Sing to the Lord, and praise him! Proclaim every day the good news that he has saved us (Psalm 96.2, GNB).
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Opening
Speak these words out loud:
Jesus said, ‘You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you;
and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria,
and to the ends of the earth.’
Acts 1.8 (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.
Do not eat the food of a stingy host, do not crave his delicacies; for he is the kind of person who is always thinking about the cost. ‘Eat and drink,’ he says to you, but his heart is not with you. You will vomit up the little you have eaten and will have wasted your compliments. (NIV)
Don’t eat at the table of a stingy person or be greedy for the fine food he serves. “Come on and have some more,” he says, but he doesn’t mean it. What he thinks is what he really is. You will vomit up what you have eaten, and all your flattery will be wasted. (GNB)
Proverbs 23.6-8
I wonder if whoever wrote these wise sayings was feeling particularly hungry when he (or she!) wrote this current crop..!
And I sometimes wonder about the link between thrift and pride. There is a certain kind of pride that comes out when we boast about getting a good bargain, when we put people down after they tell us about a recent purchase (‘Oh, I do most of my clothes shopping in a charity shop’) or tell us where they buy their groceries. Being careful with how we spend money is important – but what’s more important is sitting lightly to it, not caring whether we have much or little, not talking about it all the time.
My grandad was a wonderful example of this. He was one of the most generous men I’ve known, he wanted to share whatever he had, he taught me so much about generosity – or more precisely, having a generous spirit. This is close to the heart of what it means to follow Jesus, because was ultimately generous with everything – even his life – refusing to grasp on to what he had but giving it all up for us.
If you drew a line on a piece of paper, with ‘grasping’ at one end and ‘generous’ at the other – be honest with yourself – where do you think you’d be? What can you do to move closer to the generous end?
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:
Robins Family (Daniel, Joanna, Rachel, Steve)
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: PCC & Standing Committee
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.