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PRAY NOW: TODAY'S PRAYER
Exodus - Moses
They said to Moses, 'Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you have taken
us away to die in the wilderness? What have you done to us, bringing us out of Egypt? Is
this not the very thing we told you in Egypt, Let us alone and let us serve the Egyptians?
For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness.'
But Moses said to the people, 'Do not be afraid, stand firm, and see the deliverance that
the LORD will accomplish for you today; for the Egyptians whom you see today you shall
never see again.
Prayer
I advocated faith, Lord, called them to believe -
And now, faith separates me from them.
I said 'Trust!' - when none of us knew
What a huge thing - a thin thing - trust is;
When everything was going well,
The past with its problems so easy to leave behind.
Out we marched, and forward, our problems dissolved;
And, suddenly, it has come to this!
How did we get here, to this godforsaken place,
This narrow and narrowing strip
Between unstoppable threat and immovable obstacle?
That is what they are asking, Lord, of you - and of me.
I ask it of myself, of course. Was faith too glib,
Trust too easy, triumphant language the tongue's to command?
Did I know what I was saying? Implying? Promising?
None of it has turned out as we imagined
Yet now, I know that all of it is in your hand.
I can and do still trust your promise:
Not a way out - there is none. Nor a way round - this is too big,
Too swamping a reality.
A way through? If we face this. If we take it upon ourselves, in trust,
You will make this dead stop
Into a part of our journey with you.
So let me believe, Lord - for them. For all of us ...
Readings
Exodus 3:1–15 God calls Moses
Exodus 14:1–14 Crossing the Red Sea
2 Kings 6:11–23 The defeat of an army
Luke 9:28–36 Who is my neighbour?
Luke 22: 39–46 Jesus prays
Prayer activity
Turn your chair to face a wall. Contemplate its solidity, there in front of you,
the obstacle it presents to your going that way. Spend some time doing this.
Now turn and contemplate a closed door. The door will open, if you approach it.
Which situations, in your life, or in the life of the world, feel like a doorway yet
to be opened? Which feel 'like a brick wall'? Make a list, mental or written, of
each kind, and pray about them. Is it possible that you are wrong about which are
'doors' and which are 'brick walls'?
Prayer for the Church
Finance: Recalling individual and national situations that can affect housing,
employment, family welfare as well as industry, banking and world economics
especially people who advise the Church with regard to investments and pensions or
are employed in Stewardship & Finance or the General Treasurers department.
Blessing
The God of the Exodus give to us
The wisdom to know
When we must turn back,
The humility to know
When we must go round,
And the faith to know
When we have to go through,
And the trust that he will come with us,
If we will go with him.
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