One thing God has spoken, two things have I heard: that you, O God, are strong, and that you, O Lord, are loving. (Psalm 62: 11-12a).
What else do we wish to hear on this Lord’s Day?
That while we feel our energy diminish, that while we feel our concentration faltering, that while our emotions rise and fall,
You, O God, are strong.
You provide the unchanging centre of our lives to revitalise us, to focus our minds more surely, to stabilise us in the ever-changing circumstances of our lives.
And You, O Lord, are loving.
You will allow nothing to stem the flow of Your love into our lives,
Not pain, not disappointment, not failure, not even death.
Nothing will ever separate us from your love,
And you have shown this in Jesus,
Who comes to us as the Risen Lord but bearing the wounds that say Your love shines even in the deepest darkness.
What else do we wish to know on this Lord’s Day?
So stay with us as we gather as your people, that in our prayers, in the silences, in the music and in the Word read and preached we may experience Your presence, hear the Voice that proclaims forgiveness, receive the assurance that Your goodness and Your love goes before us into the unknown future.
Father, we have sometimes spoken of the daily grind, we have sometimes dreaded the prospect of the day ahead, we have sometimes given in to thoughts of meaninglessness.
But you have shown us that while all of this is real to us there is also the reality of the Risen Lord in our midst, to ease the burden, to lighten the path, to assure us that no life lived in faith is insignificant.
We thank you that we have seen this faith in others who have trusted in Your goodness and love to the end and now know the fulfilment of that faith in the eternal presence of the Risen Lord.
Let that same faith glow in the hearts of all Your people throughout the world, that their worship and their daily living would be witness to the Resurrection.
Let the nations be transformed in the power of the Resurrection, that peace, justice, compassion will be realities and not just aspirations.
Let the Resurrection be the hope of those nations that suffer most from Covid-19 particularly remembering India and Brazil.
Let our nation experience the impact of Resurrection in her care of those whose quality of life has been destroyed by addiction, violence and abuse.
Let the Risen Lord be the companion of those we know who have been stricken by the virus, those who care for the sick, those who seek to bring comfort to the bereaved.
