23 March 2016
Collects
Prayers developed from the daily readings
Wednesday 23 March 2016
Morning Prayer
Psalm
88
This
is a prayer of a faithful person who has been seriously ill since childhood and
now believes they are close to death. The prayer asks God to listen. The
psalmist is bold with God. “Is your steadfast love declared in the grave…?”
(v.11). The only sense of hope in this psalm is in God’s response.
Isaiah
63: 1 – 9
The
chapter begins with an ancient poem depicting God as a divine warrior avenging
his enemies and the enemies of his people: no earthly warrior, no prophet. He
is alone. There is no human agent in this poem. God’s alone is the victory. He
redeemed his people he lifted them up in his love.
Mark
12: 35 – 13: 13
Jesus
challenges those in the temple about on how the scribes say, “the Messiah is
the son of David?” (v.35). He encourages the crowds to question and to watch
the scribes and see their hypocrisy. He shows them how to watch and think. He
gives an example what he saw and learned from watching who put what into the
treasury. He found that a poor widow gave her all to God, while others who give
much actually only gave out of their surplus.
A
disciple draws Jesus’ attention to the architecture, the grandeur of the
buildings. Jesus tells him that in the future all that will be gone too. The
disciples come and ask about the end times. Jesus warns them about false
prophets, wars and natural disasters. They will be persecuted and counsels them
not to prepare a defence but to rely on the Holy Spirit at the time. The whole
social fabric will be disrupted.
Collect for Morning Prayer
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| Gang Gang Cockatoos Harrietville Vic 2016 L Osburn |
Wednesday 23 March 2016
Evening Prayer
Psalm
31
“Into
you hand I commit my spirit” (v.5). This is a great prayer of thankfulness and
faith. The psalmist calls for help and suggests to God about what might be done
with wicked and insolent people. Primarily the psalmist is dedicating all of
himself to God, reaffirming faith and trust in God and in praise and
thankfulness acknowledging God’s goodness. The psalm ends entreating all to
love God, to be faithful, to be strong and to be of good courage as we wait for
the Lord.
Jeremiah
11: 18 – 20
This
is a lament from Jeremiah who is the target of an assassination attempt. He was
led by the Lord to denounce evil deeds of others and like a “lamb led to the
slaughter” (v.19), found that his life was now the target. Jeremiah commits his
cause to God.
1
Peter 2: 19 – 25
The
letter encourages people in a time of persecution. If we are punished for doing
wrong, we need to accept that. When we are punished for doing the right thing
and loving God, then that is worthy. We are doing our job and following in the
steps of Christ. The writer goes on to describe Jesus’ response to abuse. He
did not defend or attack back. He trusted himself to God. He carried our sins
to the cross so that we might heal and return to God.
Collect for Evening Prayer
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| Moonscape Harrietville Vic L Osburn |
Gentle saving God, you love us. It
only takes us a minute to look around this planet and see your abundant love
for us. Help us this night to reflect on our day and again commit our souls and
our lives to your strong and soft embrace through Jesus Christ your Son our
Lord and the power of your Holy Spirit. Amen.
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feedback.
Just
the prayers #morningeveningprayers
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