I came across a blog run by Community Church Derby — about which I know nothing — here. The blog is a set of daily thoughts on Psalm 23, for Lent.
The item for Sunday 18th March struck me particularly:
Sunday 18th March ‘Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me, your rod and staff they comfort me.’
God, our Shepherd, wants to guide us. The question is will we allow him to guide us? Will we allow him to be our compass, our reference point in life? Christianity is not a system of beliefs that we choose to sign up to the try our best to live up to, it’s a call to a radical new way of life which involves making a daily decision to allow God, our Shepherd to lead us and give our life direction, meaning and purpose.
The Sheep: Pray for someone you know who is self-employed and for those who work mostly alone during the day, maybe in the home. Pray against feelings of loneliness and that they would know God’s presence with them in the hours of work.
There are a lot of lonely people out there, you know. There are a lot of people also, whose work prevents them from really meeting people, even if they sit in an office. I’ve encountered a number of these over the last couple of months, and I have been struck by how alone most people are.
Giving our life meaning, seeking every day God’s will in our decisions … what does this mean, in practice? Or do we just drift on, doing what we always do, and asking for His help only in crises? The answer, surely, will differ for each of us. We can, at least, all ask God how He wants us to play this.
Note that the church in question uses “radical” in its proper sense, of returning to the root (radix) of Christian teaching in the New Testament.
Roger, your post is disappearing off the right margin.
Drat! And there’s no obvious reason *why*…
Ah: some wretched “div” tags had appeared. Got rid of them, and all seems normal.