A Church for a different World

Starting our week with prayer

On Mondays, we share a reflection written by a member of our prayer community. This week's reflection comes from Alison Knott, Headteacher of Holy Trinity Bury.

Monday 11th March 2024

"God, you led your people out when you marched through the desert. Selah." Psalm 68:7

Psalm 68 reflects on the time God led His people marching through the desert.
The verse ends with the word ‘Selah’, the meaning of which has been debated for centuries. Some believe it means ‘exalt’, others believe ‘forever’, while its use at the end of phrases in Psalms also suggests an instruction to ‘pause and contemplate’.

Perhaps we need to do the latter, to pause and contemplate. God is still leading His people through a world that can feel like a desert.

Are we marching with Him through the desert?

Mothering Sunday reflection

To mark Mothering Sunday, Christine Sharp, Mothers' Union President in Manchester Diocese, shared this reflection:
 

“She is strong and respected by the people. She looks forward to the future with joy. She speaks wise words and teaches others to be kind. She watches over her family and never wastes her time.” Proverbs 31: 25-27

Mothering Sunday is a time to thank God for the love of mothers and all those who have cared for us like a mother, who have fulfilled a parental role, that special kind of love. A love that is gentle and takes care of us but is also strong to keep us safe. A love that mentors, teaches, advises, cares, adores. A gift from heaven. God loves us in a way that is soft to comfort and tough to protect, a perfect and constant love. God with a mother’s heart.

Are we thanking God for his own perfect love for us in prayer today?

Starting our week with prayer

On Mondays, we share a reflection written by a member of our prayer community. This week's reflection comes from Paul Saxon, Chaplain at Canon Slade School.

"Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed fervently that it might not rain, and for three years and six months it did not rain on the earth." James 5:17

Elijah, who experienced first-hand the miracle-working power of God in some extreme ways, also struggled with many of the same things we face in our daily lives: discouragement, doubt, depression, lethargy, hunger, fear of dying. It seems that in spite of Elijah’s apparent weakness, he maintained the habit and regularity of prayer which sustained him through some of the darkest days of his life, and brought blessing and the presence of God into the lives of people around him.

How do I see prayer? Do I treat it more like wishes? Or a shopping list? Is it simply 'mindfulness'? Or am I encountering the presence of the living God when I pray?