2 Conflict -
sharing prayers of longing for a church too often divided
Sharing Friendship 30
minutes
As people arrive light refreshments are served. The refreshments include Hot Cross Buns. Make sure one Hot Cross Bun is left over ...
it might be best to keep one in reserve.
It will be helpful to have a low table in the middle of the room, or at
some appropriate focal point, where a plate with a Hot Cross Bun can be placed
as the second part of the session begins.
Once the group is settled and everyone has arrived
gather the group together and begin to focus the conversation a little more.
·
go round the circle and invite each person
to recall some of the things that they have been doing over the last week, and
share anything special that has happened.
·
go round the circle a second time and
invite people to recall anything they have done in the last week in response to
the thoughts and prayers that were shared last week.
Sharing Reflections on the
Bible 30
minutes
Take the plate with a Hot Cross bun and hold it in
your hands.
A Hot Cross
Bun. It looks a little like a loaf of
bread. And there, as on each Hot Cross
Bun, a Cross - an age-old symbol of the Church.
We have enjoyed sharing Hot Cross buns together this evening. Jesus broke all sorts of barriers down by
eating together with all sorts of unexpected people. Ever since the very beginning eating together
has always been part of the life of the Church.
Sharing a meal together - a sign of fellowship, a sign of the love that
binds us together. For many parts of the
church one particular time of sharing, of fellowship, of koinonia, of communion
has become a sign of division.
Place the plate with the Hot Cross bun on the table in
the centre of the circle.
Conflict arises within the Church,
within local Churches, between different parts of the Church and between
different local Churches. Conflict can
arise within the hearts of those who belong to the Church as they become all
too aware of failing to live out the faith they profess. Inner conflict can lead to
inner turmoil and a crisis of faith.
Often the most
fierce conflict arises over religious practice, ritual, liturgy, the
institutions of the church, and the detail of dogma and doctrine. The
heart of the Christian faith is all too often overlooked.
Read Matthew 12:1-8 and Matthew 21:12-17
What do you make
of these two stories? What are they
saying that can feed into our time of prayer for a Church often torn apart by
conflict?
Allow the group simply to share their responses to
these questions - as leader you might look out for some of these points ...
Points to look out for in Matthew 12:1-8
and Matthew 21:12-17
· the Pharisees adhered to the letter of the
ritual law (12:1-2): Jesus stood in a respected line of those who did not
(12:3-5). Has the Church been true to
Jesus, or continued the obsession of the Pharisees with their adherence to the
letter of a ritual law?
· for many there was nothing greater than the
Temple - its purity had to be maintained at all costs: for Jesus there was
something greater (12:6). Has the Church
put doctrines, dogmas, the institutions of the Church, its liturgy and ritual
in the place of the Temple, and regarded these to be of paramount importance?
· for Jesus mercy took precedence over
sacrifice, the needs of people over the Sabbath (12:7-8) - he was quoting Hosea 6:6, and might well
have had in mind Amos 5:21-24 and Micah 6:8.
Has the church too often lost sight of mercy, justice and righteousness
and exaggerated the importance of liturgy, ritual and institution?
· changing currency [from the Roman to the
Temple Currency and selling doves was a key part of the life of the Temple and
its sacrifices. Jesus’ actions in 21:12
made the same statement as he had made in 12:6-7 ... but it is made much more
graphically. Should the church have a
clear-out from time to time of the things that get in the way of what really
matters?
· notice how 21:13 leads into verses
14-16. When Jesus longs for the Temple
to be a house of prayer he does not want it simply to be a place of religious
ritual. He wants it to be the place
where the blind see and the lame walk, where hurting people find healing and
where the voice of children is heard and valued. This is what it means to put mercy in place
of sacrifice, to put people over the Sabbath.
Allow a good period of time sharing reflections on
this passage.
In the light of
the experiences we have shared together from our own lives, and in the light of
the reflections we have shared on Matthew 12:1-8, and 21:12-17, where should
the focus be for our prayers for the church?
Finish this part of the evening by inviting people to
share thoughts that can feed into the last part of the evening, sharing prayer.
Sharing Prayer 30
minutes
Play some quiet, reflective music. Make sure that the Hot Cross bun is on the
plate on the table in the centre of the circle, or in some appropriate place.
We hear again the
prayer of Jesus.
Read John 17:20-26
Take the plate with the hot cross bun and hold it for
a moment.
As you receive
this plate hold it for a moment. Look at
the Hot Cross Bun with its cross - age-old symbol of the Church. Don’t touch the bun. Simply look at it, round and whole. And take the opportunity, if you wish, to put
into words a prayer giving thanks for the good things there are in the Church
at large or in your own experience of life as part of a Church family.
Pass the plate round the circle - as each person
receives it, they are to hold it for a moment, and take that opportunity, if
they wish to share a prayer of thanksgiving for the good things there are in
the life of the church..
When the plate has completed the circle it is placed
back on the in the middle of the circle.
Pause for a moment.
Someone reads Colossians 3:12-17
After another pause the leader then takes the Hot
Cross Bun and breaks it into two, leaving the two parts on the plate.
Sadly, the
wholeness of the Church has too often been broken. Conflict arises within a local church,
between local churches, within a denomination between denominations - and that
conflict not only diminishes the church and all who are part of it, but it
diminishes Christ and his witness in the world.
Think of your own
local church, of the churches in your locality, of your own denomination and
the part it plays in the life of the whole Church. In a moment we shall pass the plate round our
circle once more.
As you receive the
plate hold it for a moment. Look at the
Hot Cross Bun, broken in two. Don’t
touch the bun. Simply look at it,
damaged and broken. And take the
opportunity, if you wish, to put into words a prayer for the healing and the
wholeness, for the unity and the renewal of the Church .... it may be
you want to think of your own church,
the churches of your locality, your own denomination, or the life of the
whole church.
Pass the plate round the circle - as each person
receives it, they are to hold it for a moment, and take that opportunity, if
they wish to share a prayer for the church.
When the plate has completed the circle it is placed
back on the table in the middle of the circle.
Pause for a moment.
Someone reads John 13:34-35.
We give thanks for
the church. We pray for the church. But we are the church. Are we true to the words of our worship and
of our praying? Or do our words go up
while our thoughts remain below?
We pray for the
victims of natural disasters, for those who hunger, for those who have no home
... but our minds are absorbed with trivialities. We pray for churches to work together, we
rejoice in the diversity of our worship, we give thanks that we are all God’s
children, yet we cling to our own tradition.
We pray for those who have not heard the message ... but sometimes it
feels as if we have not heard the message ourselves.
Our words go up
... our thoughts remain below.
Words without
thoughts never to heaven go.
Play the second prayer meditation, Conflict, from Jesus forever the same
Pause for a moment.
The leader then picks up the plate once more. It may be helpful to place a card with these
words on the plate as it is passed round.
In a moment I am
going to pass the plate round once more.
When you receive the plate say, Lord,
live in my heart, Jesus forever the same.
Then break off a piece of the Hot Cross Bun and eat it.
When the plate has been passed around the circle place
it on the table once more.
Let us turn in
prayer to the Father
from whom every
family in heaven and on earth takes its name.
Let us pray.
According to the
riches of your glory,
grant that each
one of us may be strengthened in our inner being
with power through
your Spirit.
May Christ dwell
in our hearts through faith.
May each of us be
rooted and grounded in love..
May each of us
have the power to comprehend, with all God’s people,
the breadth and
length and height and depth
of the love of God
in Christ Jesus our Lord.
May each one of us
be filled with all the fullness of God.
Let’s join in
saying together the prayer which binds us together with all God’s people as one
family in his love ...
Our Father ...
Take a Trade Badge and hold it in your hand.
Are they the
scales of justice, badly out of balance?
Or is it a cross?
Is it a cross
weighed down by the burdens of injustice?
Is the Church
truly committed to the poor?
We are the Church.
When we see this
badge let’s think again about the Church’s priorities.
Think again about
our priorities.
Now to him who by
the power at work within us
is able to
accomplish abundantly
far more than all
we can ask or imagine,
to him be glory
in the church
and in Christ
Jesus
to all
generations,
forever and ever,
Amen.
After a short pause, play some quiet music once
more. Have copies of the prayer
meditation Conflict ready for people
to take home.
