We are the people of God. The Scripture reminds us that we still sin.

We need to confess our failures, knowing that Jesus intercedes for us with the Father, who freely forgives us. So let us draw near to God with confidence and pray in confession together.

Loving Father,
We confess that we have sinned against you
In thought, word and deed, by what we have done, and what we’ve left undone.

We have not loved you with our whole heart.
We have not loved our neighbours as ourselves.
We are truly sorry and we repent in humility.

For the sake of your Son, Jesus Christ,
have mercy on us and forgives us;
that we may delight in your Word,
and walk in your ways,
to the glory of your name. AMEN.

Assurance of forgiveness...

The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. (1 Tim 1:15)

He himself bore our sins’ in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; ‘by his wounds you have been healed.’ (1 Peter 2:24)

Father God,

We confess that our thoughts are consumed by the impact the Coronavirus is having on us, and on our community.

The spread of the virus, the rising number of deaths, the fear and anxiety, the deep worry about our health system’s capacity to cope, coupled with the closing of businesses, the loss of jobs, very long queues outside of Centrelink; all these things are deeply unsettling.

Father. Have mercy. Have mercy on those who are weak and vulnerable to infection and death.

Father have mercy on those who work tirelessly to find a cure and vaccine. Please grant them success.

Father, for the doctors and nurses on the front line, caring for the sick and dying in our hospitals please protect them from falling ill. In the distress of caring for so many protect their hearts and minds. Please keep them from despair and burnout.

Father, we pray for hospital chaplains. Grant them the calm resolve to serve others well in their hospitals in a time of crisis.

Father we pray for world leaders, and for our own Prime Minister and the national cabinet tasked with responding to both the health crisis and the economic crisis. Please enable them to make decisions that are driven by compassion are care and not by fear.

Father keep us from an overly critical spirit towards those in authority. Give us the humility that recognises we’d probably fare no better in leadership than those who are providentially in authority.

Father we pray for your mercy to work in people’s hearts. Our society’s dream of unending economic growth and uninterrupted freedom are revealed to be just a dream – by a virus. In a way we thank you for that.

Father we pray that you’d work so that matters of life, death and eternity matter more to people.

We pray that you’d work mercifully so that people see they need a more certain hope than material prosperity, good health, and the good life offered by a culture that thinks little of you.

Father help us when our neighbours or family speak to us – especially when they voice their anxiety, fear, and sense of loss, to calmly speak of our hope that is certain and sure in Christ.

Father we pray for others who are known to us who take the good news of that hope to faraway places.

We pray especially for Linda McKerrell as she serves the cause of the gospel in Taiwan, and like us lives with the impact of Coronavirus on her plans.

We pray that as she looks ahead to her home assignment being interrupted or stopped, we ask that you’d keep her from allowing disappointment to turn to resentment. Help her to see that you are unfailingly good.

We pray that you’d work so that in all things, she wouldn’t be anxious or overwhelmed. Father please give her eyes to see the opportunities to speak to people around her about your unfailing love in Christ.

Finally, Father we pray for our church family.

We want to pray especially for Heather Ross. We thank you that she is home from hospital and those caring for her have diagnosed and remedied the cause of pain and discomfort.

We pray that you would continue to renew her strength.

We thank you that Heather and Don rest in your faithfulness. Grant Father, that they’d continue to take heart in your eternal love for them both in Christ.

Father, please hear our prayers in Jesus’ name.

John 12:1-19

Six days before the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany, where Lazarus lived, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. ² Here a dinner was given in Jesus’ honour. Martha served, while Lazarus was among those reclining at the table with him. ³ Then Mary took about half a litre of pure nard, an expensive perfume; she poured it on Jesus’ feet and wiped his feet with her hair. And the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.

⁴ But one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, who was later to betray him, objected, ⁵ ‘Why wasn’t this perfume sold and the money given to the poor? It was worth a year’s wages.^[a]’ ⁶ He did not say this because he cared about the poor but because he was a thief; as keeper of the money bag, he used to help himself to what was put into it.

⁷ ‘Leave her alone,’ Jesus replied. ‘It was intended that she should save this perfume for the day of my burial. ⁸ You will always have the poor among you,^[b] but you will not always have me.’

⁹ Meanwhile a large crowd of Jews found out that Jesus was there and came, not only because of him but also to see Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. ¹⁰ So the chief priests made plans to kill Lazarus as well, ¹¹ for on account of him many of the Jews were going over to Jesus and believing in him.

¹² The next day the great crowd that had come for the festival heard that Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem. ¹³ They took palm branches and went out to meet him, shouting,

‘Hosanna!^[c]’

‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!’^[d]

‘Blessed is the king of Israel!’

¹⁴ Jesus found a young donkey and sat upon it, as it is written:

¹⁵

‘Do not be afraid, Daughter Zion;

see, your king is coming,

seated on a donkey’s colt.’^[e]

¹⁶ At first his disciples did not understand all this. Only after Jesus was glorified did they realise that these things had been written about him and that these things had been done to him.

¹⁷ Now the crowd that was with him when he called Lazarus from the tomb and raised him from the dead continued to spread the word. ¹⁸ Many people, because they had heard that he had performed this sign, went out to meet him. ¹⁹ So the Pharisees said to one another, ‘See, this is getting us nowhere. Look how the whole world has gone after him!’

Footnotes:

1. John 12:5 Greek three hundred denarii

2. John 12:8 See Deut. 15:11.

3. John 12:13 A Hebrew expression meaning ‘Save!’ which became an exclamation of praise

4. John 12:13 Psalm 118:25,26

5. John 12:15 Zech. 9:9