Jesus is Lord
Weekly Worship
Prayer for this week
Our Father who is in heaven, and on earth, and in the earth we worship You for who You are. We worship You for Your love and grace that we can enjoy. We see your hand at work in our own life as we seek You and seek to walk in Your presence each moment of each day. We see the rain and the sunshine, the warmth and the coolness, that is all needed for plants of all shapes and sizes to grow; to help our fruit and vegetables and our meat to grow to provide food and sustenance for us. We worship You for providing our homes and families and friendships’ to nurture us. We worship You for the eternity You are walking us in right now and that our whole eternal future is in Your hands.
We confess, Father, that often we don’t get things right, that we take our eyes from You, we don’t seek You and Your Word, we don’t seek You and Your guidance and wisdom. Father, we ask that You will forgive us. Search our heart, Lord God, send Your light into every little crevice of our heart and show us ourselves in Your eyes. Show us our every word or action, every thought or attitude that is not honouring to Your Word and Your heart. Forgive us, Lord God, and wash us in the blood of Jesus. Wash us, renew, restore and deliver us from the clutches of satan. Build us in Your likeness and help us to hold Your Word in our hearts that we might not sin against You.
We pray for our governments; local, state and federal. Father, in this difficult time of the pandemic they are trying to save lives and guide us in reducing the devastating impact on life and so they have made and will continue to make decisions that we may find difficult to live with. Lord God, guide them. They make decisions that affect people’s lively hoods and occupations, and it influences the economy and will do for years. Lord God, guide them. Many people want more from the governments, they expect more, they become impatient. Lord God, help us all to see that they are dealing with the unknown the same as us, and that they are trying to consider the best for all. Lord God, guide them.
Thank You that on the reverse of that, You have sent rain and especially on most of our farmland. We praise You that many farmers have optimism of a good crop and harvest for this year. Thank You that it is looking better than it has for several years. We pray that You will continue to send the rains as that will boost the economy, it will boost our food supplies, it will boost confidence for many of our struggling rural regions. Lord God, You know how, when and where to shower You provision and we rejoice in You.
We pray for those who have health struggles. In our parish Father, we know of many who have a daily battle with a whole variety of ills. Keep Your loving hand on them, we ask. Keep Your arms of comfort wrapped around them. Keep Your hands of healing on them. Lord God, it matters not how big or small the illness, we ask Your hand on them, and that they will know without doubt Your presence and the working of Your Spirit in them.
We pray for ourselves that every moment of every day we as individuals will know that You are with us. Help us to be devoted in reading Your word and knowing You in fullness through Your Word and our talking and walking with You. We pray in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen.
Allan Fahlbusch.
Journeying in the kingdom
Readings for the week: Luke 9: 46-62.
You will notice 3 main characters: 1) the disciples 2) Jesus and 3) others. A little background from Luke’s gospel about the disciples will be helpful here. So far they have been included in a very exciting, surprising, amazing and sometimes bewildering journey with Jesus. For instance 2 dead people are raised, 5000 people are fed from a few fish and small loaves, a lady with a flow of blood for 12 years is healed, a storm is stilled, a demonic man freed from evil spirits, and most recently the transfiguration on the mountain with Jesus, Moses and Elijah, plus all the ‘strange’ stories Jesus told.
The disciples are very privileged to be with Jesus as he unfolds the Kingdom of God. This kingdom is the reign of God on Earth as it is in heaven. The two are not separated – they exist together and this kingdom rule has started in Jesus’ ministry on Earth. He is showing the disciples what it looks like and who will be involved.
This leads us into our passage this morning. The disciples have a political viewpoint of God’s Kingdom (v 46). They argue amongst themselves who will be the greatest in the kingdom. In Mark’s gospel James and John request to sit on either side of Jesus in glory. This shows that their understanding of the Kingdom of God is based on an earthly kingdom that requires competition and power. Verse 54 also shows how they ask Jesus if they can call down fire like Elijah on some people who won’t receive them. I don’t want to condemn these blokes because I know how I can misinterpret it when Jesus says, ‘Follow me.’ If these disciples have experienced miracles, healings and deliverance and still get it wrong then I can too.
Then why does Jesus persist with the disciples when he knows his time on Earth is short (he’s on his way to Jerusalem) and they still don’t understand what the Kingdom is about? This is the amazing truth about Jesus that he gives grace to every person on Earth. His grace allows everyone to make choices good or bad and gives dignity to each decision. This Kingdom reign is the reign of love and grace, and God the Father will have it no other way.
In Luke 10 a lawyer comes to Jesus, ‘Teacher,’ he says, ‘what should I do to inherit the life of the coming age?’ ‘Well,’ replies Jesus, ‘You must love your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your strength and all your understanding, and love your neighbour as yourself. Do that and you will live.’
To ‘live’ in this kingdom, love and grace must show the way forward, and that may mean doing the hard things like putting my own agendas aside and not demanding my rights. To ‘live’ means that we will reflect the true image of our creator God and we will become truly human.
How staggering is it when Jesus calls over a little child and says to the quarrelling disciples, ‘If you receive this child in my name you receive me, and anyone who receives me receives my Father. Whoever is the least among you, that’s the one who is the greatest.’ This is what I believe Jesus is saying: that the way to come into this Kingdom of God is the way of a child who doesn’t have any pretence, nor push, nor presumption.
Knowing God as Father and relating to him as his child is what it really means to be glorified because this is the very thing we were originally and purposely created for (David Kowalick).
Luke’s narrative in this Chapter 9 concludes with some other people Jesus meets on the way to Jerusalem. Luke wants us to make the connection with the parable of the sower in Chapter 8. The people who speak to Jesus on this road are like seeds sown on rocky ground or among thorns. They want to follow him but have conditions attached.
The challenge to move forward, to journey on with Jesus, comes over loud and clear in the last verse 62. If you’re trying to plough a straight furrow and then look back to see how you did, the furrow in front of you will become crooked. If you’re singing a song it’s no good wondering if you sang the previous line right – you’ve got to concentrate on the next line. If you’re on a journey, the map you need is the one which tells you where to go next, not the one for the road you’ve just travelled.
The amazing fact is that the Trinity: Father, Son and Holy Spirit have invited us to be partakers of God’s Kingdom. They have confidence that what they have started they will bring to fruition. What do we take away from this? Are we satisfied in Jesus or are we looking to ourselves? Can we rest confidently in being a servant for Jesus (the greatest ministry in God’s Kingdom)? The title of this message now comes with renewed force. Where and how is Jesus asking you to participate in his Kingdom journey?
‘Kingdom living is living in the fruit of the Spirit. ‘But the fruit produced by the Holy Spirit within is divine love in all its varied expressions:
Joy that overflows,
Peace that subdues,
Patience that endures,
Kindness in action,
A life full of virtue,
Faith that prevails,
Gentleness of heart, and
Strength of spirit.’
(Galatians 5:22-23 TPT).
Amen
Gary Hawke
Holy Communion
We come to a time of remembrance. We come to the table; to the foot of the cross.
We come because we have been instructed to, because we want to… because we need to.
We come today, now, here, across time and space, to be here, with Jesus and the disciples in the Upper Room, together with all who have come before us to this table of remembrance and with all those who will come after.
We watch and listen as Jesus takes the bread, gives thanks and breaks it, and gives it to us, saying, “This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way, after the supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you.”[1]
Sit for a moment with the elements. With the wine. With the bread.
Before you eat the bread sit and wait. Hold the bread and listen.
Listen for the voice of Jesus saying “This is my body, broken for you. Beaten, bruised and put to death. My body that was later healed, raised, and restored so that I could call you brother, so I could call you sister.”
As you wait, talk to God, honestly about the healing you need, the renewal you need – be it physical… emotional… spiritual… don’t hold back. God can handle you at your most raw. He endured the cross for you, He can hear and heal your pain; your private and public hurts.
Perhaps you want to spend this time in giving thanks. Talk to God; thank Him for the grace and mercy you have received. The healing, restoration and renewal you have experienced.
Listen for His response.
When you have shared all that is on your heart with Him you may eat the bread.
Before you drink the wine, again, sit and wait. Hold the cup and listen.
Listen as the voice of Jesus says to you “This is my blood, shed freely for you. Poured out to protect you from death just as the blood of the lamb protected My people in Egypt while they were in slavery[2]. Shed to pay the price you cannot – the price of sin and death.”
As you wait, talk to God, ask Him for protection from the things you fear, the things you believe will do you harm, the things that hold you back from being set free. Again, don’t hold back. The foot of the cross is a place that has already seen all that is ugly and brutal. There is no need to pretend here.
Perhaps you want to spend this time giving thanks. Talk to God; thank Him for the grace and mercy you have received - His protection, your liberation and deliverance.
Listen for His reply.
When you have shared all that is on your heart with Him you may drink the wine.
Prayer after communion
God of new beginnings, our refuge, our protector and our deliverer,
You draw near to us in word and sacrament to strengthen and renew us.
Stir up in us the fire of your Spirit,
may Your light shine through us so much that all may welcome your Son at his coming.
We ask this in the name of Jesus, Emmanuel[3]. Amen.
Grigor Fahlbusch
[1] Luke 22:19 & 20
[2] Exodus 12
[3] Emmanuel – literally means “God is with us”.
Poem
An excerpt from my prayer journal.
I planted strawberries in the garden Lord,
I planted them last year.
I’ve watched them grow,
I’ve picked the fruit,
Strawberries are everywhere.
And as I’ve used the strawberries Lord,
For sweets and jams and tarts,
They’ve given me a message Lord,
A message for my heart.
The way they grow, the way they spread,
A miracle for sure.
For first you start with just one plant,
And then end up with more.
It’s like they spread the story of how great the strawberries taste,
And others want to bear the fruit,
And they begin in haste.
Today I want to tell you Lord,
A strawberry plant I’ll be,
Telling others of the fruit of love that you bear in me.
Other plants will grow for sure,
Bearing loving fruit,
And they in turn will spread the word, the garden will be beaut.
My prayer today is simple Lord,
My life I give to you,
Spreading love to all I meet,
And may your Kingdom bear the fruit.