Our church building may be closed, but God’s eyes are open and his ears are attentive to our prayers (2 Chronicles 7.15).

If you would like to receive these by email, please click here.

Opening

Speak these words out loud:

The Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead
is living in us;
he who raised Jesus from the dead will give us life
because of his Spirit who lives in us.

from Romans 8.11

Today’s Proverb

Read the proverb through three or four times, slowly. Pause in-between, maybe write it out by hand – savour the words, let them speak deeply to you.

Proverbs 11.17

This is an interesting one – it makes it sound like we should be kind to others because it’s good for us. That sounds like a selfish reason to be kind!

If you’ve never heard the term ‘zero sum’, let me give you a brief explanation. It is used to refer to a situation where one person’s gains are offset by another person’s losses.

Buying something from a shop is an example of this. You buy some milk for £1. Your purse has £1 less in it, the shop’s till has £1 more in; the shop has one less bottle of milk, your fridge has one more: it’s a zero sum.

Kindness is not like that.

I wonder if sometimes we act as if it is: as if a) we have a limited supply it, b) every time we are kind, our supply dimishes, so c) we save it for the people we really love and care about.

But kindness is not zero sum. When we are kind, it’s as though we’ve bought some milk, both we and the shop end up with an extra £1, and there’s more milk than before.

That is what God’s economy is like: the kindness, love, compassion, joy, delight, forgiveness, mercy, peace, grace (and so on) we get from him are not zero sum: the more we ‘spend’, the more we use, the more we have.

(And the same is true for cruelty and negative behaviour: when we are mean or cruel to others, we don’t ‘use up’ our supply of cruelty, and end up less cruel than before – we end up more cruel, damaging ourselves.)

Prayers

Our daily prayer sheet includes the names of everyone for whom we have a signed church family directory form – and local parishes and senior church leaders.

Today we are praying for
Joshi Family (Alan, Jess, Paul), Jean Austin

Father, please bless them with your peace, and a deep awareness of your presence with them, every day and in every way.

Please pray for our leaders and healthcare workers, and all those working to keep us safe, well, and fed. Please pray that people would unselfishly put others before themselves, and buy only what they need.

Church Family Prayer

Come Holy Spirit,
and make us one in heart and action,
so that we can serve God faithfully:
abounding in love,
maturing in holiness,
and seeking out the lost.
Help us grow as disciples of Jesus –
in commitment, in depth, and in number –
that we may be a blessing to Amington;
to the glory and praise of God the Father.
Amen.

The Lord’s Prayer

Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
Forgive us our sins
as we forgive those who sin against us.
Lead us not into temptation
but deliver us from evil.
For the kingdom, the power,
and the glory are yours
now and for ever.
Amen.

Closing Prayer

Unless the Lord builds the house,
the builders labour in vain.
Let us fix our eyes on Jesus
the only way to the Father.

Psalm 127.1, Hebrews 12.2 & John 14.6

May Christ our Saviour give us peace.
Amen.