a creation where peace and goodness and compassion
shape all of life.

And you give us good work to do
in the time that is ours:
prayer and praise and hope and truth.

We are not always sure how what we do is serving your holy purposes
but we submit our lives to you.
We trust you, our crucified and risen Lord,
to take what we offer and transform it
so that it glorifies you. Amen
 
Christine Jerrett, minister in the United Church of Canada
_______________________
 
 
After this I looked, and there before me was a great multitude 
that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, 
standing before the throne and before the Lamb. 
They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. 
And they cried out in a loud voice:

    “Salvation belongs to our God,
    who sits on the throne,
    and to the Lamb.”
 
All the angels were standing around the throne 
and around the elders and the four living creatures. 
They fell down on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, saying:

    “Amen!
    Praise and glory
    and wisdom and thanks and honor
    and power and strength
    be to our God for ever and ever.
    Amen!”

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An Unfathomable Mystery

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ecce homo by Honoré Daumier, via Wikimedia Commons
 
 
God, we understand the gospel 
    to be an incomprehensible reversal
    of all righteous and pious thinking.
You declare yourself to be guilty to the world
    and thereby extinguish the guilt of the world.
You yourself take the humiliating path of reconciliation
    and thereby set the world free.
You want to be guilty of our guilt
    and take upon yourself the punishment and suffering
    that this guilt brought to us.
You stand in for godlessness, love stands in for hate,
    the Holy One for the sinner.
Now there is no longer any godlessness, any hate,
    that you have not taken upon yourself, 
    suffered and atoned for.
Now there is no more reality and no more world 
    that is not reconciled with you and in peace.
That is what you did in your beloved Son Jesus Christ.
 
“Behold the man!”
See the incarnate God,
    the unfathomable mystery of your love for the world.
You love human beings.
You love the world – 
    not ideal human beings, but people as they are,
    not an ideal world, but the real world.
 
after Dietrich Bonhoeffer, 1906 – 1945, German  theologian and martyr
 
__________________________
 
 
For this is how God loved the world: 
He gave his one and only Son, 
    so that everyone who believes in him 
    will not perish but have eternal life.

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