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:

‘Where your treasure is,
there your heart will be also.’

from Matthew 6.21 (Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount)

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 18.4

This is a fascinating proverb. I’ve been mulling it over, but even as I sit to write about it, I’m still not sure quite what I make of it! The Good News Bible links the two pictures (deep waters, fresh waters) together and applies them both to ‘words of wisdom’, whereas the New International Version appears to contrast the two (‘but’).

The thing about deep waters is that they conceal what lies within. More people (12) have walked on the Moon, than have descended to the deepest part of the ocean, the Marianas Trench (3). We simply don’t know what creatures lurk down there.

Similarly, our words often conceal what lies beneath. Some of that is a good thing – we need to build relationships and trust people before revealing everything – but too often it turns into lies and deceit. And, the more we tell lies (even ‘little’ ones) the easier they become and the more we start to believe them. In the New Testament on several occasions we are told how Jesus could see through people’s words, to what they really meant – sadly we don’t have such insight!

Wisdom, however, is like a fresh running stream – clear, pure, originating with God, and bringing life wherever it flows. Perhaps today you could pray that God would pour that life and wisdom into you, that you might be able to share and bring it to others?

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:

Geoff & Jan Wyatt, Janet Hine, Pat Ackroyd

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: Readers (Ray & Sue)

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.