Skip to main content

A (Late) Prayer for Commonwealth Day

Yesterday was Commonwealth Day...
That won't mean a lot to most of you. For my American readers, it isn't a reference to the State which has Boston as it's capital, but to that loose affiliation of nations that (generally) experienced the "benevolent" experience of British Imperial rule... As such the Queen of the United Kingdom is the head of the Commonwealth, although this is slightly ironic given that it is actually a fairly literal translation of the Latin term "res publica," from which we get the term republic, and its first application in Britain was to the political institution which owed its existence to the enforced reduction in height of one of the Queen's ancestors... the Commonwealth of England under Oliver Cromwell and his son Richard.
To most people, however it is simply the banner under which a second-rate Olympic Games is organised half way between Olympiads. They won't even recognise the flag at the top of this post is the flag of the Commonwealth. But there IS something worth celebrating in the concept of Commonwealth... not, some sort of jingoistic pseudo-empire, but a genuine cross-fertilization of cultures that our imperial heritage has facilitated. The ironic thing is that there are many who would want to celebrate the "virtues" of the British Empire, who wouldn't thank you for such cross-fertilization (reading the Daily Mail while having their micro-waved chicken tikka)... 
But then, it was the structures of the Roman Empire, it's common language, good roads, and the army enforced "peace" that facilitated the growth of the Kingdom God heralded by the one that imperial power nailed to a cross in the imperial backwater of Judea... God can use all sorts of unpleasant political structures for his ends...
And today I wanted to mark this with a prayer from the biggest nation in the Commonwealth... India. It is taken from an anthology entitled "From Shore to Shore" published by SPCK/USPG, and is a commitment, not to any earthly political institution but to the servant King and service in his Kingdom of God as we seek the well-being of all through it.
Actually this should have been posted yesterday, but I wasn't on the computer yesterday, and didn't notice that it hadn't posted as planned... But although Commonwealth Day is past, the prayer is still worth praying, with it's emphasis on the journey to Jerusalem.

Servant-Christ, help us to follow you in untiring ministry to town and village, to heal and restore the broken body of humanity, to cast out the demonic forces of greed, resentment, communal hatred and self-destructive fears; 
Servant-Christ, help us all to follow you.
Help us to follow you on the road to Jerusalem, to set our faces firmly against friendly suggestions to live a safe, expedient life; to embrace boldly the way of self-offering, the way of life given for others’ gain;
Servant-Christ, help us all to follow you. 
Help us to follow you into the temple of your chosen people to share your meal of bread and cup, to accept our common place in your one body broken to create a new humanity. 
Servant-Christ, help us all to follow you. 
Help us to follow you into the garden, to watch with you, ever vigilant for signs of the dawning of your day, to struggle unsparingly, to understand and to be obedient to your perfect will. 
Servant-Christ, help us all to follow you. 
Help us to follow you unto the cross, to recognize the true way of life in your death, to see our hope in your self-spending love to die to all within us not born of your love. 
Servant-Christ, help us all to follow you. 
Help us to follow you out of the dark tomb; to share daily in your resurrection life, to be renewed daily in your image of love, to serve daily as your new body in ministering to the world. 
Servant-Christ, help us all to follow you.
Amen


Comments

Popular posts from this blog

A Woman of no Distinction

Don't often post other people's stuff here... But I found this so powerful that I thought I should. It's a performance poem based on John 4: 4-30, and I have attached the original YouTube video below. A word for women, and men, everywhere... "to be known is to be loved, and to be loved is to be known." I am a woman of no distinction of little importance. I am a women of no reputation save that which is bad. You whisper as I pass by and cast judgmental glances, Though you don’t really take the time to look at me, Or even get to know me. For to be known is to be loved, And to be loved is to be known. Otherwise what’s the point in doing either one of them in the first place? I WANT TO BE KNOWN. I want someone to look at my face And not just see two eyes, a nose, a mouth and two ears; But to see all that I am, and could be all my hopes, loves and fears. But that’s too much to hope for, to wish for, or pray for So I don’t, not anymore. Now I keep to myself And by that

Psalm for Harvest Sunday

A short responsive psalm for us as a call to worship on Harvest Thanksgiving Sunday, and given that it was pouring with rain as I headed into church this morning the first line is an important remembrance that the rain we moan about is an important component of the fruitfulness of the land we live in: You tend the land and water it And the earth produces its abundance. You crown each year with your bounty, and our storehouses overflow with your goodness. The mountain meadows are covered with flocks and the valleys are filled with corn; Your people celebrate your boundless grace They shout for joy and sing. from Psalm 65

Anointed

There has been a lot of chatter on social media among some of my colleagues and others about the liturgical and socio-political niceties of Saturday's coronation and attendant festivities, especially the shielding of the anointing with the pictured spoon - the oldest and perhaps strangest of the coronation artefacts. Personally I thought that was at least an improvement on the cloth of gold canopy used in the previous coronation, but (pointless) debates are raging as to whether this is an ancient practice or was simply introduced in the previous service to shield the Queen from the TV cameras, not for purposes of sacredness, but understandable coyness, if she actually had to bare her breast bone in puritan 1950s Britain. But as any church leader knows, anything performed twice in a church becomes a tradition. All this goes to show that I did actually watch it, while doing other things - the whole shooting match from the pre-service concert with yer wumman in that lemon-