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PRESENCE AND PEACE Psalm 27.17
Wait for the Lord;
be strong and he shall comfort your heart;
wait patiently for the Lord.
Still my heart, O Lord, still my heart that I may come into your presence in peace.
PRAISE
Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now and shall be for ever. Amen.
READING 1 Kings 19.11-12
[The word of the Lord came to Elijah:] ‘Go and stand on the mount before the Lord.’ The Lord was passing by: a great and strong wind came, rending mountains and shattering rocks before him, but the Lord was not in the wind; and after the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake; and after the earthquake fire, but the Lord was not in the fire; and after the fire a faint murmuring sound . . .
REFLECTION
This story represents one of the great turning points in the history of human thinking. God was not to be found in power but revealed himself very humbly, in a ‘faint murmuring sound’. Or, in the Authorized Version of the Bible, ‘a still, small voice . . .’ While there can be no doubt of God’s immense power, nevertheless it has been the Christian experience that God reveals himself in quietness and humility.
Do your ideas about God include his courteous humility as well as his power?
PRAYER
Think of the people you are going to be meeting later today: a colleague, a stranger or a friend. Bring them with you into the presence of God. Ask God to bless them and to look upon them with love.
Think of some experience you have already had today for which you would like to give thanks to God.
Our Father . . .
CONCLUSION
Father, this day is yours; may the peace you have granted me rest in my heart now and for ever. Amen.
PRESENCE AND PEACE Romans 11.33,36
How deep are the wealth and the wisdom and the knowledge of God!
From him and through him and for him all things exist.
READING Exodus 3.2,4-6,13-14
There an angel of the Lord appeared to him as a fire blazing out from a bush. Although the bush was on fire, it was not being burnt up . . . When the Lord saw that Moses had turned aside to look, he called to him out of the bush, ‘Moses, Moses!’ He answered, ‘Here I am!’ God said, ‘Do not come near! Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.’ Then he said ‘I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.’ Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God . . .
Moses said to God, ‘If I come to the Israelites and tell them that the God of their forefathers has sent me to them, and they ask me his name, what am I to say to them?’ God answered, ‘I AM that I am. Tell them that I AM has sent you to them.’
REFLECTION
This is another of those great turning points in the history of our human understanding of God. God is not small or locked into tribal boundaries; he is ‘I AM’, the One Who Is. The simplicity and the profundity of this insight are breathtaking. As you are at prayer so your very self (your own ‘I am’) is deeply related to the ‘I AM’ of God’s self. It’s as though your heart and the heart of God are pulsing together in harmony. God’s ‘I AM’ holds your ‘I am’ in being.
CONFESSION
Lord, have mercy upon us,
Christ, have mercy upon us,
Lord, have mercy upon us.
PRAYER
Thank God for the gift of prayer. Pray that God will help you to develop and enrich your relationship with him. Place into the hands of God all the things that have delighted you or troubled you this day and ask him to surround all those things with his healing love.
Our Father . . .
CONCLUSION
The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with us all evermore. Amen.
PRESENCE AND PEACE 1 Samuel 2.2
There is none but you,
none so holy as the Lord,
none so righteous as our God.
I come into your holy presence, O Lord;
look upon me with mercy and love.
PRAISE Luke 1.46-47
My soul tells out the greatness of the Lord,
my spirit has rejoiced in God my Saviour.
READING Luke 1.26-32,34-35,38
In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, with a message for a girl betrothed to a man named Joseph; a descendant of David; the girl’s name was Mary. The angel went in and said to her, ‘Greetings, most favoured one! The Lord is with you.’ But she was deeply troubled by what he said and wondered what this greeting could mean. Then the angel said to her, ‘Do not be afraid, Mary, for God has been gracious to you; you will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus. He will be great, and will be called Son of the Most High.’ . . . ‘How can this be?’ said Mary, ‘I am still a virgin.’ The angel answered, ‘The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you’ . . . ‘I am the Lord’s servant,’ said Mary; ‘may it be as you have said.’ Then the angel left her.
REFLECTION
Picture the scene: Mary in her room, the early morning sunlight streaming through the window. In that light, shimmering with promise and beauty, she sees an angel, a messenger from God. It is an encounter that will change the world.
PRAYER
Give thanks for Mary’s ‘Yes’ to the light of Christ. Look at the daylight and imagine that it has come streaming from the throne of God. As it enters your eyes, so let the joy of God enter your soul. Thank God for the daylight. Pray for those who live in a kind of inner, angry darkness and who are in turmoil.
