14 October 2016
Collects
Prayers
developed from the daily readings
Thursday 14
October 2016
Morning
Prayer
Psalms
108 and 109: 20 - 30
The first
psalm begins with praising God, giving thanks and acknowledging God’s
faithfulness. It moves on to ask for a victory and recognises that if God does
not go with us there are no victories.
The
portion of the second psalm is a prayer for deliverance “Let them curse, but
you will bless”.
Ezra
5
In the
second year of the reign of King Darius of Persia Zechariah makes many
prophecies and Zerubbabel begins to rebuild the temple. The governor Tattenai
questions who gave them permission to begin again, sends a letter to King
Darius and watches and waits for the reply. The letter outlines who is building
the temple and why. They are servants of God, who they had angered and
therefore Nebuchadnezzar took them away into exile. King Cyrus decreed the
house should be rebuilt and gave them back the vessels originally from the
Jerusalem temple out of the Babylonian temple. The foundation stone was laid
and so the rebuild is continuing. The letter asks the King to check the
archives, see the decree and let his view be known.
Matthew
14: 1 – 21
News of
Jesus comes to Herod Antipas after the death of John the Baptist. He says to
his servants that Jesus must be John the Baptist resurrected. We are reminded
of the circumstances of John’s death – beheaded – by the request of Salome his
niece (on the advice of her mother Herodias). When Jesus hears of John’s death
he takes himself to a deserted place by boat. The crowds follow by foot and
when he comes ashore he puts aside his grief and cures the sick.
The
disciples, later in the day tell Jesus to send the crowds away since it is
nearly dark and there is no food. Jesus replies that they need not go and the
disciples should feed them. All the disciples have is 5 loves and 2 fish. Jesus
blesses the food breaks it and instructs that it be shared. 5000 men with women
and children are fed and 12 baskets of food remain.
Collect for Morning Prayer
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| Gum blossom The Deanery Garden Griffith NSW L Osburn |
Thursday 14
October 2016
Evening
Prayer
Psalm
119: 105 – 128
This
psalm is full of powerful one-liners. “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a
light to my path”; “You are my hiding place and my shield”; “Deal with your
servant according to your steadfast love, and teach me your statutes”; “Truly I
love your commandments more than gold, more than fine gold”.
Daniel
3: 1 – 15
Nebuchadnezzar
builds a giant, golden statue and requires the people to bow down at the sound
of a musical ensemble. Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego refuse. The refusal is
reported to the king who becomes enraged and threatens to burn the three in a
furnace challenging, “who is the god that will deliver you out of my hands?”
1 Peter 2: 11 – 17
Peter urges the Christians to
abstain from the things that wage war against the soul and conduct themselves
honourably so that even if they are maligned their actions will be above
reproach when God does the judging. Peter says that we are to accept the rule
in the countries we are in and as servants of God live as free people but don’t
use that as a pretext for evil. Honour everyone. Love the family of believers.
Fear God. Honour the ruler.
Collect for Evening Prayer
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| Grevillea The Deanery Garden Griffith NSW L Osburn |
Great God of consistency and love,
you want the best for us in our dynamic world. You teach us to consistently
worship you and put you first and as a result honour all and gently and
respectfully witness to your great love no matter the regime we live under. Be
with us all, especially those of us who live in situations where regimes
threaten our lives and the lives of those we love if we do not bow to their
god. Free our souls from destructive fear. Remind us that the little we have,
faith, hope, praise, the capacity for prayer is enough, more than enough,
abundantly enough to feed and strengthen our souls through Jesus Christ our
Lord and your Holy Spirit in our hearts. Amen.
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