Author Archive: Craig

Prayer of the People, 22 May 2020

May 25, 2020 0 Comments

Heavenly Father, We thank you for the grace in which we now stand. You have created a cathedral in Creation and your glory fills it all. There is no corner of creation that is hidden from you, nothing escapes your view. However, we would have missed you in the fog of our unbelief. 

Graciously, Father, Jesus ushered us into your communion — the very communion of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit and our faith continues to grasp just a bit of your greatness and your glory. We want to thank you for making yourself known to us. 

Father, we truly delight in your Word and we pray that your Word would accomplish in us all that you intend. We pray that we will not frustrate or make empty your Word. And we pray that we will not take your Name in vain. We are always cautious to say “this or that is of the Lord or from the Lord,” but we need to hear your voice. So please help us hear Your voice. For your word says that “My sheep know my voice, and a stranger’s voice, they will not follow”. 

Oh Lord, is there a famine of your Word in our hearts and in our relationships? As officials clamour to restart the economy, where is justice for the poor and for those workers closest to the ground? What adjustments have we made to address the vulnerabilities revealed in this pandemic? What idols still need to be released from our hearts and hands? We lift them all up to you, Oh Lord. 

Father, we are in a rush to start our economies again. The airwaves and our screens are full of those who would bend us for their own ends. Help us dear Lord Jesus! Our citizenship rests in you and in your Kingdom. For the scripture affirms that You have translated us from the Kingdom of darkness and have made us citizens of the Kingdom of your own dear Son. Somehow Lord — You know how — we need our worship of you to align our affections with what matters most. We pray that you would Grant us the obedience that comes from faith. 

Come Lord Jesus. We need to know the truth about us and about you. We need your Spirit to heal and fill us with life. We lift up to you our friends and family who are rocked by loss, feeling stranded in loneliness, or are unsure of what to do next. We set them before you.We pray that you will be a Living Water to them — refreshing them, healing them, and empowering them — for life in your abundant grace. 

We lift up to you the peoples of India and Bangladesh suffering from the effects of Cyclone Amphan. Help neighbours care and to meet needs. We cast our eyes around the globe in our common fight against the coronavirus pandemic: so we lift up to you Peru, South Africa, Mexico, the Navajo Nation in the US and indigenous communities in Canada — We pray that you would comfort and heal, protect and make yourself known O Lord. 

We seek you and so we pray as Jesus taught us:
(Please join me in the Lord’s Prayer)
Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
And forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from the evil one;
for yours is the kingdom,
and the power,
and the glory,
forever.
Amen. 

Prepared by Ransford Buah and Craig O’Brien

Prayer

Prayer of the People, 15 May 2020

May 18, 2020 0 Comments

Heavenly Father there is no substitute for you. All the works of our hands have proven insufficient. We have even bankrupted ourselves on the misuse of your Creation; it was never meant to bear the weight of our souls!

So it is with delight that we enter by the way of Jesus’ life, death, burial and resurrection into your Communion — the communion of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. In you we are loved. In you we are satisfied.

We have tried to quench the thirst of our souls — but truthfully we have trouble locating our thirst. We confuse our thirst for you with the development of our selves. Improvement of our identities is killing us. Chasing the next adventure has become severely limited. And meeting people online sometimes tires us out. Oh Lord we need you — we need you. We cry out with the Psalmist:

1As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, my God.
2My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God? 3My tears have been my food day and night, while people say to me all day long, “Where is your God?” 4These things I remember as I pour out my soul: how I used to go to the house of God under the protection of the Mighty One with shouts of joy and praise among the festive throng.

O Lord, We miss gathering in person but we join you in loving the world anyway! We lift up to you our neighbours anxious under the weight of illness, loss, or financial worries (PAUSE) .  We lift up to you people and countries fighting the Covid 19 Pandemic: Zimbabwe, the Royhinga in Bangladesh, the refugees in Lesbos Greece and the people of NewYork and Montreal.

Oh Lord Jesus rise up in us a Spring of Living water. We seek you so pray as you taught us (Join me in the Lord’s Prayer)

Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
And forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from the evil one;
for yours is the kingdom,
and the power, and the glory, 
forever.   
Amen.

Prayer

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Wait and Listen

May 14, 2020 0 Comments

What is your smaller world of interaction teaching you?

Some of you may have discovered a neglected discipline as your world has become smaller during the pandemic. Maybe you have cooked more, baked more, practiced an instrument more, gardened more, or perhaps you have rested. But my guess is that the discipline of waiting and listening for Jesus’ voice has not become “easier.” I pray that we would all be given grace to increase our capacity to listen to Jesus. If we don’t, we will miss out on so much joy.

John the Baptist’s life is full of so many discipleship lessons for the followers of Jesus. When his disciples are all stirred up by comparison and jealousy John responds with contentment, jubilation and joy.

His contentment had been nurtured through surrender and faithfulness.

He says, “A person can only receive what is given them from heaven.” Without this surrender and perseverance in relationship to God John would not have had joy.

John’s joy has been nurtured through clarity and conviction.

He is clear about who He is and what is about. His identity flows from His relationship with God and the unique time in which He has been situated in God’s plan. John richly describes his relationship with Jesus, with himself, and his relationships with people and the stuff of earth through the metaphor of the wedding party. John says,

“The bride belongs to the bridegroom. The friend who attends the bridegroom waits and listens for him, and is full of joy when he hears the bridegroom’s voice. That joy is mine, and it is now complete. He must become greater; I must become less.” (John 3:29-30)

The Friend of the Groom

When you are part of the wedding part, the groom’s men or the bride’s maids you have certain responsibilities and roles to play. At the wedding the point of focus is not you; it’s the groom and bride. As the friend of the groom you are not trying to upstage him; you want to attend to his needs and to his purposes in loving, celebrating, and building up his bride.

John says he has been attending to Jesus, the Messiah. John has been waiting for Jesus. John has been listening for Jesus. And when Jesus speaks, John has joy. When the bride moves toward Jesus John celebrates and feels a sense of completion in his life.

Are you learning to wait on and listen for Jesus? Our joy is in hearing his voice and responding to Him in obedience.

Waiting and listening are not passive; they require attentive effort.

At at wedding celebration the friend of the groom may be seen sitting, walking, and standing. Sometimes he appears to be alone — but he may actually be on task for the groom. Sometimes he appears to be with the groom: sitting, walking, standing. Sometimes the friend of the groom may be attending to a need of the groom’s bride on the groom’s behalf. There is joy in all of it.

But all the activity has as its point of reference that the friend of the groom has been able to wait and to listen.

Even while active in mundane or once-in-a-lifetime tasks, the friend of the groom is mindful to listen for the groom’s voice.

This is John’s internal posture: attending to the voice of Jesus.

Is it yours?

You can nurture this kind of attention through:

daily surrender to Jesus.

daily openness to His Spirit filling you.

daily feeding on His Words and the stories of Jesus’ life.

daily mindfulness to His nudge drawing your attention to people so you can participate in what He is doing in their lives and yours.

celebrating the union of the Church with Jesus the Lamb of God!

Discipleship, Jesus, Leadership, Work

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LJWJ — Resurrection Authority

May 13, 2020 0 Comments

A few weeks ago we made a shift from Journey Through John to Life Journey With Jesus (LJWJ). I haven’t abandoned the Gospel of John! Instead of blogging or creating a video unpacking the text during the day I made a shift to begin a new series on the first Sunday after Easter to explore the Gospel of John in our Weekend Broadcast. The Broadcast has been designed to assist people in having a House Church experience on the weekend anywhere around the world.

So here’s Resurrection Authority, from 2:13-25 taken from the Origin Church Weekend Broadcast on 17 April 2020.

Jesus, Journey Through John's Gospel

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Prayer of the People, 8 May 2020

May 11, 2020 0 Comments

Heavenly Father,

Your communion is filled with joy — there’s joy produced in relationship between the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Thank you for sharing your life with us and delivering us into your Kingdom. Even now we know we have had a taste of your joy.

We open our hearts to you. Fill us with your Spirit. May joy in our fellowship be a sign of your abundant love and the sure promise of our faith secured by Jesus Christ. Oh that your joy would spring up in every obedient and faithful act of worship provoked by faith in your name.

May your joy in us create a rebellion against hopelessness, despair, and apathy. These weigh us down Lord, creating spiritual inertia that resists love. Forgive us Lord. We don’t know how to appreciate your presence in creation, in each other, in the poor, in the merciful, and in the meek. Renew our spirits and create in us a clean heart.

Father, you have provided us with food and shelter. You have lifted our heads with words of  encouragement and compassion. You have helped us persevere through our struggles. 

Thank you for this grace.

We lift up to you those in our congregation who
long for friendship
cry for comfort
pray for purpose and 
ask for provision.

Meet them Lord. Fulfill your Word in their lives for the glory of your name.

We lift up to you those in our city who
need a safe space,
are pressed down by anxiety, or
are trapped by addiction.

Oh Lord, deliver them by the power of your Spirit and bring them into the joy of your fellowship.

Lord we lift up to you these cities and the people who reside in them. Grant them the joy of your salvation and please raise up men and women overflowing with stories of your redemption in Oman, Alexandria, Oslo, Bangkok, Tehran, Brasilia, and Ottawa. Establish your church and the good work of their hands.

Jesus you are above all. In joyful adoration we bend the knee and call you Lord. We pray today as you taught us. 
(Please join me in the Lord’s Prayer)

Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
And forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from the evil one;
for yours is the kingdom,
and the power, and the glory, 
forever. 
Amen.

Prayer

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