Monday, 5 January 2015

Prayer for the Monday before Epiphany - Adoration II


It has been back to it with a bang today. My phone has been red hot with things that need sorting like funerals and meetings. There is strategy to sort, to keep my "we love strategy" people happy coming to see me in the morning! 

How do I keep the spiritual in my life when it all gets busy again? 



We need to know the presence of God way beyond twelfth night, when it is cold and wet and grey and in the middle of strategy meetings. We need to know this God in Jesus we have found will come with us into the mess of life as well as the good bits. I don’t know what you did to see in 2015. Some people went to parties, others watched fireworks, others can’t do it as emotions are stirred within them. It is a hard night, especially when the girl on the telly at one minute to midnight suggests “go and find someone to snog” and you are sat there on your own. I watched Methodist Central Hall by rocked by Queen and Adam Lambert, doing a good stand in for the great Freddie Mercury. Queen songs are very optimistic. You into Queen, folks? I sat with my glass of Baileys (naughty) and was moved by these lyrics:
I've paid my dues time after time. I've done my sentence but  committed no crime. And bad mistakes ‒ I've made a few. I've had my share of sand kicked in my face but I've come through.
We are the champions, my friends, And we'll keep on fighting 'til the end. Isn’t Christianity meant to make a difference to us?
Isn’t the future optimistic because Jesus is here, not just born into the world, but redeeming the world, dying for the world, and triumphing over everything. The Covenant of God is this – I will be your God and you will be my people. Not just for a few days at the end of December and some nicey nice spirituality you dip your toe into and leave, but permanent, there, inviting, sharing, journeying, consoling, befriending, wherever we are, and whatever we do. We can do anything if we believe that Jesus is here and we believe in ourselves. Remember those Magi returned to their country by another road. 

O God, by the leading of a star you manifested your only Son to the peoples of the earth: Lead us, who know you now by faith, to your presence, where we may see your glory face to face; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen


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