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.
Genesis 1: 27 ‘God Creates Humankind’
So God created human beings, making them to be like himself He created them male and female.
Galatians 3: 28 ‘All are one in Christ’
There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus.
I had a very elegant friend, whose elderly father would cycle round the village on a bike even older than himself, wearing clothes that were falling apart, his trousers held up with string. He was in fact a very nice man. My friend told me that she’d been chatting to someone who had recently moved into the village and they had said to her, “This is a proper village, it even has it’s own tramp!” My friend was most amused and somewhat impishly, she’d said, “I didn’t know that. Can you describe him to me?”, then interrupted the reply with peals of mirth and, “Oh, that’s just my Father” – much to the discomfort of her companion!
It’s so easy to jump to false conclusions about people. We all do it! I remember being very suspicious about my teenage daughters’ male friends, with their unusual hairstyles, strange hobbies and odd choice of clothing. One of them went barefoot everywhere, while another always wore odd shoes, never a matching pair. To be honest, until I got to know them, they scared me. Once I knew them as individuals they were good youngsters and often great fun. One lad, very much a city boy, whose brother was in prison, taught me how to plait strings of the onions we grew. I learnt so much from all of them, probably the best lessons were firstly not to make assumptions because of a person’s outward appearance and secondly that most people respond when you greet them with friendship.
Everyone on the planet is a child of God. He created each one of us, whatever colour or gender we are, whatever our race or situation, whatever our ability or appearance: he loves each one of us in equal measure. At this time of focus on ‘Black Lives Matter’ and the publicity about the limitations of the ‘Disability Discrimination Act’ 20 years after it was passed, we can never ignore the tendency in our world, and often in ourselves, to assess others by the wrong values.
Prayer:
We thank God that we are all made in his image and likeness. Everyone in the world is created and sustained by the breath of God.
We are held in the palm of God’s hand.
We are loved by God with an everlasting love.
We are made by the God of vision – whose plans for us are of fullness not harm, who gives us a future and hope.
We are held by God – in whom we live and move and have our being.
We are loved by the God who sent his only Son so that we might not die but have eternal life.
We are made a new creation in Christ.
We are formed as God’s works of art.
We are created by God to live a life worthy of our vocation.
Help us, Lord, as we endeavour to follow in Jesus’ footsteps and to do our very best to love our neighbour as ourself.
We thank you, God. Amen.
Reflection & Prayer © 2020 Ann Caffyn.
Image of Sistine Chapel freely available online.
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All material within this order of worship is reproduced by permission under CCL 1226356