RCL Readings Sunday 3 October 2010
Lamentations 1:1-6
Psalm 137
2 Timothy 1:1-14
Luke 17:5-10

The Old Testament readings (Lamentations 1:1-6 & Psalm 137) are incredibly painful laments from the hearts of the people in exile. Jerusalem has fallen to the Babylonians and the writer compares the city to a widow (Lam. 1.1) and as you read the passage you feel the pain of grief with “no one to comfort her”. Even her friends have turned against her. The loneliness is palpable and unrelieved. In our world there are many communities and peoples who feel exactly like this and cry out in grief. In our prayers this week, with the aid of this passage, we can cry out with them, pray for them, and take some action to express our solidarity (see Christian Aid or Amnesty web sites or write to your MP – it only takes a few minutes!).

The Lamentations reading gives us a glimpse into grief and in our prayers we can hold those who are grieving and our own grief. Again consider taking some action so that those who grieve don’t feel that even their friends have abandoned them.

Psalm 137 contains expressions of enormous pain and anger. The community in exile is taunted by their captors to sing their songs – their songs of the faith, the songs they would sing as they went up to Jerusalem to celebrate the great festivals of their faith. The rawness of the feelings expressed in this Psalm may come across as shocking – read verses 8 & 9. But before you dismiss this Psalm as being ‘unsuitable’ or ‘sub-Christian’ remember two things: firstly, that people do feel these things and do cry out for revenge; and secondly, that this raw anger is expressed to God – this Psalm ‘legitimises’ telling God how it really feels. It is a Psalm that gives voice to the experience of those who have been subject to unbelievable atrocities and thereby provides us with a window into their experience. To “dash” the heads of the children of oppressors “against the rock”, while not being an appropriate action, it is the heartfelt feeling of those who suffer and if we can at least see that then we will not dismiss their suffering as insignificant and we might seek to address the root causes of such atrocities. Also let this Psalm ‘give you permission’ to express the rawer feeling you may sometimes have to God.

When we move to the reading from 2 Timothy 1:1-14 you couldn’t get a greater contrast of mood! Paul writes full of thanksgiving, although note that it is written from a context of personal suffering (2 Tim. 1:8 & 12a). There are a number of things that can feed our prayers this week from this passage:

• The role of others in Timothy’s faith – his mother and grandmother and Paul himself. Who are the people you give thanks for in your journey of faith? Who do you encourage in their journey of faith?
• The recognition that God is actively involved in us and in others. Seek to recognise and give thanks for the signs of God’s activity and presence.
• Pray for courage for yourself and others in holding to the faith. Remember young people who have recently left home to study at college and university.
• Pray for those who teach the faith: Junior Church leaders, House Group leaders, preachers.
• Who are you called to remember “constantly in your prayers night and day” (v.3b)?

Finally be “grateful to God” (v.3a).

RCL Readings Sunday 26 September 2010
Jeremiah 32:1-3a, 6-15
Psalm 91:1-6, 14-16
1 Timothy 6:6-19
Luke 16:19-31

All of our readings for the coming Sunday, with the exception of the Psalm, have something to do with money, wealth, or property and eternity. They offer an uncomfortable challenge for our prayers and reflection. Actually it is quite striking how much of the Bible addresses the subject that we are so reticent to look at.

The Gospel reading (Luke 16:19-31) of the Rich Man & Lazarus is stark. The rich man is not portrayed as bad or abusive or even arrogant but rather as just not noticing. He is blind to what is happening at his own gate. He even appears, once he sees and understands, to be caring about his brothers and asks that they may be warned so that they don’t fail to see as he has (v.28). Unawareness is no excuse, the revelation of God’s ways is there for all to see and hear. Throughout the prophets, and for us the Gospels, is the clear message of God’s priority for the poor and that the true health and wellbeing of a person, a community and society (big or small!) is measured not by their asset balance but by the condition and treatment of the poor. Where is our ‘gate’ and who is our ‘Lazarus’? For me our gate is both the immediate vicinity in which I live and also the gateway of the news media and agencies like Christian Aid and Amnesty. Few people are bad or abusive of others but I suspect many, if not most, are like the rich man and blind to what is at their gate. Pray for an opening of your eyes.

1 Timothy 6:6-19 examines the effect of money upon the individual. The writer states “there is great gain in godliness combined with contentment; for we brought nothing into the world, so that we can take nothing out of it” (v.6-7). Contentment is not easy to feel in a society like ours. A lack of contentment leads to “temptation” and “senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction.” There is something within most of us that knows this to be true but finds it incredibly difficult to act upon as it cuts across the prevailing culture. The “love of money” takes the focus off of God, Timothy is urged to in verses 11-16 to focus on Christ Jesus and all that he has done, and this ends in what amounts to an act of adoration (v.15-16). Having money is not automatically a barrier, it is the love of money which is the problem, and the writer offers guidance (v.17-19) to those who have money which leads to “a good foundation for the future” and “life that really is life” (v.19). Prayerfully consider how you might achieve “contentment” and how you might use what you have in line with v.18.

The story in Jeremiah 32 is a powerfully prophetic action. With Jerusalem under siege and the future looking incredibly bleak Jeremiah is told to buy the field at Anathoth. His financial advisors would be pulling their hair out. Humanly speaking it really doesn’t make sense but Jeremiah chooses to “invest his money in the divine promise” and “the outlandish conviction that God is faithful” (as one commentator puts it). We are called as churches and as individuals to act prophetically and to place our trust in God, a theme picked up in today’s Psalm (Psalm 91:1-6, 14-16). What prophetic actions are you/we called to take? Much to think and pray about this week!

RCL Readings Sunday 19 September 2010
Jeremiah 8:18-9:1
Psalm 79:1-9
1 Timothy 2:1-7
Luke 16:1-13

This coming Sunday's readings are a real challenge to comment upon! The Old Testament readings and the Epistle all have something to say about prayer, so let’s start with them. Jeremiah 8:18-9:1 and Psalm 79:1-9 come out of the anguish of identifying with God’s faithless people. Because of their faithlessness they have brought about a situation of alienation and isolation such that the ‘enemies’ of God seem to triumph and mock the people of God. God’s prophet and the psalmist cry out to God from the midst of this terrible place that God’s people find themselves in as a result of their own faithlessness. God is not disinterested, the cry of the prophet and the psalmist is an echo of God’s own heart! What might we learn and how might we pray in the light of these two passages?

Faithlessness leads to a sense of alienation and isolation so how might we be more faithful, not to our own preconceived ideas of God, but to God’s self-revelation in Christ? Integrity of belief, attitude and action is called for – a revealing test is to ask ourselves “what would others think we believed if all they had to go on was what they saw and heard in us?”

Secondly, neither Jeremiah nor the psalmist abandoned love for the people of God despite their faithlessness. That’s not easy! It is easy to abandon them and look elsewhere for a more faithful people. I am reminded of Moses after the people’s sin and rebellion in making the golden calf when he pleads with God for their forgiveness and concludes “if you will only forgive their sin – but if not blot me out of the book that you have written” (Exodus 32:32). To pray for God’s people is to share God’s pain for his people and to cry out in hope and longing.

1 Timothy 2:1-7 casts the net wide for the subjects of our prayers, prayer should be “made for everyone, for kings and all who are in high positions” and the aim of such prayer should be “peaceable life in all godliness and dignity”. Such wide ranging prayer seems a daunting task, so in order not to be totally paralysed by the task, each day pick two stories from the news – one focused on an individual or group of people and the other on a leader or group of leaders and pray for them.

The Gospel is a real tricky one this week. Luke 16:1-13 has caused the commentators endless headaches and debates and having wrestled with it I’m still puzzled! Was the manager guilty of corruption or mismanagement? Was the owner praising dodgy practice or being incredibly generous (as the father towards the younger son in the previous parable)? Was the halving of other people’s debts done at the owner’s expense (therefore criminal) or the commission of the manager (therefore generosity but motivated by self-interest)? Is verse 9 ironic? True friendship involves community, commonality and equality, not indebtedness. This passage would make an interesting discussion for a Bible study group but what are we to pray for in the light of it? I suggest we pray for business and business practice; for owners, managers and employees; for customers and consumers; for fair trade; and, picking up a phrase from the Timothy reading, pray for “peaceable life in all godliness and dignity” for all wherever on the line from owner to customer they sit.

RCL Readings Sunday 12 September 2010
Jeremiah 4:11-12, 22-28
Psalm 14
1 Timothy 1:12-17
Luke 15:1-10

The reading from Jeremiah (4:11-12, 22-28) describes a bleak and barren land, a wasteland of the people’s own making. It is a picture with little hope. A picture replicated at different levels within our world – consider some of the current news stories from around the world; also communities in Britain where there is a breakdown in community cohesion; and in the lives of some individuals. A potential picture for many places if we continue to misuse the environment as we appear to be doing. Two prayer responses emerge for us. Repentance involving facing the reality, acknowledging our complicity, expressing our remorse, and a change of direction – the latter being sign that validates the reality of the earlier steps. Secondly, intercession – praying for the ‘wasteland’ places and situations and again seeking how we might be involved.

Psalm 14 is headed in my Bible as a “Denunciation of Godlessness”. By considering what God denounces we can glimpse what God requires. God looks for an acknowledgement of God’s presence, a seeking after divine wisdom, and a doing of good. The acid test of whether a people manifest these requirements is how do the poor fair and how do the powerful exercise their power? We need to acknowledge God’s presence and seek to recognise the signs, we need to pray for divine wisdom in the exercising of power and in the way we live, and the doing of good needs to reflect our understanding of God.

The Gospel reading (Luke 15:1-10) is two very well known parables – the lost sheep and the lost coin. These parables are prompted by the grumbling of the religious folk because Jesus “welcomes sinners and eats with them.” I invite you to consider the following in the light of these two parables:

·       Often grumbling comes because either someone doesn’t do things in the way we expect and to our liking or because they ignore the accepted norms and protocols. What are the things you grumble about and what parable/story might Jesus tell?

·       These are parables that show us what God is like. God is like a shepherd (a class of labourers held in very low esteem in the culture of the day) who has lost a sheep. God is like a woman (the least powerful group in their culture) who has lost a coin. This raises an uncomfortable question: Why do we tend to focus on God as shepherd and not on God as woman?

·       God the shepherd we are told “goes after the one that is lost until he finds it” and God the woman “searches carefully until she finds it”. God shepherd like and woman like doesn’t give up on the lost one. The importance of the individual in the economy of God and the persistence at the heart of God – key words are ‘the one’ and ‘until’.

·       God risks and God parties. God risks the 99 to seek the one and God parties to an extent that in human terms is disproportionate to the amount of money that was lost and found. The enormous value that God places on the finding of the lost.

·       A final point to reflect upon. Are not the grumblers lost too!

Allow these parables to reshape your understanding of God and the ways of God and because the third parable in this sequence (Luke 15:11-31) is missed out in the lectionary reading of Luke remember that both the younger and the older son needed to come home for the Father’s celebration and joy to be complete. Pray for the ‘lost’ and pray for/about your own ‘lostness’. But don’t forget to join in heaven’s celebration.