DAILY REFLECTION - 2025

Friday 28th February

In preparing for the forthcoming Alpha course, I came across this piece from the newsletter of another church that are putting on the course. It underlines the need for the whole church community to uphold this endeavour in prayer. I really hope that you will consider signing up for Alpha - it begins on 11/3 and we can arrange lifts from Topsham if you are without transport, just let me know. And at the very least, hold in your prayers the principal organiser , warden Jackie Crozier, and all the volunteers who are making it happen, as well as the folk who will be coming. Everything from making sure we have enough food to feed everyone to praying that the wisdom in the room will lead us further into God's grace.

Alpha Course: Who are you praying for?

“I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God that you may know that you have eternal life. And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us.” 1 John 5:13-14 (ESV)

“We tend to use prayer as a last resort, but God wants it to be our first line of defence. We pray when there’s nothing else we can do, but God wants us to pray before we do anything at all.

Most of us would prefer, however, to spend our time doing something that will get immediate results. We don’t want to wait for God to resolve matters in His good time because His idea of ‘good time’ is seldom in sync with ours.” ― Oswald Chambers

Alpha is a ministry that is utterly dependent on the work of the Holy Spirit. The ministry as a whole is immersed in prayer not because it is our last resort but because we believe that it is our first line of defence. When we think of sharing the good news, we need to realize that no matter how eloquent, or powerful our words may be we cannot change the human heart, only God can do that.

Revd Louise Grace

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Thursday 27th February

Today the poet George Herbert is commemorated in the Church of England. Here is one of his most famous poems:

Love (III)

Love bade me welcome, yet my soul drew back,
Guilty of dust and sin.
But quick-ey'd Love, observing me grow slack
From my first entrance in,
Drew nearer to me, sweetly questioning
If I lack'd anything.

"A guest," I answer'd, "worthy to be here";
Love said, "You shall be he."
"I, the unkind, the ungrateful? ah my dear,
I cannot look on thee."
Love took my hand and smiling did reply,
"Who made the eyes but I?"

"Truth, Lord, but I have marr'd them; let my shame
Go where it doth deserve."
"And know you not," says Love, "who bore the blame?"
"My dear, then I will serve."
"You must sit down," says Love, "and taste my meat."
So I did sit and eat.

Revd Louise Grace

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Tuesday 25th and Wenesday 26th February

I am so mindful that I am sending this out at 10pm, having missed yesterday - this week has seen each day packed and me wondering very much about balance : this is a key Biblical imperative, not just a contemporary concern. Jesus showed again and again that there was need for retreat and recuperation, as well as outreach and active service.

One of the reasons for extra work is following up and engaging with both our PCCs over a three week period, rather than the usual one PCC meeting. It is good work, digging deep into how we function and not just the content of the agenda of each PCC. I am attaching a document that seeks to promote a thriving culture of PCC (for document please scroll to the bottom of this page).. This might raise a question as to why this is being distributed widely, and not just to the PCC members. The reason is that the PCC represents the whole church, and so it behoves the whole church to be actively engaged and wondering how to support their PCC to both fulfill their responsibilities as best as possible while ensuring a culture that is safe and enables everyone to thrive. Please do take a look at the document; the principles are actually transferrable to our own personal and working lives too.

And if you would like to engage more on how the PCC represents you in church life, or would even think about joining a thriving PCC, please don't hesitate to contact me.

Revd Louise Grace

For the PCC Well being Document please scroll down to the bottom of this page to find it.

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Monday 24th February

As we prepare for Lent, it is good to think through what intentions and discipline we have for the season. This year the mission community is holding an Alpha course. This is open to everyone, whether your faith is five minutes or five decades long; everyone has something to bring to the table and the wisdom in the room is one of the great riches of Alpha. The content of the course is to cover all the big questions of faith, and life in general.

Jackie Crozier, warden of St Luke's, is generously doing the organisation of this course, and it's with Jackie you need to register. I have attached the registration form, if you could fill it in and send it back to me, I will forward to Jackie. The course starts on 11th March and runs for 8 weeks. It will be held at St Luke's church rooms. 

Revd Louise Grace

For the Registration Form please scroll down to the bottom of this page to find it.

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Friday 21st February

Reading: 1 Corinthians 3:8-10

8 The one who plants and the one who waters have a common purpose, and each will receive wages according to the labour of each. 9 For we are God’s servants, working together; you are God’s field, God’s building. 10 According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled master builder I laid a foundation, and someone else is building on it. Each builder must choose with care how to build on it.

Reflection: Lord Radstock was staying in a hotel in Norway in the mid-nineteenth century. He heard a little child playing the piano downstairs in the hallway. She was making a terrible noise: ‘Plink... plonk... plink...’. It was driving him mad! A man came and sat beside her and began playing alongside her, filling in the gaps. The result was the most beautiful music. He later discovered that the man playing alongside was the girl’s father, Alexander Borodin, composer of the opera Prince Igor. God calls you into a relationship that involves cooperation with him. The Christian faith is primarily about what has been done for you by God in Christ. However, we are not mere spectators. You are called to respond. God involves you in his plans. God comes and sits alongside you and ‘in all things... works for the good’ (Romans 8:28). He takes our ‘plink… plonk... plink...’ and makes something beautiful out of our lives. (extract from The Bible with Nicky and Pippa Gumbel 2025)

Prayer: Lord, thank you that, in all things, you work for my good and that you give me a role to play. Please take my ‘plink... plonk... plink...’ and turn it into something beautiful.

Have a great day.

Revd Peter

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Thursday 21st February

Reading: Matthew 26 36 Then Jesus went with them to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to his disciples, “Sit here while I go over there and pray.” 37 He took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee and began to be grieved and agitated. 38 Then he said to them, “My soul is deeply grieved, even to death; remain here, and stay awake with me.” 39 And going a little farther, he threw himself on the ground and prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me, yet not what I want but what you want.”

Reflection:

It is the song most frequently played at British funeral services. It is the most remade song in history. It was popularised by Frank Sinatra on his 1969 album, *My Way*. In the Philippines, ‘My Way’ is so popular in karaoke bars that it has been declared responsible for a number of deaths where arguments over performance degenerated into violence! ‘I did it my way’ is the way of the world. It is not the way of Jesus. Jesus said, ‘Yet not as I will, but as you will’ (Matthew 26:39). He prays, ‘May your will be done’ (v.42). He made no excuses. Jesus did it God’s way. (extract from The Bible with Nicky and Pippa Gumbel 2025)

We can all be frustrated or hurt because it didn’t go my way. Yet we are to commit our way to the Lord. He can lift us up or lay us down. We can be assured that we know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose. Romans 8.28.

Prayer: Lord, help us to trust that you in the situations we face that your will is actually better than my will. Help me to lay my life into your hands which is the safest place to be.

Have a great day.

Revd Peter
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Wednesday 19th February

 Reading: Matthew 25 31 “When the Son of Man comes in his glory and all the angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory. 32 All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, 33 and he will put the sheep at his right hand and the goats at the left. 34 Then the king will say to those at his right hand, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world, 35 for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, 36 I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.’

Reflection: Myra Hindley was one of the most notorious murderers of the twentieth century. Yet, one person took it upon himself to visit her regularly while she was in prison. Lord Longford (1905–2001) was a controversial figure who spent much of his life visiting prisoners, including Myra Hindley. Yet, no one can doubt his compassion and his *faithfulness*, both to God and to those he visited. When he died, former prisoners joined hundreds of mourners to say farewell to the man who had spent his life *faithfully* fighting for society’s outcasts. He found inspiration in the words of Jesus from today’s passage. On his deathbed he asked his wife, ‘You know what the most important quotation from the Bible is?’ He spoke his last words by answering his own question, quoting the words of Jesus: ‘*I was in prison and you came to visit me*’ (Matthew 25:36).

Prayer: Lord help us to reach out to those who are in need in any way that we can, that we can serve the Christ in them.

Have a great day.

Revd Peter
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Tuesday 18th

Reading: Janes 3.3 

We put bits into the mouths of horses to make them obey us, we guide their whole bodies. . 5 So also the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great exploits.How great a forest is set ablaze by a such a small fire! 6 And the tongue is a fire. The tongue is placed among our members as a world of iniquity; it stains the whole body, sets on fire the cycle of life, and is itself set on fire by hell. 9 With it we bless the Lord and Father, and with it we curse people, made in the likeness of God. 10 From the same mouth comes a blessing and a curse. My brothers and sisters, this ought not to be so

Reflection: The average person knows about 20,000 words, uses 2,000 different words a week and speaks about 16,000 words a day. Your words matter.

However, what matters most is not the number of words you speak but the kind of words you choose and the purpose for which you use them.

The apostle James tells us that although ‘the tongue is a small part of the body’ it is extremely powerful. In the passages for today, we see how our words can be used, just as the apostle James describes, for good or evil. Each day we have great potential: either to destroy or to build.

“Before we speak ask ourselves if what we are going to say is true, is kind, is necessary, is helpful. If the answer is no, maybe what we are about to say should be left unsaid. (extract from The Bible with Nicky and Pippa Gumbel 2025)

Revd Peter
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