Prayer Stations

This was an All Age Worship service held on 28 July 2013.  I had some good feedback; on the other hand rather too many people for my taste just sat in their seats and refused to get involved.  And I realised, half-way through the following week, that I had originally intended to use a labyrinth as a sixth station, and forgot!  Bother!

Opening Prayer, led by Worship Leader

Opening Hymn: What a friend we have in Jesus

Reading: Luke 11:1-13

Explanation of what is happening

Prayer Stations

The Lord's Prayer

Hymn: Father, I place into your hands

Notices and offertory

Closing hymn (“May the peace”)

Prayer Stations

Prayer Station 1; Prayer topics:

Index cards in two colours – white for please, pink for thank you. Some topics already written out. People to pick up a card and pray for who or what is on it, either asking or thanking (or both!). Detail unnecessary. People encouraged to add their own topics to other cards, one or two words only.

Prayer Station 2; Newspapers:

Glance through and cut out a headline that says something to you. Pin under one of three headings: Thank you, Please, and Sorry.

Prayer Station 3; Mirrors:

Look in the mirror. Reflect on who you are, and who you would like to be. Know yourself a beloved child of God.

Prayer Station 4; Tactile prayers:

Rosaries and crosses. Pick them up and fiddle with them. Traditional & other prayers will be provided. Just hold the holding cross for a few moments.

Prayer Station 5; Fridge Magnets:

Leaf through magazines to find something that appeals. Cut it out and stick it on cardboard, then stick a small piece of magnetic tape on the back. Take it home to be a reminder of prayer.

When you have finished: Return to your seat in the body of the church, and look at the Cross, allowing it to speak to you.

Party Like it's 33 AD

How many languages do you speak? Who speaks more than one language fluently? Anybody speak more than three languages?

I only speak European languages – English, of course, and French, but also some German. And all three languages “work” the same way. German is very like English in a lot of ways, and very different in others. French is very different, but it still works the same way. And both German and French are ancestor-languages of English. Most European languages – not all, but most – are related to each other, and fairly mutually comprehensible. In some areas of France, for instance, they speak a version of German, and in Luxembourg they all speak both French and German, and their native dialect seems a bit of a mixture!

If I go to a country where I don't speak the language, I can usually pick up the words for groceries or wine or beer even if I don't know how you say them, just by looking at the notices in the shops.

But I know some of you – most of you, perhaps – speak languages that work very differently to European languages. They diverged from whatever the original spoken language was very early, so they build up differently. I'm sure if you grow up speaking them, they seem normal and natural, but I would find them very difficult to learn, other than occasional words. Some European languages, too are like that. Finnish, Estonian and Hungarian, for instance, are very different from the languages that descended from Latin, and nobody knows where Basque came from!

In our first reading, we heard the story the ancient Hebrews told to explain why there were so many different languages in the world. The people had tried to build up a tower that would reach up into heaven, and God said “Can't have that!” because that's not how you get to heaven, so he scattered the people and caused them all to speak different languages so they couldn't co-operate and understand each other.

Well, I wonder why we had that story today? It is, of course, Pentecost, and don't you think that the story we heard read, as we hear every year, is a sort of anti-tower of Babel? Now, everybody can understand what the people are saying! No matter what their native language – as the bystanders said: “Parthians, Medes, Elamites,

and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia,

Phrygia and Pamphylia,

Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene,

and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes,

Cretans and Arabs –

in our own languages we hear them speaking about God's deeds of power."

So in a way, what happened at Pentecost closed the circle, and unmade the differences that God was thought to have caused at Babel.

Some were puzzled –

were these people drunk, or what?

So Peter, glorious, wonderful Peter, who never used to be able to open his mouth without putting his foot in it –

they used to say he only opened his mouth to change feet –

Peter jumps up and lets out this terrific bellow which shuts everybody up, sharpish.

"No, no, no, no, no, no, no," he goes, "we're not on the sauce –

come off it, it's only nine a.m., what do you take us for?"

And he goes on to explain that this is what Joel was talking about,

this is what they'd all been expecting.

And, as you know, he preached so powerfully, and God's presence was so overwhelming, that three thousand people got converted that day alone!

Thus the story.

We know it so well, don’t we?

Every year, this passage from the book of Acts is read.

We could probably quote a great deal of it off by heart, and the bits we can’t quote –

all those nationalities, I can never remember them without looking –

we know what they say, even if we don’t know the words!

One way of seeing it is that it’s the Church’s birthday.

The day we celebrate the anniversary of the explosive growth from a tiny handful of believers –

barely over a hundred –

to several thousand, and on down the millennia to the worldwide organisations and denominations that is the Church today.

But there again, that’s just history, rather like we celebrate our own birthdays. But we should celebrate it. And my grandson is at the age that thinks a birthday has to include cake, so I have brought some cakes – I think, though, that we had better wait until afterwards to eat them so that we don't make crumbs on the carpet in here!

Pentecost is more than that. I think that much of it is one of those things that doesn’t go into words very well –

what is officially called a “mystery” –

the Church’s word for something that words can never fully explain.

After all –

a mighty wind, and what looked like tongues of fire?

We know the damage that both wind and fire can do;

we've seen it all too often.

1987 was a long time ago now, but I still remember clearly the devastation caused both by a fire at King's Cross Underground Station and a huge gale that destroyed vast swathes of woodland. Even today you can still see traces of the damage it caused, if you know where to look.

But the wind and flame from God were not sent to destroy, but to cleanse, to heal, and to empower.

Wind and flame can be good things, as well as destructive. After all, think how when it's really cold, we want to warm ourselves at a flame, don't we? And back in the day, flames were the only way people had to make light when it was dark – we like our little tealights even now, don't we? And sometimes we light tealights or other small candles as a form of prayer.

And wind.... we can do lots of things with wind. Here are some windmills. They don't do anything if you just hold them, but if you blow on them, they come to life and turn round and round..... Blowing on them is all very well, but of course they really come to life if you put them in your garden and let the wind blow them as it will! And remember, when you see them going round, that the Holy Spirit came as wind.

The Holy Spirit is sometimes called the Breath of God; the Hebrew word for “Spirit”, Ruach, can also be translated “Breath”. It seems only fitting that the Breath of God is a rushing mighty wind!

Let's blow some bubbles – go on, you know you want to! Share them round so everybody can! I love to blow bubbles; you have to be fairly serene and steady to be able to do it, and you can't blow them if you're panicking all over the place. Very calming.

But look, too, at the bubbles. They are all different sizes, no two are quite alike. But they are all similar. And they depend on our blowing them! They don't form on their own. They remind me a bit of God's making us. God breathed life into us. And they remind me of how God transforms us - ordinary washing-up liquid transformed into beautiful bubbles!

It's fun to celebrate Pentecost with bubbles and windmills and cake! And, do you know, if you are Jewish you celebrate with cheesecake! Or even if you aren't Jewish – I'm going to have cheesecake for my supper pudding tonight! Robert will be out, but I might save him some if I'm nice! Apparently the reason is that the Jewish festival, Shavuot, celebrates the giving of the Torah, the Jewish version of the Scriptures, and, as you know, one of their rules is that you don't eat meat and dairy products at the same meal, and so they have a tradition of eating dairy produce on Shavuot, and, well, cheesecake is really rather delicious! I only learnt that tradition last year, from a Jewish friend on Facebook, but I promptly adopted it!

Anyway, the point is, while it's fun to celebrate, and we should – we need to remember that Pentecost isn't just history. It happened, yes, on a given date in about AD33, but like so much of our Christian life it is a here and now thing as well as a then and there. As I said earlier, it doesn't really go into words very well – stuff about God very often doesn't.

But what does go into words is that God still sends his Holy Spirit to us today. God the Holy Spirit is still breathing life into us. Still giving us light, still leading us, as Jesus promised, into all truth. And we are still commanded to be filled with the Spirit! We can still have the various gifts St Paul saw in use (the tongues, the prophecies, the healings and so on) and the fruit he saw develop in people’s characters:

"love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control".

And as we saw earlier, the Spirit undoes the divisions between people, enabling us to understand one another, to listen to one another, to hear one another.

And God the Spirit brings life. Abundant life. And so we celebrate, this Pentecost as every Pentecost. Amen! And, perhaps, Hallelujah!

Peter and Paul

Our readings today are about two very different men, both of whom were leaders of the very early church, and both of whom had made appallingly bad starts!

To take them in chronological order, first of all there was Peter. Simon, as his original name was – Peter was basically a nickname Jesus gave him. It means stone or rock; if Jesus had been speaking English, he might have nicknamed him “Rock” or “Rocky”. “You're Rock, and on this rock I will build my church.” But the Greek word was “Petros”, so we know him as Peter.

Anyway, as you know, Peter was an impulsive type, probably with a hot temper. We probably know more about him than we know about any of the Twelve, as it is often his comments and answers that are quoted. And, sadly, the fact that when push came to shove his courage failed him and he pretended he didn't know Jesus. And our Gospel reading today is all about his reinstatement.

The disciples have gone back to Galilee after the Resurrection, and have gone fishing. I suppose they must have thought that it was all over, not realising how much their lives were going to change. And although the other gospel-writers tell us that Peter had seen the risen Lord, he still seems to have had trouble forgiving himself for the denials. So when he realises that it is Jesus on the lake shore, he grabs his tunic – he will have been working naked in the boat – and swims to shore. And they all have breakfast together, and then Jesus turns to Peter. You can imagine, can't you, that Peter's heart started beating rather faster than usual.

Now, part of the whole point of this story doesn't actually work in English, because we only have one word for love, which we use for loving anything from God down to strawberries, including our spouse, our children, our best friends and the writings of Jane Austen! But the Greeks had several different words for love. There was eros, which was erotic love, the love between a man and a woman; then there was storge, which was affection, family love, the love between parents and children. Then, and these are the two words that are relevant to us here, there was philia, which is friendship, comradeship, and agape, a word only found in the New Testament, which means God's love.

And when Jesus says to Peter “Do you love me?” he uses the word agape. Do you love me with God's love. And Peter can't quite manage to say that, and so in his reply he uses philia. “Yes, Lord, you know I'm your friend”. And Jesus commissions him to “Feed my lambs.”

This happens again. “Do you love me with God's love?”
“Lord, you know I'm your friend!”
“So take care of my sheep.”

And then the third time. Well, that's logical, there were three denials, so perhaps three reinstatements. But this time it is different: “Simon, son of John, are you my friend?”

Peter doesn't quite know what to answer. “Lord, you know everything; you know whether I'm your friend or not!” And Jesus tells him, again, to feed His sheep. And comments that he will die a martyr's death, but instructs him to “Follow Me!”

And, we are told, Peter did follow Jesus. We know he was in the upper room on the day of Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit came, and it was he who preached so powerfully that day that three thousand people were converted. We know he was imprisoned, and miraculously released from prison; there is that wonderful scene where he goes and knocks on the door of the safe house, interrupting the prayer-meeting that has been called for the sole purpose of praying for him, and the girl who answers the door is so shocked she leaves him standing there while she goes and tells the others, and they don't believe her! Quite the funniest scene in the Bible, I think.

Anyway, we know that Peter ended up in Rome, and, sadly, tradition tells us that he was crucified upside-down, which those who wrote down John's gospel would have known, which is arguably why it was mentioned.

But the point is, he was completely and utterly forgiven and reinstated, and God used him beyond his wildest dreams.

And so to St Paul. Now Paul, at that stage known as Saul, also needed a special touch from God. He couldn't have been more different from Peter, though. He was born a Roman citizen in the city of Tarsus. He was well-educated, and had probably gone to university, contrasting with Peter, who, it is thought, only had the basic education that all Jewish boys of his time and class would have had. He was a Pharisee, the most learned and holy of the Jewish religious leaders of the day. And, like so many Pharisees, he felt totally threatened by this new religious movement that was springing up, almost unstoppably. It was, he thought, complete nonsense, and not only that, it was blasphemy! He set himself to hunt down and kill as many believers as he could.

But God had other ideas, and grabbed Saul on his way to Damascus. And we all know what happened then – he was blind for three days, and then a very brave man called Ananias came and laid hands on him, whereupon he could see again, and then, after some time out for prayer and study, he became the apostle to the Gentiles, so-called, and arguably the greatest influence on Christianity ever. He had a knack for putting the great truths about God and about Jesus into words, and even today, we study his letters very seriously.

He started off by persecuting believers, but in the end, God used him beyond his wildest dreams!

So you see the common link between these two men: one an uneducated provincial fisherman, the other a suave and sophisticated Pharisee, and a Roman citizen, to boot. Peter knew how dreadfully he had sinned; Paul thought he was in the right. But they both needed a touch from God, they both needed explicit forgiveness, they both needed to know that they were loved, no matter what they had done.

And they both responded.

If this had just been a story of how God spoke to two different men in two different ways, that would be one thing. It would be a fabulous story in its own right. It would show us that we, too, no matter how dreadful we are, no matter how prone to screw things up, we too could be loved and forgiven and reinstated. And this is, of course, true. We are human. We screw up – that, after all, is what sin is, when you come down to it – the human propensity to screw things up. Which we all do in our own particular ways. It doesn't actually matter how we mess up – we all mess up in different ways, and sometimes we all mess up in the same way. It is part of being human. God's forgiveness is constant and unremitting – all we have to do is to receive it. There is no more forgiveness for a mass murderer than there is for you or for me. And there is no less forgiveness, either. It is offered to us all, everybody, even the worst sort of person you can possibly imagine. No nonsense about God hating this group of people, or that group of people. He doesn't. He loves them, and offers forgiveness to them as and where they need it, just as he does to you, and just as he does to me.

But, as I implied, that isn't quite the end of the story. It would have been a fabulous story, even if we had never heard of Peter or of Paul again. There are one or two fabulous stories in Acts that we don't know how they came out – I'm thinking here of Cornelius and the Ethiopian Eunuch; both men became Christians, one through Peter's ministry and one through Philip's, but we are not told what became of them. We don't know what became of the slave Onesimus who had to return home to Philemon, bearing with him a letter from Paul asking Philemon to receive him as a brother in Christ.

But we do know what happened to Peter and to Paul. They both responded to God's forgiveness. They received it. They offered themselves to Christ's service and, through their ministry, millions of people down the centuries have come to know and love the Lord Jesus.

Of course, they were exceptional. We know their stories, just as we know the stories of John Wesley, of people like Dwight L Moody, or David Livingstone, Eric Liddell or Billy Graham. But there are countless thousands of men and women whose stories we don't know, who received God's forgiveness, offered themselves to His service, and through whose ministry many millions of men and women came to know and love the Lord. Some of them went to live and work somewhere else, but many of them lived out a life of quiet service exactly where they were. Some of them, sadly, were imprisoned or even put to death for their faith, but many died in their own beds.

And you see where this is going, don't you? Now, I know as well as you do that this is where we all start to wriggle and to feel all hot and bothered, and reckon we can't possibly be doing enough in Christ's service, or that we are a rotten witness to his love and forgiveness. But that isn't really what it's about. For a start, we are told that when the Holy Spirit comes, we will be witnesses to Christ – not that we ought to be, or we must be, but that we will be! And I know that many of you are doing all you can to serve the Lord exactly where you are, and I'm sure you're doing a wonderful job of it, too.

But maybe it never occurred to you to offer. Maybe you accepted Jesus' forgiveness, and promised to be his person, and rather left it at that. That's fine, of course, but what if you're missing out? You see, the giving and offering isn't all on our side – how could it be? And when we offer ourselves to Christ's service, you wouldn't believe – or perhaps you already know – the wonderful gifts He gives to help you do whatever is is you're asked to do. I know that sometimes people have even wondered if God could possibly be calling them to do whatever it is, as they want to do it so badly that it might be just their own wants! But, you see, God wouldn't call you to do something you would hate, would he? And so what if it did end badly? Look at a young lawyer, in a country far from here, who was thrown into prison for his faith, which led him to stand up for what he believed was right against the government of the day. He left his country when he was released from prison – and to this day he will tell you that it was knowing his Bible as well as he did that helped him stay sane while he was in it – you may have known him, for some years ago he was a local vicar and now he is the Archbishop of York!

I'm rather waffling now, so I'll shut up. But I do just want to leave this with you: Perhaps, today, you just needed to be reminded that God loves and forgives you, whoever you are and whatever you have done. But it maybe you need to think: have you ever offered yourself to God's service as Peter did, as Paul did, as so many down the years have? And is God, perhaps, calling you to something new? Amen.

Palm Sunday

As this was rather different to the normal Sunday liturgy, I am including the order of service as well.  And yes, the meditations are similar to last year's!

Introduction

Opening Prayer and Sentence

 

Hymn 89: Ride on, ride on in majesty

Reading: Luke 19:28-40

Prayer over the Palms

Hymn 78: All Glory, Laud and Honour (processional; at the end, the children leave for Sunday School, if they wish).

Meditation 1: The Procession

Each year there are a few days’ holidays around Passover,

when as many people as possible go to Jerusalem for the biggest festival of the Jewish year.

This year,

you're going, too.

Perhaps you go every year,

or perhaps you can only go once every few years,

if you don't have much money.

Whatever,

this year, you are going to Jerusalem.

Perhaps you are travelling with a large party,

perhaps there are only two of you.

But today is the day you arrive at Jerusalem.

It's hot.

You're walking along,

a bit hot and rather thirsty,

and somewhat tired of walking.

It will be good to get into Jerusalem,

and to your room at the inn.

Suddenly, though,

there is a noise in the crowd.

What is happening?

Everyone has stopped moving.

But there are cheers and shouts going on.

What are people shouting?

Listen, a minute:

"Hosanna to the Son of David!

Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.

Hosanna in the highest!"

What on earth are they on about?

What's going on?

People are pulling branches off the trees.

They're throwing down their cloaks.

Who is this person coming along, anyway?

It's someone riding a donkey.

How extraordinary.

Why a donkey, please?

How very undignified.

And yet everyone else is cheering him.

Oh well, why not.

"Hosanna", you shout,

joining your voice to everyone else's.

"Hosanna" .

And carried away by the emotion of the moment,

you throw your cloak into the road for the donkey to walk on.

Later, when the moment has passed,

you wonder what on earth it was all about.

Your cloak was torn by the donkey's feet.

It's dusty and spoilt from lying in the road.

Your new cloak,

that you had bought specially for the festival.

It's ruined.

And you were shouting and cheering like a mad thing.

How very odd.

Prayer of thanksgiving:

Hymn 85: Meekness and Majesty

Reading: Luke 22:39-62

Meditation 2: Peter

Simon Peter.

You're at the Palace,

in the servant's courtyard.

Jesus is in there somewhere.

You'ld like to rush in and rescue him,

but you don't know whereabouts they are keeping him.

Meanwhile you're cold,

tired,

scared

and feeling sick.

You were up all night, praying with Jesus in the garden.

Well, you might have nodded off a time or two,

but basically you haven't had any sleep.

And he was upset, you heard him;

crying, he was.

Crying out to God to spare him,

not to make him have to go through with this.

But they have taken him anyway.

You followed, at a distance.

You would love to rescue him, but....

There's a fire in the courtyard,

and you creep up to it,

staying in the shadows

and listening to the maids flirting with the soldiers,

and being flirted with in their turn.

And they are talking about the arrest,

and the newest prisoner.

You prick up your ears.

A teacher, they say.

A religious nut, more like.

The servants are sneering at your master.

You'ld love to tell them about him,

about the fun you've had,

the travels,

the wonders.

But your voice won't work.

Suddenly one of the maids turns to you:

"Hey, big boy!

You were with him, weren't you? Tell us about him!"

But your voice doesn't do what you want it to.

"No way, no, not me, you've got the wrong chap!"

you hear yourself babbling.

"No, I'm sure I saw you with him," says one of the other maids.

Again, you find you saying it wasn't you.

You begin to sweat.

Why are you telling all these lies?

Can't they just shut up and leave you alone?

What's going to happen, anyway.

"Oh, come on," says another voice.

"You're from Galilee, same as him.

Your accent proves it.

You must have known him, at the very least."

And your temper explodes, and you round on the man,

cursing and swearing.

You fling out of the courtyard.

And the cock crows.

Just as He had said.

"Before the cock crows,

you will deny me three times."

Just what he had said.

Dear God,

what have I done?

Prayer of penitence and assurance of forgiveness

Hymn 84: My song is love unknown

Reading: Luke 23:13-25

Meditation 3: In the Crowd

Now it is two or three days after the entry into Jerusalem,

early in the morning.

Once again, you are a pilgrim, or holidaymaker, or whatever you care to call it.

You look out of your bedroom window,

and see that a massive crowd has gathered outside the governor's palace.

You step over, to see what all the fuss is about.

"What's happening?", you ask.

"Pilate's going to release a prisoner",

explains the knowledgeable one.

"Like every year.

This year it's going to be a chap called Barabbas,

you know, the terrorist."

"No it isn't," interrupts another person.

"There was a new prisoner bought in last night.

That teacher, the Galilean one.

You know.

They arrested him,

but I gather Pilate wants to release him."

"No way," says a third voice.

"The chief priests won't wear that.

They want him dead."

And then a hush.

Pilate appears on the balcony. A few quiet "boos",

but the crowd is fairly patient.

"Who shall I release to you?" he asks.

"Barabbas!" yell the crowd.

"We want Barabbas.

At first it is only a few voices,

but gradually more and more people start to shout for Barabbas.

"We want Barabbas, we want Barabbas!"

"Well," goes Pilate,

"Are you sure you don't want Jesus who is called the Christ?"

One or two people start to shout "Yes",

but you are aware that there are some heavies in the crowd and they soon shut up, and start the chant again:

"We want Barabbas, we want Barabbas!"

"Then what shall I do with this Jesus?" asks Pilate.

And the voices start, slowly at first,

but more and more people join in:

"Crucify him, Crucify him!"

And you find yourself shouting, too.

"Crucify him, crucify him!"

But why?

Normally you hate the thought of crucifixion.

The Romans consider it too barbarous for their own citizens.

Only people who aren't Roman citizens,

local people,

slaves.

Only they get crucified.

So why are you shouting for this man to be crucified?

Prayer (the Collect for the Day)

Hymn 99: When I survey the wondrous Cross

Reading: Luke 23:26-46

Meditation 4: On the Cross

So they did crucify him.

There were rumours going round all night.

You didn't get any sleep; you kept hearing things

He was with Pilate.

With Herod.

They were going to let him go.

They weren't.

And now he is up there, being put to death.

Maybe he was no better than those thieves beside him.

Who knows?

You certainly don't.

Yes, he's suffering.

God, that must hurt.

Hope it never happens to me.

Shouldn't happen to a dog, crucifixion.

All the same, what does this mean?

Didn't he say he was going to destroy the Temple, rebuild it in three days?

Now he's dying; now he's up there, can't do anything about it...

Maybe he was all a big fake, not the great Teacher.

Such a pity. He could have been the Messiah, but......

that death?

Would the Messiah really die?

Oh yes, he's dying.

Forsaken!

Forsaken by God.

Left alone, alone on the Cross to die.

And yet, and yet.

He feels alone, abandoned, forsaken.

And yet, and yet.

He suffers, suffers dreadfully.

And yet, and yet.

That cry, that cry when he died:

“It is finished! I've done it!”

A cry of triumph, of triumph over death.

Forsaken, yet triumphant.

“Surely this man was a Son of God”.

Prayers of Intercession

The Lord's Prayer

Hymn 88: On a hill far away stood an old rugged cross

Notices and Offertory

Old Rugged Cross (reprise)

Final prayers