Daily Reflection:The priest and poet George Herbert is commemorated in the church’s calendar on 27th February. Aristocratic, intellectually and musically gifted, he gave up his high profile position at Cambridge University to become a humble and much loved priest to a small rural community near Salisbury. He died shortly before his fortieth birthday, but his literary, and above all spiritual, legacy is still huge. A teacher friend of mine claimed that after studying Herbert with an A-Level class neither she nor her students were ever the same again. And she is not alone.This poem, one of Herbert’s best known, expresses both his deep sense of his own unworthiness and his growing realisation that God welcomes us, not because we have done anything to deserve his love, but because he is Love.A profound thought to meditate on this Lent.Revd RosemaryLove III (George Herbert, 1593-1633)Love bade me welcome, yet my soul drew back,Guilty of dust and sin.But quick-eyed Love, observing me grow slack From my first entrance inDrew nearer to me, sweetly questioning If I lacked anything.A guest’, I answered, ‘worthy to be here’.Love said, ‘You shall be he’.‘I, the unkind, ungrateful? Ah my dear,I cannot look on thee’.Love took my hand and smiling did reply‘Who made the eyes but I?’‘Truth, Lord, but I have marred them; let my shame Go where it doth deserve.’‘And know you not’ says Love, ‘who bore the blame?’‘My dear, then I will serve.’‘You must sit down’, says Love, ‘and taste my meat.’So I did sit and eat.
Daily ScriptureJesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. (John 6 v 35)Daily Reflection Today Jesus tells the crowds: “I am the bread of life.” Jesus also says that anyone who comes to Him will never hunger, nor thirst. Jesus was not talking about food and drink that we consume. Rather, Jesus was speaking of our “spiritual” hunger and thirst. What is it you hunger for? Is it love, friendship, financial stability, a healthy and happy family? We human beings have many hungers. However, we often try to satisfy our deepest hungers with money, material things, people, or even food or drink. Yes, these things do satisfy us to some extent - However, even if we have all the money in the world or a multitude of friends, if God, Jesus or the Spirit is not part of our lives, nothing else will ever satisfy! Lyn Hayes ALM
Daily Scripture:In you our fathers put their trust; they trusted, and you delivered them. They cried out to you and were saved; in you they trusted and were not disappointed. (Psalm 22:4&5) Daily Reflection:Can we say that we trust in God? Fully? In everything? If not, when did things change for mankind – because at some time obviously people did trust God completely? David, the psalmist, says that his ancestors had trusted God…..and God had delivered and saved them. But a few verses earlier even he had shouted out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (A verse of scripture that Jesus would use years later as he was crucified.)It seems that doubts, anxieties, turmoils and things that test us are all part of life - for all of us. The one constant in all of it is God. Trust in Him, you will not be disappointed.“Be not far from me, O Lord. In every hour of trial, good Lord, deliver me. Amen.” Revd David
Daily ScriptureIs not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of injustice, to undo the thongs of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke? Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover them, and not to hide yourself from your own kin? (Isaiah 58.6-7) Daily ReflectionIn the context of a society where fasting was something prescribed by religious leaders, as once it was in much of Christendom during Lent, the prophet cries out against superficial hypocrisy – God is not interested in public displays of humility, but in positive action to right wrongs. David Harmsworth
