Reflection: Sunday 19th June and for the week ahead:Scripture:If you will only heed his every commandment that I am commanding you today - loving the Lord your God and serving Him with all your heart and soul - then He will give you rain for your land in its season, early rain and late rain, and you will gather in your grain, your wine and your oil; and he will give grass in your fields for your livestock and you will eat your fill. (Deut 11. 13-15)Reflection:Here in the Old Testament the Israelites, having been rescued from slavery in Egypt, are standing at the edge of the promised land. Moses reminds them of their 40 year journey through the wilderness, of God’s miracles of provision; bread from heaven, water gushing forth from rocks, and pillars of fire to guide their way, despite their lawlessness and rejection of God’s love. His request is simple - If they will love God and love other people, they will want for nothing. This promise is the same for us today. The language of farming and agriculture as seen in these verses is prominent throughout scripture, because that was the language the people at that time understood. It was all around them. What if we could translate these promises into today’s language? ‘Love God, and serve Him with all your heart’ - then you will be warm and well fed with a roof over your head; the sun will shine in your life and you will never be without. He will take care of all that you love. God who parted the Red Sea, rescued His children from oppression, and gave them a land flowing with milk and honey for their own is the same God today - there is nothing He cannot do.Vicki Young
Reflection: Sunday12th June and for the week ahead:Scripture:‘…since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ’ (Romans 5.1)Reflection:This is the week of Trinity Sunday. The doctrine of the Trinity is a most bewildering attempt to describe the nature of God. But it’s an attempt also to describe our human experience. St Paul sent this letter long before church leaders tried to write a Creed – he wanted to encourage Christians who were struggling. What he says is that we do have access to God through and because of Jesus; and that this God of love is actually real to us because of what we feel in our hearts, in our inmost selves, when we feel love and concern. God is love, the love of our Father as he meets us in the Son and as we experience it in the Spirit. And so we find peace in our inner selves.David Harmsworth
