Sunday 19th April 2020 – Sacred Space
Welcome to this time of quiet where we hope you will light a candle and ‘be still in the presence of The Lord’.
Do have your Bible to hand and say aloud the responses, if you are with a partner, then perhaps alternate the readings.
Begin, if you wish by putting Taize Instrumental omnes gentes, into your search engine and you will hear some beautiful music.
Spirit of the Risen Christ, as the lamps light up the evening, shine
into our hearts and kindle us in the fire of your love.
Read Psalm 16
Silence
We offer you Lord, the concerns of this day; we lay down our burdens at your feet.
Forgive us our sins, give us your peace, and help us to receive your word. In the name of Christ.
Amen.
Read John 21:15-19
Meditation of Peter
Three times he asked me, three times the same simple yet searching question: ‘Do you love me, Peter?’ And I was getting fed up with it, not to say a little hurt. After all, he should have known by then, surely? I’d followed him for three years, and I thought we’d become close – he gave that impression, anyway. The ‘Rock’, he’d called me, the one on whom he’d build his Church – an expression of trust, if ever there was one – so how could he doubt me now, let alone question my love? But then, of course, I remembered that bold, brash promise of mine: ‘Though all become deserters because of you, I will never desert you’ – and suddenly I understood.
He’d known I would fail, even as I said it, not only abandon but deny him, and he knew how sick I’d felt, how wretched and ashamed when the knowledge of my failure finally sunk home. But there was no anger from him, no recriminations, no rebuke. His concern was for me, not himself, his sole desire to wipe the slate clean and start again, and this was my chance to deal with my guilt, to exorcise the demon once and for all. Three times I denied him, three times he put the question, and at last I could put the record straight, declare to him what I should have declared to others: ‘Yes Lord; you know that I love you’. We couldn’t change the past, we both knew that, but with his help we could put it behind us and change the future, and that’s what he offered me that day; a new beginning, a fresh chapter, life dawning for me as surely as it had dawned again for him. I was restored, cleansed, forgiven, the ghost finally laid to rest, and I owed it all to him, the man whom I abandoned so freely, yet who refused to abandon me!
(words by Nick Fawcett)
Silence
This link will give you some music 4 mins 50, to give time and space for personal prayer, you may like some topics?
World, church, family, bereaved, suffering
Lord Jesus Christ, Light of the world, by your cross you have overcome all darkness that oppresses. Come and shine on us here that we may grow and live together in your love which makes us one with all humanity.
The Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the
Holy Spirit be with us all evermore.
Amen.
On a light hearted note you may like to end with some clarinet music reminding us of our lovely musicians that normally play for us. In your search engine put Senorita Clarinet cover, Georges Lucas, you will also get a glimpse of God’s beautiful creation.