Meditation for Trinity 12 2025

Almighty and everlasting God, you are always more ready to hear than we to pray and to give more than either we desire, or deserve:

Pour down upon us the abundance of your mercy, forgiving us those things of which our conscience is afraid, and giving us those good things which we are not worthy to ask save through the merits and mediation of Jesus Christ your Son our Lord.

Now large crowds were travelling with him; and he turned and said to them, ‘Whoever comes to me and does not hate** father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and even life itself, cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not carry the cross and follow me cannot be my disciple. For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not first sit down and estimate the cost, to see whether he has enough to complete it? Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it will begin to ridicule him, saying, “This fellow began to build and was not able to finish.” Or what king, going out to wage war against another king, will not sit down first and consider whether he is able with ten thousand to oppose the one who comes against him with twenty thousand? If he cannot, then, while the other is still far away, he sends a delegation and asks for the terms of peace. So therefore, none of you can become my disciple if you do not give up all your possessions.

**N.B. the word used is μισέω (miseō) – which literally means ‘To love less, or to prefer someone or something less than another’ – to translate the word as ‘hate’ implies anger and that is not a valid translation in this context.

Meditation for Trinity 11 2025

On one occasion when Jesus was going to the house of a leader of the Pharisees to eat a meal on the sabbath, they were watching him closely.

When he noticed how the guests chose the places of honour, he told them a parable. ‘When you are invited by someone to a wedding banquet, do not sit down at the place of honour, in case someone more distinguished than you has been invited by your host; and the host who invited both of you may come and say to you, “Give this person your place”, and then in disgrace you would start to take the lowest place. But when you are invited, go and sit down at the lowest place, so that when your host comes, he may say to you, “Friend, move up higher”; then you will be honoured in the presence of all who sit at the table with you. For all who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.’

He said also to the one who had invited him, ‘When you give a luncheon or a dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbours, in case they may invite you in return, and you would be repaid. But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind. And you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you, for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.’

Meditation for Trinity 10 2025

You have not come to something that can be touched, a blazing fire, and darkness, and gloom, and a tempest, and the sound of a trumpet, and a voice whose words made the hearers beg that not another word be spoken to them. (For they could not endure the order that was given, ‘If even an animal touches the mountain, it shall be stoned to death.’ Indeed, so terrifying was the sight that Moses said, ‘I tremble with fear.’)

But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering, and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.

See that you do not refuse the one who is speaking; for if they did not escape when they refused the one who warned them on earth, how much less will we escape if we reject the one who warns from heaven! At that time his voice shook the earth; but now he has promised, ‘Yet once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heaven.’ This phrase ‘Yet once more’ indicates the removal of what is shaken—that is, created things—so that what cannot be shaken may remain. Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us give thanks, by which we offer to God an acceptable worship with reverence and awe; for indeed our God is a consuming fire.

Now he was teaching in one of the synagogues on the sabbath. And just then there appeared a woman with a spirit that had crippled her for eighteen years. She was bent over and was quite unable to stand up straight. When Jesus saw her, he called her over and said, ‘Woman, you are set free from your ailment.’ When he laid his hands on her, immediately she stood up straight and began praising God. But the leader of the synagogue, indignant because Jesus had cured on the sabbath, kept saying to the crowd, ‘There are six days on which work ought to be done; come on those days and be cured, and not on the sabbath day.’ But the Lord answered him and said, ‘You hypocrites! Does not each of you on the sabbath untie his ox or his donkey from the manger, and lead it away to give it water? And ought not this woman, a daughter of Abraham whom Satan bound for eighteen long years, be set free from this bondage on the sabbath day?’ When he said this, all his opponents were put to shame; and the entire crowd was rejoicing at all the wonderful things that he was doing.

Meditation for Trinity 9 2025

Collect

Almighty God, who sent your Holy Spirit to be the life and light of your Church:
Open our hearts to the riches of his grace, that we may bring forth the fruit of the Spirit in love and joy and peace; through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Let me sing for my beloved, my love-song concerning his vineyard:
My beloved had a vineyard on a very fertile hill. He dug it and cleared it of stones, and planted it with choice vines; he built a watch-tower in the midst of it, and hewed out a wine vat in it; he expected it to yield grapes, but it yielded wild grapes.

And now, inhabitants of Jerusalem and people of Judah, judge between me
and my vineyard. What more was there to do for my vineyard that I have not done in it? When I expected it to yield grapes, why did it yield wild grapes?

And now I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard. I will remove its hedge, and it shall be devoured; I will break down its wall, and it shall be trampled down. I will make it a waste; it shall not be pruned or hoed, and it shall be overgrown with briers and thorns; I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it.

For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel, and the people of Judah are his pleasant planting; he expected justice, but saw bloodshed;
righteousness, but heard a cry!

By faith the people passed through the Red Sea as if it were dry land, but when the Egyptians attempted to do so they were drowned. By faith the walls of Jericho fell after they had been encircled for seven days. By faith Rahab the prostitute did not perish with those who were disobedient, because she had received the spies in peace.

And what more should I say? For time would fail me to tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets— who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, obtained promises, shut the mouths of lions, quenched raging fire, escaped the edge of the sword, won strength out of weakness, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight. Women received their dead by resurrection. Others were tortured, refusing to accept release, in order to obtain a better resurrection. Others suffered mocking and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. They were stoned to death, they were sawn in two, they were killed by the sword; they went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, persecuted, tormented— of whom the world was not worthy. They wandered in deserts and mountains, and in caves and holes in the ground.

Yet all these, though they were commended for their faith, did not receive what was promised, since God had provided something better so that they would not, without us, be made perfect.

Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, who for the sake of the joy that was set before him endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of God.

‘I came to bring fire to the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled! I have a baptism with which to be baptized, and what stress I am under until it is completed! Do you think that I have come to bring peace to the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division! From now on, five in one household will be divided, three against two and two against three; they will be divided:
father against son
   and son against father,
mother against daughter
   and daughter against mother,
mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law
   and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.’

He also said to the crowds, ‘When you see a cloud rising in the west, you immediately say, “It is going to rain”; and so it happens. And when you see the south wind blowing, you say, “There will be scorching heat”; and it happens. You hypocrites! You know how to interpret the appearance of earth and sky, but why do you not know how to interpret the present time?

Meditation for Trinity 8 2025

Collect

‘Do not be afraid, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Sell your possessions, and give alms. Make purses for yourselves that do not wear out, an unfailing treasure in heaven, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

‘Be dressed for action and have your lamps lit; be like those who are waiting for their master to return from the wedding banquet, so that they may open the door for him as soon as he comes and knocks. Blessed are those slaves whom the master finds alert when he comes; truly I tell you, he will fasten his belt and have them sit down to eat, and he will come and serve them. If he comes during the middle of the night, or near dawn, and finds them so, blessed are those slaves.

‘But know this: if the owner of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have let his house be broken into. You also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an unexpected hour.’

Meditation for Sunday 27th July

Collect

Merciful God, you have prepared for those who love you
such good things as pass our understanding:
Pour into our hearts such love toward you
that we, loving you above all things,
may obtain your promises, which exceed all that we can desire;
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Gospel Reading – Luke 11: 1 – 13

11 He was praying in a certain place, and after he had finished, one of his disciples said to him, ‘Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples.’
2 He said to them, ‘When you pray, say:

Father,* hallowed be your name.

   Your kingdom come.*

3   Give us each day our daily bread.*

4   And forgive us our sins,

     for we ourselves forgive everyone indebted to us.

   And do not bring us to the time of trial.’*

5 And he said to them, ‘Suppose one of you has a friend, and you go to him at midnight and say to him, “Friend, lend me three loaves of bread; 6 for a friend of mine has arrived, and I have nothing to set before him.” 7 And he answers from within, “Do not bother me; the door has already been locked, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot get up and give you anything.” 8 I tell you, even though he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, at least because of his persistence he will get up and give him whatever he needs.

9 ‘So I say to you, Ask, and it will be given to you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you. 10  For everyone who asks receives, and everyone who searches finds, and for everyone who knocks, the door will be opened. 11 Is there anyone among you who, if your child asks for* a fish, will give a snake instead of a fish? 12 Or if the child asks for an egg, will give a scorpion? 13 If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit* to those who ask him!’

Reflection

Prayer is part of faith life in many religions. People ask each other for prayers in times of difficulty and challenge, and often people offer prayers. Aren’t messages like ‘sending love and prayers’ or ‘prayers, please’ familiar? Prayer and praying are understood and used by people in different ways. And – not only – for people of no faith or who are new to it, praying can be somehow alien and awkward.

So how should we pray as Christians? Even the disciples in our Gospel reading don’t seem to be sure, and they ask: ‘Lord, teach us to pray’. It is important to recognize, the do not ask: ‘Lord, teach us a prayer.’

In Luke’s Gospel prayer is often mentioned, and it also gives us the account of Jesus’ instruction we are reflecting on here. Matthew 6:9-13 and  Didache 8 contain further versions of the Lord’s Prayer.

‘Father’… it opens with in Luke’s gospel. Jesus instructs that prayer begins with a turning or returning to God, who is like a good father to his beloved children. By addressing him directly, we enter in his presence. For some, who have experienced absent or hurtful fathers in their own lives, the idea of a nice and caring Father might be difficult to use. Though deep in us, there is an idea of and a longing for a good, caring, loving and trustworthy father. And in prayer we can interact with him. We also remember that we are created and in our whole existence depending. He was there before us. Without father no child.

‘Hallowed be your name’…we are asked to say. For God is the Holy One, the only God to worship and to seek.

‘Your Kingdom come’…is our statement of faith, hope, our aim, what we work for, God’s reign. We trust God, what he brings is good.

‘Give us each day our daily bread’… yes, we acknowledge our need, our daily returning need and dependency. We need food, in a physical and spiritual sense, and we need it again and again and again. God provides, we receive, and once only won’t do. We are reminded to ask and ask again. Just as the man in the gospel reading, who needs to knock and persist asking.

‘And forgive us our sins’… this connects with ‘and’ to the prior line ‘Give us each day…’ . Yes, we learn about ourselves that we are sinners, make mistakes and fail in many ways. It is a matter of humbleness to realise our condition. And it is not by certain rituals or by paying some fee, no, we need to ask, we are invited to ask. God offers forgiveness, and just like bread, we need his forgiveness again and again and again in our striving to become better people. And he wants us to practice this through a personal, living relationship with him.

‘For we ourselves forgive everyone indebted to us’… whereby this is not optional, and it does not say we are to think tit for tat. No, with these words we state that we forgive others. Everyone who has forgiven another and vice versa, knows of the resulting feelings of relief and renewal.

 ‘And do not bring us to the time of trial’…we might be more familiar with the wording  ‘and do not lead us into temptation’, which raises even more questions. How could God lead into temptation or trial, would he do that? The translation in our reading helps to clarify this. Jesus is talking about the trial in which we might get weak (or tempted) and renounce our faith. Let us stay strong in our faith in you, Father.

So Jesus did not teach ‘a prayer’, or magic words to make our wishes be fulfilled. He taught a way to pray, a way of faithful life, a lifestyle formula so to speak.

It is interesting to acknowledge that at the liturgy during worship we are at prayer from the very start: the prayer of gathering in God’s presence, the prayer forgiveness and absolution, the prayer of praise in the Gloria and, in the holy readings, the prayer of listening and receiving his word. The liturgy continues with the Great Prayer of Thanksgiving, for we depend on God’s provision, the Lord’s Supper, where we draw even closer to him, the Lord’s Prayer itself, which charges our life and worship, and Holy Communion. In a word, it is all prayer, a rich sequence, choreographed in different moments of gathering, praise, listening and communion.

Now let us use the pattern of the Lord’s prayer like a droning sound, beat or rhythm also in our daily lives walking with our Father, through him and in him.

The Lord’s Prayer — sung in Aramaic

The introduction is in Spanish but the prayer is sung in Aramaic.

The Lord’s Prayer — sung in English

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