Bible Readings
Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian, and he led the flock to the far side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. There the angel of the Lord appeared to him in flames of fire from within a bush. Moses saw that though the bush was on fire it did not burn up. So Moses thought, “I will go over and see this strange sight—why the bush does not burn up.” When the Lord saw that he had gone over to look, God called to him from within the bush, “Moses! Moses!” And Moses said, “Here I am.” “Do not come any closer,” God said. “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.” (Exodus 3:1-5)
Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed. (Mark 1:35)
One of those days Jesus went out to a mountainside to pray, and spent the night praying to God. (Luke 6:12)
Thought
I wonder if you have a favourite place to sit? I have. My favourite place to sit is on my cream armchair. I have several reasons for it being a favourite place of mine. Firstly the chair is very comfortable, an essential quality in a chair. Secondly there is the location of the chair. In our house most of the windows face out onto The Green, very few of them face out of the back of the house and into the garden. My cream chair is placed next to a pair of French doors that open out to give a lovely view of the garden and the bird feeder. When I sit in my cream chair I am reminded of the beauty and wonder of God’s creation. Also as I watch the sparrows feeding I remind myself that Jesus said “So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows” (Matthew 10:31). Thirdly the chair holds very strong family associations as the cream chair belonged originally to my parents and in particular it was dad’s chair. There is a blanket on the chair, created from a patchwork of knitted squares, made by some lovely ladies in Lincoln from remnants of coloured wool and sewn together by my mum for the cat to sleep on.
Lastly and most importantly the cream chair is where I sit when I stop in my day to spend time with God. I sit in my cream chair, able to see the wonders of creation, reminded of my worth and the love of a family and I worship God. I sing, I read, I listen, I pray and that special chair becomes something more than just special, it becomes a sacred place when I meet with God.
Many people have different sacred places where they meet with God. For some it will be within a church, for others in a field or by a lake or on a mountainside, for others it will be within a tent or even a garden shed. During this time of lockdown many traditional sacred places have been shut off from us, but God has never been shut off from us and we are able to have our own sacred places wherever we happen to be, whatever our circumstances are, where we can meet with him and he is just waiting to meet with us.
Prayer
Father God, thank you for being with us wherever we are. We are sorry for the times when we forget to spend time with you and try to manage on our own.
Amen
Song: God of Wonders