Count Your BLESSings
throughout Lent
What is Lent?
Originating in the fourth century, Lent spans 40 weekdays, from Ash
Wednesday, through Holy Week, concluding with the Saturday
before Easter. (For those who can count, yes, this does total 46 days.
Since Sundays celebrate the resurrection of Jesus, the six Sundays
that occur during Lent are not counted as part of the 40 days of
Lent.)
Lent began as the time of preparation for seekers exploring baptism
at Easter. And since these new members were to be received into a
living community of faith, the entire community was called to share
in the preparation. Today, Lent is used by the Church as a time to
prepare for Easter.
The number 40 is connected with many biblical events, most
especially the 40 days Jesus spent in the wilderness. This was a time
to prepare for ministry by facing the temptations that might have
caused him to abandon his mission and calling. This biblical story
invites us into a wilderness spirituality. What might tempt us to
abandon our life mission? What do we need to abandon? What
experiences do we need to add? While the wilderness is often a
feared place, perhaps it is time to enter it as a growing place. The
Count Your BLESSings Lenten Devotional aims to facilitate such a
journey.
To sustain you on your journey you will need:
 The daily thought or meditation that can be found in this book or
sent to you daily via email. Each ‘thought’ is a way for us all to stay
connected as followers of Jesus throughout Lent. The purpose of
each mediation or thought is to reflect on one of the Mossley Hill
Team’s BLESS values.
Some thoughts or meditations will be calming and nourishing
while others may be challenging.
 Seventh-day assignments With Sunday not recognised as a day of
Lent, this allows a change of pace. Within this booklet are six
’Seventh-day’ assignments intended to provide a way to pause
and to process your wilderness spirituality and designed to suit
different learning styles.
They are designed to be done individually at a time suitable for
you (and not necessarily on Sunday). Upon completion, please
share them, either digitally or physically, at a special place in your
church.
All Seventh-day assignments come from
http://spirit2go.blogspot.com
Friday 24 February 2012
During this weekend of prayer, let us commit to praying the
following prayer for all our churches:
God of unchanging power, your Holy Spirit enables us to proclaim
your love in challenging times and places:
Give to All Hallows, St. Matthew and St. James and St Barnabas fresh
understanding and clear vision, that together we may respond to the
call to be your disciples and so to rejoice in the blessing of your
kingdom.
We ask this in the name of him who gave his life that ours
might flourish, your son, Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.
Saturday 25 February 2012
A SIMPLE FORM OF PRAYER FOR PERSONAL USE
Light a candle to begin; sit comfortably. Try to be unhurried in prayer.
You don’t have to complete the whole of what follows. Let the Holy
Spirit lead you.
Simply stay in the silence and let happen what will. You are opening yourself to God, not a
particular experience of him. There is nothing to ’get through’ and nothing to ‘get out’. You
are there for God as he is there for you. You may experience little or nothing ’holy’ but that
does not mean God is not dealing with the soul.
Sing, or speak, softly the following words to your soul:
Be still, for the presence of the Lord,
the Holy One, is here.
Come bow before him now,
with reverence and fear.
In him no sin is found,
we stand on holy ground.
Be still, for the presence of the Lord,
the Holy One, is here.
Be still, for the power of the Lord
is moving in this place;
he comes to cleanse and heal,
to minister his grace.
No work too hard for him,
in faith receive from him.
Be still, for the power of the Lord
is moving in this place.(c) 1986 Thankyou Music
After a moment of quiet adoration, reflect on these words, repeating them
silently to yourself:
The Lord is near to those who call upon him, to all who call upon him faithfully.
(Psalm 145.19)
Spend a few moments thanking the Lord for any particular blessings you have
received.
‘Lord, I am not worthy to receive you but only say the word and I shall be
healed.’ Bring to God any sickness of which you are aware – whether of body,
mind or spirit.
Father, for the ways we have marred your image in us, forgive us; for
resentment, rush or lack of trust, forgive us. We open ourselves in love and
faith to the healing presence of Christ.
Now circle in prayer those people and places God has put on your heart.
Examples might include:
 Troubled places in the world such as Syria and Greece
 Our nation: the economy and NHS.
 People you support in ministry and mission locally or overseas
 Your own church family, especially the coming Away Day and formation
of a new Local Leadership Team
 Our local community: schools, businesses, GPs, shops, homes and those
who serve us
 Children and young people
 Those preparing for baptism and confirmation
 Any personal or family needs: these might include finance, employment,
health, or growth in discipleship.
The God of life go with us; the Risen Christ beside us; the vibrant Spirit within
us. Amen.
Sunday 26 February 2012
‘Be silent and know that I am God.’ That’s a favourite line from the
Scriptures. ‘Shut up and Let Me Love You’ would be the pop song.
laughs] Bono, U2
Be still and reflect on God’s love for you here
Seventh-day Assignment 1
Find seven items you would most want to take if you were travelling
40 days into a desert. Find a piece of Lenten fabric; a cloth that you
feel best captures how you feel about entering Lent. Find a place in
your house where these seven items might remain over the Lenten
period and place them on your Lenten fabric. Place a photo of your
items on our Facebook page or place it in the special area of your
church, so we can share our Lenten journeys across the Team’s
Communities of BLESSings.
BEING FAMILY
To grow in our faith we need to live in open and accountable
relationships. This level of commitment to each other cannot
practically be done in our corporate Sunday worship, but in a place
where we can have close friendships. It is in this context that we
learn to love each other, love God and grow in wholeness. So we
ask all our members to commit to maintaining open and
accountable relationships by playing an active part in the Mossley
Hill Team Family.
Monday 27 February 2012
Catherine the Great (1729–1796) left a challenging maxim to try to
follow:
‘...PRAISE loudly, blame softly.’
Let's ask for God's help when we get caught up in doing the
opposite.
Tuesday 28 February 2012
No matter whether you live alone, belong to a small family or have a
large extended family, money is always an issue.
Yet we hardly ever talk about money with our friends or family and it
is often the same in church as well. The little money talk that
happens in church is usually around giving and that is often only
when there is a financial problem.
Money is a huge part of our lives: earning it, spending it, and often
worrying about it. No wonder that the Bible says so much about it!
Over 2,000 verses in fact!
This should not surprise us because money plays an important part in
our lives. Jesus talks about money a lot because how we handle it
helps us or hinders the abundant life he longs to give us.
Hallmarks – a series of marks on precious metals – have been used in
Britain since the 1300s. The word itself is from the 15th century,
when craftsmen went to Goldsmiths Hall in London to have their
products assayed and marked, a practice that continues today.
There are three elements in a hallmark: the date, the maker’s mark
and a purity (or fineness) mark that declares the quality of the metal.
Likewise we are called to show our 'maker’s mark' through our
actions. So what does this mean in terms of giving?
First, giving is a ‘maker’s mark’ because, when we give a part of what
God has entrusted to us, we acknowledge that God is the ultimate
owner of all we have.
Second, giving is a ‘purity mark’ that reveals the quality of our heart,
in terms of financial discipleship. No part of our relationship with
money is harder than letting go of it!
What kind of heart motivates our giving? Is it born of God’s
generosity extended to us and marked by thankfulness and
gratitude? Does our giving reflect what God has given to us; does it
connect with our lifestyle choices?
Does our giving recognise and value properly the costs of the
ministry of the church? Giving, or not giving, reveals our heart.
The words of Fr John Dresko, an Orthodox priest, have really
challenged me in the past (I have not translated them from the
original American):
My gift to God is a genuine reflection of my heart. If I give $400
per month to the bank on my car loan, but think the Church is
fleecing me for $20 per month, I have a heart problem.
If I do my grocery shopping and write a check when I leave for
$100 so my family can be fed, but think $20 per month is too
much for the Bread of Life, I have a heart problem.
If I can go to the package store and drop $20 for a bottle of
liquor but gripe about the costs of sharing the Blood of Christ, I
have a heart problem.
If I cheat the Church out of regular giving by pleading about my
"cash flow" while ignoring the fact that the Church has the
same bills and the same "cash flow," I have a heart problem.
(Taken from
http://www.dneoca.org/articles/heartproblems1291.html)
There is much food for thought here and, if we’re honest, some of it
can seem very scary to confront but pray to God and ask him to
reveal your heart, asking him to guide you in your decision
making about this important area of your life.
Wednesday 29 February 2012
Yesterday we explored the challenge of giving. Here is a short video
that considers generosity:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_uxDuVn7LJw&feature=player_e
mbedded
Thursday 1 March 2012
Today a prayer for our church:
'Why?' seems such a simple question!
Why are we a church?
Why do we do the things we do?
Lord, we grant you truthfulness as we reflect on our purposes as a
church within the Mossley Hill Team Ministry.
Quite a lot of what we do is habit –
we carry on doing what we've been brought up to do.
There is a lot of comfort in the familiar ways,
the historic buildings,
the favourite hymns,
the prayers we know off by heart,
the same seats, and the same faces.
Basically we want to worship you.
We want to hallow your name
and pray that your kingdom may come and your will be done
on earth as it is in heaven.
We want to acknowledge your place in our lives and our world,
we want to build up the body of Christ.
And so part of our purpose is to build up the fellowship,
to support one another in our faith by listening and understanding,
to provoke one another to love and good works,
to share our faith with our children,
and to encourage others to join us.
Another part of our purpose is to be salt and light,
serving some of the needs of the local community,
working alongside other people of good will
as we try to make life better for our neighbours.
And we have a concern for the wider world,
where there is so much injustice and suffering.
We cannot put it all right but we can do something;
we can support fair trade, we can give through aid agencies,
we can campaign for a better and safer and fairer world.
And perhaps we can make room
for those people who only want to join us for worship,
who don't want to get caught up in all the other purposes,
or who may prefer to do these things elsewhere and privately.
And then, as we look more carefully, Lord,
we realise that these good purposes can get in one another's way.
We can build up such a strong and cosy fellowship
that we forget all about the local community and the wider world.
Or we can get so caught up in serving the needy
that we neglect our families.
In such ways good people can fall out with other good people
who are serving a different but equally good purpose.
Grant us a wise balance,
a responsible and mature choice from among the many possible
purposes
you hold out before us in your world.
For the kingdom, the power and the glory are yours
now and for ever. Amen.
Friday 2 March 2012
Leadership and ministry involve caring for lots of people. That
includes caring for yourself and your family. Think about and pray for
your family and friends and, if it is possible, plan to do
something together soon. In fact grab your diary and pick up the
phone NOW and make that date!
Saturday 3 March 2012
As we approach Sunday and get ready to go to church and meet our
church family, here is a chance to reflect on whether our worship
costs us anything? So, put your PC, laptop, or phone speakers on,
and listen to this MP3 file (it may take a little time to load) from God
360 by Andy Flannigan; the text of this meditation is also below.
Listen and/or read the text from here for an altogether different
Count Your BLESSings experience!
PAY TO PRAISE
The story so far – David has sinned by putting trust in facts and
figures over faith in God. (A bit like one of us choosing whether or
not to go on a mission trip based solely on perusing our bank
statements.) He has wasted time counting the number of men in his
armies like a paranoid teenager playing Risk. He is given three
options – three months’ famine, three months’ fleeing from
enemies, or three days’ plague. Quite an à la carte to choose from.
Without phoning a friend, David goes for answer C but is appalled at
the outcome, as Jerusalem is left on the point of annihilation.
However, God is even more appalled and stops the angels of death
at Araunah’s house. He tells David to go and build an altar there to
save his people.
Read 2 Samuel 24:18-25:
18
On that day Gad went to David and said to him, "Go up and build
an altar to the LORD on the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite."
19 So David went up, as the LORD had commanded through Gad. 20
When Araunah looked and saw the king and his men coming toward
him, he went out and bowed down before the king with his face to
the ground.
21 Araunah said, "Why has my lord the king come to his servant?"
"To buy your threshing floor," David answered, "so I can build an
altar to the LORD, that the plague on the people may be stopped."
22 Araunah said to David, "Let my lord the king take whatever
pleases him and offer it up. Here are oxen for the burnt offering, and
here are threshing sledges and ox yokes for the wood. 23 O king,
Araunah gives all this to the king." Araunah also said to him, "May
the LORD your God accept you."
24 But the king replied to Araunah, "No, I insist on paying you for it. I
will not sacrifice to the LORD my God burnt offerings that cost me
nothing."
So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen and paid fifty
shekels of silver for them. 25 David built an altar to the LORD there
and sacrificed burnt offerings and fellowship offerings. Then the
LORD answered prayer in behalf of the land, and the plague on Israel
was stopped.
I remember exactly where I was sitting when I first read verse 24. ‘I
will not sacrifice to the Lord my God burnt offerings that cost me
nothing.’ I felt immediately convicted. How many of my ‘offerings’ of
worship cost me very little at all? For most of us, there is not much
sacrifice involved as we actually quite like singing songs and getting
that warm fuzzy feeling that comes when people get together and
share a common belief and purpose.
So I challenge you today to let your time with God cost you
something. Perhaps to your comfort, perhaps to your schedule,
perhaps to your self-respect or perhaps to your credibility. I often
challenge those who are normally seated or standing motionless in
worship to dance or move and those who are normally busting their
cool moves to be still and silent. Where you are, do something that
costs, whether that means lying prostrate before God or singing
within earshot of your neighbours.