Father, hear the prayer we offer

John 10.31-end

The Jews took up stones again to stone him. Jesus replied, ‘I have shown you many good works from the Father. For which of these are you going to stone me?’ The Jews answered, ‘It is not for a good work that we are going to stone you, but for blasphemy, because you, though only a human being, are making yourself God.’ Jesus answered, ‘Is it not written in your law, “I said, you are gods”? If those to whom the word of God came were called “gods”—and the scripture cannot be annulled— can you say that the one whom the Father has sanctified and sent into the world is blaspheming because I said, “I am God’s Son”? If I am not doing the works of my Father, then do not believe me. But if I do them, even though you do not believe me, believe the works, so that you may know and understand that the Father is in me and I am in the Father.’ Then they tried to arrest him again, but he escaped from their hands.

He went away again across the Jordan to the place where John had been baptizing earlier, and he remained there. Many came to him, and they were saying, ‘John performed no sign, but everything that John said about this man was true.’ And many believed in him there.

Here, again, we have the unhelpful group of 'The Jews', which implicitly ignores the fact that Jesus himself was Jewish. He was born, and died, a Jew.

It is hard to understate how problematic this has been over the centuries. Obviously, the Holocaust is perhaps the example that comes immediately to mind, but it isn't hard to come across, for example, harmful Jewish stereotypes and the use of 'Jew' as an insult in some traditional folk songs - that are occasionally still sung today. Similar is true for some hymns, especially those written for Holy Week.

'The one who sings prays twice' - often attributed to St Augustine - shows how much attention we should pay to hymns we sing. Song is a powerful thing. It is often what we remember most easily, and so carry with us. If we are not attentive to what song is actually saying, are we aware of the messages we are carrying and, indeed, believing?

As both a prayer and a suggestion for music today, what about Father, hear the prayer we offer, which seems fitting both for this theme, and for our current time - on the cusp of Holy Week, and in the middle of a pandemic.