It is suggested you view the Church Service of 6 September as an introduction to the weekly series of “Weekly Prayer Points” around The Lord’s Prayer that can be found on “Weerona Recorded Church Services” page
Week FOUR – Entry Points into Prayer
Welcome to this fourth week of exploring prayer through word and song
Sunday the 6th of September
The Lord’s Prayer
Another version from Africa, but our first non-English speaking version. Sung in Swahili, it is incredibly beautiful and moving.
After I’d chosen the above, Marica sent me this version as well, and I absolutely had to share it with you, as it’s just beautiful. The NZ Youth Choir, while visiting Fiji, sang this as a surprise for the congregation – what a true blessing and delight.
Monday the 7th of September
Words from the Ancient Church
Tuesday the 8th of September
Music from the Modern World
My love of musicals is no secret, and I firmly believe there is a song from a music for every single occasion. Some musicals are instant hits, instant loves, some I just don’t get, and some take years to grow on me. One musical that it took me a long time to fall in love with is RENT. I think it was one I needed to “see” in order to for my brain to meld the music, story, visuals all together (doubting Thomas me!), but that certainly was the case for me when I finally saw Rent. It’s a beautiful show, confronting and profound, and heartbreaking in every way. But the show opens with this song. “Seasons of Love”, which I offer to you here, and it always offers me the hope-filler reminder that in EVERY moment of life, love is the dominant and ever-present gift from God.
Wednesday the 9th of September
Story
This week’s story tells about a whole year in the life of a family. We forget how precious time is, and how quickly it can pass. I realise for many that this year has dragged in its monotony of lockdown and frustration, but having spent most of my year watching a baby change and grow, I am aware of how fast it can fly. As Claudia Karvan reads “All through the Year”, recall how much can happen and change in each hour, day, week, month and year. In those moments when you’ve been aware of the passing of time, have you also been aware of God journeying with you through that period? In the moments we take for granted, and in the moments that seem monumental and transformative, God is present in it all.
To find the story, you might have to scroll down the screen to find it. That being said, any of the stories that come from the Play School team are worth listening too, so feel free to explore…
https://iview.abc.net.au/show/play-school-story-time
Thursday the 10th of September
Modern Words of Prayer.
Friday the 11th of September
Music from the Past
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) wrote some of the most exquisite music for the church throughout the Baroque period. And while I love his “St Matthew’s Passion”, and could choose from so many options, I’m sharing with you Bach’s Cello Suite No 1, which opens with one of his most iconic pieces of music. Some music endures in your heart because of the place where you first truly heard it, and an emotional connection is subconsciously formed. This is true of this piece for me, but I hope you’ll listen to the whole suite, played by the remarkable Yo Yo Ma, and allow this single cello wash delightfully over you.
Saturday the 12th of September
Poem
It was very hard to choose a final poem, as there is such an abundance of choices. Given our first two weeks were Australian, and last week very English, I’ve chosen an American poem this week- from the great Robert Frost. I’m sure I’ve mentioned this poem in worship before, but I don’t think I read the whole thing. As a final reflection to inspire prayer in this time of isolation and solitariness, the irony of Frost’s words speak perhaps louder and stronger in this moment. Again, I’ll be posting a reading of it on Facebook, but here it is for you to read:
Mending Wall by Robert Frost
Something there is that doesn’t love a wall,
That sends the frozen-ground-swell under it,
And spills the upper boulders in the sun;
And makes gaps even two can pass abreast.
The work of hunters is another thing:
I have come after them and made repair
Where they have left not one stone on a stone,
But they would have the rabbit out of hiding,
To please the yelping dogs. The gaps I mean,
No one has seen them made or heard them made,
But at spring mending-time we find them there.
I let my neighbor know beyond the hill;
And on a day we meet to walk the line
And set the wall between us once again.
We keep the wall between us as we go.
To each the boulders that have fallen to each.
And some are loaves and some so nearly balls
We have to use a spell to make them balance:
Stay where you are until our backs are turned!’
We wear our fingers rough with handling them.
Oh, just another kind of out-door game,
One on a side. It comes to little more:
There where it is we do not need the wall:
He is all pine and I am apple orchard.
My apple trees will never get across
And eat the cones under his pines, I tell him.
He only says, ‘Good fences make good neighbors.’
Spring is the mischief in me, and I wonder
If I could put a notion in his head:
‘Why do they make good neighbors? Isn’t it
Where there are cows? But here there are no cows.
Before I built a wall I’d ask to know
What I was walling in or walling out,
And to whom I was like to give offense.
Something there is that doesn’t love a wall,
That wants it down.’ I could say ‘Elves’ to him,
But it’s not elves exactly, and I’d rather
He said it for himself. I see him there
Bringing a stone grasped firmly by the top
In each hand, like an old-stone savage armed.
He moves in darkness as it seems to me,
Not of woods only and the shade of trees.
He will not go behind his father’s saying,
And he likes having thought of it so well
He says again, ‘Good fences make good neighbors.’