Christ the King

Jesus -

You were there at the very beginning

And you’ll be there at the very end

Surely you must be higher than any other

You sit at the right hand of the Father -  the creator of the universe

And every knee shall bow before you

Surely you must be a great King

Yet you came to us as a baby in a dusty stable

And you patiently stand at the door and knock and wait to be invited in to every one of our lives

You don’t throw your weight around

And demand to be obeyed and paid attention to

You don’t want more and more riches

But instead you love it when the wealth of your kingdom is shared and given away

You don’t oppress and make demands and rule with an iron fist

You know and love your people

You dwell amongst them

You want the best for them.

You really are a different kind of ruler

You really are a different kind of King

For the times we haven’t honoured you for who you are

Or lived lives worthy of people dwelling in your Kingdom

For the time we haven’t shared the bounty of what you have poured in our direction

Or even paused in gratitude for what it means to us to be in relationship with you, our just, wise and loving Lord

We are sorry.

Thank you that you forgive us over and over

And call us on to try again.

Name above all names.

We honour you in this time together. Amen.

Prayer of praise - outer eyes and inner eyes

How extraordinary is your creation O God

How miraculous are your ways

At night if we step outside and train our eyes to a spot far far away

we see stars that burn and burn over lengths of time we can hardly imagine

all created by your hand

The stars are there for all to see and wonder at

But how different it feels when we know

we are loved and known

by the one who spread out the heavens

And much closer to home

what a strange thing that we all began from almost nothing

and grew within our mothers in the dark.

Tiny blood vessels forming,

intricate finger bones appearing,

brains and hearts and lungs developing

individual personalities and giftings coming into being

even before we were born and took our first breath for ourselves.

The creation of a human being from nothing into something

can be contemplated with awe by anyone

But how extraordinary it is when we know that we were loved and known by you even before our families met us face to face.

God our creator,

God of love,

in this world there is so much to gaze upon and wonder at.

Open the eyes of our hearts as well as our outer eyes

So that we might know deep within us

How wide, how deep and how close your love is to each of us and to all who dwell on our earth.

Amen

Steadfast God in a tricky world call to worship

Our God is good

And worthy to be praised.

The world can be a tricky place to live

One minute people showing their best

The next minute people showing their worst

But our God was there at the beginning

And God will be there at the end

and in every moment in between:

The source of life and love and an ever present help in times of trouble

Blessed be our God

God of life

Living God

All of life pours out of you.

It was you who said the word and creation came into being;

every living plant and every imaginable living creature.

you formed the first person out of the dust, breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and the man became alive.

we hear you are the bread of life

we sing you are the resurrection and the life

You read you are the way, the truth and the life

You are all about life.

If we wanted life in all its fullness, where else would be go but to you.

When we choose ways of being that stifle life, may your life burst through anyway

When we fill our lives with junk instead of those things that make us strong and fit and full of life, help us instead to crave those things that enliven us

When we are intent on sitting by the lifeless remains of a dream or an idea or a beloved something or someone and don’t notice the shoots of new life bursting forth in a new place - in time heal our hearts and draw our eyes and our energies to life anew

God of life,

Not even the darkness and hopelessness of death can withstand your irrepressible Spirit of life

God who against all the laws of physics that we understand

Called Lazarus from his tomb and raised your Son to life after three days.

And God who invites us to life everlasting 

God of zest and zing

Vivacious, eternal, God of immeasurable oomph

And God of just enough strength to make it through another day

Take us as we are

And breathe your life into our being

That your life may be known in us.

Amen

(Belated) Christmas prayer ...

Light of the world you stepped down into darkness*

All of these years ago

Born in a humble place

To humble people

At a time of struggle

the time of Herod and of Roman rule

And your light shone out and spread wider and wider

And showed the world a new and radical way

The way of love.

A path of peace.

Freedom and healing and purpose.

We praise you God of love

We thank you Prince of peace

And here we find ourselves today

Ordinary people

In a stunning world

Overflowing with abundance

Full of potential

But where struggle is still with  us

In a world where tiny children flee Aleppo, not so far from Bethlehem

And we wonder what a world influenced by Trump and Putin might bring

But we trust in you.

God of light you were there at the very beginning

Bringer of light you were born on Christmas day

And nothing can put that light out

Your faithful love hovers over us

Your peace lives within us and shows us where to put our feet

Your hope reminds us that with you there is always a bigger picture

Your joy can find its home in us even when things get hard 

We praise you God of love

We thank you Prince of peace

We thank you for the gift of Christmas

Amen.

* with gratitude to Tim Hughes for this line from "Here I am to worship"

May your love and truth be made manifest in our ordinary lives.

Awesome God 

On our dusty bedside cupboards

the Word of God

rests

Full of stories

of your love and truth

made manifest

In ordinary lives

May your love and truth

be made manifest

in our ordinary lives.

We human beings

Are made in your image

And by some strange unimaginable miracle

You choose to be involved in our lives

You dwell within us

You invite us into your plans

for the wholeness and healing of our world

Yet as we live and work together

There are times when

In contrast to the

perfect complimentary

dance

of the Trinity

we grate against

and vy with each other

like unsettled tectonic plates

or wounded animals

Forgive us.

Help us to watch carefully and listen deeply

And learn the steps of your dance.

Father, Son and Holy Spirit

Be our peace.

Be made known in us

Be seen in us

May the world find your unmistakable fingerprint in our hands

May the world encounter your merciful face in our faces

And may the world experience your radical, outrageous  love

through us

As we go about our ordinary lives

made extraordinary because of your love.

Amen