Happiness & Grace!

Hi folks, i trust you are well. This week i went to the launch of #prayersonthemove in Newcastle which sees posters placed on the back of busses over lent to encourage people to pray. Part of this includes an app that you can get for your smart phone which gives a one minute reflection each day. You can also find out more about this project at http://prayersonthemove.com/

 

The photo comes from today’s reflection, I was thinking about this as i walked the dog and prayed this morning, I found myself smiling at the beauty around me and the people that are in my life… I wonder what this prayer means for you? What words or phrases speak to you? Can you think of a time when your heart was so full of happiness? What does grace mean for you?

 

Peace, Rob

Prayers

As we pray, read this adapted prayer from Christian Aid. Today our focus is on waiting…

Post names & situations & ‘like’ to add your Amen (first names only please)

Lets go down…

Before we pray, listen to this song.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sqzh0cK_ApE

Gethsemane – Poem Ella Wheeler

Check out this poem about Gethsemane, what strikes or challenges you about it?

Sherlock Holmes – Lord Blackwood

Watch this clip from Sherlock Holmes when Lord Blackwood is about to die… (spoiler alert – there’s a death scene, if you don’t want to see it skip to 4 min 3 seconds.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QiTcG_lyXB4

So is death the end or only the beginning?

Jesus and the suffering in Gethsemane

Answer the question found on the picture

Ash Wednesday

As I write this weeks reflection I am reminded that the last two weeks conversations have led us to all kinds of places as we talked through Stephen Fry’s comments and as we thought about ethics around helping parents to conceive healthy babies and the issues around assisted dying.

As we have talked on line and face to face we have raised issues that some have found difficult to talk about. It has raised questions and it has prompted debate. So as we come now to our journey towards the cross and the resurrection we begin our journey at Ash Wednesday.

As we ponder here we are asked to think about death, the death of Jesus and our own mortality. Around the world folks will will have attended churches for quiet reflection and they would have left with a death mark on there foreheads – ashes made in the shape of a cross. This death though is also not just about the physical death, it also speaks in to the lives of the followers of Jesus as they try to follow him by dying to self.

With this comes struggle and questioning as we try to become more like Christ.

So today ponder on these words from scripture…

Father, if thou art willing, remove this cup from me; nevertheless, not my will, but thine, be done” (Luke 22:42, RSV).

So as we journey through lent i wonder what you hope for?

May God bless us. Cheers Rob