Skip to main content

Prayer Column - March 2021

Image
By

Build on a strong foundation



We scarcely need telling, for we see it every day, but all is not well on Planet Earth. It is warming more than it should, and we can move less than we would. I could mention also pollution, resource scarcity, waste mountains, desert creep, wildlife extinctions, and human bodily and mental ailments galore – each clamouring for attention. What to do?

If God made the world, and these problems concern his world, then he ought to have views on all this. If so, then the Bible should be the place to look. Those were my thoughts which 45+ years ago led me to start Bible studies with environmental science students at Bradford University where I then worked. It has remained a focus of my interest ever since.

What I have come to see with ever-deepening clarity and conviction is: (a) when God made the world is was very good; but (b) humans, created and appointed as his stewards on earth, chose to disobey him, thinking they knew better, thus causing creation to malfunction seriously and widely; however, (c) God then embarked on a rescue plan which culminated in Jesus. Jesus was sent by God as the cure for all the world’s ills, but his ways are counter-intuitive when we think we know better. To join in his rescue we must recognise that Jesus’ way is right, not ours, and believe it to the point of actually doing what he says. Apart from him, he warned, we can do nothing fruitful; and if our efforts are not directed by him we continue to be destructive – for we are rebelling against God, which is how it all went wrong in the first place (Gen 3; Mt 12:30; Jn 15:5). We can pray: for forgiveness; for guidance; for faith to follow wherever he leads; for help on the way; and for each other.

Roy Lorrain-Smith

A prayer for each week

Re-creator Lord, who so loved your world that you sent Jesus to offer us and the planet a new and sustainable life, please forgive us for ever thinking otherwise. Amen.

Re-creator Lord, who made the world and knows all its inner workings, please direct our minds to read and grasp your word and our hearts to trust and obey it. Amen.

Re-creator Lord, who sends the Holy Spirit to be with and within us always, please give us the sense to ask for and accept the help he can give as we follow you. Amen.

Re-creator Lord, who offers new life to all who respond to Jesus, please bless all our companions on the way, that together we may build on your firm foundation. Amen.

Your own prayers

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Christmas Day Worship 2021

By
Today is the day - Christmas! The central candle is lit. The waiting is over. The child is born. As we celebrate the Feast and Holy-Day of Christmas, with the Psalmist (Ps. 98:4-6) we proclaim: Shout for joy to the LORD, all the earth, burst into jubilant song with music; make music to the LORD with the harp, with the harp and the sound of singing, with trumpets and the blast of the ram’s horn – shout for joy before the LORD, the King. Prayer Let us pray: Generous God, even as we praise you for the good news of today, and seek to shout for joy at the coming of the Christ-child, we acknowledge Mary’s mix of pain and joy, both today and in the days to come. As we do so, we face our own emotions on this difficult and delightful day, and ask your help to live it well. Amen. Carol You might like to sing, or reflect on the words of Geoffrey Ainger’s hymn at StF 193/H&P 95, Born in the night, Mary’s child, a long way from your home; coming in need, Mary’s child, born in a borro...
Post a Comment
Read more

Deacon Merry Evans

By
Hello. I’m Deacon Merry Evans. I began working in Bradford North Circuit on September 1st this year – let me introduce myself. I grew up in Ilford, in the London Borough of Redbridge. I attended Church of England and Congregational churches as I grew up but eventually found my home in Methodism when I was 17. At school I was good at science, but greatly enjoyed music and drama too. I trained as a teacher in Nottingham and while there I met and married Karen. We have three grown up sons. Since I became a Deacon we have lived and worked in Salford, Stockton-on-Tees, Wakefield, Morley, Sheffield, and Leeds. The work in each of these places has been very different. Deacons are trained and appointed to circuits to further the witness of churches in the community. We are sometimes described as ‘bringing the Church into the World, and the World into the Church’. Much of our focus is on engaging with people ‘on the edge of society’ so sometimes my ministry has been outside of church settings ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Prayer Column - January 2022

By
The turn of the year As a new year approaches we tend to wonder what lies ahead, hoping always to shake off the past’s bad record and for something better to come, as if hoping could make it so. We wonder about next year because of course we don’t know what lies around the corner (however great the store of human knowledge, and however thorough our Googling). Search as we may, and it’s a royal honour to do so (Prov 25:2), some things are known only to God: times and seasons fixed by his authority are not for us to know (Acts 1:7), for the future is his. This is a time to remind ourselves of God’s omniscience: he does know (Rom 11:33). He knows the plans he has for us – plans to prosper us and not to harm us, plans to give us a hope and a future (Jer 29:11). And it’s time to remember also that God is not far-off and aloof, but a loving, heavenly Father who wants a close living relationship with each of us, day by day and breath by breath – he sent Jesus to bring us back to him. So ...
Post a Comment
Read more