PRAYER
Call to worship – gathering prayer
God says, ‘Welcome, the door of this place is wide open
to all who wish to come in and find peace.’
Lord, you are here, waiting for us,
waiting –
- to hear our voices in song,
- to listen to the concerns of our hearts,
- to receive all that we wish to give in service,
with your divine blessing.
We, who seek God, come to receive your welcome.
Amen.
Hymn – 397 – King of Glory, King of Peace
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1 King of Glory, King of Peace, 2 Wherefore with my utmost art 3 Seven whole days, not one in seven, |
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George Herbert (1593–1633) |
Introduction
Gospel reading recalls disciples asking Jesus how they are to pray
Theme today is prayer – does anyone feel satisfied with the way they pray?
As we think about prayer – what to pray or how to pray – it is the essential means of communicating with God, but is different for each of us – some sit quietly, look at an icon, whilst we are going about our daily life – we all use different styles.
Prayer of adoration & confession
based on Psalm 138
I give you thanks, O Lord, with my whole heart;
I will sing your praise everywhere I go.
I give thanks to you for your steadfast love,
for your name is Love above all things.
When I call, you answer me,
I will sing your praise everywhere I go.
All the peoples of the earth shall praise you, O Lord,
they shall sing of the ways of the Lord;
for great is the glory of the Lord.
The Lord raises up the lowly;
but the mighty he brings down to earth:
they shall all sing of the ways of the Lord.
Though I walk in the midst of trouble,
you protect me in the face of my enemies;
you stretch out your hand,
and your right hand delivers me.
The Lord will fulfil his purpose for me;
your steadfast love, O Lord, endures for ever.
Let us sing of the ways of the Lord.
Amen.
Prayer of confession
Merciful God, as our words of praise leave our lips, we fear that we will not be able to live up to your standards, or even our own expectations of ourselves. We are quick to ask for what we want, but hesitant when asked to give. Our commitment to prayer is half-hearted, and we are easily distracted by other things on our minds.
Forgive us, Lord, when our love for others falls short of your love for us, and when we fail to act as brothers and sisters to your children around us.
Help us, through prayer, to know your will, and to commit ourselves again to your service in all that we do.
May we not be paralysed by our failure. Release us from the burdens we carry and set us free to be your people. Help us to remember your wonderful words of grace, “Your sins are forgiven”.
Amen. Thanks be to God.
Readings
Luke 11: 1-13 - The Lord’s Prayer
11He was praying in a certain place, and after he had finished, one of his disciples said to him, ‘Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples.’ 2He said to them, ‘When you pray, say:
Father, hallowed be your name.
Your kingdom come.
3 Give us each day our daily bread.
4 And forgive us our sins,
for we ourselves forgive everyone indebted to us.
And do not bring us to the time of trial.’
Perseverance in Prayer
5 And he said to them, ‘Suppose one of you has a friend, and you go to him at midnight and say to him, “Friend, lend me three loaves of bread;6for a friend of mine has arrived, and I have nothing to set before him.”7And he answers from within, “Do not bother me; the door has already been locked, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot get up and give you anything.” 8I tell you, even though he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, at least because of his persistence he will get up and give him whatever he needs.
9 ‘So I say to you, Ask, and it will be given to you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you. 10For everyone who asks receives, and everyone who searches finds, and for everyone who knocks, the door will be opened. 11Is there anyone among you who, if your child asks for a fish, will give a snake instead of a fish? 12Or if the child asks for an egg, will give a scorpion? 13If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!’
Hymn - 459 – Master speak! Thy servant heareth
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1 Master, speak! Thy servant heareth, 2 Speak to me by name, O Master, 3 Master, speak! Though least and lowest, 4 Master, speak: and make me ready, |
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Frances Ridley Havergal (1836–1879) |
Reflection
Bert was a wonderful, heart-felt preacher for more than 70 years in the Circuit where I grew up. He could pray for England, but he went on and on, to the point that you wondered if you had missed the end and he had gone on to something else. The temptation is to make our prayers very wordy, particularly when praying in public, but this leads to concern that we use the right words, and only preachers can pray, making congregations afraid to join in. I used to have a steward who would read a prayer, and end with “was that alright?”. Of course it was alright, it was your prayer!
The disciples are in the same boat, and so they asked Jesus how to pray.
Jesus introduces what we now know as the Lord’s prayer to them. There is a fuller version in Matt 6: 9-13, but this much shorter version reflects Luke’s editing of the story to show what he understood to be the most important emphasis, and suggests 4 headings
• Father, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come. Praise. This emphasises what only God can do, acknowledging God’s divinity, and the difference between God’s kingdom and the reality of the world in which we live, and our desire to bring them closer.
• Give us each day our daily bread. Petition and intercession. The everyday needs of the community can be supplied by God – every day – there is an ongoing requirement but not for more than they need
• And forgive us our sins, for we ourselves forgive everyone indebted to us. Confession and forgiveness – cannot have one without the other. Forgiveness could be translated as “release from the burden”, including the debts of others. We give release to others as God gives to us
• And do not bring us to the time of trial. There is always the temptation to choose the easy way out of situations. The disciples were tested following Jesus’ crucifixion, the early church experienced Roman persecution. This was a test of their commitment and discipleship. Do we think about asking for our faith not to be tested?
What are our priorities when we pray? Do we reel off a load of concerns and tell God what he needs to do about them, or are we happy to pray, thy will be done?
Jesus gives us guidance on what to pray for, but the second part of his response is to tell them how to pray.
Prayer should be a conversation with God, and these readings highlight the importance of persistence and practice. In the film Bruce Almighty, the number of prayers arriving on post-it notes bury Bruce under a mountain of prayers, and he decides the easy answer is to say “yes”, but that just creates even bigger problems. Prayer is not always about getting what we want.
Neither is it about nagging or wearing God down. Persistence and practice, as in sport or music, enables prayer to become a natural or daily habit. It is difficult to find the best way that suits us, and it won’t be the same for us all, and will be different over time. We don’t have to sit down quietly – walking along the street or driving the car often leads me into prayer. Whatever works, works.
Persistence in prayer means:-
• No shut off time when God is closed for business
• Must ask to receive
• Jesus’ assurance that bad things will not be given when we ask for good things, but we should not ask for harmful things. Prayer should not be a means for us getting our own back on our enemies.
God’s generosity and knowledge of what is right for us means we should be moved into acts of generosity ourselves. We should never doubt the willingness of God to act with generosity, and the assurance of the promise of Holy Spirit, given to those who ask, is the greatest of God’s gifts.
But the responsibility is on us to ask. Jesus points out that for all our sinfulness, even we know what is right and good for our children, therefore we can be certain that God knows what is right for us when we ask.
Amen
Prayers for others
Jesus says “Ask, and it will be given to you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you. For everyone who asks receives, and everyone who searches finds, and for everyone who knocks, the door will be opened.”
Lord, in confidence of your love and comfort, we bring our prayers of intercession for all those in need, and ask for your presence.
We ask for the world,
We ask for your church in the world,
for the North East Somerset & Bath Circuit, of which we are a part, for it’s ministers, lay workers, churches and congregations – especially this week we join with the Circuit as we pray together for Nexus as they await the arrival of Simon Topping their new minister, and we pray for Karen, the student chaplain in Bath.
for Churches Together in Radstock & Westfield we pray for our brothers and sisters at Radstock Baptist Church.
For Trinity Methodist Church in Radstock and Westfield, and for all of the members
We ask for our friends who are unwell, and their families who are supporting them, and we ask for ourselves, and for all those we know and love …………
And in silence or spoken aloud, we bring our own prayers.
silence
God of all, we ask on behalf of all those in need.
Amen
The Lord’s Prayer
We say together the prayer that Jesus gave us:
Our Father in heaven,
In hostels, temporary homes, alone on a park bench
hallowed be your Name,
hallowed be your tenderness for all your people
your kingdom come,
to those who hunger for righteousness, to those who thirst for justice
your will be done, on earth as in heaven.
By those in parliament and palaces
Give us today our daily bread
To share with our brothers and sisters
Forgive us our sins
Our fear of risk, of loss, of sharing our wealth, our reluctance to follow where Christ leads – in as much as we forgive those who sin against us
Lead us not into temptation
Into pride, into self-righteousness, into denial of truth
but deliver us from evil.
That prevents us from taking responsibility for those left out in this country
For the kingdom, the power and the glory
are yours,
which will transform all lives for ever
Amen.
Hymn – 414 – Let us break bread together
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1 Let us break bread together with the Lord; 2 Let us drink wine together with the Lord; 3 Let us praise God together in the Lord; |
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African-American traditional song |
Holy Communion – non-responsive
Bead and wine are uncovered
Prayer of invocation
Come, Lord Jesus, with friend, with stranger, with young and with old, be among us today. Come close to us that we may come close to you. Forgive us that we may forgive one another. Renew us so that, where we have failed, we may begin again. Amen
The Story of the Last Supper
Among friends, gathered round a table, Jesus took bread, gave thanks, and, having blessed it, he broke the bread and gave it to his disciples, saying. “This is my body which is given for you”.
In the same way he took wine, and, having given thanks for it, he poured it out and gave the cup to his disciples, saying, “This cup is the new relationship with God, sealed with my blood. Take this and share it. I shall drink wine with you next in the coming kingdom of God”.
So now, following Jesus’ example, we take this bread and this wine; the ordinary things of the world; through which God will bless us. And as Jesus offered thanks for the gifts of the earth, let us also celebrate God’s goodness.
Prayer of Thanksgiving
Let us pray
Blessed are you, O God, for you have brought forth bread from the earth. Blessed are you, O God, for you have created the fruit of the vine.
And here at your table, you offer us bread and wine for the journey to nourish us as sons and daughters. And so, with all our sisters and brothers, before us and beside us, we praise you from our hearts for your unending greatness. Amen
Blessing of the bread and wine
Lord Jesus Christ, present with us now, as we do in this place what you did in an upper room, breathe your Spirit upon us and upon this bread and this wine, that they may be heaven’s food and drink for us, renewing, sustaining and making us whole, so that we may be your body on earth, loving and caring in the world.
Breaking and sharing of the bread and wine
Look, the Bread of heaven is broken for the life of the world. The gifts of God for the people of God.
Invitation
Come to this sacred table, not because you must but because you may; come, not to declare that you are righteous, but that you desire to be true disciples of our Lord Jesus Christ;
Come, not because you are strong, but because you are weak; not because you have any claim on heaven’s rewards, but because in your frailty and sin you stand in constant need of heaven’s mercy and help.
Distribution
Prayer
We praise you Lord God, for the bread of heaven and the cup of salvation which you give for the life of the world. With this food for our journey bring us with your saints to the feast of your glory. Amen
Blessing
On our hearts and on our houses, the blessing of God. In our coming and our going, the peace of God. In our life and our believing, the love of God. At our end and new beginning, the arms of God to welcome us and bring us home. Amen
Hymn - 200 - Great is thy faithfulness
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1 Great is thy faithfulness, O God my Father, 2 Summer and winter, and springtime and harvest, 3 Pardon for sin and a peace that endureth, |
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Thomas O. Chisholm (1866–1960) |
Blessing
Lord Jesus, help us to:
keep asking, keep seeking, and keep knocking.
Bless us and go with us all, now and always.
Amen.
Revd Martin Slocombe
CCLI Licence 354889