Prayers for Gaza and Israel and for peace…

 the news to 

stop turning war into a video gam

Are you struggling with what to pray about the situation in Gaza and Israel which is escalating every day? Last Sunday I used some prayers in worship from the Corrymeela Community in Northern Ireland. The chapel at Corrymeela is called the ‘Croi’, which is Gaelic for heart (and pronounced ‘cree’). The chapel is a circular design inspired by the shape of a human cochlea. During the services at Corrymeela they say a prayer for courage. As a centre of peace, justice and reconciliation, and especially during the troubles in Northern Ireland, as well as the work they continue to do with communities today, this prayer is offered by them to help us all in our everyday lives, our experiences and decisions.

Courage comes from the heart and we are always welcomed by God, the Croi of all being. We bear witness to our faith, knowing that we are called to live lives of courage, love and reconciliation in the ordinary and extraordinary moments of each day. We bear witness, too, to our failures and our complicity in the fractures of our world. May we be courageous today. May we learn today. May we love today. Amen.

The Methodist Church has this week issued a prayer:

Loving God
I see the news and I am afraid.
Violence is spiralling out of control.
I don’t know what to think or feel.
The temptation to fall into
hatred, or
despair
feels very close at hand.
Help me to remember
that nothing in all creation
can separate me from your love
that I know in Jesus.
May your perfect love for me
cast out my fear
and free me to discern
what is mine to do
amidst the chaos of this suffering world.

I went to a training event about preaching in Advent on Saturday and these words of Maya Angelou were shared: 

“We, Angels and Mortals, Believers and Non-Believers,

Look heavenward and speak the word aloud.

Peace. We look at our world and speak the word aloud.

Peace. We look at each other, then into ourselves.

And we say without shyness or apology or hesitation.

Peace, My Brother.

Peace, My Sister.

Peace, My Soul.”

This week there are few words, only prayer,  that can make a difference in loving with big stuff. But a prayer sent to me the other day reminds us we can make a difference where we are. In worship yesterday I reminded someone overwhelmed with the events of the world an old quote that says I cannot fix all the world’s problems. If I don’t have a ladder I cannot reach the ceiling. I can only do something about that which I can reach. I can’t today do much about Israel and Gaza except pray really, but I can make a difference in my own circle of companions and fellow travellers on my road. Canon Vicky from York Minster who led the training I went on, reminded us that the heart of the story of the incarnate God is this: “glory to God in the highest and on earth peace.” That’s what Maya Angelou speaks of in her poem “Amazing Peace” which I quoted above. Read the whole poem! It’s fabulously relevant. Here’s the prayer I was sent which maybe tells me to concentrate on what I can make a difference about. 

I can’t make the world be peaceful. 

I can’t stall tanks from roaring down roads.

I can’t prevent children from having to hide in bunkers. 

I can’t convince the news to stop turning war into a video game.

I can’t silence the sound of bombs  tearing neighbourhoods apart.

I can’t turn a guided missile into a bouquet of flowers.

I can’t make a warmonger have an ounce of empathy.

I can’t convince diplomats to quit playing truth or dare.

I can’t deflect a sniper’s bullet from turning a wife into a widow.

I can’t stave off a schoolyard being reduced to ash and rubble.

I can’t do any of that, the only thing I can do is love the next person I encounter without any conditions or strings, to love my neighbour  so fearlessly that it starts a ripple that stretches from

one horizon to the next. 

I can’t force peace on the world  but I can become a force of peace in the world  because sometimes all it takes is a single lit candle  in the darkness to start a movement. 

O Spirit, let me be a candle  of comfort in this world let me burn with peace.

I can’t make the

world be peaceful 

I can’t stall tanks

from roaring down roads

I can’t prevent children 

from having to hide in bunkers 

I can’t convince the news to 

stop turning war into a video game

I can’t silence the sound of bombs 

tearing neighborhoods apart

I can’t turn a guided missile 

into a bouquet of flowers

I can’t make a warmonger 

have an ounce of empathy 

I can’t convince diplomats  

to quit playing truth or dare

I can’t deflect a sniper’s bullet

from turning a wife into a widow

I can’t stave off a schoolyard being

reduced to ash and rubble 

I can’t do any of that 

   the only thing I can do

is love the next person I encounter

without any conditions or strings 

to love my neighbor 

so fearlessly that

it starts a ripple

that stretches from

one horizon to the next 

I can’t force peace

on the world 

but I can become a force

of peace in the world 

because 

sometimes all it takes

is a single lit candle 

in the darkness 

to start a movement 

oh, Spirit,

let me be a candle 

of comfort in this world 

let me burn with peace

I can’t force peace

on the world 

but I can become a force

of peace in the world 

because 

sometimes all it takes

is a single lit candle 

in the darkness 

to start a movement 

oh, Spirit,

let me be a candle 

of comfort in this world 

let me burn with peace

 can’t stall tanks

from roaring down roads

I can’t prevent children 

from having to hide in bunkers 

I can’t convince the news to 

stop turning war into a video game

I can’t silence the sound of bombs 

tearing neighborhoods apart

I can’t turn a guided missile 

into a bouquet of flowers

I can’t make a warmonger 

have an ounce of empathy 

I can’t convince diplomats  

to quit playing truth or dare

I can’t deflect a sniper’s bullet

from turning a wife into a widow

I can’t stave off a schoolyard being

reduced to ash and rubble 

I can’t do any of that 

   the only thing I can do

is love the next person I encounter

without any conditions or strings 

to love my neighbor 

so fearlessly that

it starts a ripple

that stretches from

one horizon to the next 

I can’t force peace

on the world 

but I can become a force

of peace in the world 

because 

sometimes all it takes

is a single lit candle 

in the darkness 

to start a movement 

oh, Spirit,

let me be a candle 

of comfort in this world 

let me burn with peace

Moaning or mission?

Today’s sermon on Exodus 17: 1 - 7 

A man goes to join an order of monks.

The head Monk says to the man "This is a silent order. You will only be allowed to speak once, every 15 years."

The man says "Ok" and so begins his time with the silent order.

15 years pass and the man is sitting in the refectory when the head monk approaches and says to the man "It has been fifteen years. What would you like to say brother?".

The man responds, "The porridge could do with a little more sugar." The head monk nods in acknowledgement and walks away.

Another 15 years pass and the head monk finds the man in the dormitory and says "Brother, it has been another 15 years. What is it that you wish to say?".

"The bed sheets are a bit thin." Replies the man. Again the head monk nods in acknowledgement.

Yet another 15 years pass and the head monk sees the man and asks "15 years have passed. Have you anything to say?".

"Well actually I've been thinking about it and I'm leaving the order. It's not really for me." says the man.

"Yes, yes" sighs the head monk "I think that's for the best. You've done nothing but moan and complain since you got here."

 

My mother a few months before she passed away went into residential care. She hated it. She moaned all day and it got so bad I was called into the home for a conversation with the manager because no one wanted to sit with her at dinner because she was making them feel miserable! We meet people who moan all the time and it’s not easy being with them. 

 

The Israelites should have learned to trust God to supply their needs, based upon His previous provision of water at Marah and quail and manna in the wilderness of Sin The Israelites had grumbled against Moses and Aaron but now they are quarrelling with Moses and about to stone him. Before, the Israelites asked Moses what they were to drink but now they are demanding that Moses give them water to drink. Since Moses had been able to miraculously sweeten the waters at Marah and to produce quail and manna, the people appear to be demanding that he perform another miracle for them. It is as though he must prove he has God’s authority to lead them by producing water miraculously.

 

It is bad enough that the Israelites argued with Moses and demanded that Moses provide them with water, but the text informs us that they were also challenging God here as well. Moses accused the people of “putting God to the test”.  

Since Moses’ authority is due to his divine appointment, to quarrel with Moses is ultimately to dispute with God. The issue, however, is not only whether Moses had the right to continue to lead this people, but whether God was among His people. The challenge of the Israelites was, “Is the Lord among us or not?” Imagine this question being asked as the pillar of cloud, in which God was present and by which He revealed His glory and led them to this place, hovered in their sight. Moses’ rebuke (that the people were putting God to the test) fell on deaf ears. They began to rehearse their memories of the “good old days” in Egypt, contrasted with their miseries and near-certain death in the desert.

I was a lay worker (today we call them local pastors) before I candidated for ministry in 1993. I looked after a church that liked to moan and fall out. They would moan they didn’t have a proper Minister. Some ladies in the choir would mutter in my hearing “we don’t know why the village up the road got aproper Minister and we got any old body!” They behaved disgracefully. So much so the Superintendent Minister arrived to meet with them. In those days the village churches only saw the Superintendent perhaps one Sunday a year or when there was trouble. My Superintendent got out of his car, said nothing, walked to the front of the meeting he’d called and said “if you lot think I’ve time to come over here to watch you mucking about, you are very much mistaken!” After that, my senior steward who had called me “that boy” for two years started to call me “the boy” so things got a bit better. 

Unable to dissuade the people, Moses could only cry out to the Lord for help. 

God’s answer was that Moses should walk on ahead of the people. Among other things this indicated that Moses was not about to quit. It also reminded the congregation of Israelites that Moses was their leader, because when water was provided from the rock the people had to follow Moses to get to it.

I think today we are called to move on from moaning to be missional. 

A good moan is okay, it’s good to get things off our chest with a good friend and even with the Minister which several of you have done this week. How we move on is important to work out. Do we keep moaning or do we open our hearts beyond what is bothering us to see what God might be up to? 

The very act of God becoming human in the person of Jesus Christ was the amazing act of God saying yes to humanity. And what an amazing way for God to say yes to us. To want to know us and know our pain and our struggles that we have to suffer in world that has fallen away from God, and to want to know it so much that God would become one of us to feel the suffering first-hand. Because God certainly knew what humanity was like when we were created.

Moaning or mission? 

God never promises it will be easy. He promises he is with us. We will moan. But we mustn’t get stuck. Deuteronomy says “ He led you through the vast and dreadful desert, that thirsty and waterless land with its venomous snakes and scorpions. He brought you water out of hard rock. He gave you manna to eat in the desert, something your fathers had never known, to humble and test you so that in the end it might go well with you.” 

The point is if we follow there is one constant and one certainty that guides us –

God can transform our thirst, our frustration, our lack of faith, our disillusionment and our inability to see a future. So many people have been affected by the felling of that tree by Hadrian’s Wall. 

It was a place of pilgrimage for many. It’s felling for so many has become a parable for all that seems lost in these days. The prayer writer Malcolm Duncan had this prayer to offer on Friday: “When what is familiar is removed, may you remember God is still with you and can be trusted. When loss and pain seem pointless, may God pour comfort and hope into your soul. As you wait to see if life can grow where death feels all pervading, may God give you faith.”

We drove up to Tan Hill Inn the other Friday. It was too busy to stop. I’ve never seen so many camper vans! So we drove on west towards the A66 and Kirkby Stephen. The weather was mixed, rain, rainbows and sun. Ahead, on the horizon was brightness, a parable that the journey wherever we take it will be okay if we trust. 

So, friends, today let’s look up, when we get bogged down with church worries or moan it isn’t how we like it, let’s remember our call and our vision. Help us to accept with joy the challenge of tomorrow’s day. 

Moaning or mission? 

God in hiding, waiting in the dark, blowing over the formless void, speak a word of light and life, we pray, and make something out of this nothing once again.

God hidden in plain sight, divine treasure to be found in seeds and soils, yeast and dough, birds and trees, hunger and thirst, enemy and neighbour, bread and wine, open our eyes, give sight to our blindness and make us to see you once again.

God hiding in me like water, underground rising, seeping out, bursting out, pouring out, come Holy Spirit come and make me full to overflowing once again.

(A prayer by Rev Mark Slaney)