Almighty ever living God.
who governs all things,
both in Heaven and on earth,
mercifully hear the pleading of Your people,
and bestow Your peace on our times.
We make this prayer through Christ our Lord.
In making this prayer tangible, the following reflection questions emerged.
1. What does the phrase Almighty ever living God mean to me?
2. How might I use this phrase as prayer, affirmation, consolation during this week?
3. As Almighty ever living God governs all things, then this means everything about me too. How might this reality change the way I respond to God this week? Does it change the way I feel (eg if I am feeling anxious, worried, depressed).o
4.What is my image, thoughts, experience, understanding of a merciful God?
5. Do I believe in the power of my prayer to God? Am I persistent and relentless as I plead for my needs and the needs of others and the world?
6. What does God's peace mean to me?
Perhaps I might offer this prayer during the week'' bestow your peace on our times" on the train, at my workplace, parish, in the car, with the family at meal times. Wherever you are, why not ask God to ''bestow Your peace on our times".
You would think that as today is the Second Sunday of Year A that our Gospel would be from Matthew, as this will be the synoptic Gospel from which we will be reading most of the year. But no, the Church provides us with part of chapter 1 from John's Gospel. Why?
Today's verses from Gospel of John follow on from the Baptism of Our Lord, which we celebrated last week.
Today John the Baptist points out Jesus ''Behold the Lamb of God". He testifies and gives witness to the truth that Jesus is the Son of God. He provides the evidence of what he saw and heard. Unlike Herod with the visit of the 3 Kings, John the Baptist was not afraid that he would lose his power or identity as a prophet or that he could lose some of his followers. He spoke for the truth and pointed out Jesus, living out the mission that was given him- to point the way to Jesus.
When I hear this Gospel I think of the chorus Behold the Lamb of God from Handel's Messiah. You might like to listen to it as you ponder this Gospel. The other piece of music that comes to mind is Bizet's Lamb of God. Here are the links to both pieces of music.
So the question arises Am I like John the Baptist and point out Jesus to others? If not, what are the hesitations/blocks in doing so? Often we do not want to come across as a ''bible basher'' or perhaps worse seen as mentally ill. Perhaps, we feel that we would like to do more but feel that society has silenced our voice. We only silence our own voices if we do not open our mouths. Think about it for a moment. No sound comes out if we do not open our mouths.
We also can point others to Jesus by our lives and how we lead them. Using words is of course one way- an important way, but at the right time for the listener. Just like anything else, it is about timing. We need to trust God and keep planting the seeds-the seeds of our words, our way of being, way of life. Can others distinguish something different about us? We must not let fear, reputation and the ways of the world hinder our efforts. As the Collect says God governs everything in Heaven and on earth. He will govern our faltering efforts, our inappropriate timing for the listener if we are sincerely desiring the good for the other person and love Jesus.
Perhaps we would like to do more but feel we do not know the answers to our faith. Perhaps we feel silly if we were asked some questions and we could not answer them. Why not think of these questions this week and think about what would you say if someone asked you them.
The key is to start or restart afresh. There is always more with God.
So, who will you point to Jesus this week?
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