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Let us come together, in Prayer.
Come Together - an interesting challenge isn’t it.
We live in a world that increasingly needs to ’Come Together’. But, sadly, it only seems to do so in tension, anger and war. Race against race; Religion against religion; Families divided. Intolerance and arrogance, distrust and disrespect; There seems to be so much dis-unity. Even within our church, we let our differences override our sameness. Even within our faith, we let our own biases and prejudices disharmonize our relationships and keep us apart. Sometimes we almost seem to be separated rather than united, by a common faith.
’Come Together’.
It really should be simple, shouldn’t it. But it isn’t. A few weeks ago we talked about the Trinity, and how difficult it was to get your brain round it. God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit. One, but not one, three but not three. Tricky. But few people would consider leaving the Church because their interpretation of the Trinity differs from their neighbours. But refugees, same-sex relationships and the War on terror, are tearing some congregations apart.
’Come Together’
"In Christ we are reconciled to God and one another". That’s not just a smart ’theme’ or title. It’s not an empty promise or the latest catch phrase. It’s a fact. So if we are not reconciled to one another then I guess you can draw your own conclusions.
In Christ we are reconciled to God and one another.
So, let us come together, in prayer.
Lord, who is Father, Mother and more, we bring our prayers to You through Jesus Christ who was man, yet more than man.
May we come together in Faith, In Christ we are reconciled to God and one another.
We feel separate, Lord, from those who are sick and dying from malnutrition. We feel unconnected to the little brown babies with swollen stomachs that we see on our televisions. We regard them with detatched disinterest. They are not children like our children.
We pray that we might - in the words of Mother Teressa - see the face of Jesus in the staring eyes of the starving third world. Help us to get connected to the other face of prosperity - that of poverty, so that we might work to eliminate it, forever.
May we come together in Faith, In Christ we are reconciled to God and one another.
We feel no responsibility, Lord, for the little girl whose legs were torn off by a land-mine. We shed no tears for the child who sits crying for parents that will never come. We expect foreign families to be homeless when their country is ravaged by war.
Lord, help us to own up to our responsibilities, to admit the terrible cost of War, so that we might destroy the last mine; and disarm the last soldier. Help us to create smarter diplomats rather than smarter bombs. Help us to abandon our simple, black and white justifications for war, and replace them with full colour love and compassion for all Your children.
May we come together in Faith, In Christ we are reconciled to God and one another.
We cannot understand these refugees, Lord. They are different to us, they are not our sort. We see them only as queue jumpers and terrorists. They come to our shores in fear of their lives, and we push them away in fear of our jobs. We cast them back to their own country because Australia belongs to Australians. We can’t let them take our jobs.
Lord, soften our hearts of stone. We erect walls of barbed wire to keep the refugees safely in, and walls of fear to keep their humanity safely out. Break down our walls. When thoughts of ourselves overide our compassion for those desperate to escape torture and death, remind us of Jesus’ flight to Egypt, as Mary and Joseph sought to escape His death at the hands of Herod.
May we come together in Faith, In Christ we are reconciled to God and one another.
We disaprove, Lord, of those who do not see You as we do. Or who read Your Word but find different meaning. We claim to know Your will, and fault others who disagree with us. We choose to disobey Paul’s first letter to Timothy when he commands that women should not teach or have authority over men. We choose to ignore the writing of Mark regarding divorce. Yet we choose to follow absolutely Paul’s warning in Corinthians 1 about Homosexuality.
Lord, help us to understand Your Word better. Fill us with the Holy Spirit, so that we might live Your Truth, and be Your light. Help us to recognise and accept differences in viewpoints, and to work together for Your greater glory. When we agree, and when we disagree.
May we come together in Faith, In Christ we are reconciled to God and one another.
We despair of terrorists and demand their punishment. We accept no responsibility for their acts. As the world slips further into extremes of wealth and poverty, we continue to distance ourselves from the problem. We blame an evil few, religious maniacs, it’s nothing to do with us.
Lord, help us to understand that although terrorism is never, ever justified, it is a canker that flourishes in the breeding ground of despair, which has its basis in the terrible imbalances in our world, in the enormous chasm between the ’haves’ and the ’have nots’. And help us to realize that while we perpetuate the mindset of ’Might is always Right’ we will only feed the hatred and resentment on which terrorism grows.
May we come together in Faith, In Christ we are reconciled to God and one another.
Lord, as we look around us, we notice empty seats, and missing faces. We pray for those who cannot always be present, for reasons of health, or faith. We pray for their good health, for their happiness, and for their continuing faith. We pray for those who would be named, and those who would not.
We pray for all those who lead us in ministry. Help and support them as they try to lead us in our faith. Help us and them to walk the paths of Your choosing, even when it is difficult or rocky or just strange to us.
May we come together in Faith, In Christ we are reconciled to God and one another.
Lord,
We put you in a box, but you will not be contained. We try to keep you unchanged, but you will not be static. We try to label you, but you are indescribable. We put you safely away in Heaven, but you keep coming into our hearts and lives. We file you under ’Sunday Morning’ but you remain with us all day, everyday.
May we come together in Faith, In Christ we are reconciled to God and one another.
Amen.
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