Morning Prayer Friday, 9 July 2021
Happy Friday, Cornerstone Friends, from the Promenade in Blackpool.
Not having been out of Milton Keynes for eighteen months, just being in a different place has been refreshing. Let’s begin today with a thankful thought:
O Lord my God and my Saviour, thank you for bringing us into the light of this new day. Thank you for the peace of darkness, the comfort of sleep. Thank you for all the new sights and tastes and smells today will bring. We anticipate them all from the shelter of your protection and eternal care.
Amen
I’ve never been to Blackpool, so it’s all new to me but with a vague feeling of something seaside familiar, of something I’ve experienced before. The tide was out when we arrived and the immense expanse of pristine sandy beach, virtually empty, stretched away to the horizon. Now turn toward the promenade, lightly peppered with families, pushchairs, couples and visitors of all descriptions. Behind the seafront hotels and guest houses, the buildings crowd in on each other, seeking to gain one step, one inch better footfall. Between the avarice of humanity and the ravages of the North Sea wind, trees are far inland and even window boxes have a hard time. You need to be tough to keep welcoming strangers around here.
Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers for by so doing, some have entertained angels without knowing it.
Hebrews 13: 2
O Lord my God and my Saviour, keep my hands ever open to lift up those who have fallen. Help me look beyond the clothes people wear, the accents they speak, the strangeness they present to me to see your image in their eyes. Help me ensure their voices are heard as they ask for acceptance, as they ask for friendship, as they ask for bread. Keep us on the lookout for angels to entertain.
Amen
The view out to sea early this morning has been a great opportunity for calm; a good time to breathe deeply and quietly before the hectic business of being a tourist begins, when a cup of tea with old friends is all the hospitality required.
For I was hungry and you gave me food. I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink. I was a stranger and you invited me in. I needed clothes and you clothed me. I was sick and you looked after me. I was in prison and you visited me.
Matthew 23:35–36
O Lord my God and my Saviour, we pray for people in need of care, in need of blessing. Support those in our fellowship who are sick or in need of care. Support the care givers with patience and fortitude. Flood them all with your love.
Amen
As we set out to experience this new day let us live in the blessing of fellowship: let us love and serve the Lord, rejoicing in the power of the Holy Spirit.
And the blessing of God almighty, the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost be upon us and remain with us for ever.
Amen
Cheryl Montgomery
