| 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, EASTER 7
(Remembering the week of prayer for Christian unity.)
John 17: 20-26
(Sermon
1 :”Unity?)
(Sermon 2: “A Celebration”)
Revelation 22: 12-14, 16-17, 20-21.
Acts 16: 16-34
Psalm 97
PREPARATION
The joy of
the Companion Christ be with you all.
And also with you.
See what a
wonderful thing it is, when sisters and brothers can live together in unity.
Though we have many differences, we are members of
one body in Christ Jesus.
If one part
of the body hurts, then the rest of the body shares its pain.
If one part of the body is successful, all of the
body shares its happiness.
Let us worship the Holy God who brings us together
in love.
OR -
We are here today, not because of any
particular denominational virtue or superior doctrine,
but because of the grace of our
Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit.
Light is sown among the people of God,
and happiness among the sincere
in heart.
Rejoice in God, O your people of faith!
Give thanks to
God’s holy name!
PRAYER OF APPROACH
Most
wonderful God, before your glory we are like vagabonds, and compared with your
seamless love ours love is as rags. Yet you have chosen to exalt us, and treat
us as your own children in the family of the church. Grant, we pray, that your
whole church, in every race and denomination, may sing its praise with one
harmonious voice, and serve the world with one inclusive love. Let our worship
and mission, our fellowship and our attitudes, witness to your love and declare
your glory. Through Christ Jesus our redeemer.
Amen!
CONFESSION AND FORGIVENESS
In this
ecumenical week of prayer, let us confess those sins that can divide and
sometimes alienate us from our fellow believers.
Let us pray.
If we have honoured the particular emphases of our branch of the church
more than the health of the “one holy, universal church”.
Rebuke and forgive us, loving Saviour.
If we have been jealous of denominations that seem stronger than ours,
or if we have despised those that appear weaker.
Rebuke and forgive us, loving Saviour.
If in our
dealings with secular friends, we have by word or deed denigrated other
churches or damned them with faint praise.
Rebuke and forgive us, loving Saviour.
If we have
treasured the things that divide us more than the “priceless pearl” of gospel
that we hold in common trust.
Rebuke and forgive us, loving Saviour.
If we have
we have been eager to lecture others, but slow to listen, and prone to use them
to our advantage rather than serving them.
Rebuke and forgive us, loving Saviour.
If we have
placed any item of churchly creed or practice above the command to love one
another as Christ has loved us.
Rebuke and forgive us, loving Saviour.
God of
remarkable patience and inexhaustible resourcefulness, please continue to have
mercy on us and on all your church. Forgive our denominational sins and those
of each individual member, restore us to a humble
faith and to a vigorous pursuit of the glory of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Amen!
FORGIVENESS
By the grace of Christ, you are a forgiven people,
God’s very own, enabled “to declare the wonderful deeds of him who called you
out of darkness into his marvellous light.”
May God make us bold to live as a forgiven and
redeemed and enlightened
people.
Amen!
PRAYER FOR CHILDREN
Bring
Us Together
Loving Lord Jesus,
it must make you sad to see
your church
all split up into different
gangs
like silly kids at school
who won’t play with each other.
Please help me and my church
to be friendly to all others.
Bring us together,
please God.
Amen!
PSALM 97
God is in
charge, let the earth celebrate!
let
coastline and inland shout for joy!
Our clouded eyes prevent us seeing God,
whose rule is founded on loving justice.
Like a fire,
God’s power flows straight ahead,
and
consumes the enemies of love.
Like
lightening, the world is alight,
the
land and sea tremble.
When God is
near, mountains melt,
and
fall in the presence of the earth’s Maker.
The stars at night pulse with God’s power,
everyone can look up and see a wondrous glory.
The boasts
of the image makers look foolish,
the
gods we worship fall over in shame.
Your
daughters, God, dance and laugh,
because of the decisions You make.
For You are not confined to the universe,
You precede
and succeed all other powers.
Those who love God will hate evil,
the
faith-keepers stay safe and well.
Light will
dawn on sincere minds,
and
happiness will swell in sincere hearts.
Be happy in
God, all you true souls!
Give
heartiest thanks to God’s holy name!
.
© B.D. Prewer 2000 & 2012
THAT THEY MAY BE ONE.
John
17:21
Like a
mother praying for her family,
not
expecting copied opinions
or
the identical abilities
but
a plentiful grace
with each other.
Like a
Father praying for his family,
not
wanting blind obedience
or
pretended enthusiasm
but
a commitment
to
each other.
Like a lover
praying for the beloved,
not
asking for a mirror image
or cloned words and gifts
but
a shared belief
in
each other.
As the Lord
praying for his vulnerable church,
not
wanting conglomerate Quaker-Catholics
or
emulsified Baptist-Anglicans
but
an unbroken love
for
each other.
© B.D. Prewer 1999
COLLECT
Most
wonderful God, in your True Son you have called the church into being and
granted it an environment of amazing grace.
Enable us,
and all the branches of your church, to deal graciously with one another, that
glimpsing the compassion of an inclusive community, the world may turn from
fear and doubt into faith and peace.
Through Christ Jesus our Lord.
Amen!
SERMON 1: UNITY?
John 17: 20-21
How do you
feel about the many denominations of the church? Are you comfortable with the
proliferation? Do you think total unity would be a good thing.
By the time
the Gospel of John was being put together, in the latter part of the first
century, some fragmentation of the church was happening. Therefore,
these words of prayer. attributed to Jesus,
were keenly pertinent:
I don’t only pray for these persons with me now, but
also for others who will come to
believe in me through their word. May they all be one; just as you, Father are
in me,
and I in you, so may they be at one in us, in order that the world may
believe that you
have sent me.
Notice how the
middle section of the prayer is filled with concern for the first disciples;
that they stick together through thick and thin, not allowing the world’s
pressures and personal temptations to divide them.
The last
section moves on to the host of new converts; those who because of the witness
of the disciples, will come to have faith and love. Therefore we are included
in this part of the prayer. The prayer is for us and for all our Christian
sisters and brothers around the world, that we may be one.
I am not
sure how many denominations there are in the world today. The last time I
looked it up in an encyclopedia, there were over 700
listed. These are mostly (but not always) derived from the 3 large parties of
Roman Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant..
How does all
this fit with the prayer for unity in John’s Gospel? I don’t only pray for these persons with me now, but also for others
who will come to believe in me through their word. May they all be one; just as
you, Father are in me, and I in you, so
may they be at one in us, in order that the world may believe that you have
sent me.
What is the
one-ness we should be exhibiting? What does the word
of Christ have to say about our current menagerie of churches and sects?
DIFFERING
INTERPRETATIONS
The first
thing I must admit is that the words about one-ness
are so general that it is easy to make different interpretations. Some could
argue that means there should only be one, physical church organisation; one
denomination. Others could argue that it is a purely spiritual one-ness that is intended, all confessing the one Christ, and
therefore diverse outward denominational expressions are quite okay.
Years ago,
when the eminent New Testament scholar, Eduard Schweizer
of the University of Zurich, was a young man, he made an intensive analysis of
the pattern of the church in the New Testament. His conclusions were that the
style of the church was elastic, and varied considerably from place to place.
Congregations were linked, but loosely so. But it would have been inconceivable
to them to have one church on a corner of a city street competing with
different church on the other corner.
From Paul’s
first letter to the Corinthians, we know that divisions did occur and were
regarded as scandalous. He hits out at the disunity which caused one group to
call itself the church of Paul, another the church of Apollos, and another the church of Peter. There is only one
Christ, Paul thundered. Don’t cut Christ’s Body up into little separate
bits.
(One cannot
pause and wonder about our denominations: “I am Calvin’s, I am Luther’s, I am
Wesley’s, I am of Rome, I am Orthodox, I am Anglican, I am AGO, I am Baptist).
MOVEMENT OF
THE SPIRIT
As I see it,
the ecumenical movement has been, and still is, a movement of the Holy Spirit
to bring the churches back from the scandal of multiple alienation (and at
times fierce hostility) to a position of fundamental unity in Christ.
But I
strongly doubt that such unity means the uniformity of one grandiose world body
under some hierarchical structure. That kind of one-ness
would be cumbersome, with about as much flexibility as the cruise ship QE2
trying to stop, turn and rescue a man overboard.
Nevertheless,
many of us feel constrained by the Spirit to seek common ground in fellowship
and outreach and, where possible, in some loose structural affiliation.
This is in
fact what has been happening. There is a grass roots ecumenical movement going
on all around the world. For example-:
Here in the
centre of this city, there is no sense of rivalry between the denominations. I
have gladly commended people (who are not comfortable with this congregation)
to the pastoral care of another denomination where they may feel more at home.
Likewise we have received transfers from them.
We have shared
in ecumenically significant marriages and baptisms.
Lay groups drawn for a number of
differing denominations study and pray together.
And as I mentioned earlier, we have
reached a stage where the natural diversity of our humanity, finds us feeling
more at home with similar souls of other churches than with certain people in
our own.
You see, I
think we really are recovering some of our lost one-ness.
The last hundred years has been an exciting and challenging ecumenical era in
which to live. We should feel privileged to be alive in this age and to be a
small part of what Christ is doing with the churches. There is much more to come, the exact
directions may be unclear to us but we are being taken on a journey with a
divine Guide who certainly knows the path ahead.
The more the
boundaries between the denominations become blurred, the better. This, of
course, makes for a sense of insecurity, and maybe the weaker sisters and brothers will get a
bit rattled, but it is the way to go:
May they all be one; just as you, Father are in
me, and I in you, so may they be at one in us, in order that the world
may believe that you have sent me.
ONE NUN’S
WITNESS
Let me give
you one example of Christ’s prayer being fulfilled.
One morning
a Nun came into my office at the church. She belonged to an Order working with
the homeless, the alcoholics and the drug addicts of the inner city; at the raw
end of the churches mission.
But now, she
told me, because another Order (dedicated to a life of seclusion, silence and
prayer) was in danger of dying out through lack of numbers, she was going to
join them in Sydney. In the few weeks
before she was due to leave, she was visiting all the city churches to get an
understanding of their ministry, so that in the years ahead she could pray for
us each day.
This lovely
Christian woman spent a couple of hours with us, joined fully in our midday
Eucharist, and then went back to her work with the addicts. The next day she
would visit another of the inner city churches in preparation for her future,
secluded ministry.
A few years
have gone by. Today I ask you to think of her, and to pray for her as she prays
each day for us. This woman profoundly understands the unity which Christ
wanted for his church. While I touch the
edges, she has plunged into the depths.
May they all be one; just as you, Father are in me, and I in you, so may they be at one in
us, in order that the world may believe that you have sent me.
SERMON 2: NOT A SERMON BUT A CELEBRATION
This is not a sermon.
More a celebration of our unity in Christ as I name
some of those from many different denominations, whose lives have touched mine
with love.
As I think of the deeper unity of the church which
surfaces in spite of the flaws and divisions which have scandalised the secular
world, I give thanks to Christ Jesus. I rejoice in the good things about my own
Uniting Church in Australia, but I also rejoice in others who have enriched me
with the things of Christ Jesus.
Let me tell you about some of them.
Archbishop Y:
A scholarly Roman Catholic who in speaking to a
group lay persons and ministers from across the denominational spectrum asked
us:
Please
forgive the past arrogance of my church.
Please
be patient with us, for we must hasten slowly.
Max B:
A Baptist psychiatrist who free of any charge agreed
to be a counsellor to my Uniting Church colleague and I in a hectic team
ministry. He not only helped us keep our relationship healthy but encouraged us
to work through a number of complex pastoral issues as they emerged. Always with grace and wisdom.
Miss J.:
Gospel Hall (Open Brethren) who nurtured me in
junior Sunday school and gave me a wonderful grounding in the Scriptures. In
later life I had to sift her doctrinal emphases, but her warmth and love never
needed any sifting or revision.
Alan R:
A brilliant, over-sensitive, sometimes bullied,
youth in one of my parishes. The burning sincerity of his teenage struggles
made an impact on me. After a period of atheism, he has now “got it all together”
as a middle aged Coptic monk in Egypt, known as
Brother Lazarus.
Ev L:
Lutheran pastor and editor
who “nursed” me, and my raw talent and strong convictions, into publication. When we differed and had to
negotiate, he always did so with manifest grace and cordiality.
Ron W:
Anglican priest, now a
bishop.
Whose down-to-earth approach, warm hearted enthusiasm, and hospitality helped
make the gathering of a certain minsters’ “fraternal” a delight rather than a duty.
John R :
An evangelist whose denomination was unknown to me
(I never thought to enquire!), who came to my town when I was in my late teens.
His forthright preaching made me face up to the call of Christ.
Brother G:
A Catholic member of the Taize Community whose visit to an early morning HC in my
church, made the chapel radiant with love.
A R.C. house group:
Where as a guest one evening
I felt the vitality and good humour of Christ’s fellowship (one body!) at its
warmest and deepest.
Sister D: A gracious,
tenacious spiritual supervisor. A Roman Catholic nun. who encouraged me to recognise (most important that!) and
develop my own spirituality.
Conclusion
It is painfully easy to see and deride the faults in
our own and other branches of the church. In truth the “bride of Christ” sags
and bulges in all the wrong places, and too often acts more like a shrew, and
occasionally like a whore.
But this same church has produced all of those
lovely Christians who have ministered to me in immeasurable ways, and has
nurtured in me the very best qualities that have taken root and grown in my own
tatty life.
Today is not the time for churchly self
flagellation.
I rejoice in what God has done, and still does,
through such an imperfect body of people. The church, like each Christian, exists
and bears fruit only by an act of amazing grace. With the patience of that
unfathomable grace, God is still blessing us in remarkable ways through a whole
variety of church people. I give thanks for them all. I give thanks to God for
you here now. I give thanks for the shabby yet glorious bride of Christ.
Prodigious
in generosity is our God, whose name is to be praised in the church, through
Christ
Jesus, now and forever !
THANKSGIVING
Let us make
our prayers of thanksgiving at least as strong as those gripes that occupy many
of the people outside these doors in the city around us.
Let us pray.
God we thank
you for that holy and loving Wisdom which decreed that “it is not good for a person to be
alone”.
We give
thanks for life in communities, and especially for the Christ who links us to
other Christians in the body of the church.
We give
thanks for our denomination, for its leaders and its people, and for the
particular friends or inspiring guides whom the church has given each of us.
Especially
today we give thanks for those in our denomination with whom we often disagree;
who have a different views, yet who feel knit to us in Christ as we do with
them.
For the
other churches we give you thanks, loving God. For their heritage and emphases,
their worship and mission activities.
We give
thanks for the drawing together of Christians in this era; for the National
Council of Churches in Australia, and for all the churches that are active in
our community.
Wonderful is
your name, God of all peoples.
Wonderful is
your name, reconciling Saviour Christ.
Wonderful is your name, Holy Spirit, source of
fellowship.
Glory be to you, one God in three persons, blessed Trinity.
Amen!
INTERCESSIONS
Let us pray
for the Church of Jesus Christ, “militant on earth and triumphant in heaven.”
Let us pray
for the people of those denominations to whom we feel close and with whom we
can work with minimal friction.
Let us pray
for the denominations that make us feel uneasy and with whom common mission at
the present time seems unlikely.
Let us pray
for any who look down on us as irregular and inferior, and for those towards
whom we are tempted to act with a patronising kindliness.
Let us pray
for churches which appear to be flourishing and growing and for those that seem
to be shrinking and ineffectual.
Let us pray
for all those individual Christians who reach out towards others with big
hearted openness, and those who are timid, anxious or suspicious.
Let us pray
for the National Council of Churches in this nation, and for the World Council
of Churches in their service to the world.
Let us pray
for each other here, that the love we find and share together may not become
introverted, but make us more generous and patient with those of all classes,
races, and creeds.
We give you
thanks, loving God, for those who have gone this way before us, and who are now
among the great cloud of witnesses in your eternal church. May our prayers and
theirs hasten the day when the earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord
as the waters cover the sea. Through Jesus Christ our
Saviour.
Amen!
SENDING OUT
Remember, people of the
church of Christ, that here on this Australian continent¾
you
are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation,
the
people of God entrusted to declare the wonderful deeds
of
Christ who has called you from darkness into glorious light.
May we be lovingly one as Christ is one with God:
so that the world may believe.
God will go
with you by day, go with you night by night,
be
with you in light, be with you in shadow,
strengthen you in work, strengthen you in sleep,
the
great God will encircle your thoughts, your prayers, and you service.
Amen!
( From a Celtic blessing)
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