It’s been four months since I last posted. Thank you, again, to those who wrote with encouragement and hope during that period.
Today I realised that even in that time I’d been writing but not recognising it as such. It was writing done in a different ‘square’ for a different purpose – or so I thought.
What follows could be regarded as a Clayton’s prayer – the prayer you have when you don’t have a prayer. I’ve been writing these for worship with some regularity over the past few months. They could become a regular feature of The Billabong, but perhaps not every week. We’ll see.
Occasionally I’ve drawn on material gathered/accumulated/hoarded over many years from long-forgotten sources.
TOGETHER IN THE SPIRIT OF PRAYER (From Isa. 40:1-11 & Ps. 85)
As followers of Jesus,
we gather for worship
that we might leave the clamour of yesterday,
our anxiety for tomorrow,
and by the stillness of this moment
know the presence of the divine …
creative mystery,
companion of the lonely,
binder of wounds …
We gather to celebrate the God of hope and peace.
and by the stillness of this moment
prepare the way of the LORD;
make a path for our God in the desert of our busy-ness.
allow the spirit of grace
to light our shadowed valleys
of grief or fear;
to level our mountains
of anxiety or doubt;
to guide us more surely
through the crooked and the rough
in the days ahead.
As followers of Jesus
we gather to experience together
the divine mystery
revealed in silence and sound,
action and stillness …
in bread broken and wine poured out …
listening for what the Spirit has to say …
We gather to grow in loving the Source of life
with every part of our being
and loving our neighbour,
whoever they may be …
to grow In following Jesus,
embodying faithfulness and truth working together,
being the late spring rain of justice,
living to set things right
and bring about well-being for others …
to be more than the hope, joy, love and peace of Advent …
to be the beauty, truth and justice
of the one who comes again and again and again …
yes, even to be the footsteps of God …
And so,
may this time of worship
deepen our sense of the holy
and of the spirit of all life
in which God is known. Amen