Daily ScriptureIt’s like a man going away. He leaves his house and puts his servants in charge , each with his assigned task, and tells the one at the door to keep watch. Therefore keep watch because you do not know when the owner of the house will come back .... If he comes suddenly, do not let him find you sleeping. What I say to you, I say to everyone: ‘Watch!’ (Mark 13.35-7)Daily ReflectionOver the centuries there have been many self-styled ‘prophets’ claiming to know when and how the world will end, and frightening many gullible souls into believing that the apocalypse is imminent. Yet Jesus tells his disciples that even he does not know when this will happen. When he calls us to ‘watch’, to be alert, he is not suggesting that we should be in a permanent state of fear and anxiety, but rather that we should lead our lives in such a way that we need not be ashamed or fearful whenever God may call us - whether at the Last Day or at the time of our own death. A wonderful old lady I once knew used to say, ‘I’m in no hurry, but I’m ready when he comes for me’.May God grant us such a faith. Revd Rosemary
Daily Scripture:‘The Lord upholds all those who fall and lifts up all those who are bowed down. The eyes of all wait upon you, O Lord, and you give them their food in due season. You open wide your hand and fill all things living with plenty…..The Lord is near to those who call upon him, to all who call upon him faithfully.’ (Psalm 145 v 15 -17 & 19)Daily Reflection: I don’t know about you but the news this week that we are to endure yet another phase of near lockdown, has left me somewhat crest fallen and bowed down. We are all watching and waiting to see what will come next - hoping that we will at least be able to see some of our nearest and dearest over the festive season - But there is hope at the end of the tunnel, there is hope in the Lord, who will, in our true hour of need, give us what he has promised, he will lift up all who are bowed down - he will open wide his hands as long as we remember to call on Him in faith - that is surely something to look forward to. Lyn Hayes ALM
Daily ScriptureO Lord, you have searched me out and known me.... You encompass me behind and before and lay your hand upon me. I thank you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made….. How deep are your counsels to me, O God! How great is the sum of them! (Psalm 139)Daily ReflectionThis is probably my favourite psalm. I encourage you to make the space today to pick up your Bible and read the whole of Psalm 139 through slowly and quietly. There is so much assurance in this psalm that God knows you and cares about you. At one point the psalmist cries out, “Where can I go then from your spirit? Or where can I flee from your presence?” Not because he wants to get away from God or hide from Him, but because he’s recognised that God is with him wherever he is, whatever he’s doing, whatever he’s going through. And then he thanks God because he’s “fearfully and wonderfully made” – and you are too. Pick up your Bible; draw closer to your creator; He cares about you.Revd David
Daily Scripture:Why do you say, ‘My way is hidden from the Lord, and my right is disregarded by my God’? Have you not known? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable. (Isaiah 40.27-28)Daily Reflection:The prophets spoke for God in troubled times. Their message was often uncomfortable, too, as they addressed the injustices in their society. But they did this because they believed they had been given insight into the bigger picture – into God’s overview. The first man in space ‘looked and looked but didn’t see God’; for lunar astronaut Edgar Mitchell, however, “My view of our planet was a glimpse of divinity. Yes, and down here in the thick of it, we have known, yes, we have heard, we have seen the beauty and the awesome, persistent rhythm of life, so it is right not to give way to any temptation to despair. God is, just as much in our predicament as in Isaiah’s; and not away out there, but with us! David Harmsworth
