Daily ScriptureConsider, O Lord, how I love your commandments; give me life according to your loving-kindness. I have kept your commandments and testimonies, for all my ways are before you. My tongue shall sing of your word, for all your commandments are righteous. Let your hand reach out to help me, for I have chosen your commandments. (Psalm 119:159, 168, 172-173)Daily ReflectionThroughout this psalm, the psalmist praises God. Here, in this part, he speaks a great deal about God’s commandments. About how much he loves them; how he’s kept them; how they are righteous; how he’s chosen to live by them. It all sounds very positive. It would be wonderful if we too could say so positively about how we love/have kept/and chosen to live by His commandments; because it is in following God’s commandments that there is real life.Then, in the very last verse of the psalm, the psalmist cries out, “I have gone astray like a sheep that is lost; O seek your servant, for I do not forget your commandments.” He’s recognised that he knows and wants to keep God’s commandments, but…… he has gone astray. Does that sound familiar?Fortunately, we have a God who is a good shepherd who is seeking us and always welcomes us back.Revd David
Daily Scripture: "For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation and brings no regret, but worldly grief produces death." (2 Corinthians 7 v 10) Daily Reflection: The word "grief" here could also be translated as "pain". What in your life causes you distress or pain, and how do you handle it? When we look at God through the lense of our pain, he may seem small, distant, uncaring and unloving, and our pain looks insurmountable. Paul is telling us in the verse above to look at our pain through the lense of a God who is all-loving, all-caring and all-knowing. Then it is the pain that seems small and distant in the face of our mighty God. The Christian life isn't easy. We aren't promised a bed of roses, free from suffering. We are promised that the God who loves us, walks with us in each moment, never leaving our side, our Rock, our Redeemer and our Comforter. Vicki Young
Here's the link to the recording of yesterday's Sunday service at St Nicholas, 10am Holy Communion: https://youtu.be/E5DVWGRz6Ps<br>
Daily ScriptureAs we work together with him (God) we urge you also not to accept the grace of God in vain. <sup> </sup>For he says,‘At an acceptable time I have listened to you, and on a day of salvation I have helped you.’See, now is the acceptable time; see, now is the day of salvation! (2 Corinthians 6:1-2)Daily ReflectionSeize the day! That is in effect what the Apostle Paul is telling the congregation that he is writing to. Are we seizing the day? Are we making the most of our time that we have been allotted here on Earth? The England squad certainly did seize their day yesterday, and made the very most of their allotted time! It is eventually all we can do, whether we win in life’s penalty shoot-out, or lose by a whisker; but no one should be able to say of us, when our time comes, that we didn’t try!Salvation is such a big, incomprehensible word. But the truth is, that we are being saved, by being freed from our misconceptions, our hatred for others and ourselves, our need for control, our greed and lovelessness, by God every day. Salvation is not a once in a lifetime event, but something that God is willing to work out in our lives every day, if only we will say ‘Yes’ to him! Revd Ylva
