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 !

31 March 2018

Easter Eve +++ Rock of Refuge +++ La Rocher du Refuge


Psalm 31.1-4,15-16   Psaumes 31.1-4, 15-16

Job 14.1-14    1Peter 4.1-8    Matthew 27.57-end

Job 14.1-14    1Pierre 4.1-8    Matthieu 25.57-fin





Imagine you are walking high up in the mountains and suddenly a great storm develops, and you cannot see where you are going, and you fear greatly for your safety. Suddenly you find a mountain refuge giving you safety from the storm and can wait until it passes, you would experience such relief! 
In these verses in Psalm 31, the Psalmist writes about God as a ‘rock of refuge’ and more personally ‘my refuge’. We will have encountered or be encountering storms and yet in God we have a refuge. Our storm may be anxiety, ill health, family problems or many other things, which are so hard that we feel surrounded on every side. On Easter Saturday, it must have felt like the greatest storm of all time and yet even that storm would be overcome. 
However, followers of Jesus did not know that then; Easter Sunday had not happened. In the same way, maybe we feel trapped in a storm where there seems no way out. Yet God is our refuge in that storm and Easter Saturday is not the end. Later in the Psalm, we then see the prayer for God’s face to shine echoing the wonderful prayer in Numbers that ‘the Lord make His face shine upon you, And be gracious to you’. 
The story does not end with God as a refuge but with God as a restorer and the light of his face shining on us. Maybe for us that light will come soon, Easter Sunday is a reminder that God in a moment can bring light. Or maybe our wait will be longer, but we know that one day we will see God face to face. There is a wonderful song in Matt Redman’s latest album that states:
One day You'll make sense of it all, Jesus
One day every question resolved
Every anxious thought left behind
No more fear
One day we will see face to face, Jesus
Is there a greater vision of grace
And in a moment, we shall be changed
On that day*
This is God the refuge who removes every element of fear and anxiety, but also the God’s whose face we shall see and we will be fully restored. Today is Easter Saturday and we may feel the storm is as strong as ever, but God is there as our rock and our refuge and Easter Saturday is not the end. 
Matt Harpur

*  Copyright: Eliza E. Hewitt, Matt Redman, Beth Redman, Leonard Jarman

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