Trinity 11
Collect
O God, you demonstrate your almighty power most clearly in showing mercy and pity: Mercifully grant to us such a measure of your grace, that we, seeking to obey your commandments, may receive your gracious promises, and be allowed to share your heavenly treasure; through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Ephesians 4: 25-5:2
John 6: 35, 41-51
How to win Olympic Gold:
Eat. Be aware of your food, where it comes from, what it contains. Optimise your diet. Eat noting that doesn’t help your fitness.
Train. Realise the unique gifts you have been given and aim to develop them through understanding how to grow and refine those gifts.
Practice. Even though we often hear the phrase ‘Practice makes perfect, it doesn’t. Only perfect practice makes perfect. Have a schedule, have a purpose and a target. It may demand sacrifices, it will undoubtedly hurt. Rise above the barriers and focus on the finish line.
Act. Unless the above is applied in the critical moments when it matters, it will have been a waste of time. Be ready always for the sound of the starting pistol.
Recover. Sometimes you will win the race, many times you will not. When you fail, pick yourself up, dust yourself down, and start all over again.
How to win the Gold medal for being the special. unique person God created:
Eat. I am the bread of life, says Jesus. Unless you eat of this bread, you shall not have life within you. John 6:35
Train. Read your Bible and use commentaries to assist understanding. Listen to teachers and others who have gone before. Pray. 2 Timothy 3:16
Practice. Exercise a spiritual discipline, and try to identify God’s call and seek the Spirit’s guidance. Matthew 7:7
Act. Serve. Put your words into action. James 1:22-25
Recover. Take your failures and your sins to the foot of the Cross – and leave them there! Matthew 11:28-29
An athlete’s prayer
God, let me play well but fairly.
Help me to learn something that matters
once the game is over.
Let competition make me strong but never hostile.
Always let me help my opponent up.
Never catch me rejoicing in the adversity of others.
If I know victory, allow me to be happy; if I am denied, keep me from envy.
Remind me that sports are just games.
If through my behaviour I set an example,
let it be a good one.
Previous Posts
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Praying together 22nd January 2023
The annual Week of Christian Unity seeks to respond to the prayer of Jesus the night before He died, as recorded in John 17,– ‘that they may become completely one’.
Praying Together 15th January 2023
No matter who we are, however sincere our commitment, sooner or later – probably sooner – we’ll blow it. Fortunately, that’s not the end of our Christian life.
Praying Together 8th January 2023
Essentially, our Plough Service is a way in which we can say ‘Please’ – just as on Harvest Sunday, we say ‘Thank you’.
Praying Together 1st January 2023
What does the LORD require of you but to do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with your God?
Praying Together 25th December 2022
It only takes one candle to be lit and the darkness loses its power to frighten. That is our mission.
Praying Together 18th December 2022
In a hundred years, and for hundreds of years after that, the Nativity story will still be told, as it has been for the last two thousand.
Praying Together 11th December 2022
Few of us will be called by God to do something earth-shattering. But we will all be called to fulfil His purpose in our lives.
Praying together 4th December 2022
It’s not how we serve between Christmas and New Year that matters, it’s how we serve between New Year and Christmas.
Praying Together 27th November 2022
Pause for a moment; for a change, a Meditation rather than a sermonette. Thanks to Clare Anglicans
Praying Together 20th November 2022
He will turn His face to Jerusalem, the theatre where His Destiny will be revealed – a destiny of suffering for the sake of unrequited love.
Praying Together 13th November 2022
So on the eleventh day of the eleventh month, it is right to keep silence for the fallen, in every sphere of life, but unless we resolve to remember them as we remember Jesus – every day of the year – it means little.