St Peter’s Carlton Colville and St Andrew’s Mutford
Sunday 22nd March
‘Thought for the Week’
As a result of this Coronavirus, (Covid-19), these are difficult times and things are changing on a daily basis.
Because the call has gone out to stop events where people meet together we have been asked to stop our times of collective worship in our church services.
As a result we are looking for other ways to keep in contact with church members and to encourage that we continue our worship even though we cannot meet together for that worship.
With this in mind we will try to have a ‘Thought for the Week’ each week to help us focus ‘collectively’ on the same theme.
As it happens, in St. Benedict’s on Sunday, 15th March, one of the Bible Readings was taken from Psalm 46.
The first verse of that Psalm says,
‘God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble, therefore we will not fear’.
While this was one of the ‘set’ Readings it came as a timely reminder of our need to put our trust and confidence in God no matter what comes our way.
The Archbishops have called for a Day of Prayer for our Nation and its leaders this coming Sunday, 22nd March.
It has been suggested that parishes ask their members to set aside time to pray at the same time that we would normally come together for worship – in our case at 10:00.
In this way, each in our own homes, we can lift our church and our Nation before God in prayer.
We remind ourselves that at its heart prayer is ‘talking to God and listening to Him’ and it is something we can do in any place at any time.
Can we therefore ask you to spend time in prayer for our Nation day by day, and in particular at around 10:00 on Sunday morning.
Know that when we pray God listens to our prayers and He delights to answer faithful prayer.
We read in Isaiah 65:24　(New Living Translation)
‘I will answer them before they even call to me. While they are still talking about their needs, I will go ahead and answer their prayers!’
This is a powerful verse and while it is quoted above from the New Living Translation it is just as powerful in the New International Version that we use in church.
This message is sent on behalf of Gunton Parish.
If you are aware of any members of our church congregation that does not have access to the Internet perhaps you can phone them and read the message to them or print it out and drop it through their door.
May God bless us powerfully even during these difficult days.