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:

Let us take up the cross and follow Jesus,
whatever the cost.

from Luke 14.27-28

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 17.17

When God made the first man, he said these famous words: ‘It is not good for the man to be alone’ (Genesis 1.18, NIV), and formed the first woman to be like him (like him but not the same as him; in the quite correct quest for equality, let us not pretend there are no differences).

One of the biggest challenges of the past few months – for me, at least – has been the undoing of this shared or common side of human life. Yes, I am blessed with a (wonderful) wife – who is out of the house as much as she is in it. I have spent almost all of every working day staring at a computer screen. I’ve managed one or two visits, I’ve seen a handful of people, and we have managed to visit our families a couple of times – but otherwise, I have been alone.

I’m saying that not because I’m after your sympathy, but to illustrate one of the major effects of the pandemic: we are all of us in the same boat, and if you’re like me, it’s driving you mad, and will only get worse as winter hits and it starts getting darker and colder and wetter.

The risk is that we retreat ever more into ourselves and our TV screens and radios and computers and smartphones – that we stop putting the effort into interacting with our friends and loved ones (because, let’s be honest, video calling or phoning people is fine but it’s much more effort, and not as good as seeing our loved ones face-to-face).

How can you (how can I?) keep making the effort to interact with our loved ones? Because, friends, we were created to do that.

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:

Rosemary Baxter, Allan & Anne Baldwin

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: Couples Getting Married

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.