Shipley Church Self-Service

Sunday 5th July 2020

Thought for the Week – Rest for the Weary

Jesus calls to all who are wearied by the changes and chances of this fleeting world, and invites them to lay down their burdens and rest. (Matthew 11: 25-30) He points us to a different path through life: Suffer the little children to come unto me; anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a child will never enter it.

He even makes the future seem uncertain: It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God. (Mark 10: 13-27) Who, then, can be saved and inherit life everlasting? With God, however, there is the offer of hope, for Jesus says, “all things are possible”.

These readings ask us what we long for in life, just as the American Declaration of Independence on 4 July 1776 came to represent a moral standard to which the United States would strive. "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." This passage has been called “one of the best-known sentences in the English language”, and was proclaimed with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence.

Hymn for the Day

 O Perfect Love, all human thought transcending

v3.

Grant us the joy that brightens earthly sorrow,

Grant us the peace which calms all earthly strife;

And to life’s day the glorious unknown morrow

That dawns upon eternal love and life.

Prayer

We pray that as the founders of America won liberty for themselves, and lit the torch of freedom for others, we people of our own land shall have the grace to maintain our own liberties in righteousness and peace, as we re-open our church for worship.

Note: Further Prayers and the readings for today can be downloaded at the top right of this page