Monday, February 06, 2012
Daily prayer for Waitangi Day
Today I was leading our 20 minute daily prayer service here at Uniting College. Being Waitangi Day in New Zealand, a day to reflect upon the Treaty of Waitangi and it’s implications for today, I decided I would name some of my cultural heritage and make it a basis for our daily prayer. (Other worship resources I’ve shaped for Waitangi Day services are summarised here). So last night I DJed a few elements together – something tactile in the shape of a puzzle piece, some Scriptures, a prayer and an active intercessory response. For those interested, here tis
Lit candle as reminder that we meet in the warmth of God.
Call to worship: Take a puzzle piece from bowl as you enter.
Explanation: Waitangi Day
Collect: (Taken from Catholic liturgy)
R: Almighty and ever-living God, to whom every human power is subject,
L: and under whose governance, the design for all the ages unfolds,
R: as you once led the Māori people and many other peoples,
to find their home in this land,
L: so grant now that divisions be removed, that equity and justice be established,
R: and that we may all become one day citizens of heaven.
ALL: Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.
Word of God: Ephesians 2:11-22
11 Therefore, remember that formerly you who are Gentiles by birth and called “uncircumcised” by those who call themselves “the circumcision” (which is done in the body by human hands)— 12 remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world. 13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ.
14 For he himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, 15 by setting aside in his flesh the law with its commands and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new humanity out of the two, thus making peace, 16 and in one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility. 17 He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. 18 For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit.
19 Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household, 20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. 21 In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. 22 And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.
Pause – What strikes us? What questions does it raise?
Intercession: Place your puzzle piece in centre beside Christ candle- say a word for a country, person, situation, that is broken and needs integrating and re-integrating.
Benediction: We are all peacemakers. As a way of expressing that, we will all bless each other by saying to the person on your right in the circle – “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.”
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