Two of my favourite prayers were prayed in yesterday morning's 8.30 am Holy Communion service at St. John's, Highfield, where I presided and preached. I would like to share them with you as oases of spiritual calm in a week of terrifying developments which our children and grandchildren may look back on as turning points in a world of (relative) peace heading towards World War III (Chinese navy firing exercises in the Tasman Sea; the White House vicious Trump-Vance ambush of Zelensky).
The Prayer of Humble Access [pp. 425-26]
We do not presume
to come to your holy table,
merciful Lord,
trusting in our own righteousness,
but in your great mercy.
We are not worthy
even to gather the crumbs from under your table.
But you are the same Lord
whose nature is always to have mercy.
Grant us therefore, gracious Lord,
so to eat the body of your dear Son, Jesus Christ,
and to drink his blood,
that we may evermore dwell in him
and he in us.
Amen.
The Gate of Glory [pp.428-29]
Father of all,
we give you thanks and praise,
that when we were still far off
you met us in your Son and brought us home.
Dying and living,
he declared your love,
gave us grace
and opened the gate of glory.
May we who share Christ’s body
live his risen life;
we who drink his cup
bring life to others;
we whom the Spirit lights
give light to the world.
Keep us firm in the hope you have set before us,
so we and all your children shall be free,
and the whole earth live to praise your name.
POSTSCRIPT
In comments to last week's post, questions were raised about "stories behind" and "authorship" of specific prayers in A New Zealand Prayer Book [NZPB].
OTOH: some stories are known, circulated and authors identified. So Bosco Peters' contributed these notes:
"There's quite a bit of history & several stories about NZPB in my thesis - free online: liturgy.co.nz/you-can-read-my-thesis and there's also quite a few stories buried on my site (18 years worth!) - with an excellent search box."
"... One other point: the litany mentioned in the comments, "Let us be at peace within ourselves..." is The Rev. Jim Cotter's adaptation of the Buddhist monk Thích Nhất Hạnh’s Litany for peace: https://liturgy.co.nz/interbeing"
and Liz notes:
""Lord, it is night", I found the story of that (quite by chance) after a quick search to remind myself of the words - up came a link to Bosco's site so I went there - and also got the back story! Funny how things happen: https://liturgy.co.nz/lord-it-is-night"
The last is a brilliant story about the late Canon John WIlliamson, a priest of our Diocese of Christchurch.
To the links above we could add Brian Carrell's [my father's] memoir of his work on the then NZ Prayer Book Commission, Creating A New Zealand Prayer Book, which is available for sale as a hard copy from Theology House, or as a Kindle copy via Amazon.
OTOH: we could note that with the exception of some specific acknowledgments of external contributors to NZPB, the Commission sought to anonymise its internal contributors so that the book as a whole would be seen, received and used as a resource of the whole church, agreed to by the whole church, via General Synod, with no favoured prayers because individual authors were identified.
7 comments:
Thank you for sharing two favourite prayers, +Peter. I followed the link for the first, forgot you'd shared page numbers, scrolled down to find the prayer.. found this part-of-a-prayer (pg 416) which also speaks to me in this moment:
We remember with gratitude your many gifts to us in creation and the rich heritage of these islands. Help us and people everywhere to share with justice and peace the resources of the earth. Give wisdom to those in authority among us and to all leaders of the nations.
Peter, did you watch the entire 50 minutes of the Oval Office meeting or just the last five minutes shown on TV? I suggest you watch it all to get the actual context. Do you really think Russia is a threat to the United States, as Zelensky claims?
As for Chinese ships in the Tasman (and Chinese politicians in the Cook Islands), do you think the past decade and more of New Zealand appeasing (or grovelling up to) China was a clever idea? The taniwha and the dragon nonsense? Was leaving ANZUS a good idea?
As for Ukraine, there are three scenarios I can imagine:
1. Ukraine strikes a deal with Russia for a ceasefire, giving up Crimea, the Donbas and Luhansk (Ukraine's borders have constantly shifted over the centuries: western Ukraine was Polish until 1939, and part of Austria-Hungary until 1919: Lviv was formerly Lvov, and before that Lemberg. Knowing something of the history of Galicia, Crimea and the Donbas, and what Nuland and Obama pulled off in the Maidan revolution in 2014 and the subsequent war in the Donbas, is helpful if disturbing in getting at the truth. If we don't want to find out, our opinions are worse than worthless.)
2. Ukraine continues in war forever with Russia (with a New Zealand battalion or two supporting La Nouvelle Grande Armée), or until there are no more able-bodied Ukrainians.
3. WW3 is triggered by a tactical nuclear strike by the Russians.
Which of these is your preferred option?
Pax et bonum
William Greenhalgh
Dear William
I am a realist:
1. Russia will not pull back from territory gained and is unlikely to be defeated re that territory.
2. Russia will not cease to gain control of all Ukraine under Putin [and it will not give back the bits of Ukraine once under Polish control - my father in law, a Pole, was born in Lwow].
3. Zelensky was completely correct to question whether Russia would honour a diplomatic resolution (unless there is a Western-backed security force to thwart future tearing up on a ceasfire agreement).
4. Vance and Trump were out of line and are responsibile for their appalling behaviour in the last section of that meeting. I am not going to dinner if they are the hosts: they have no manners. And Vance is a Catholic Christian ... did he go to all his RCIA classes?
5. I don't think a relationship with China is straighforward, unless one goes along with their desire for supremacy, so we are where we are, irrespective of where we once were.
6. NZ should stick close to Australia. They might help us at a pinch. The States won't - that is very clear from the other day's debacle.
I am a realist.
Thank you for the opportunity to comment!
Sorry: 2 above should read, Russia will not cease to attempt to gain control ...
It is time to put EU boots on the ground en masse in Ukraine and finish it. There is a British SAS squadron already there providing over watch and gathering intel, could there be a plan forming?
As Churchill once said it’s jaw jaw jaw or war war war - diplomacy will not work with Putin, he no longer has ears. Russia is in existential crisis, population wise, and they need to expand at all costs or die.
Regards Thomas
Peter, thank you for replying: it seems you are resigned to eternal war in Ukraine or to the outbreak of World War III over Ukraine, to judge from your answers to my questions. Not a very cheerful conclusion, but at least you know from the shifting borders of Poland and Galicia that "Ukraine" has been a very moveable concept in history - and not surprising since the word means "borderlands". Personally I think the Ukrainians will come to their senses and not seek to dominate the Russian lands of Crimea and the Donbas, and the Russians will be inclined to accept a buffer zone in a neutral Ukraine. Perhaps you think that is naive. Perhaps it is. But it is also the case that Obama and the EU played a role in provoking this conflict through thd Maidan revolution encouraging the idea of EU and NATO membership for Ukraine. The neocons in America have long wanted to neutralise Russia. Peter Hitchens has long understood this uncomfortable truth,
Peter, you seem to have no idea what to do about China. I don't imagine even plucky Anzacs wil be enough. It is time for New Zealand to renounce its anti-nuclear fundamentalism and rejoin ANZUS.
Thomas: quite so. I hope you have already applied to join the International Brigade, as the nations of Europe will certainly not join such a mad idea.
Pax et bonum
William Greenhalgh
I do not see, William, how your outocme for Ukraine is different to mine: peace with security (via a buffer zone).
I also do not see where a solution to the China problem comes from: the US is now an unreliable ally; but if it is to become a reliable ally, then our current approach leans that way. But can the US contain China in the Pacific region? Will it prevent a takeover of Taiwan? I am not at all clear on the answers to these questions. Perhaps you are!
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