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 Lord has established Zion,
and in her his afflicted people will find refuge.

from Isaiah 14.32

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 15.5

Some of my strongest memories from my childhood are the discipline I received, the boundaries my parents set out and the punishment I received when crossing them. One in particular I remember was when I heard a swearword at school and wrote it dozens of times on a sheet of paper… another was when I repeated (and mispronounced) a vile phrase about John Major that I had seen graffitied on a wall, in front of a man who is now a bishop!

Giving no boundaries – letting a child do / say / have whatever they want – is bad parenting. Why? Because life doesn’t work like that. We have to learn how to interact with others, where acceptable limits are.

That is why God gives us boundaries. Our parents may have been good, bad, or awful – but God is the perfect parent. He sets boundaries and disciplines us, usually by allowing us to feel or experience the consequences of our decisions.

(This does not mean that when bad things happen, God is punishing us, like a nasty child tormenting an ant.)

The question is, are we willing to listen to and learn from the lessons from our loving parents – earthly and heavenly?

Prayers

Pray for Five – pray for your five friends / family from Thy Kingdom Come.

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:

Wayne, Claire & Jude Pinner-Rosenbach

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

We also pray for: Church Musicians

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.

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.