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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, PENTECOST
John 14: 8-17 & 25-27
(Sermon 1: “Your
Counsellor”)
Romans 8: 14-17
(Sermon 2: A Confession: My Uneasiness’)
Acts 2: 1-21
Psalm 104: 24-34 & 35b
PREPARATION
Like a
mighty, rushing wind,
like tongues of living flame,
the Spirit fills
the place where God’s people meet
What no eye has seen nor ear heard, nor the human
mind conceived;
what God has prepared for those who love him,
has now been revealed by the Spirit.
The Spirit
assures our spirit that we are now children of God;
and if children, then also heirs;
heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ.
Let us worship our generous God.
OR -
Let us celebrate the Pentecost event!
These people are not drunk with wine, as you might
think.
This is the fulfilment of the prophet’s words:
I will pour
out my Spirit upon all flesh,
and your sons and your
daughters shall prophesy,
your young people shall see
visions
and your old folk shall dream
dreams.
PRAYER: ADORATION
Let us pray.
Wonderful
are you, Creating Spirit, who from the very beginning have brooded over the
world with loving intent.
Wonderful
are you, endowing Spirit, who filled the Man of Nazareth with the courage of
the purest, costliest saving love.
Wonderful
are you, inflowing Spirit, who fills the church with gifts for compassionate
service within the world.
We your children worship and adore your glory; world
without end.
Amen!
CONFESSION AND ASSURANCE
# for 2 voices
or Leader and People.
Let us seek the saving grace from Christ through the
ministry of the Spirit within us.
Let us pray.
Spirit
Friend, with the confidence Christ Jesus has given us, we come to you,
confessing our sins and receiving your strength.
Come as the
gift of truth to expose all pretence and self deceit.
Come as the rushing wind and scour our being of all
that is stale, dusty and sour.
Come as the
tongues of fire and purge us of everything that is corrupt, base and infected.
Come as the breath of the risen Christ, bringing
forgiveness and new beginnings.
Come as the
Counsellor to encourage integrity and faithfulness.
Come as the seal of adoption that we may rejoice as
children of God.
*
Silent
prayer
O grace of
Christ, redeem us.
O love of God, enfold us.
O power of the Spirit, invigorate us.
Amen!
ABSOLUTION
My Friends,
The Spirit you have received is not a spirit of fear pushing you back into a
life of drudgery, but a Spirit of love.
Amen! Where the Spirit is, there is liberty.
Be happy!
You are a forgiven family to whom the gifts of heaven have been promised and on
whom the first instalment has been poured.
Thanks be to God!
PRAYER FOR CHILDREN
The
Spirit’s Warmth
Great God, we know your Spirit just a little bit.
We can’t explain you, or ever tame you;
‘cos
you come and go whenever you want.
But we do feel your loving Warmth
around us and within us.
We want to be warmed with more and more
of your light and love.
Through Jesus our Lord.
Amen!
PSALM 104 24-34 & 35B
Our God, we
cannot count the living things
that all pour
out from your wisdom;
all creatures
that cover the earth are yours.
Around us is
the sea, deep and wide,
which teems with
countless fish,
and living
creatures small and huge.
Out there is
the restless ocean
where the brave
ships sail
and enormous
whales play..
All
creatures depend on you,
they look to you
for food
given in the
right season.
As you
freely give, they gather it;
when you open
your hands
they are filled
with good things.
If you hid
your face, they would be dismayed,
if you took away
their breath, they would die
and their bodies
return to the dust.
If you
breathed again with your Spirit,
they would be
created again,
renewing the
face of the earth.
Please let
your glory, God, last forever,
smile on your
handiwork and be happy
For if you
frown, the earth will tremble,
at your touch
the mountains will smoke.
I will sing
to my God as long as I live,
I will give praise while I have being.
May my
meditations give you pleasure,
for I delight in
you, loving God
With all my
being I celebrate God!
O yes, my soul! Praise God!
© B.D. Prewer 2000
(Another version is found in “Australian
Psalms.” B D Prewer Ó Open Book Publishers
PENTECOST
Spirit
Friend, you come
like the wind
and
the earth grows hale
at
your breath.
You brood
over the face of the waters
shaping things
as
they were meant to be.
You arrive
like the wind filling sails
on
Sydney Harbour,
and
empower
our
slack churches
with a bold impetus
towards new landmarks.
Some days
you spin
like a whirlwind,
startling, shaking, tearing,
uprooting us from apathy
and
leaving us giddy
with new possibilities
in
discipleship.
You visit us
in
the evening of life
when all our work is done,
like a soft breeze at dusk
soothing tired faces,
comforting our grieving
and
giving peace at the last.
Adapted from “Australian Psalms” B D Prewer Ó Open Book Publishers,
COLLECT
God most wonderful, Friend most holy, you have
fulfilled the Easter season by sending us your Holy Spirit in abundant power.
You have opened the window of opportunity to every
race and nation on earth, and created out of dispirit elements the fellowship
of the one universal church.
Keep us, we pray, in the unity of the Spirit, that
every tongue may tell and every life display the wonders of your love.
Through
Christ Jesus, who lives and loves with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one
God to be praised forever!
Amen!
SERMON 1: YOUR COUNSELLOR
John 14:
16-17a
I will pray to the Father, and he shall give you another Counsellor, to
be with you forever even the Spirit of truth.
“They think
they have swallowed the Holy Spirit, feathers and all.” So spoke a frustrated
Martin Luther about the sectarian Anabaptists of his day.
For some
reason, when it comes to belief about the Holy Spirit, we are in religious
territory which has been marked by more extravagant behaviour than any other.
And yet, conversely, too many other Christians have been slavish and cautious
where they should be free and daring in the liberty of the Spirit.
Maybe we
might find a better balance if we took our model of the Spirit filled person
from Christ himself, rather than some of the exotic phenomena of the adolescent
church. Today I want to take up one of our Lord’s ways of speaking about the
Holy Spirit.
I will pray to the Father, and he shall give you
another Counsellor, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth.
John
14: 16-17a
JESUS
PROMISES THE PARACLETE
The word
“Counsellor” is of course one attempt (RSV)to
translate the Greek word paraclete into English. In the of King James version paraklhton is translated “Comforter”. In some contemporary
translations it is given as “Advocate”.
In the Good News version it is translated as “Helper’. I’m no Greek
scholar, but for what it is worth I reckon the RSV have
got it right with the flexibility of the word “Counsellor”. I will return to this in a few minutes.
First, the setting. Jesus spoke
of the Paraclete at the last Supper. Jesus is comforting his distraught
disciples who have, finally, got it into their thick heads that he is fair
dinkum about being betrayed, tried and crucified. Gathered around that table at
night, under the flickering light of oil lamps, they are both frightened and
beginning to grieve.
Jesus says:
Don’t be upset. You will not be alone. You are losing my physical presence, you
will not have me bodily walking beside you, counselling and encouraging you all
the way. But God will give you a gift more permanent: the Counsellor, the
Spirit of truth, who will be with you and in you. With this Spirit I will come to you, I will
be in you, God
will be in you, and love will be the sure sign of the Counsellor’s presence.
COUNSELLOR:
IN COMMON USAGE
As it
happens, in current English the word counsellor has two common meanings.
1/ We use counsellor to describe a person who enables us to
cope wisely. It can be a financial counsellor, a marriage counsellor, a
pastoral counsellor, a psychiatric counsellor, a family counsellor, or a close
confidant and friend.
.2/
We may also use the word counsellor, for a
person who gives us legal counsel and pleads our cause in court. As in Q.C- a Queen’s Counsellor here in Aus. The
counsellor is one who speaks for us, who stand in our place and argues our
case.
These usages
take us close to the paraclete
used in John’s Gospel.
It can
mean the “enabler,” the one who helps us to cope wisely and well. Thus, in the old (King James) Bible version
we have the word “Comforter”, and in some later translations “Helper”.
But paraclete can also be the legal
counsellor, the legal advocate. Which is exactly why some
translators give us: “Advocate”. The Spirit is the Advocate who speaks
up for us.
For me therefore,
“Counsellor” with its duel meaning takes us closest to the word paraclete. It is a double edged word. The Holy
Spirit is both our Enabler and our Advocate, the one who enables us, and when
necessary, which is often, speaks for us.
ENABLER AND
ADVOCATE
1/ I will
try to tease out these meanings a bit more, starting with the “Enabler”
emphasis.
The Holy
Spirit, God intimately with us, helps us to cope well, to give of our best. The
Enabler fosters our faith and assists us to turn what seems like road blocks
into stepping stones. The Spirit helps us to reach towards the fullness of life
as God’s children. The Spirit imbues us with the love that will last the
distance.
Maybe one
aspect of this Enabler is often neglected: toughness. A good counsellor will at times confront us,
challenge our evasions, question our motives, allow us
nowhere to hide from the hard truth. The Spirit is such a counsellor. When
necessary, the Holy Spirit pursues us with relentless love. Do not for one moment think just of some comforting,
easygoing, sentimental kindness. In truth, there are times when it will feel as
if the Paraclete is our beloved enemy.
2/ Then there is the
other stream of meaning: the Counsellor as our Advocate.
Some
Christians see this as the Spirit pleading our cause before God. This thought works for them. That is fine; I
am not saying they are wrong. But it
does not work for me. I find that way of
thinking puts a wedge between the Holy Spirit and God, as if they were separate
entities, or at least not of the same mind. Whereas in fact the Holy Spirit is
God intimately present with us.
What has
been true in my experience is that the Counsellor speaks for me in my dealings
with other people. If a seeker talks with me about the meaning of Christian
faith, I attempt to explain it. But my words are just words unless some larger force electrifies
them with the spark of living truth. That something is in fact Someone: the Holy Spirit the Counsellor-Advocate. The
Spirit, dealing directly Spirit to spirit with that other person, pleads my
case.
Without this
witness of the Counsellor, my ministry would be a wash out. And so would whatever pattern you have for
serving Christ.
I counsel
someone, and the Spirit pleads my case. I preach a sermon -more inadequate words- but the Spirit pleads my case.
I write
prayers and poems and have them published but the only relevance they will ever
have to another human being is if the Counsellor pleads (advocates) their truth
in the mind and soul of the reader.
I sit in a
tram going into the city; the person next to me opens up about their personal
troubles; I try to lead them towards the help they appear to need; but only the
Spirit can intimately plead my case and make it real to them.
IT DOES NOT
ALWAYS HAVE TO BE DRAMATIC
None of this
is exotic or dramatic: The Spirit’s most
common mode of action is silent and deep and steady. Like the profound love of
a mother brooding over her family. Like
a good mother, the one incontrovertible sign of the Spirit is love.
This is not
to say that the Counsellor does not at times act dramatically and cause some
excitement. The day of Pentecost witnesses to this kind of
happening.
The Spirit
can come like wind and fire and shake the very foundations of our life. It can
be very exciting or sometimes very frightening. For example, when the Spirit
seizes our attention and thrusts us into a new task from which we would like to
run away. The Paraclete can also in special moments lift us to soaring highs in
prayer and praise and Christian fellowship.
However, the
most common mode of action is in quietness. Like the still waters than run
deep. The most Spirit-filled people I
have ever known have not been the flamboyant, colourful characters, but the
quiet people who without a hint of drawing attention to themselves,
radiate the love of Christ Jesus. They have lived so intimately with the Spirit
that the ministry of the Spirit takes shape in them. They too are enablers and advocates . The Holy
Counsellor creates more counsellors.
In Jesus we
see the mint product: Spirit-filled humanity. The Divine become human. And with
Jesus love is the one unmistakable characteristic; such complete love as the
world has not seen before or after. The Counsellor is incarnate in the human
Jesus.
Our Christ
is and must remain the one, dependable “blood test” for genuine, twenty first
century spirituality.
I conclude
with a prayer from the sixth century:
Counsellor, Spirit of Truth, you are present
in all places and you fill all things. You are the treasury of goodness and the
choirmaster of life. Come and live within us, cleanse us from all stains,
rescue and make our spirits whole.
SERMON 2: A
CONFESSION: MY UNEASINESS
Texts? Many!: Acts 2, John 20:
19-23, Luke 4: 16-21, Genesis 1: 1-2, Psalm 104.
Exodus 31:3, ! Corinthians 12:
27:13 - 13: 1-13, Romans 8: 14-17
Why is it that some of us feel ambivalent about
Pentecost?
Why do we feel a mixture of celebration and
discomfort? Is it because we are dead
hearted people who have never been blessed with the new life liberty of the
Spirit? Is it a sign of our spiritual poverty? Are we damned by our lack of
enthusiasm?
Maybe. But then,
maybe not.
Maybe it is actually a sign of growing spiritual
maturity?
Let me express one person’s uneasiness. Mine.
I cannot speak for any of you. I can only speak for
myself on this sensitive matter. In doing so I am not trying to verbally
clobber those who differ from me.
There is one thing I do know about the Holy Spirit.
She does not work in identical ways with each
person. The Spirit does not produce clones, but lovingly creates individual
works of living art that are meant to compliment one another in the community
of the church.
SOME REASONS FOR MY DISCOMFORT
Reason 1:
I recoil against those devotees who only see God at work in the
extravagant and grandiose religious happenings.
There is a wealth of quiet, unobtrusive
spirituality, all inspired and nurtured by the Spirit of God in humble people.
The claim of being possessed by the Spirit must not be high-jacked by those who
boast about performing “wonders and miracles.”
Much work of the Holy Spirit takes place in the
silence.
Reason 2 :
Too many people derive their benchmark of the Spirit
from the excitement of what happened on the Day of Pentecost. They act as if
before that day the Spirit was not around, or at the most, acted in a subdued
way.
Yet, the Book of Acts is only one account of the
coming of the Spirit. The Gospel of John has another, where the risen Christ
“breathes” the Spirit into the lives of the disciples.
Luke, who is also the writer of Acts, in his Gospel
emphasises the Spirit coming upon Jesus at his baptism, and displaying holy
power in all the loving events that followed.
Moreover, in the Old Testament the Spirit of God has
always come; with us from the very beginning, creating and recreating. The
Spirit has never been absent.
Reason 3:
Credibility gap.
Among those who have revelled in the effervescence
of Pentecost, I have met a number (not all!) who have appeared to be extremely religious , but not particularly loving in the practical
business of life.
Some of these have been ridiculed by neighbours or
workmates, not because they are believers but because they don’t do
their work very well, or treat others very kindly, or are notably mean when the
“hat” is being taken around for a charitable cause.
If we ever lose sight of the fact that love,
love of God and of one another,
in deeds not just words, is the prize gift of the Spirit, then we make a
travesty of being filled with the Holy Spirit.
Reason 4
Mental illness?
As a pastor I have, from time to time, had the
difficult task of caring for mentally ill
parishioners who think that their mania
is the sign that they have been singled out by God for double dose of the Holy Spirit.
Maybe, just maybe, this should not influence me, but it
does. It is an irrevocable part of my
experience. Therefore extravagant
claims and behaviour discomfort me, in certain
situations where people claim to “be
in the Spirit.”
Religious
flamboyance, if it operates without a hard-headed, practical application to
that the
mundane aspects of
following Christ day by day, is uncomfortably close to mania. The line
between them seems
paper thin.
Of course I
have to carefully watch myself on this matter, and not rush to superficial
conclusions, nor
ignore genuine moments of elevated spiritual experience in other people.
To do so, would be to deny my own Pentecostal
events.
ROOM FOR EMOTION?
Does what I have said mean that I try to squash, or
despise, emotion
in the expression of
Christianity? Never! I am an emotional
person. Hugs and smiles, and groans and tears, are never far away.
Those of you who know me well, know I am a person of
strong feelings
in matters of the faith. I
have plenty of enthusiasm. Fire in the gut! Worship for me involves an
enthusiastic outpouring of wonder and love in the Presence of God.
In my ministry I have tried to make the day of
Pentecost a truly HIGH FEAST
in the church calendar. It
does mark a momentous occasion where the young church became dramatically
inspired to get of its posterior and boldly begin outreach in the name of its
Lord and Saviour.
In the experience of most Christians
there are times and events where
the work of the Holy Spirit is felt more intensely than others. Times of wind and fire. When the Spirit
gives us a profound shake up. Or
maybe a thorough make-over. These are special and wonderful occasions. Yes,
there are moments when we want to sing and dance to the glory of God!
Therefore my discomfort
about some of the Pentecost
paraphernalia isn’t fear of emotion. It is more a measure of my fear of maybe
trusting my ephemeral emotions rather than trusting God; fear of its potential
to lead me into pious fantasy. Far from denigrating the emotional side of
Christian experience, I know that unless it is channelled into loving deeds it
becomes a damning self-delusion. What I am about to say to you may sound
offensive to some of you, but I must say it: I fear that emotional extravagance
can become a kind of spiritual masturbation.
DON’T BE AFRAID TO CELEBRATE
Having said all that, I now say to you: :Don’t be afraid to celebrate this Pentecost.
Don’t be afraid to do so whenever the Spirit
dramatically moves you. There are times of unexpected spiritual elation and
comfort, and other times of intense spiritual discomfort. Both are to be
welcomed and embraced.
And finally this:
My inadequate words today are me “seeing through a
glass darkly.” Nothing I have said., for better or
worse, can inhibit the Holy Spirit working in ways which are beyond my ability
(or yours) to predict or even comprehend. The Spirit of God operates when and
where and how she will. The Holy Spirit moves with sovereign liberty. As an old
hymn says:
“The Spirit floweth free, high-surging where it will.
In prophet days it spake
of old, it speaketh still”
THANKSGIVING: HOLY SPIRIT
The Lord be with you.
And also with you.
Lift up your
hearts.
We lift them to the Lord.
Let us give
thanks to the Lord our God.
It is right to give our thanks and praise.
Holy Spirit,
life of creation, you
moved on the face of the waters, and creatures that were not came to be.
We thank and praise you, Spirit of life.
Holy Spirit,
courage of the prophets,
you surged in the hearts of
your servants, and they were inflamed with a message of justice and mercy.
We thank and trust you, Spirit of courage.
Holy Spirit,
guide of Jesus, you came upon him like a dove, and through his words and deeds
the land was filled with the glory of the Lord.
We thank and adore you, Spirit of Christ.
Holy Spirit,
joy of the church, you created a new people and gave them the fruits of love,
happiness and peace.
We thank and worship you, Spirit of joy.
Therefore,
with angels and archangels....................
INTERCESSIONS
Spirit of
creation, never resting, never hurried, we pray for all those who try to work
with you for the care for the earth and its creatures.
May they have your wisdom and your resilient determination.
Spirit of new creation, never confounded by folly and sin, we pray for
the re-birth of individuals, communities and nations.
May they be ready to suffer the birth pangs of your
new age.
Spirit of good counsel, we pray for counsellors in medicine,
psychiatry, social work, marriage guidance, family therapy and education.
May they have sufficient compassion and insight to
be your agents of rehabilitation.
Spirit of
advocacy, we pray for all those who stand up and put the case for the weak, the
deprived, the exploited, the oppressed, the abused ,
and the accused.
May they find joy in small victorious and retain the
boldness to expose major wrongs.
Spirit of truth, we pray for your churches which, like common clay
pots, hold in trust the treasure of the Gospel for the enrichment of the nations.
May we preach and exhibit not ourselves, but Christ
Jesus and his abundant grace.
Spirit of comfort, we pray for all who are broken or disillusioned,
suffering, diseased, lonely, afraid, neglected, betrayed, or heartbroken.
May they know your Spirit’s warm love, undergirding
their being with everlasting arms..
Spirit of forgiveness, we pray for some who are prisoners of their own
shame, and for others who are chained to their own anger and lust for revenge.
May they trust your full forgiveness and find the
joy of those who set the prisoners free.
Holy Spirit,
choirmaster of life, please join our energies into one
common anthem of love and praise. Through Christ Jesus our
Saviour.
Amen!
SENDING OUT
God has not
left you to go it alone. Through the ministry of Christ, a Counsellor has been
introduced to you, to enable you to be fruitful, and to guide your feet in the
way of truth and peace.
Thanks be to God!
The grace of
our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be
with you now and always.
Amen!
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