Create a peaceful space to pause, and allow yourself to feel God’s presence alongside you, as near to you as your own breath. In following the reflection below, as a church we will draw closer to God and to one another as we grow in faith and deepen our sense of belonging to God.
Psalm 95: 1-7 ‘A Call to Worship and Obedience’
1 O come, let us sing to the Lord;
let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation!
2 Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving;
let us make a joyful noise to him with songs of praise!
3 For the Lord is a great God,
and a great King above all gods.
4 In his hand are the depths of the earth;
the heights of the mountains are his also.
5 The sea is his, for he made it,
and the dry land, which his hands have formed.
6 O come, let us worship and bow down,
let us kneel before the Lord, our Maker!
7 For he is our God, and we are the people of his pasture,
and the sheep of his hand.
Those of us able to join in ‘Zoom worship’ will surely agree that it is so good to see – albeit virtually – faces we’ve missed since March. We may speak of ‘going to church’, ‘going to Worship’, and what a privilege and blessing it is to praise God together in church – something denied many of us during this pandemic. While it is good to be with our fellow Christians in buildings designated for worship, may we never forget that God is with us wherever we are, with others or alone in lockdown. In times past people believed mostly in a static God, limited to a certain place. So the Israelites carried the Ark of the Covenant with them on their journeying – ensuring God’s presence with them. In the time of Jesus, the Samaritans believed God was to be worshipped on mount Gerizim in Samaria; the Jews were convinced God dwelt in the Temple in Jerusalem
Our Lord was quite definite as he spoke of God dwelling within all true worshippers. He said clearly that those who would worship God must worship him in spirit and in truth. So whether we are able to return to church, meet online or remain at home, we can be certain that God is to be worshipped wherever we are. Time and distance are irrelevant to God, who hears and answers all prayer offered in praise from humble and contrite hearts. We gather around his throne irrespective of geographical distances, knowing his promise to be with us never ends.
Prayer:
from the Margaret Rizza hymn ‘In the Darkness of the Still Night’ (STF 109)In our hearts and in our thinking,
in the longing and the dreaming,
in the yearning of our heartbeat,
Creator God, you are there.
In the love for one another,
in the sharing of our being,
in receiving and forgiving,
Creator God, you are there.In our joys, our hopes, our healing,
in awakening to revealing,
in your call and our responding,
Creator God, you are there
In our prayer and in our service,
in our praise and in our worship,
in your love that is eternal,
Creator God, you are there.
Reflection © 2020 Hazel Blake.
Image © 2020 Paul Tabraham.
Hymn words © 1999, Kevin Mayhew Ltd, Buxhall, Stowmarket, Suffolk IP14 3BW.
A printable version of this Daily Devotional can be downloaded from here
All material within this order of worship is reproduced by permission under CCL 1226356