Moans and Manna

•July 27, 2015 • Leave a Comment

I don’t want to be here,
this isn’t how I thought it would be,
how I wanted things to turn out.
This
all seems so much worse
than what I had before.

I’m frightened
by this,
it is not what I was expecting
or longing for.

Please can I go back
to the familiar.
It might have been tough,
but I knew where I was,
what to expect,
when
and how
things happened.

This is unnerving,
it requires faith,
my faith,
my trust
in you
and all you will supply
for me.

How can I keep on going?

***

You promise so much,
it is my faith that is lacking.
Can I trust you?
Will you provide
for me,
for us?

But Lord,
you know my needs,
you never let me down.

Forgive me
when I do not recognise
what you are giving me,
when I don’t see it,
or panic that it won’t come;
when I hark back
to the ‘good old days’,
forgetting that they weren’t
always so good,
and aren’t here and now;
when I long to go back
or fear to go forward;
when I am ungrateful
and ungracious
of all you do
and all you will do.

Lord,
help me to journey with you,
to follow where you lead,
with confidence
in you
and your goodness.

Thank you
for feeding me,
for leading me,
for loving me,
guiding
and protecting me
every step of the way
on this journey with you.

Guide Me O Thou Great Jehovah

Exodus 16:2-4, 9-15 (CEV)

2 There in the desert they started complaining to Moses and Aaron, 3 “We wish the Lord had killed us in Egypt. When we lived there, we could at least sit down and eat all the bread and meat we wanted. But you have brought us out here into this desert, where we are going to starve.”

4 The Lord said to Moses, “I will send bread down from heaven like rain. Each day the people can go out and gather only enough for that day. That’s how I will see if they obey me.

9 Moses turned to Aaron and said, “Bring the people together, because the Lord has heard their complaints.”

10 Aaron was speaking to them, when everyone looked out toward the desert and saw the bright glory of the Lord in a cloud. 11 The Lord said to Moses, 12 “I have heard my people complain. Now tell them that each evening they will have meat and each morning they will have more than enough bread. Then they will know that I am the Lord their God.”

13 That evening a lot of quails came and landed everywhere in the camp, and the next morning dew covered the ground. 14 After the dew had gone, the desert was covered with thin flakes that looked like frost. 15 The people had never seen anything like this, and they started asking each other, “What is it?”

Moses answered, “This is the bread that the Lord has given you to eat.

Posted in bible, faith, God, hope, Lectionary, Religion, theology
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My Meagre Offering

•July 23, 2015 • Leave a Comment

So many similarities between this reading and the Old Testament reading of Elisha.  Funny how God keeps doing the same thing, still asks his people to do the same thing, is still a God of abundance and generosity – but needs us to work with him!

What have I got Lord?
What can I give?

The need is so vast,
I don’t have that sort of money,
I feel unprepared
and unable to help.

There are only scraps,
that’s all I have,
nothing much.

But you can have them
if you think they can help
– though I can’t see how
my meagre offering
is any use.

In your hands Lord
what I have to offer,
however small,
is somehow enough
and beyond.
You can take it,
and it becomes something
beyond my imagining,
beyond my expectations,
beyond my hope.

So I bring to you Lord,
what I have
and pray that you will
make it something
of use
and abundance
in your name
and for your glory

Take My Life

John 6:1-21 (CEV)

Feeding Five Thousand

6 Jesus crossed Lake Galilee, which was also known as Lake Tiberias. 2 A large crowd had seen him work miracles to heal the sick, and those people went with him. 3-4 It was almost time for the Jewish festival of Passover, and Jesus went up on a mountain with his disciples and sat down.

5 When Jesus saw the large crowd coming toward him, he asked Philip, “Where will we get enough food to feed all these people?” 6 He said this to test Philip, since he already knew what he was going to do.

7 Philip answered, “Don’t you know that it would take almost a year’s wages just to buy only a little bread for each of these people?”

8 Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter, was one of the disciples. He spoke up and said, 9 “There is a boy here who has five small loaves of barley bread and two fish. But what good is that with all these people?”

10 The ground was covered with grass, and Jesus told his disciples to have everyone sit down. About five thousand men were in the crowd. 11 Jesus took the bread in his hands and gave thanks to God. Then he passed the bread to the people, and he did the same with the fish, until everyone had plenty to eat.

12 The people ate all they wanted, and Jesus told his disciples to gather up the leftovers, so that nothing would be wasted. 13 The disciples gathered them up and filled twelve large baskets with what was left over from the five barley loaves.

14 After the people had seen Jesus work this miracle, they began saying, “This must be the Prophet who is to come into the world!” 15 Jesus realized that they would try to force him to be their king. So he went up on a mountain, where he could be alone.

Jesus Walks on the Water

16 That evening, Jesus’ disciples went down to the lake. 17 They got into a boat and started across for Capernaum. Later that evening Jesus had still not come to them, 18 and a strong wind was making the water rough.

19 When the disciples had rowed for three or four miles, they saw Jesus walking on the water. He kept coming closer to the boat, and they were terrified. 20 But he said, “I am Jesus! Don’t be afraid!” 21 The disciples wanted to take him into the boat, but suddenly the boat reached the shore where they were headed.

Posted in bible, community, faith, God, Jesus, Lectionary, Religion, theology
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All God Is

•July 22, 2015 • Leave a Comment

All that you are Lord,
I want to know
all that you are,
to be filled with
your very being,
the depths of you.

I want to be
head over heels
in love with you,
rooted,
deeply
in what you are
and what you want to make me.

Live deep within me Lord,
make all I do
flow from all you are
and the depths of your love for me
and for each and every person.

I Want to be Out of My Depth In Your Love

Ephesians 3:14-21 (CEV)

Christ’s Love for Us

14 I kneel in prayer to the Father. 15 All beings in heaven and on earth receive their life from him. 16 God is wonderful and glorious. I pray that his Spirit will make you become strong followers 17 and that Christ will live in your hearts because of your faith. Stand firm and be deeply rooted in his love. 18 I pray that you and all of God’s people will understand what is called wide or long or high or deep. 19 I want you to know all about Christ’s love, although it is too wonderful to be measured. Then your lives will be filled with all that God is.

20-21 I pray that Christ Jesus and the church will forever bring praise to God. His power at work in us can do far more than we dare ask or imagine. Amen.

Posted in bible, calling, faith, God, Lectionary, love, Religion, theology
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