Daily Scripture‘Do not judge, so that you may not be judged. For with the judgement you make you will be judged, and the measure you give will be the measure you get. Why do you see the speck in your neighbour’s eye, but do not notice the log in your own eye? Or how can you say to your neighbour, “Let me take the speck out of your eye”, while the log is in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your neighbour’s eye. (Matthew 7:1-5)Daily ReflectionWe are all guilty of this. Judging others comes naturally to humans, you could say we are hard-wired to do it. Before we even register that it is happening, we have already formed an opinion of the person walking towards us on the pavement, or meeting us in our place of work or leisure, or even (whisper it quietly) greeting us as we enter church! And our life depends on it, or could do, as we have but a split second to decide whether the person in front of us is friend or potential foe…and yet, and yet…So often we get it wrong. The person we thought we would have nothing in common with, or even took an active dislike to, turns out to be our new best friend, or at least a thoroughly decent human being. We have so much to gain, and almost nothing to lose, from suspending that critical narrow-minded inner voice and trying to see the other as God sees them. With love. Revd Ylva
Daily Scripture:‘Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, who alone does wonderful things. And blessed be his glorious name for ever. May all the earth be filled with his glory. Amen. Amen.’ (Psalm 72:18-19)Daily Reflection:The prayer set in the Lectionary (the scripture readings set for each day of the year) alongside this Psalm says:May your kingdom come, O God, with deliverance for the needy, with peace for the righteous, with overflowing blessing for all nations, with glory, honour and praise for Christ, the only Saviour. Amen.Today, what can you do to help the needy, to bring peace to someone’s life, to be a blessing to your community? These things that we can do bring glory, honour and praise to God. Those things start to bring about God’s kingdom on earth. You can be the answer to the prayer. If we all did this then the earth would indeed be filled with His glory. Amen and amen.Revd David
If you would like a chat or some prayer time in church, Revd Ylva or Revd David will be in church as follows:St George's, Benenden: from 10 to 11am Monday 18th & Monday 25 January. Monday 2nd February. The Mission Church, Sandhurst: from 2 to 3pm on Tuesday 19th and Tuesday 26th January. Tuesday 2nd February.
Daily Scripture:‘Who shall ascend the hill of the Lord, or who can rise up in his holy place?’ - ‘Those who have clean hands and a pure heart, who have not lifted up their soul to an idol, nor sworn an oath to a lie.’ (Psalm 14.3-4)Daily Reflection:We’re living with graphic illustrations of the destructive force of lies and crazed conspiracy theories. There must be myriad reasons why untruths can be more attractive than the truth, and none of us is likely to feel able to put a clean hand on heart and claim never to have chosen a lie, never to have been tempted down the wrong path. The Psalmist sets it out starkly – to approach the Lord, we need clean hands and a pure heart. Jesus did not compromise on this, just as he did not compromise himself, and yet at the same time in his life and in his martyrdom opened his arms to welcome anyone who wanted to restore integrity, follow the truth and find healing. If we confess, he will forgive us… David Harmsworth
