Song: Great is Thy faithfulness
Prayer:
Heavenly Father, With humble hearts, we come before You today, overflowing with gratitude for the precious gift of life You have bestowed upon us.
We thank You for the breath that fills our lungs, the beating of our hearts, and the intricate workings of our bodies.
In every sunrise that graces the horizon and every sunset that paints the sky, we see Your handiwork and marvel at Your infinite creativity.
Lord, we acknowledge that life is a precious and fragile gift, not to be taken for granted. Help us cherish each moment, embrace the opportunities that come our way, and live with purpose and intention.
May we seek Your guidance in every step and find joy in the simplest blessings.
Amen.
www.prayersaves.com
God
of healing,
God
of wholeness,
we
bring our brokenness,
our
sinfulness,
our
fears
and
despair,
and
lay them at your feet.
God
of healing,
God
of wholeness,
we
hold out hearts and hands,
minds
and souls
to
feel your touch,
and
know the peace
that
only you can bring.
God
of healing,
God
of wholeness,
this
precious moment
in
your presence and power
grant
us faith and confidence
that
here broken lives
are
made whole.
Amen
www.faithandworship.com
Reading: Book of Lamentations, chapter 3: verses 19 to 26
Song: New every morning is the love
New Every Morning Is The Love (youtube.com)
Reading: Matthew’s gospel, chapter 20: verses 1 to 15
Reading: 1st letter to the Thessalonians, chapter 5: verses 12 to 24
Song: Help us to help each other
CH 523 'Help us to help each other, Lord' (youtube.com)
Prayer:
O God of peace, you have taught us that in Your returning we shall be saved. In quietness and in confidence you will be our strength and our salvation amongst a world of hurt, anguish, worry and fear. By the mighty power of Your spirit, lift us up as we pray to you for rest and reassurance in Your loving arms. May we always know that You are our God, and that Your grace can overcome any fear or worry we may have.
Heavenly
Father, this world You created continues down a dark and lonely road,
and the anxiety that constricts our
minds
continues to grow with it. Our
focus has drifted away from You to constant worrying and self-doubt.
We’re
afraid of being a failure. We’re
afraid of success, and the responsibilities of that. We’re
afraid of criticism from others, and of myself. We’re
afraid of being alone, and it haunts us.
We’re
even afraid of becoming a victim of crime, which can also make life
debilitating for us.
Bring our
thoughts back to You, oh Mighty God! Please be the centre
of our
life, our
Rock, our
Fortress and my Salvation for evermore. Help us
not to stray as the sheep of this world, but to focus our
eyes and heart upon You.
You
are the great All in All who sent your Son into the world for us
because you love us.
We
know you live within us
as well as residing in your home in Heaven.
In
every moment of our
fear, come near us
and give us
courage as We
face our
fear as we
then find we
have nothing to fear after all.
In
every moment of my doubt, come near us
and give us
your sure presence so we
will have faith and hope.
In
every moment of my insecurity, come near us
and place your hand upon us
so we
will feel secure.
We
honour
you because you have given us
your spirit to drive out all our
fear, doubt, and insecurity.
We
know, even in our
moments of fear, doubt, and insecurity your love continues to pour
over us.
Although
we
do not often have the right words to speak to you, we
know you search our
hearts
when our
words are feeble and weak.
We
am grateful you understand us
and love us
in spite of our
sinful nature.
Help
us
humbly show your love to the world.
To
you we
give all praise, honour,
and glory.
All
these things we
humbly pray in the name of our
most Blessed Lord Jesus Christ, our
Mighty God, and our
Ever-present Holy Spirit upon whom we
can rely.
Amen
https://prayerist.com/
Song: Through the night of doubt and sorrow
The Lord is
good to those whose hope is in him,
to
the one who seeks him;
it
is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord.
What do we know about the book of Lamentations. It presents as a gloomy book, one from which I have not, as far as I can remember, read in a service before. Tradition has it to be written by Jeremiah, although some scholars believe each chapter to be written by different authors, and then combined into one book.
God does not speak in the book, and indeed, seems to be rarely mentioned. However, there is an implication of his presence in the fact that the first four chapters are written as acrostics. This means that successive verses begin with successive letters of the Hebrew alphabet from Aleph to Tau. This is taken to imply a sense of totality or completeness. As we might say in English from A to Z, or as Jesus said in Greek, from Alpha to Omega. Chapters 1,2 and 4, all have 22 verses because of this. The eagle eyed amongst you will point out that chapter 3 has more verses that this. In fact it has 66 verses, and each group of 3 verses starts with the same letter. You will see that the translation in the pew bibles groups the verses in threes. Chapter 5 is not acrostic, but still has 22 verses, and thus the idea of completeness is still there.
The first 4 chapters are written is a rhythm, or metre, called Qinah. This is the rhythm of poems usually used as dirges in Hebrew tradition.
Obviously, neither the acrostic nature of the writing, nor the rhythm can easily be translated, and what would be obvious to a Hebrew reader, is totally lost on an English one.
The author presents overwhelming suffering and seems to believe that this is justified as a deserved result of sinning. However, nowhere does the writer blame God, instead, he is presented as righteous and just.
Chapter 3 is apparently the chink of light in this otherwise rather gloomy litany. It is considered that the people might benefit from this suffering, that it could be for their good. A better day could dawn for them. The writer has hope that a God of Great Love, compassion, faithfulness, and goodness, will bring salvation to those who wait quietly.
Can we identify with this writer? Do we experience gloom? Do we ever wonder whether it is all worth it? Have we ever despaired? Certainly I have been in such a dark place. Although I have to say I never felt the need, or had the ability, to write an acrostic poem of 26 verses to express my feelings. In particular, the X and Z verses might be difficult to compose, I don’t see how xylophones or zebras would form part of such a poem; perhaps xenophobia or zero might be more use.
The message of this book is that whatever the gloom, however much we might doubt, deep though the mire might be, if we wait, God will free us. The message of Jesus in the new testament is that whenever we have a problem, Jesus has already experienced that problem, that God understands it because he has been there, that he is suffering it with us, and that hew will free us from it.
Paul’s first letter to the Thessalonians in one of the earliest books in the new testament. Probably written about 50 A.D. , it was written by Paul to the church in Thessalonica. As is usual with Paul’s letters, he addresses a number of issues which were directed at the church there, namely;
Relationships among Christians
Mourning those who have died
Preparing for God's arrival
How Christians should behave
The passage we read is about this last section. How Christians should behave towards each other, and to others. In general, we are urged to behave in a way which encourage, which builds up. Those who are senior to us in the faith, and work hard among us putting us right should be held in high regard, and encouraged in their work. Those who we find to be weaker in the faith should be encouraged. We should live in peace, and be patient. We should be kind to everyone. Quite a list. A big ask as we might say today; but this is what is necessary to help people not to sink into the sort of gloom that the writer of Lamentations had experienced.
Perhaps Paul had received a message that people in the church were wondering whether it was all worth it. Perhaps there was infighting, one-upmanship or some sort of class system within the fellowship, where people were suggesting that for some reason they were better than others. Perhaps people were saying of the leaders “Who are they to tell me what to do?” Why are they better than us?” Perhaps some were like Marvin in the Hitch-hikers’ guide to the Galaxy. Marvin was a perpetually gloomy Robot who was convinced that whatever he did it was to no effect, that nothing was worth it, that everything was going to end badly.
He would say things like “Don’t try to engage with my enthusiasm, I haven’t got one!”. When asked “How’s life Marvin?” He would respond, “Very good, if you like being me, which I don’t.”
Such people need encouragement, they need building up “edifying” is the old fashioned word for it.
The people are also urged to pray, to give thanks in all circumstances, to hold on to the good, to avoid evil.
This brings to mind a story from an old fashioned harvest service, where the children were expected to bring their gifts to the front of the church during the service. Each child had been taught a verse of scripture to repeat while handing over the gift. One child came up with a box of 6 large oranges but would neither hand over the fruit, not repeat his verse. Eventually, the minister asked him what the verse was. Clinging to his fruit, the boy replied “Hold fast to that which is good!”
The story of the labourers in the vineyard can be interpreted in different ways. Some people see it as setting an ideal for people here on earth. That all should have sufficient for their needs as long as they give what they are able. This is sometimes expressed in the form “From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs.” This is commonly attributed to Karl Marx. However, similar ideas can be found in a document called “The Guildford covenant of 1639”, this does not come from Surrey, but from Guildford Connecticut, now in the U.S.A. Even further back, a similar idea is expressed in Acts, chapter 4.
Perhaps, this can be understood in terms of Matthew’s account of John saying that the kingdom of God is at hand, or near.
However, many of Matthew’s accounts of Jesus’ words seem to be addressing the idea of the Kingdom of Heaven in a more spiritual sense.
Using this idea, this parable can be seen as people being invited to do the Lord’s work, and their reward for this service. Some people might think that it is only fair that those who have worked harder, or longer, would get a better place in heaven; that those of us who have been “lifelong Christians” are somehow better that those who have experienced what are sometimes called “Deathbed conversions”. Whatever we think, the moral of this parable is that it is for God to decide. That we can rely on him to be just and fair in his dealings, just as the author of Lamentations revealed to us. That we are all to build each other up, whatever our background, just as Paul urged the church in Thessalonica
The Lord is
good to those whose hope is in him,
to
the one who seeks him;
it
is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord.
Song: Through all the changing scenes of life
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