Day 5 – Secure

Rhu & Shandon Church Tower (JN)

 And very early on the first day of the week, when the sun had risen, they went to the tomb. As they entered the tomb, they saw a young man, dressed in a white robe, sitting on the right side; and they were alarmed. But he said to them, “Do not be alarmed; you are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has been raised; he is not here. Look, there is the place they laid him. But go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see him, just as he told you.” So they went out and fled from the tomb, for terror and amazement had seized them; and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid. (Mark 16: 2, 5-8).

 When we say “I am afraid”, what we really mean is that there is fear in us. It is not a statement about the whole of us. We must listen to our fears but not let them take over. There is a place behind our anxieties where we are not afraid. It is our truest selves, known and secure in the love of God. This is where the disciples find Jesus in those first resurrection encounters. He says “Do not be afraid.”

(Extract from Dust & Glory by David Runcorn)

For Reflection

There has been much to fear these past months. Pray that our only fear be fear that is wise.

Remember in your prayers

Those who live in fear because of illness, war, homelessness and abandonment; those afraid of going to work because of the risk of illness.

 

Day 4 – Stillness

(c) Robert Bell - used with permission

Now as they went on their way, he entered a certain village, where a woman named Martha welcomed him into her home. She had a sister named Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to what he was saying. But Martha was distracted by her many tasks; so she came to him and asked, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to do all the work by myself? Tell her then to help me.” But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things; there is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part, which will not be taken away from her.” (Luke 10: 38-42)

 

There is an ancient method of praying in the midst of life’s distractions based on the simple, continuous repetition of a word or phrase such as “Come, Lord”, “My rock” or “Love”. This ‘anchor word’ we drop it below the surface of our storm-tossed lives to fasten ourselves to Christ. As the prayer takes hold it has a way of pulling in all the distracted strands of our lives until they begin to fulfil their true purpose – to attend the presence of Jesus.

(Extract from Dust & Glory by David Runcorn)

 Prayer

Lord, as I go about my day, help me to balance the relationship between being busy for you and sitting still with you.

Day 3 – Prayer

Prayer in/for Myanmar 

And whenever you pray, do not be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, so that they may be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. But whenever you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you. “When you are praying, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do; for they think that they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. (Matthew 6: 5-8)

The longing to achieve change and growth in the church may be genuine and faithful but it is easy to be driven by what is visible. We can be seduced by demands for relevance and preoccupation with measurable outcomes. Jesus urges us to surrender control to outcomes. He urges us to keep it short and simple. We don’t need to pile up words. He already knows.

(Extract from Dust & Glory by David Runcorn)

 Prayer

Lord, help us to balance our public face with our private needs. Bless our church community in Helensburgh and Rhu & Shandon that we may share the Good News of Jesus with love, humility and grace.

Prayer in/for Myanmar 

Day 2 – Longing

Meabh at Cat Protection longing for a home (JH)

As a deer longs for flowing streams,
so my soul longs for you, O God.
My soul thirsts for God,
for the living God.
When shall I come and behold
the face of God?
My tears have been my food
day and night,
while people say to me continually,
“Where is your God?”…
Why are you cast down, O my soul, 
and why are you disquieted within me?
Hope in God; for I shall again praise him. (Psalm 42: 1-3, 11)

Our longings are our starting place. They trace the contours of our desires. They map our dreams. We must stay with the longing. Instead of trying to ‘solve’ it by searching for excitement, we must listen to it carefully. The willingness to long, to thirst, to stay with the emptiness and the questions, brings its gift. Our longing is the clearest sign that what we seek is already to be found in us.

(Extract from Dust & Glory by David Runcorn)

 For Reflection

What is your desire? How might you fulfil that under the current restrictions?

 Remember in your prayers

The places, people and activities you miss, the aspects of life ‘on hold’ because of the pandemic.

 

Day 1 - Wonder

 Wednesday 17th February 2021

O Lord, our Sovereign,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!
You have set your glory above the heavens.
When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers,

the moon and the stars that you have established;
what are human beings that you are mindful of them…?
Yet you have made them a little lower than God,
and crowned them with glory and honour…
you have put all things under their feet…

O Lord, our Sovereign,
how majestic is your name in all the earth! (Psalm 8: 1, 3-6, 9)
 

Wonder, like reverence, is not for grasping to suit our own ends or needs. It requires a certain surrender, a self-forgetting. It is about paying attention to what is already present but too easily unnoticed. It’s perfected in the eyes of a

child in which everything is new and fascinating. It takes practice but it is all there waiting for us. “When I look…”

(Extract from Dust & Glory by David Runcorn)

 

For Reflection

Think of something – perhaps a favourite landscape, flower or local scene. Focus on it and for a few minutes give it your undivided attention. Give thanks to God for the wonderful things with which he surrounds you.

 

Remember in your prayers

The local environment, the foreshore, the hills, the parks, the forests, the gardens, and the promise of new life embodied in the miracle of a new baby.