General Chat

Thankyou Elizabeth.

What lovely juxtaposition of prayers. :-)

Dear All

Hello

Hope you are okay.


Two small prayers that can be used by people of all ages:

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"LETTING GO"

"Dear God,
I sometimes feel so ill, I am afraid
I will let go of life.


Dear God,
please will you never let go of me"

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"TREATED BADLY"


Dear God,
I know I am being treated badly by people
who should be takaing care of me.


Dear God, please make it easy for me to tell someone.
May they listen and help me,
so I never have to suffer any more".

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Take gentle care
Sincere wishes
Elizabeth, EOS
xx

"Make me a channel of your peace
It is in pardoning that we are pardoned"

It needs to be sung quietly and quite slowly, and I can guarantee that if 8 people are singing the above together, all 8 people make mistakes, are out of time with one another. Do you stress the "don" in pardoning or the "Par" or the "ing"> I usually sing it as two syllables - "pard" and "ning" :-)

Cynthia one of my favourites, love singing it.
Also new to me John.
Thank you both.

Emma :-)

Cynthia, Make Me A Channel Of Your Peace I think is the hymn and I confess although the words are very wonderful and true that this is not one of my favourite hymns to sing. I always groan inwardly each time this hymn is sung and I don't really know why.

John, Interesting information today and verses which were new to me.

Thank you both for a happy thread.

Also a very popular hymn, Cynthia. Just love those words.

So many of the songs or hymns from our hymn books have their origins centuries ago. It is wonderful that we worship the same way as people did in Britain, Africa and Europe very many centuries ago.

When we sing "The Lord's my Shepherd", we are singing a Scottish psalter from 1650 - even before the first (what I call) popular hymn was written by the Independent Southampton cleric Rev Isaac Watts. Hymns were apparently thought frivolous in those days.

Just seen this one resurrected in my Methodist hymn book written by Synesius of Cyrene (5th Century):

Lord Jesus, think on me,
And purge away my sin;
From earthborn passions set me free,
And make me pure within.

Lord Jesus, think on me,
That, when the flood is past,
I may the eternal brightness see,
And share thy joy at last. :-)

Good morning everyone :-)

I didn't know that one either Emma, and it's interesting how many new prayers I am discovering as I look for a prayer to put on here each day.


However, I'm pretty certain you will know this one. Words from so long ago and yet, as relevant today as they were then.



Lord, make me an instrument of your peace,
Where there is hatred ...
let me sow LOVE;

Where there is injury ...
PARDON;

Where there is doubt ...
FAITH;

Where there is despair ...
HOPE;

Where there is darkness ...
LIGHT;

And where there is sadness ...
JOY.

Divine Master,

Grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled ...
As to console;

To be understood
as to understand;

To be loved
as to love.

For it is in giving that we receive,

It is in pardoning that we are pardoned,

And it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.



- St. Francis of Assisi




Have a good day everyone.... Cx :-)

Never heard that prayer before Cynthia,
thank you.

Have a good day all.

Emma :-)

Thank you for those thoughtful words Joy. As John says, it's a very challenging piece of Scripture.


An ancient Irish prayer for today:

WE ASK NOTHING ELSE OF YOU BUT YOURSELF.


I beseech you, Jesus, loving Savior, to show yourself to all who seek you so that they may know and love you.

May we love you alone, desire you alone, and keep you always in our thoughts.

May love for you possess our hearts. May affection for you fill our senses, so that we may love all else in you.

Jesus, King of Glory.

You know how to give greatly. And you have promised great things.

Nothing is greater than yourself. We ask nothing else of you but yourself.

You are our life, our light, our food, and our drink, our God and our all.



Hope you all have a good day Cx :-)

Amen to that verse, Joy.

And as ye would that men should do to you, do ye also unto them likewise (KJV)

It is part of a wonderful passage that concludes with these words:

35 But love ye your enemies, and do good, and lend, hoping for nothing again; and your reward shall be great, and ye shall be the children of the Highest: for he is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil. 36 Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful.

A very challenging passage of Scripture. Many thanks, Joy :-)

Luke 6:31

New International Version (NIV)

Do to others as you would have them do to you.

Thank you John and Kandj.........wonderful, wonderful words.....that hymn is a meditation in itself.


As I am part of the baptism team and worked closely with the vicar, I have offered to lead the team with two willing volunteers. It's always best to have several folk who know the procedure so that illness, holidays etc..are covered. My offer was gratefully accepted...... :-)


Prayer for today ...


What must I do to insure peace of mind?
Is the answer I'm seeking too hard to find?
How can I know what God wants me to be?
How can I tell what's expected of me?
Where can I go for guidance and aid
To help me correct the errors I've made?

The answer is found in doing three things
And great is the gladness that doing them brings-
Do justice, love kindness, walk humbly with God-
For with these three things as your rule and your rod,
All things worth having are yours to achieve
If you follow God's words, have hope and believe.

- Helen Steiner Rice




Have a good day everyone... :-)

Cynthia, many thanks for the words today, as special as always.

John, the psalm 46 v 10 words are a good reminder to be quiet and find the space to listen to our living Lord. The words of this hymn are beautiful and worthy of sharing.

Be still and know that I am God
Be still and know that I am God
Be still and know that I am God.

I am the Lord that healeth thee
I am the Lord that healeth thee
I am the Lord that healeth thee.

In thee O Lord, I put my trust
In thee O Lord, I put my trust
In thee O Lord, I put my trust.

Just wonderful to sing quietly and become de-stressed. (imho)

Be still, and know that I am God (Psalm 46 verse 10).

The word translated “be still” comes from the Hebrew term "raphah". This word is found in various forms in the Old Testament, with different shades of meaning. It refers to that which is relaxed, or in some instances, to be disheartened or weak.

Interestingly, “be weak” in the presence of the Lord is here commanded. He provides our strength.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZugvUQ4m90U

What is that hymn, Cynthia? "Be still, and know the presence of the Lord".

The sun is streaming through the window as I read your words, and write. And I am also thinking of the OT.

Prophet Malachi:
Chap 4 verse 2 (NIV)

But for you who revere my name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its rays. And you will go out and frolic like well-fed calves.

Looks like a good start to the day:-)

Oh yes! Meant to add.......there as nothing 'alleged' about the MU player John, he WAS a Godparent - the baptism was arranged around his football timetable. I have his name but wouldn't know his face!!! :-)

Good morning all.....


Glad you enjoyed your morning John. We have experienced people being taken ill during a service several times and yes, once the person has been assisted, things tend to continue as normal.

In fact, I remember arriving at church to see a lady being carried out to the church hall. It seems as though she had come into church, taken her seat, knelt down to pray and collapsed. We called the emergency services and she was taken to hospital. It turns out that she had, in fact, died as she knelt in prayer.

She was an elderly widow with no family and the extremely large church was packed for her funeral - by members of her church family. I'll never forget it.


A touch of the Old Testament today.


The Vision of Enoch


I speak to you. Be still. Know I am God.

I spoke to you When you were born. Be still. Know I am God.

I spoke to you At your first sight. Be still. Know I am God.

I spoke to you. At your first word. Be still. Know I am God.

I spoke to you. At your first thought. Be still. Know I am God.

I spoke to you At your first song. Be still. Know I am God.

I speak to you Through the grass of the meadows. Be still. Know I am God.

I speak to you Through the trees of the forests. Be still. Know I am God.

I speak to you Through the valleys and the hills Be still. Know I am God.

I speak to you Through the Holy Mountains Be still. Know I am God.

I speak to you Through the rain and the snow Be still. Know I am God.

I speak to you Through the waves of the sea. Be still. Know I am God.

I speak to you Through the dew of the morning. Be still. Know I am God.

I speak to you Through the peace of the evening. Be still. Know I am God.

I speak to you Through the splendor of the sun. Be still. Know I am God.

I speak to you Through the brilliant stars. Be still. Know I am God.

I speak to you Through the storm and the clouds. Be still. Know I am God.

I speak to you Through the thunder and lightning. Be still. Know I am God.

I speak to you Through the mysterious rainbow Be still. Know I am God.

I will speak to you When you are alone Be still. Know I am God.

I will speak to you Through the Wisdom of the Ancients Be still. Know I am God.

I will speak to you At the end of time. Be still. Know I am God.

I will speak to you When you have seen my Angels. Be still. Know I am God.

I will speak to you Throughout Eternity. Be still. Know I am God.

I speak to you. Be still. Know I am God.




Have a good day everyone....................Cx :-)

kandj :-) So true. It is a most difficult instruction. But all of Jesus' orders to his followers are a lot harder than what God agreed with Moses in the Old Testament law.

It is relatively easy not to commit adultery. But Jesus told us we should not even look at another person lustfully!!! Now that can be quite difficult - especially when we are not on a leash.

My OT reading today was Judges Chapter 1 first seven verses. Now that is about brothers Judah and Simeon joining together after Joshua's death and winning their lands, killing 10,000 Canaanites and chopping the fingers and toes off Canaanite leader Adoni-Bezec (Lord Bezec) because he had done the same to 70 of their kings. Toes and fingers disappeared to stop Lord Bezec fighting and running. Well, I did my best to explain it and link it to thou shalt not judge :-( :-(

I think probably all the Old Testament can be linked to the New. Sometimes it is easy to connect - Isaiah Chapter 53 with Jesus. Sometimes it is like looking through a glass very darkly. :-) This was one of those occasions.

John, I have just read Luke ch 6 v 37. (New Living Translation Bible).

Do not judge others and you will not be judged. Do not condemn others, or it will all come back against you. Forgive others, and you will be forgiven.

Easier said than done methinks, but the Lord loves a trier!

Cynthia, glad that all went well at the Harvest Festival Service in your church today, and that you felt your vicar would have been pleased with the worship this morning.

Cynthia. Many thyanks for readings and hymns - not looked at them properly yet. And details of your service and the appearance of a Man U footballer (allegedly). Amazing how churches cope, even with such a loss.

When I was first a steward (Anglicans would say churchwarden, some chapels say deacon) an old retired Minister would collapse - usually half way through the sermon and an ambulance would be called and two of us stewards would carry him to the porch and keep him ok till ambulance arrived.

It seemed to happen almost every week. And we did get used to it. But even the first week it happened, the person in the pulpit carried on preaching, the congregation carried on listening and many didn't even notice. He was about 80 then and died at over 90 in 1990's.

Amazing coincidence was that those events occured in Whitchurch in North Shropshire. I mentioned incident when I arrived in Rhondda a few years ago and a old lady said "he was our Minister in 1930's!!! - nice young man in those days")

Went to a Welsh speaking chapel today. Very sparse attendance and chapel is magnificent. They all (about 10 of them) sit at the very back and I need binoculars to establish eye contact. But had a mike and I shout anyway:-) Found text from Luke 6 verse 37 hard - not least because I love judging everything and text says I shouldn't ;-)

But a really lovely service (no thanks to me) and have enjoyed my Sunday immensely. :-)