Joy Over You
Devotion by Graeme Harrison)
PRAYER:
Eternal Father
through your Spirit delighting in the world,
you created us from joy and for joy:
Grant us a deeper knowledge of the joy
which is ours in Christ Jesus,
that here our hearts may be glad,
And in the world to come our joy may be full:
For with the Son and the Holy Spirit,
You are our God, now and forever.
Raymond Huckley “Evening Prayer, York Minster
Read:
Philippians 1:1-6 Read this 3 times, each time asking God’s help and thinking about those words or phrases that leap out at you.
Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus,
To all God’s holy people in Christ Jesus at Philippi, together with the overseers and deacons:
Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.
(Philippians 1:1-6 NIV)
Thought for the Day:
What gives you joy about your church community? Paul knows these people well, he understands them and what moves them to action, he loves them and he feels joy because of them.
Being a Christian can be sacrificial and hard work but this aspect of being a Christian seems all worth it because of the joy. Sometimes you can lose your joy. A sure sign that something is out of place but joy can be restored when our relationship with God is attended. After all, where does the joy come from if not there?
John’s Gospel & Power
(Devotion by Ros McDonald)
Prayer: A blessing from Ephesians 3
May the Maker of heaven and earth
grant that from the riches of God’s glory
you may be strengthened in your inner being
with power through the Spirit,
and that through faith Christ may dwell
in your hearts in love.
With deep roots and firm foundations,
may you, in company with all God’s
people, be strong to grasp
what is the breadth and length
and height and depth of Christ’s love,
and to know it, though it is beyond knowledge.
And so may you be filled with the very fullness of God.
Now to the one who by the power at work
within us is able to accomplish
immeasurably more than all
we can ask or imagine,
be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus
to all generations, for ever and ever. Amen
(from Be Our Freedom Lord, Terry Falla)
Read:
John 18: 33-36 (Translation by N.T.Wright)
Read this 3 times, each time asking God’s help and thinking about those words or phrases that leap out at you.
So Pilate went back in to the Praetorium and spoke to Jesus.
“Are you the king of the Jews?” he asked.
“Was it your idea to ask that?” asked Jesus. “Or did other people tell you about me?”
“I’m not a Jew, am I? retorted Pilate. “Your own people, and the chief priests, have handed you over to me! What have you done?”
“My kingdom isn’t the sort that grows in this world,” replied Jesus. “If my kingdom were from this world, my supporters would have fought to stop me being handed over to the Judaeans. So, then, my kingdom is not the sort that comes from here.”
Thought for the day:
Based on Broken Signposts: How Christianity Makes Sense of the World, by N.T.Wright
In the words of N.T.Wright: There are two kinds of kingdoms, two kinds of power. If Jesus’s kingdom were “from this world,” his servants would fight. But Jesus’s kind of power works through suffering love, through the one who gives his life for his friends, the one who is lifted up so that all may see him, believe and be rescued from the grip of the other power, the dark power of evil.
God’s power calls, confronts, transforms, and then equips more and more people from every conceivable background to be in their turn powerful witnesses to the Jesus they have come to know and love. They go to their tasks, like travellers entering a strange, unmapped new land, without the trappings of the “kingdoms” and the “powers” that are “from this world”, but with the world-changing, people-changing power of the gospel and the Spirit.
May you know God’s blessing this day, as you reread the prayer.
Image: Bronze Sculpture "Divine Servant," by Max Greiner, 1990, situated in Witness Park, Pittsburgh, Texas. Jesus washing Peter’s feet.
John’s Gospel & Truth(2)
(Devotion by Ros McDonald)
Prayer: Truth-seekers
Spirit of Truth,
we know that in order to be truthful
we must do more than speak the truth.
We must also hear the truth.
We must also receive the truth.
We must also act upon the truth.
We must also search for truth.
The difficult truth.
Within us and around us.
We must devote ourselves to truth.
Otherwise we are dishonest,
and our lives are mistaken.
Grant us the strength
and the courage
to be truthful. Amen.
(Michael Leunig in Be Our Freedom Lord)
Read:
John 14:15-17 (Translation by N.T.Wright)
Read this 3 times, each time asking God’s help and thinking about those words or phrases that leap out at you.
“If you love me,” Jesus went on, “you will keep my commands. And I will ask the father, and he will give you another helper, to be with you forever. This other helper is the spirit of truth. The world can’t receive him, because it doesn’t see him or know him. But you know him, because he lives with you, and will be in you.”
Thought for the day:
Based on Broken Signposts: How Christianity Makes Sense of the World, by N.T.Wright
As Jesus’ followers, we are commissioned to be people of the truth. This can be immensely costly for us, as it was for Jesus. But Jesus’ own Spirit, the Spirit of Truth will enable us to tell the world the truth about Jesus himself, his kingdom, his death, and his resurrection. In speaking the truth, we are helping to bring Jesus’ kingdom, the new creation, into existence. This is our holy, scary and awe-some task, made possible because we are supported and loved by God and the Spirit dwelling within us.
Finish by rereading the prayer.
Image: Sojourner Truth, sculpted by T.J.Warren 2001, Massachusetts, USA.
Born in 1797, Isabella Baumfree was sold into slavery at age 9. After being freed in 1827 she became a devout Christian and changed her name to Sojourner Truth. She travelled the country preaching about abolition of slavery and women’s rights, telling her friends, “The Spirit calls me and I must go.”
John’s Gospel & Truth(1)
(Devotion by Ros McDonald)
Prayer: Prayer of Illumination
Truth-telling, wind-blowing, life-giving spirit -
we present ourselves now
for our instruction and guidance;
breathe your truth among us,
breathe your truth of deep Friday loss,
your truth of awesome Sunday joy.
Breathe your story of death and life
that our story may be submitted to your will for life.
We pray in the name of Jesus risen to new life -
and him crucified.
(Walter Brueggemann, Prayers for a Privileged People)
Read:
John 19:37-38 (Translation by N.T.Wright)
Read this 3 times, each time asking God’s help and thinking about those words or phrases that leap out at you.
“So!” said Pilate. “You are a king, are you?”
“You’re the one who’s calling me a king,” replied Jesus. “I was born for this; I’ve come into the world for this: to give evidence about the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice.”
“Truth!” said Pilate. “What’s that?”
Thought for the day:
Based on Broken Signposts: How Christianity Makes Sense of the World, by N.T.Wright
In the words of N.T.Wright: Truth is the reality of love, divine love, Jesus’s love, the Love made flesh. Though Pilate would never understand it, Truth was standing before him, the truth of creation rescued and renewed, truth turned into flesh, truth loving his own who were in the world and now loving them to the uttermost, Truth leading the way through death and out the other side into God’s new world, giving his followers the Spirit of truth, so that they could come after him and speak the creative truth that will bring that new world into being.
Part of the challenge of following Jesus is to learn the difficult, dangerous but beautiful art of speaking fresh, healing truth into the world that often still seems to be ruled by Caesar’s agents.
Finish by rereading the prayer.
Image: Sojourner Truth, sculpted by T.J.Warren 2001, Massachusetts, USA.
Born in 1797, Isabella Baumfree was sold into slavery at age 9. After being freed in 1827 she became a devout Christian and changed her name to Sojourner Truth. She travelled the country preaching about abolition of slavery and women’s rights, telling her friends, “The Spirit calls me and I must go.”
John’s Gospel & Freedom
(Devotion by Ros McDonald)
Prayer: Flame of the Spirit
Flame of the Spirit:
warm our hearts to love our neighbour.
Flame of the Spirit:
light our path that we may walk in truth.
Flame of the Spirit:
rise in us with a passion for freedom.
Flame of the Spirit:
gather us together in the celebration of your life.
(Dorothy McMahon in Be Our Freedom Lord)
Read:
John 8:31-32 (Translation by N.T.Wright)
Read this 3 times, each time asking God’s help and thinking about those words or phrases that leap out at you.
Jesus spoke to the Judaeans who had believed in him. “If you remain in my word, you will truly be my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.”
Thought for the day:
Based on Broken Signposts: How Christianity Makes Sense of the World, by N.T.Wright
N.T.Wright writes “Jesus was the most free person who has ever walked the earth, and his freedom led him to crucifixion. That is because freedom grows out of love. If you want to know what freedom really means, think of the time you’ve been loved. Of the time when the Son of God loved you and gave himself for you. Of the time when God so loved the world that he gave his only Son.”
Finish by rereading the prayer.
Image: Designed by Zenos Frudakis, Freedom Sculpture is a seven metre sculpture located in Philadelphia. Completed in 2001, the bronze piece depicts the struggle involved in breaking free from all that holds us back.
John’s Gospel & Beauty
(Devotion by Ros McDonald)
Prayer: Cosmic hymn of praise
O give thanks to our God who is good,
whose love endures forever.
You sun and moon, you stars of the sky,
sunrise and sunset, night and day,
all mountains and valleys, grassland and scree,
glacier, avalanche, mist and snow,
you winds and trees, mosses, ferns, and gentle breeze,
dolphin and penguin, sealion and crab,
coral, anemone, cockle and shrimp,
rabbits and cattle, moths and dogs,
eagle and sparrow and ostrich and hawk,
you kiwi and kookaburra, cormorant and seagull,
you women and men of whatever known race,
who inhabit earth’s islands, her lands and her seas,
give to our God your thanks and praise.
(A New Zealand Prayer Book)
Read:
John 1:1-5; 14 (Translation by N.T.Wright)
Read this 3 times, each time asking God’s help and thinking about those words or phrases that leap out at you.
In the beginning was the Word. The Word was close beside God, and the Word was God. In the beginning, he was close beside God. All things came into existence through him; not one thing that exists came into existence without him. Life was in him, and this life was the light of the human race. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.
And the Word became flesh, and lived among us. We gazed upon his glory, glory like that of the father’s only son, full of grace and truth.
Thought for the day:
Based on Broken Signposts: How Christianity Makes Sense of the World, by N.T.Wright
“We are all of us hardwired for beauty, searching for a deeper and richer meaning in a world that sometimes seems to overflow with delight but at other times feels dreadful and cold. Beauty is a pointer to the strange, gently demanding presence of the living God in the midst of his world.”
N.T.Wright writes about the beauty of God’s glory, the beauty of God’s presence in Jesus and in us, and the beauty of God to be found in God’s creation. He says “If we stop still for a moment and hold our breath, we might just glimpse it.”
Image: Wayne McDonald; Three Capes Walk, Tasmania
John’s Gospel & Spirituality
(Devotion by Ros McDonald)
Prayer: Open
I stand.
I open myself to God.
I kneel.
I listen.
I step into God’s presence.
I float in the encompassing ocean of God’s love.
I breathe in and out:
breathing in the merc of God,
breathing out the pain of my sadness.
I am still,
at rest with God,
who is deep within me
and all around me.
Creating, Sustaining and All-loving God,
give us the strength and courage to be still,
that we might better serve your broken world.
(Kate McIlhagga in Green Heart of the Snowdrop)
Read:
John 4:22-24 Jesus is speaking with the woman at the well (Translation by N.T.Wright)
Read this 3 times, each time asking God’s help and thinking about those words or phrases that leap out at you.
The time is coming – indeed, it’s here already! – when true worshippers will worship the father in spirit and in truth. Yes: that’s the kind of worshippers the father is looking for. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and in truth.
Thought for the day:
Based on Broken Signposts: How Christianity Makes Sense of the World, by N.T.Wright
For the writer of John’s gospel, Christian spirituality is focused on Jesus. Getting to know Jesus is like an ever-increasing intimacy with a close friend or family member. Through Jesus and the Spirit, God dwells not only with us, but within us, enabling us to worship from the heart and to serve God in a whole new way. Whatever has happened in the past, the life-transforming work of God’s Spirit can make all things new. The powerful, rescuing, healing, transforming love of God is renewing the whole world, and ourselves with it. In what area of your life is God’s Spirit transforming and renewing you?
Image: Zion Church Baltimore, around 1900 CE. Note the intimacy between the woman and Jesus, even whilst Jesus is calling her life to account.
John’s Gospel & Love
(Devotion by Ros McDonald)
Prayer: Steadfast love
Gracious God,
for your love for us,
gentle as a shower,
healing our pain,
binding our wounds,
we give you thanks.
For your love for us,
sure as the dawn,
transforming our darkness,
revealing your truth,
we give you thanks.
For your love for us,
mercifully steadfast,
calling us to you,
raising us up,
we give you thanks.
Urge us on, O Christ,
to find wholeness
through serving you
by serving others,
in the power of your Spirit.
(Kate McIlhagga in Green Heart of the Snowdrop)
Read:
John 13:1 (Translation by N.T.Wright)
Read this 3 times, each time asking God’s help and thinking about those words or phrases that leap out at you.
It was before the Festival of Passover. Jesus knew that his time had come, the time for him to leave this world and go to the father. He had always loved his own people in the world; now he loved them right through to the end.
Thought for the day:
Based on Broken Signposts: How Christianity Makes Sense of the World, by N.T.Wright
Love is the most powerful thing in the world. It is love that takes the worst that evil can do and, absorbing it, defeats it. This love comes to us through Jesus, by the victory won on the cross against the forces of evil. As God-reflecting human beings, we are made for love; made to find ourselves in and through love, both the love we give and the love we receive. Jesus commands us to “… love one another! Just as I have loved you, so you must love one another. This is how everybody will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for each other. (John 13:34-35)
Image: The Mates by Leigh Conkie, Greensborough War Memorial Park. A soldier has a supportive arm around a wounded mate.
John’s Gospel & Justice
(Devotion by Ros McDonald)
Prayer:
God help us to change.
To change ourselves and to change our world.
To know the need for it.
To deal with the pain of it.
To feel the joy of it.
To undertake the journey
without understanding the destination.
The art of gentle revolution. Amen.
(Michael Leunig in Be Our Freedom Lord)
Read:
John 3:19-21 (Translation by N.T.Wright)
Read this 3 times, each time asking God’s help and thinking about those words or phrases that leap out at you.
This is the condemnation: that light has come into the world, and people loved darkness rather than light, because what they were doing was evil. For everyone who does evil hates the light; people like that don’t come to the light, in case their deeds get shown up and reproved. But people who do the truth come to the light, so that it can become clear that what they have done had been done in God.
Thought for the day:
Based on Broken Signposts: How Christianity Makes Sense of the World, by N.T.Wright
God is on the side of the victim, and will not allow the dark power of evil to have the last word. With Jesus’ resurrection, the old way of injustice was defeated, and a new way of justice has triumphed. By the Spirit, those of us who follow Jesus are commissioned and equipped to be justice people, hope-giving people for a world where injustice still reigns.
Finish by rereading the prayer.
Image: Der Rufer (The Caller), a bronze statue by Gerhard Marcks outside the library in Perth. It is dedicated to all victims and survivors of torture.