20 April 2014

Collects

Prayers developed from the daily readings 

Sunday 20 April 2014  – Easter Day

Christ is risen, Hallelujah!

At the Evening Prayer   

Isaiah 25: 6 – 9

Isaiah paints a picture of a mountain, a great feast, with mature wine and rich food. On this mountain the shroud that was cast over the people is obliterated. Death is no more. God wipes away the tears and no one feels disgrace. On that day all will say: this is our God, he is here, and we waited for him.

Psalm 114

God chooses people, establishes a nation – he is with them from the start. The seas retreat, the Jordan River gives way, mountains and hills shake – the earth recognises God’s hand. God is with them every step, even rock turns into a spring of fresh water.

1 Corinthians 5: 6b – 8

A little yeast makes bread rise. We are like bread we need to throw away the old yeast. Christ has been sacrificed. We need to replace the old yeast of malice and evil with the new yeast of sincerity and truth.

Luke 24: 13 – 49

Two of the disciples are walking on the road to Emmaus talking about what had happened. A stranger approaches and appears ignorant of all the events including the women reporting an angel at the tomb and the empty grave. The stranger interprets the scriptures about the Messiah from Moses to the present time. He shows them that the prophecies have all been fulfilled. They pressure the stranger to stay and eat with them. At dinner, at the breaking of the bread they recognise Jesus – then he is gone. They immediately go back to Jerusalem. They hear Peter’s report and tell their own experience.

Collect for At the Evening Prayer

Soaring Bird Mandurah Estuary WA
2014 L Osburn

Holy God, Holy and Strong, Holy and Immortal, who planned this joyous day of our reconciliation and salvation, lift the veil from our hearts and minds. Be with us as we re-commit ourselves to you and live our lives drawing on your grace and being raised up daily by the sincerity and truth of your great love through Jesus Christ our Lord and the power of your Holy Spirit. Amen.

Sunday 20 April 2014

Evening Prayer

Exodus 12: 1 – 14

This is the story of the Passover with Moses and Aaron in Egypt receiving God’s instructions to the Hebrews so that the Lord would pass over their homes and they would be saved. There is too the instruction that this feast of the Passover should be a perpetual celebration.

Psalm 113

This is a psalm of praise to the Lord forever. What other God is there that raises the poor from the dust and has them sit with the powerful and renowned? Who is it that fulfils us like this God?

Romans 6: 3 – 14

We are united with Christ through baptism and through his death. Our old selves have been crucified. We no longer react to impulse and sin. We are raised from that dead, powerless position. We know that Christ cannot die again. Instead he lives for God and we too are now “dead to sin and alive to God through Christ Jesus” (v.11).

Paul charges us therefore, to not let sin take hold but to present ourselves to God as someone who has come from death into life. We can present ourselves as instruments, and tools of God’s righteousness. Sin can’t win! We are now under the grace of God.

Collect for Evening Prayer

Soaring Boy Deniliquin NSW
2014 L Osburn

Hallelujah wonderful, almighty God. You have brought us from sin and given us a place with you, as yours, safe in your loving care. We rejoice. Keep our hearts and minds open and dedicated to your service so that we are instruments of your righteousness and grace spreading your truth, sincerity, faithfulness and mercy in all the parts of our lives through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord and the power of your Holy Spirit. Amen.