Restoration and Renewal?

This week some in the church will be celebrating Saint Francis and some struggling with the image of the beloved vineyard and the errant tennants. (Nineteenth Sunday after Pentecost. Proper 22 [27] Matthew 21:33-46.) Whichever set of readings we follow there is both challenge and an invitation to renewal and for a rebuilding of the church. Many of us will see the timeliness of both the challenge and the encouragement.

For those celebrating St Francis you may like to read what I have previously written.

St Francis and Creation

Sentence:

“I will sing for my beloved my love song concerning his vineyard: My beloved had a vineyard on a very fertile hill.” Isaiah 5:1

Collect:

Gracious God,

Giver of good gifts, source of our being,

You have given us a world of beauty and delight in which to live and move and have our being and we have been too often careless and selfish.

May the reckoning we are experiencing lead us to repentance and renewal that we may learn respect, joy and the desire to share with all your creatures. Amen.

Reflection:

For those of us grappling with the confronting image of the beloved vineyard that we and our forebears have treated with disregard and now watch the suffering of the land and many peoples we pray for courage and wisdom as we give ourselves over to repentance, reconciliation and renewal.

You may like to read what I wrote a few years ago on the Song for the Beloved Vineyard.

The Beloved Vineyard

Or another take on the same readings: Moving Forward.

Moving Forward

Intercessions:

Creator of all that is,

we give you thanks and praise for the beauty and variety of your precious world,

We remember in your presence those places of beauty and plenty that are dear to us and those places that are like the beloved vineyard

And we grieve the damage done in our name and on our watch

We particularly pray for those places and people and creatures ravaged by war, plague, famine and flood and pray your blessings of protection on all who seek to bring aid and new beginnings in your name …

Creator God,

Hear our prayer.

Jesus in whom all is reconciled,

we give you thanks that you joined your life to ours in common human experience.

Help us to see and honour all who seek and serve in your name and bless those who will step forward in these hard days with new imaginings and open hearts that where we have failed others might bring forward fruit.

We particularly pray for the overlooked, the elderly, the broken, the different, and the young who still dream your dream, and sing your song …

Jesus, reconciler of the broken and forgotten,

Hear our prayer.

Spirit that cannot be contained or constrained,

come blow through the ruins of our too small plans and ambitions until your vineyard sprouts green again.

Enthuse and inhabit those who are open to your vision and will call forth your faithful ones in this age and the age to come.

We particularly pray for current leaders and those you are calling forward … we pray for mercy and comfort for those whose time to rest has come … and we pray for wisdom and compassion as we discern our part in your dream for the earth.

Spirit that cannot be contained or constrained,

Hear our prayer.

Living God,

Creator, Reconciler, and Spirit that cannot be contained,

Open our hearts and minds to your dream until we can grow according to your desire.

Amen.

This is my work informed by all that I have heard, read and experienced. I am indebted to the wisdom of others.