Daily Scripture:Sing to the Lord with thanksgiving; make melody to our God on the lyre. He covers the heavens with clouds, prepares rain for the earth, makes grass grow on the hills. (Psalm 147 v7-8)Daily Reflection:We are so blessed to live where we do - surrounded by the beauty of creation. There is something quite powerful about beauty. Whenever I gaze on a painting, or lose myself in music, or enjoy a good book or sit by a running stream and listen to the sound of the water - something deep within me is moved. Reflecting on the beauty of creation can have the effect of a natural pain killer - there are poems and paintings from the First World War trenches that seek to capture beauty in the midst of horror, pain and great suffering. In the concentration camps of the Second World War, men and women would sing to one another - there is something within human nature that desperately searches for beauty. God’s beautiful actions bring us life even in the midst of death - so let us sing praise to the Lord. Lyn Hayes ALM
Daily ScriptureO Lord, what are human beings that you regard them, or mortals that you think of them? They are like a breath; their days are like a passing shadow. (Psalm 144:3-4)Daily ReflectionIf this last 12-15 months of living through the pandemic has shown us anything, it is this: just how important relationships are, and how precious life is. Whatever age we each live to, life - in the grand scheme of things - is short. The Psalmist refers to it as a breath, a passing shadow. There is one relationship that we should not neglect to work on, our relationship with God. The creator of the earth, the galaxy, the universe…. thinks about us, about you; and the psalmist asks, “why God would do that?” Because he loves and cares for all His creation. He loves you. So we should do our bit to draw closer to God. Job (afflicted by many problems) said, “As for me, I would seek God, and to God I would commit my cause.” Follow Job’s example. Revd David
Daily Scriptureif you are sure that you are a guide to the blind, a light to those who are in darkness, a corrector of the foolish, a teacher of children, … will you not teach yourself? While you preach against stealing, do you steal? You that forbid adultery, do you commit adultery? You that abhor idols, do you rob temples? You that boast in the law, do you dishonour God by breaking the law? (Romans 2.17-23) Daily ReflectionHypocrisy is loathsome – and not hard to spot… ‘When lawyers strive to heal a breach, And parsons practise what they preach, When Justices hold equal scales, And Rogues are only found in jails; Then Little Boney he’ll pounce down, And march his men on London town!’ wrote Thomas Hardy in The Trumpet Major. St Paul was echoing Jesus in accusing those who preached about the Law of shameful guilt in not upholding it themselves. Jesus also warned about wanting to get a speck out of someone else’s eye when you have a plank in yours. Who of us is without fault? David Harmsworth
Daily Scripture:All who have sinned apart from the law will also perish apart from the law, and all who have sinned under the law will be judged by the law. For it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous in God’s sight, but the doers of the law who will be justified. (Romans 2:12-13)Daily ReflectionThe Bible gives us the Ten Commandments; from these we know how we should be living with one another. Societies and individuals who have never seen a Bible still know right from wrong; every culture in the world follows (or tries to follow) God’s moral law. (for example every culture knows that murder is wrong not right.) This first verse of scripture is saying that those who know God’s “laws” will be judged by them, and those who don’t know God’s written laws will be judged by whether they keep the standards of their conscience of what is right and wrong. The second verse is basically saying that it is no good knowing the Ten Commandments (being able to recite what the 7<sup>th</sup> Commandment is, for example), but then not living by them.Don’t be proud knowing the Ten Commandments, but live the Ten Commandments. Revd David
