our greed
and inform us about appropriate living.
May their words gain a good hearing
so that the world may have a good future.
‘I am the Bread of Life’
~ John 6:48 ~
Prayer for Reflection
It takes me so long, Lord,
to plan the meals and balance the diet;
and buy the groceries and cook the food.
And mealtimes are not always a joy,
especially if I feel the need of company,
or cannot enjoy the food for keeping the peace at the dinner table.
I need more to sustain me
than what my money buys and human hands prepare.
I need to identify a deeper hunger,
and to give you time to nourish my soul.
Prayer on Today’s Theme
Help us, eternal God,
provider of all nourishment,
not to be greedy.
Prevent us from craving tomorrow’s bread before today’s is eaten;
and keep us from demanding more faith before we savour and cherish
what you have already given us.
Be gentle
when you touch bread.
Let it not lie
uncared for, unwanted.
So often
bread is taken for granted.
There is such beauty in bread:
beauty of sun and soil,
beauty of patient toil.
Wind and sun have caressed it;
Christ often blessed it.
Be gentle
when you touch bread.
~ Anon ~
Time for God
Jesus sat down, and when his disciples had gathered round him, he began to address them.
~ Matthew 5:1 ~
Prayer for Reflection
I sit down, Lord,
to watch television,
to write a letter,
to mend clothes,
to rest my feet,
to listen to music,
to read the paper,
to shut my eyes and forget.
You sit down, Lord
to wait for me
to be ready for you.
Help me, among the other things
for which I sit,
to remember you
waiting for me.
Prayer on Today’s Theme
I think of those who will chase the clock today,
as if there were no tomorrow;
and those who will watch the clock today
as if the best were lost in yesterday.
And I think of children keen to speak
whose parents have no time to listen;
and troubled people with a story to tell
which nobody wants to hear;
and those who see time as the enemy
of their ambition,
their ability,
their complexion.
Teach us, God of eternity,
to be kind to time,
so that time can be kind to us.
Mary and Martha
Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things . . .
~ Luke 10:41 ~
You know me, Lord, so well.
I have seen the depressing sinkful of dishes, and heard the laughter from the sitting room
Where the TV is; and I have wondered how I got landed with all this to do. Again . . .
And sometimes, I’ve said so. Vociferously.
And I have done the dishes in a quiet house, and my mind has fled
To some happy or sad thought, but something real, something urgent
That the rhythmic swish of the dishcloth in my hand has set free.
And I have started, as the water from the still-running tap
Spills out of the bowl, or jumped when, in my hand,
The cup runs over.
You know me, Lord, so well.
Sometimes I am Martha, with my worthy agenda and my sense of being taken for granted;
My hectoring sense of all that needs done, that no one is doing, that drives me to ginger up and chivvy along.
The humdrum has to be got through first.
Then comes the good stuff .
