8 April 2015

Collects

Prayers developed from the daily readings 

Wednesday 8 April 2015

Morning Prayer

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.

Exodus 12: 37 – 51

This tells of the beginning of the journey. It was a great mass of people including household servants and other non-Egyptians and their flocks. They ate unleavened bread as they went.

There is a passage that qualifies what happened at Passover. Only those men who were circumcised and their families were permitted to join the Passover meal even if they were slaves of the household.

John 21: 1 – 14

This section recounts a sighting of Jesus after the resurrection. Disciples by the Sea of Tiberius are fishing and catching nothing. At daybreak Jesus is on the shore and tells them to cast their net on the other side of the boat – the net fills. Jesus cooks for them and serves.

Collect for Morning Prayer

Gum blossom
The Deanery Griffith NSW
2014 L Osburn

Nurturing and sustaining creator of the universe, you care for us when we are wandering aimlessly, puzzled and trusting in you. Help us recognise you and your transformative actions in the world. Help us to repent, to listen to your words, to open our eyes to your presence and to try something new so that we are fed and sustained by you, all the days of our lives through Jesus Christ Your Son our Lord. Amen.

Wednesday 8 April 2015

Evening Prayer

Psalm 115

The psalm begins by praising God’s faithful and constant expression of love. The psalmist ridicules the idol-makers who like their idols may have the physical senses (eyes, ears, noses…) but make no use of them. God is contrasted as a sensing and active presence worthy to be trusted. The psalmist blesses the hearer of the psalm.

Isaiah 43: 14 – 25

Babylon is about to be conquered. This is the promise that God is about to do something new, forgive the people and change the world. God forgives not because of sacrifices or offerings but for God’s own sake.

1 Peter 1: 18 – 2: 3

We are ransomed from the futile ways of the past through the blood of Christ. He is the sacrificial lamb. Through Christ we come to trust God who made the resurrection possible. Our faith and hope are with God.

Now that we have been renewed we are charged to love one another. We are to rid ourselves of “malice, guile, insincerity, envy and all slander” (v.2: 1). We are to long for spiritual food through Christ.

Collect for Evening Prayer

King parrot feeding a juvenile
Harrietville Vic 2014 L Osburn

Dynamic, living God, you forgive us, renew us, and feed us with spiritual food for our eternal sustenance. We thank you that you do this for us no matter our past. When we come to you: you transform us all. Help us accept and acknowledge that through the death and resurrection of Christ we are blessed and forgiven, able to love again, to have faith again and to trust again. We ask this through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Please leave a comment or feedback.