Our church building may be closed, but God’s eyes are open and his ears are attentive to our prayers (2 Chronicles 7.15).
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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.
Better to be a nobody and yet have a servant than pretend to be somebody and have no food. (NIV)
It is better to be an ordinary person working for a living than to play the part of someone great but go hungry. (GNB)
Proverbs 12.9
Jess and I took part in a family quiz the other day, and the music round was TV theme tunes. One of the ones I recognised but just couldn’t remember, was Keeping Up Appearances. Hyacinth Bucket (pronounced bouquet), the lady of the house (!) was desperate to appear richer and posher than she and her husband actually were.
How we long for others to see us in and at our best! How we go out of our way – in person and online – to look and appear the best we can. ‘Instagram face’ describes the filters used by celebrities and non-celebrities to make their faces thinner, their eyes bigger and eyelashes longer, their cheekbones higher, their skin smoother, their lips fuller – and therefore supposedly ‘more beautiful’.
If you read that in smug judgement of younger generations – ‘that’s not me, I would never do something like that’ – none of us escapes. You might not post altered pictures of yourself online, but how else do you pretend to be someone you’re not?
Are you all smiles in front of someone before gossiping about them behind closed doors? Do you pretend to be the perfect loving couple out of the house, while screaming and yelling at each other at home? Jesus accused the Pharisees of being ‘whitewashed tombs’: beautiful on the outside, dead on the inside.
This proverb tells us that the world has it the wrong way round. If we paid more attention to how things really are than to how they appear, we wouldn’t have to worry about how they appear. True beauty is inside-out: the more our lives reflect Jesus’ character, the more truly beautiful we will become.
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
Janet Wilson, Catriona Paton, Joyce Moore
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.