Suggestion for Daily Use

Follow the ‘Daily Prayer’ at the side+++Suivez le ‘Prière Quotidienne’. Read the bible passages and then the meditation. Pray, tell God how you felt about the reading and share the concerns of your life with him. Maybe you will continue the habit after Lent. Lisez les passages bible et après la méditation. Priez, dites à Dieu que vous avez ressenti à propos de la lecture et de partager les préoccupations de votre vie avec lui. Peut-être que vous allez continuer l'habitude après le Carême. Daily Prayer Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. Luke 4.1-2 Now is the healing time decreed For sins of heart, of word or deed, When we in humble fear record The wrong that we have done the Lord. (Latin, before 12th century) Read: Read the Bible passage. Read the meditation Pray: Talk to God about what you have just read. Tell him your concerns - for yourself, your family, our church family, our world. Praise him. Pray the collect for the week – see next pages. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me bless his holy name. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits. Prière Quotidienne Jésus, rempli de l'Esprit Saint, revint du Jourdain et le Saint-Esprit le conduisit dans le désert où il fut tenté par le diable durant quarante jours. Luc 4.1-2 Maintenant le temps de la guérison est décrété Pour les péchés du cœur, de la parole et des actes, Lorsque nous nous souvenons avec humilité Le mal que nous avons fait au Seigneur. Lire : Lisez le passage de la Bible. Lisez la méditation. Prier : Parlez avec le Seigneur de ce que vous avez lu. Parlez-lui de vos préoccupations pour vous-même, votre famille, notre famille de l’église, notre monde. Louez-le. Priez la collecte pour la semaine. Voyez les pages suivantes Mon âme, bénis le Seigneur ! Que tout qui est en moi bénisse son saint nom. Mon âme, bénis le Seigneur, et n’oublie aucun de ses bienfaits !

21 December 2016

Bountiful gifts



God's thoughts are not our thoughts, and our ways are not His ways.

Have you noticed that those who carry on about "God's plan" are often really trying to foist their own plan on the rest of us? I find the very expression "God's plan" somewhat suspicious, because to me making "plans" is quintessentially human, rather than divine. We are so little, so vulnerable, so much at the mercy of forces greater than ourselves, that we naturally strive to get a grip on the situation, figure it out, map it out, make a plan that will work like a charm and order the world into something we can understand. Except that having a plan doesn't make it God's plan, and doesn't make us God. We remain little, vulnerable, and at the mercy of great forces.



The prophet Isaiah shows us another way. Inviting us to drink to quench our thirst and to eat to delight our soul, he tells us that we can buy food and drink without any money. How unlike our thoughts and ways! The word of God, the Prophet tells us, rains down on us, turning the barren soil into fertile earth. So let's not run for cover but instead accept this bountiful rain and let it nourish us and make us fruitful. Not constrained by a plan, but sustained by God's life-giving, loving covenant.

Tommaso Besozzi 

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