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Prayer
Holy God,
you reveal that those who work for peace will be called your sons and daughters.
Help us to work without ceasing for justice which brings true and lasting peace,
remembering the words of Jesus who says:
“Happy are the peacemakers, for they will be called the children of God.”
Grant this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
(Pilgrim Prayer, 13)
Responsive Psalm 139: 1 – 6, 13 – 18
O Lord, you have searched me and known me.
You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from far away.
You search out my path and my lying down, and are acquainted with all my ways.
Even before a word is on my tongue, O Lord, you know it completely.
You hem me in, behind and before, and lay your hand upon me.
Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is so high that I cannot attain it.
For it was you who formed my inward parts; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
Wonderful are your works; that I know very well.
My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret,
intricately woven in the depths of the earth.
Your eyes beheld my unformed substance.
In your book were written all the days that were formed for me,
when none of them as yet existed.
How weighty to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them!
I try to count them—they are more than the sand; I come to the end—I am still with you.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit;
As it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be, world without end, Amen.
Scripture Reading: 2 Corinthians 10: 1 – 11
1 I myself, Paul, appeal to you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ—I who am humble when face to face with you, but bold toward you when I am away!— 2 I ask that when I am present I need not show boldness by daring to oppose those who think we are acting according to human standards. 3 Indeed, we live as human beings, but we do not wage war according to human standards; 4 for the weapons of our warfare are not merely human, but they have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments 5 and every proud obstacle raised up against the knowledge of God, and we take every thought captive to obey Christ. 6 We are ready to punish every disobedience when your obedience is complete.
7 Look at what is before your eyes. If you are confident that you belong to Christ, remind yourself of this, that just as you belong to Christ, so also do we. 8 Now, even if I boast a little too much of our authority, which the Lord gave for building you up and not for tearing you down, I will not be ashamed of it. 9 I do not want to seem as though I am trying to frighten you with my letters. 10 For they say, “His letters are weighty and strong, but his bodily presence is weak, and his speech contemptible.” 11 Let such people understand that what we say by letter when absent, we will also do when present.
The Word of the Lord.
Thanks be to God.
Reflection question: We are all familiar with the saying – put your money where your mouth is. Can you recall a time when you found yourself in a situation where written words were not ‘backed up’ when it came time to implement? How can we ensure that what we write (or say) we also do?
Prayer of Intercession
Gracious God,
forgive us every sin, silence our sighing,
and bring the joy of your salvation to our mouths again.
Forgive our complicity with any oppression,
and our years of spiritual famine and faithless fear.
Forgive us, forgive our fathers and mothers,
forgive our friends and leaders, forgive our enemies.
Pour out your Spirit now, O Lord —
as it is in heaven, let your kingdom come.
Give us faith in place of faltering, fuel our hopes,
and let the earth see your glory made new.
Do what we cannot ask for or imagine,
and bring a real and lasting healing to our land.
Open the eyes of the blind, now,
and strike shame and repentance in the heart of the guilty.
Heal the spirit of your churches,
and let your faithful ones be remembered aright.
Cause the name of Christ to be known,
and let his light bring morning to our night.
Be the same to us, O God, as you were to Israelites in the Exodus, and the wilderness of Sinai, so that gardens of peace would grow in these wastelands of war, and that your name be lifted high.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, we pray this—
One God forever and ever praised.
(Pilgrim Prayer, 15)
With the words that Jesus taught us, let us now pray together in the language of our hearts –
Our Father…
Benediction
Filled with the Holy Spirit, may our witness and work mirror the all-encompassing love of Jesus, as we seek to Father’s will each day. Amen.
