Daily Prayers Wednesday, 6 April 2022

Good morning and welcome to Wednesday! The days have been dark and dreary lately so let’s begin with some words of light from 1 John Chapter 1:

Here is the message we have from Christ: God is light and in him is no darkness at all. If we claim to be sharing in his life while we go on living in darkness we live a lie. But if we live in the light as he himself is in the light, then we share a common life and the blood of Jesus his son cleanses us from all sin.

Cleansing God, we thank you for Wednesday, fresh and new, waiting for us to step into its light. Help us find joy in the light and use it to brighten the lives of everyone we meet today.

Amen

I’ve just completed a big project that was postponed from 2020. I’d begun working on the theme in 2018 so by the time arrived for the exhibition this March I was truly deep into it all – colour, texture, stitches, interpretation….Now that it’s over I’m finding it hard to settle, to look at fresh ideas and attempt different things.

I need to come back into light, to get out from under the burden of what is now past. First, I need to put everything in its proper place: to untangle bundles of thread and sort them, to gather up the scraps of fabric and turn them into resources for the future, to collect the bits of ideas left lying around and place them safely in my sketchbook. It’s like packing a bag for a new journey – I can only choose what to take when I can see the wardrobe clean and tidy.

Supporting God, help us live orderly lives, making space and time to see the world in all its height and breadth and depth. Give us open hearts, free from grievance and grudge, give us open hands to welcome and heal, give us open minds to try out new ideas and learn new skills. Help us do all this within the shelter of your love.

Amen

As Holy Week and Easter approach I’m also struck with the urge to clean! I want to throw open the windows and vacuum and dust so the house looks as fresh as the world outside. Turning out the stale things in life always brings things forgotten or things mislaid to light. Jesus told this story:

If a woman has ten silver coins and loses one of them, she lights the lamp, sweeps out the house and looks in every corner until she finds it. When she does, she calls her friends and neighbours together and says ‘Rejoice with me! I have found the coin that I had lost.’

Supporting God, help us to keep the painful parts of life in focus too, that we continue to strive for solutions, that we continue to pray for people who may mean us ill or for whom we have no love. Help us to keep on walking the path of reconciliation and thus bring the nations to peace.

Amen

Let’s enjoy the light today and the opportunity to gather up the lost things and bring them all together within the light.

Cheryl Montgomery