19 March 2015
Collects
Prayers
developed from the daily readings
Thursday 19
March 2015
Morning
Prayer
Psalm 45
This is an ode to a king’s wedding full of praise and
descriptions of beauty, strength and wealth. The song calls to the princess
bride to leave her people, bow to the king and receive the gifts of the
kingdom.
Exodus 4: 1 – 23 (24-26)
Moses is on Mt Horeb conversing with God about his
mission to the Pharaoh the free the Hebrews. “What if they don’t believe I
really talked with you?” God gives him three signs – the staff turning to a
snake, his hand turning leprous, and water from the river turning to blood.
“But I’m not eloquent, says Moses.” God responds with the question, who gives
the capacity for speech to any human? God will guide his words. Moses begs God,
“Please send someone else”. So God says to Moses to go with Aaron. Aaron is
fluent and work as a team.
Moses seeks permission from Jethro, his father-in-law
to go back to Egypt and see his family. He leaves with his immediate family
members for Egypt.
The Lord instructs Moses to go to Pharaoh and perform
the signs and warns Moses that Pharaoh’s heart will be hard initially.
Pharaoh’s first-born son will die.
Luke 19: 1 – 10
Jesus is in Jericho. In the crowd that gathers is
Zacchaeus, a tax collector who is a man of small stature. He has to climb a
tree to get a good view. As Jesus passes he notices Zacchaeus, asks him to come
down and says that he will eat at his home. Zacchaeus makes an undertaking to
give half his wealth to the poor and shows he has been honest by offering to
give back 4 – fold to anyone who he has defrauded. Jesus comes to seek and save
the lost. He is shown to be a righteous person, he might collect taxes, but he
isn’t lost, his small stature is not evidence of sin. He is a true son of
Abraham.
Collect for
Morning Prayer
Gum in flower Broken Hill NSW 2015 L Osburn |
Thursday 19
March 2015
Evening
Prayer
Psalms 46 and 47
God is our strength and refuge and we are to be in awe
of him: to be still and know that God is God.
The second psalm is a joyous song of praise beginning
with clapping our hands. Our God is awesome ruler of everything, shielding us.
God is to be exalted.
Jeremiah 38: 1 – 13
Jeremiah keeps prophesying that the city will fall,
those in it will die and those who go out to the Babylonians will live. His
actions are assessed as undermining the defences of the city. He is taken and
thrown into a cistern where there is only mud, and left to die. An Ethiopian
court official goes to the king and says – this isn’t the way to treat a
prophet. Jeremiah is lifted from the cistern and taken back to the court of the
guard.
Hebrews 13: 1 – 6
Love each other. Be hospitable. Remember prisoners and
those being tortured. Honour marriage. Don’t put money first: be content with
what you have for God will never leave us or forsake us. We can say
confidently:
“The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can
anyone do to me?”(v.6)
Collect for
Evening Prayer
Cleft in a rock The Pinnacles Broken Hill NSW 2015 L Osburn |
O God our helper, our strength and refuge mobilise us to be
your hands, and feet, strong backs and arms in this world. Help us to love each
other, be hospitable especially to strangers, care for prisoners, end torture
and honour the marriages of those around us so that we are the deliverers of
your help and aid and none of your children need fear through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
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