Children pray…

Junior Church have been learning about Joseph and that amazing coat; and about asking, seeking, finding, about prayer these words are from their intercessions today.

Look Lord, we’re all small, babies compared to you, and however hard we try, can’t reach up and touch the sky. Our heads can never grasp all your truth; no one can ever know as much as you, but we are trying, Lord, to touch the sky, to grow up as we should.
We need your help. Reach down and carry us on your shoulders, then we might have a chance. Can’t do it by ourselves, we need your help, reach down Lord Jesus, so we can reach up.

Nobody likes to be scared, nobody likes to think about dying. Father we believe Jesus was scared and Jesus died, but that wasn’t the end of the story; like Joseph was scared and his father thought he was dead and that wasn’t the end of the story. When things look black and we’re scared, Lord help us to know, deep down inside, that, this isn’t the end of the story. Help us to remember Easter Day when Jesus showed himself alive, like Joseph to his brothers and to know that after the bad dreams, we are going to wake up in heaven.

‘Is there anyone among you, who if your child asks for a fish, will give a snake instead?’

May The Lord hear our prayers. Amen.

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“Follow the River”

These words, “Follow the River,” came to me, and the words which follow were my response….the scripture references were the ones which came to my mind. If the words “Follow the RIver,” had come to you, your response and thoughts may have been different, long ago I learnt that one word from The Lord speaks to different persons in different ways.

But to me the River is Prayer, and like Lydia (see Acts chapter 16) I am often to be found there.

“Follow the River,” you say Lord,
Help me, Lord to keep within the Spirits flow.
Where the River flows there is life,
And how much I want to live,
To flourish and bear fruit.

“Follow the River,”
If I follow, walking its banks,
I shall see where the fields are
watered and green,
I shall see the land of Havilah, bdellium and onyx stone;
I shall see fish swim and leap,
Birds skimming its waters,
All manner if strange creatures quenching their thirst,
I shall see the goodness of The Lord
In the land of the living.

“Follow the River”
If I follow the River home
To its source
Then my journey is upwards,
But you are the God who has given me
This mountain;
And in your name I shall arrive,
And stand within the Gates of the City,
Where the River flows from the throne of God.

Now my heart says,
“What more is to be said,”
The Lord is King,
For ever and ever
Amen.

Scriptures: Genesis 2: 10-13, Ezekiel 47: 1-12, Revelation 22: 1-2

I invite you to “Follow the River” – and share your thoughts.

Prayer in the Ruins: Coventry

Coventry Cathedral together with the City of Coventry were totally destroyed during World War II although quite a distance from my home town, my Mom told me that the fiery glow in the sky was clearly seen from here.

A visit to the New Cathedral on a warm, sunny day last year made it possible to sit on a bench in the ruins to eat lunch and to read on the Prayer Panels in the ruins of the old one, the following prayer.

HALLOWED BE THY NAME

In Industry: God be in my hands
And in my making.
in the Arts: God be in my senses
And in my creating.
In the Home: God be in my heart
And in my loving.
In Commerce: God be at my desk
And in my trading.
In Suffering: God be in my pain
And in my enduring.
In Governance: God be in my plans
And in my deciding.
In Education: God be in my mind
And in my growing.
In Recreation: God be in my limbs
And in my leisure.

Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God of Hosts,
Heaven and earth are full of thy glory.

The prayer of a great city and its people, for a City is no city withouts it’s people, and all people need to belong. In Jeremiah (chapter 29:v7) Gods people are told to pray for the city to which they have been exiled, ‘because if it prospers, you to will prosper.’ Wise counsel, worth remembering.

Considering the Ironing Basket

I think there are very few women who have not, at one time or another been heard to say, “I haven’t a thing to wear.” A special occasion is certain to throw us into panic mode. Oh, the trauma of searching the shops for something special! And, why is it that the need for something special always crops up when pennies are in short supply?

Have you looked into your ironing basket lately!

I found myself murmuring the following words in gratitude when the colours in my own caught my eye this morning.

Look at my ironing basket, Lord!
Newly washed, clean and fresh;
Soft shades of pink and blue and gentle green,
Flowery sprigs,
Here and there a silky sheen.

Lord, I am provided for,
Clothed, like a lily of the field…
Tomorrow I surrender to you,
And take no concern,
My needs are already met.

Sorry, I am not a poet, nor an artist who can do justice to the Lord’s providing in word or paint, all I can do is offer my gratitude to One who is always faithful and sees my need, before I ask.

‘And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.’ (Matthew 6: 28,29 e.s.v.)

A Perfect world

Going to be in the garden today, smothered in sunscreen, getting dirty and in God’s company. If there was a word from Scripture to apply to this, it is probably the last part of verse 6 in chapter 1 of the Song of Songs:

“my own vineyard, I had to neglect.”

There comes a time when we just have to take care of our own world.

The poem was written by a young girl who died aged just 13 from a brain tumour, and is inscribed on a stone in a Memorial Garden in Bournville, a few miles from my home.

Josie’s Perfect World and a flourishing vineyard both need the hands of Adam and Eve working in partnership with the Creator to make it so!

A Perfect World

My perfect world would be,

No oil in the sea,

No pollution in the air,

Lots of tender loving care.

No more people committing crime,

Everybody to have spare time.

No more people cutting down trees,

Loads more plants for the bees.

Let everyone in the world be friends,

Before the world sadly ends.

My perfect world would be,

Everyone able to see

Everything at its

Best!!

(Author: Josie McManus, aged 13 yrs)

 

May God bless the work of all our hands and make our vineyards flourish.