Beneficial - April 2024 final

A Verse for April

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you," . . . Jeremiah 29.11–14

Jeremiah, one of the major prophets of the Hebrew Scriptures, is often characterized as a doom-monger. The quotation above gives that the lie. Yes, he speaks of God’s frustration and anger at the Israelites’ behaviour, but is always reassuring and ready to bless. So how do we seek God with all our heart? Recently I’ve been looking deeper into Celtic Spirituality. Here the emphasis in not on words, but silence. Not on the head, but the heart. Finding God not just in the religious, but in all things. The core idea is that God is what is deepest in us. Our hope, our future, our prosperity rests with our seeing God in one another, in all people, in all creation. This is where we find God.

Rev’d Philip Hawthorn, April 2024