Family Worship
Andy Beard
Luke 5:1-11 Family Worship Ideas

Praying during lockdown

Continuing our posts on how to pray in these days (courtesy of Christian Concern for our Nation). Today we will focus our attention on praying for those in authority :

“First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way.” (1 Timothy 2:1-2)

For Boris Johnson and the cabinet – that they would be wise in setting and communicating policies to stop and mitigate the virus

For the scientists advising the UK government – that they would understand the virus better and make excellent recommendations on how best to protect the population

For the World Health Organisation – that it would help governments worldwide fight the virus effectively by issuing wise advice

For NHS management to find the most effective policies to provide high levels of care to those at threat from coronavirus and those with other illnesses

For business leaders to put in place policies that help the country respond – by slowing the virus’ spread and by helping provide resources needed by the NHS and by those who are ill

That church leaders would be bold in proclaiming Christ with wisdom and compassion and in leading the church to respond to those around us with love

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Praying during lockdown

After a while it can be difficult to know how to keep praying for a situation - even one as grave as the developing corona-virus crisis.  Christian Concern for our Nation has listed out a number of ways we can be praying in these fraught days.  I'll post these a section at a time.  The first focuses us on praising God, and is rooted in Ps.62:5-7.  Perhaps use these in the context of one of the Orders of Service on our website.  

  • Praise God as the maker and sovereign Lord over all things – none can question his ways (Job 38-42)

  • Praise Jesus as the one to whom all authority in Heaven and Earth has been given (Matt 28:19-20)

  • Praise God for his loving protection of his covenant people (Isaiah 43:1-7, Psalm 91)

  • Give thanks that nothing on earth can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord (Rom 8:38-39)

  • Give thanks that every good and perfect gift is from our Father and that we have much to thank God for, even during suffering (James 1:17)

  • Praise God for a hope beyond death – that death will finally be defeated and we shall be raised (1 Cor 15:50-58)

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A Monday Meditation ... as we establish a new normal

Over a generation ago a modern mystic, A.W. Tozer, wrote an article going by the title: ‘Only a Few Things Matter’. It was the 1950’s and he was already complaining about the sophistication and complexity of modern life. Complaining more specifically about its impact on the spiritual life and vivacity of the Church. He thought we were becoming fixated with the many incidental and unimportant things, whilst neglecting the few that were truly, eternally important.

As isolation becomes more of a reality, and our life simplifies around us, we have a chance to reconsider those few eternally important things. As we were reflecting in our Lent course before we had to cancel it, our life is a time specific event. ‘You are dust, and to dust you shall return’ (Gen.3:19). When our time comes, how will we want to have lived? Or to put the question in a more explicitly Christian way, ‘When we close our eyes in death and open them to see Christ, how will we want to have lived?’

Often busy-ness crowds out what we know to be important. How often have we said: ‘Stop the world – I want to get off…’. Instinctively we have known that we are caught up in the unimportant. We have a chance to (re-)build our lives on a surer foundation. Yet I suspect that even now we may feel we don’t have ‘time’. Here’s a game-changer for you. Enjoy. Watch carefully - it’s almost like real magic

Church at Home 220320

Hopefully you received a letter from the Families Team with some ideas of how to do Church at Home (if you didn’t, and would like to, drop them a line at families@mie.org.uk). Here's how it went for us... hope it helps. If you would like to show MIE how you did Church at Home, get your mum or dad to let Mark know and we'll get it on the website.

Jephthah (part 2 of 4)

We continue reflecting on the story of Jephthah. At the heart of the story is the question of how the LORD deals with us? Is it on the basis of who we are and what we do... or on the basis of who He is and what He does? We call this 'grace'. It's so central to our experience of Jesus, and yet so very easy to get wrong…

Sunday Stimulant

“I care not where I go, or how I live, or what I endure, so long as I may save souls. When I sleep, I dream of them; when I awake, they are first in my thoughts … no amount of scholastic attainment, of able and profound exposition, or of brilliant and stirring eloquence, can atone for the absence of a deep, impassioned, and sympathetic love for human souls”

David Brainerd (1718-47)

You can hear a great message by John Piper on the life of David Brainerd here: https://www.desiringgod.org/messages/oh-that-i-may-never-loiter-on-my-heavenly-journey

Over the next few weeks, why not get hold of a biography of Brainerd, or of his journal, which is still in print, and have a read! Younger readers will enjoy ‘A Love for the Lost’ by Brian Cosby.

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