A Call to Worship link
God of Hope,
we come into your presence this morning
with confidence that you will meet us here.
Where there is sadness, bring joy;
Where there is tiredness, bring refreshment;
Where there is despair, bring a renewed sense of hope.
Let this place be a sanctuary,
a safe haven for us,
a home for holy words and songs and prayers
as we devote ourselves to you.
We pray this in Jesus’ name
Amen
A prayer of Dietrich Bonhoeffer link
O God, early in the morning I cry to you.
Help me to pray
And to concentrate my thoughts on you:
I cannot do this alone.
In me there is darkness,
But with you there is light;
I am lonely, but you do not leave me;
I am feeble in heart, but with you there is help;
I am restless, but with you there is peace.
In me there is bitterness, but with you there is patience;
I do not understand your ways,
But you know the way for me…
Restore me to liberty,
And enable me to live now
That I may answer before you and before me.
Lord, whatever this day may bring,
Your name be praised.
Amen
Prayer of Confession link
Loving and gracious God, you are so patient with us.
We run away, and you seek us.
We make foolish choices, and you teach us the better way.
We hurt you and others, and instead of hurting us back, you forgive us.
Help us, we pray; help us reveal your glory and goodness in our living,
That we will bear the imprint of Christ throughout the world. Amen.
Benediction
I hear this at the end of every service at my church. I never tire of it. Numbers 6:24-26 NIV
The Lord bless you and keep you;
the Lord make his face shine on you
and be gracious to you;
the Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace.
God’s gift to us: the Bible. Ever grateful.
What a beautiful photo at the start of this post!
I wonder where it was taken – any ideas?
numo,
I’m sorry-it is not listed at pexels.
Really annoying how they’ll give the nth technical detail of the foto, but not tell you where it was taken.
I appreciate this message and agree with Prof. John Lennox. I don’t believe we can achieve immortality and save the world with AI and biotechnology and it’s a grave error to pursue this line of non reasoning. I had never heard of Harari, but had noticed another man from the denomination I grew up in who had conversations/blog on this topic. This man dropped out of the conversation, as far as I can tell, in 2018. When I studied statistics at a graduate level quite a while ago, I appreciated its use for observation, recognizing signals, informing. I always kept in mind its limits. Being naive, I never dreamed of its distorted use, although, In fact, it’s not statistical methodology in a distorted form. I’m praying for unlikely surprises in truly good for the common good directions.
Thanks.
Ella,
Thank you Ella. My new maths teacher at age 15 didn’t teach properly and I didn’t realise I should have heckled him, but half a century later I’m getting inspired through Badiou (ignoring his notations) and Collin Rice. I hope Prof Lennox will produce far more direct apologetics for proper mathematics because the world desperately needs it. Thank you Dee for introducing this topic.