birds of the heaven, ideas of the mind

duality


more spectrum

Those are wonderful Australian native birds, magpie, finches and kingfisher. Thanks for the beautiful photos youkrst. I am not quite sure how they relate to the parable of the sower, but I will take that as a cue to add something quite different myself as well.

Below are my prayers from church yesterday. I also played piano, including the wonderful old hymn Tell Out My Soul. The minister preached on the passage in Luke 4 where the people of Nazareth get mad with Jesus after he preaches at the synagogue and he just walks straight through them when they are trying to toss him off a cliff. He linked it to the Robert Frost poem about mending a wall. I mentioned to him afterwards that this story has two major impossibilities, apart from the miraculous ability of Jesus to walk straight through an angry crowd who were trying to kill him. If Nazareth actually existed, which it didn’t then, it definitely didn’t have a synagogue at the time of Jesus, and nor did it have a cliff. Luke just made it all up. The minister actually agreed that it was obviously historically impossible.

I share these prayers here to explore how an allegorical faith can still be meaningful, using language that does not lie to people with simple faith but respects their perspective. I actually choked up when I got to the bit about the kidnapped missionaries.

Prayers for Others
Lord God, we bring to you our prayers for your involvement and presence in our world. You are beyond everything we understand, and yet in faith we see that you walk among us in our midst, and especially among the least of the world. We pray that you may work in us in love to overcome the blockages that stop us from seeing you and doing your will. We pray that your will may be done on earth as it is in heaven, in order that we may build a world full of love and grace.
We pray for healing and removal of the blockages in our world that create inequality, injustice, suffering, ignorance, division, violence and poverty. We pray for understanding and discussion of what these real blockages truly are, social, political, economic, personal and spiritual. May the word of Jesus Christ, the prophet without honour in his own country, speak to our leaders and laws and communities to dissolve hostility and create love and acceptance. May the presence of Christ help in breaking down the barriers, reconciling all things and making peace by the power of the cross. We pray for removal of the psychological blockages that stop us personally from connecting with others and with God. May our chains fall off so our hearts can be free to rise and follow the will of God for our world.
As we move into 2016, we offer prayers for everyone connected to our congregation who is beginning something new this year. We pray for children who are starting Pre-School and Kindergarten or who are changing schools this year, and for their parents. We celebrate with young people who are starting High School, or College or university, or who have just finished school, and for those in the workforce whose jobs are changing. These are really significant times of transition that can be challenging. As we work to build a caring and nurturing and connected community, we pray for those who provide guidance and mentoring for people in times of transition. May our guides and mentors find the energy and wisdom and patience and concern to maintain regular contact and share constructive conversation and interest. We pray that young people will be open to learn from the experience and help of others as they enter on new stages in their lives, making new connections. We can so easily build fences and barriers between us, either on purpose or by accident and neglect. We pray for the steady work of concern that breaks down barriers.
We take time now to pray for those we know who have health and relationship challenges at the moment, that they may find healing and comfort and support and recovery.
As we think of the future of our church, we pray for our ministers Gordon Ramsay and Hannah Dungan as they prepare for the conclusion of their time at Kippax. We give thanks for their ministry, and pray for Gordon and Hannah’s enduring connections and friendships with our church community, for the success of their endeavours in the future, and for the success of Kippax Uniting Church in ongoing ministry and leadership and community care.
Let us now pray for the wider world. Dr Ken Elliot and his wife Jocelyn were recently abducted by Islamic extremists in Burkina Faso in Africa. The Elliotts have dedicated their lives to helping the people of Burkina Faso, one of the poorest and most isolated countries on earth. We give thanks for their Christian faith, which has sustained and inspired Ken and Jocelyn in their work building a wonderful hospital and providing care for the poor in Africa for more than forty years for no personal reward. We pray for the Elliott’s safety and for their release, and for all who are working to rescue them. We pray also for Syria, for an end to conflict, and for the refugees pouring out of the war zone. We pray for people in Latin America at risk from the alarming new epidemic spread by mosquitos, the Zika virus, and especially for families of children with birth defects resulting from this infection, and for health workers working to stop its spread.
Eternal God of power and love, you establish the order of our world through your reign of grace. In our broken and sinful condition we confess that we fail to see your truth, brought by your prophets. We seek your forgiveness. We pray for our liberation from sin through the power of your holy word, through the perfect example of your son Jesus Christ, who sets us free from the law of sin and death. We pray with the Apostle Paul in Romans 8, that the creation shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. In the name of Christ, Amen.