A Prayer for a Land Called Holy

 

How to start?

Allahu Akbar…

We give thanks to Adonai for his faithfulness…

We come to God the Father, in the name of the Son and through the power of the Spirit.

Our hearts are heavy with grief, confusion, anger and worry. 

We don’t know enough, yet maybe we know enough to pray:

Kyrie Eleison – Lord have mercy.

Gracious God, your Son walked in this land, attended weddings and funerals, confronted discrimination and experienced religious bigotry.

Our own government, through a treaty, divided up this land.  A British plan that gave one nation a home and made another nation bereaved to have lost so much.

Through the urgings of the old and the energy of the young Hamas took up arms and as October dawned, we witnessed a new and terrible pogrom.

 Slaughter…

Some on the border who lived there deliberately to foster peace and reconciliation, who literally and metaphorically flew kites of hope, were the first to be cut down.

Did they have to die?  O Lord we lament and call out to you with tears…so many have died and we hang our heads and pray..

Kyrie Eleison – Lord have mercy.

How do we respond?  An eye for an eye?  Evacuation? More deaths? A Presidential visit. 

We listen to thoughtful politicians; we tune in to gracious rabbis and peace loving Imams and our heads swirl…

So many words, all grasping for truth and hope yet all spoken with sadness and fear.

And so we are still…silent before you…








Yet we know we must not stop praying, and longing, and hoping for peace with justice. 

So, we turn to you…whether we call you…

Allah

Yahweh

Or a Trinity of Creator, Redeemer and Sustainor.

 And we pray one more, even a thousand times…

Kyrie Eleison – Lord have mercy.

The Blog returns on Friday 3rd November 2023

A Morning Parable

 I got up ‘grumpy’ on Tuesday morning!  I had a dental appointment – a root filing – and I’m not the best when it comes to ‘the drill’!

So, rather dreading what was coming, I plodded to the dentist with my head down longing for the next hour to be over.  That was until I say a young lad on his way to school, he could have been no more than 14, and there he was in the middle of the street on his phone.  Nothing unusual about that, apart from the fact that he was taking a picture of the glorious sunrise, first facing one way and then the next; a sunrise that I had completely failed to register.

This boy’s face was transfixed by the stunning beauty of a sunny autumn morning, and he obviously wanted to capture it on his iPhone.

I confess I felt, at one at the same time, chastened and inspired.  Chastened that I was so consumed with my dread of the ‘drill’ that I had missed the beauty of an early October day, and inspired that a member of the younger generation had appreciated it so much that he wanted to capture it on his phone.

Well, I walked over the railway bridge into the centre of town and looked down on the commuters lining up for the 7.49am to Marylebone.  They had their phones out too, but not to take a photo of the sunrise!

I entered the dentist, and the next 30 mins were pain free – what a wimp I had been to let such anxiety take hold.

Later that day I chaired an EcoChurch committee at AFC and I couldn’t help but remember the wonder on the young lad’s face as he greeted the sunrise.  It gave me great encouragement and became a helpful morning parable.

Meeting my Younger Self

This weekend I have the great privilege of preaching at my ‘first’ church; Fuller Baptist Church in Kettering, where I served as Assistant (Curate) Minister from 1987-1992.

During those years I served under The Revd Donald MacKenzie, and they became, for me, such a valuable period of continuing ministerial formation.  Indeed, in the four churches that have followed I have regularly asked myself ‘What would Donald do?’!

So, I think maybe as I enter Fuller once again on Sunday I might well walk through the corridors and feel as if I’m meeting my younger self round a few corners.

In truth Fuller are very generous in asking me back because, I sense, I might not be a natural ‘fit’ for them anymore.  Understandably they have changed (liturgically) since my day, whereas I’ve probably not moved on so much in my views about worship – i.e. I’m still something of a dinosaur! Yet I’m thrilled to hear that the church is in good heart and are currently experiencing a good number of children and young people at morning worship – so, ‘well done’ Fuller!

A church’s story is written in a number of chapters.  Each chapter will have its ups and down.  I was thrilled to have been part of Fuller’s life when it had two vibrant youth groups, a regular morning service of around 300 and an evening congregation that never dipped below 120.  More than the statistics is my memory of a loving church family located in a bustling Midland’s town.  A town centre church with so much going on.  It really was a great opportunity and maybe I learnt more about being a minister in those years than all the ones I spent at theological college.

So, I exited their story in 1992 when we moved to my first solo pastorate in Hitchin.  Since then, many more chapters have been written, both in their story and mine and I believe God has continue to be active.On Sunday I will be treading on holy ground, as a guest preacher at one of my former churches.  As I do so I’ll recall Abraham Lincoln’s words to his hometown as he left to travel to Washington for his Inauguration: The God who goes with me is the God who stays with you… Isn’t that great!

God’s blessing has been experienced at Fuller, Kettering, in all the years that have occurred since I left – on Sunday, for a brief moment, I’ll rejoin them to give thanks for that.