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 people walking in darkness
have seen a great light;
on those living in the land of deep darkness
a light has dawned.

Isaiah 9.2 (NIV)

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 19.15

I sometimes find it hard to walk the line between being lazy and a workaholic. A bishop once said that half his clergy worked too hard and needed a break, and the other half were lazy and needed a kick up the backside.

Personally, I find it hard to switch off from work. In the evenings, on my day off, I have to find things to distract my brain from humming with all the church things that are going on, or I never rest. I’ve learned about myself that unless I’m disciplined about stopping, I do more and more and more work, and very little else.

But the flip side is also true. I encounter this most often in my prayer life. I know that it works best when I get up early to read the Bible and pray. But over time that makes me tired because I’m not getting enough sleep, so every now and then I turn my alarm off… and I’ll confess I’ve been doing that a lot this year, at one point recently for two months straight. That’s not resting, that’s laziness. And it makes me spiritually hungry. Starving in fact!

We need discipline: discipline when it comes to work, being active, doing things, eating healthily, exercising well; discipline when it comes to rest, having breaks, taking time off, getting enough sleep (after all, God rested, i.e. made nothing on the seventh day of Creation).

Being disciplined and finding the right blend between being active and taking appropriate and healthy rest is critically important. How’s your blend?

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.