Healthy Habits: Mark’s Gospel in 40 readings

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Last Sunday we reflected on Jesus’ 40 days in the wilderness. The number 40 is often significant in the Bible for a journey of challenge and growth (think about Israel’s 40 years in the wilderness!).

Join us in the “Mark 40 Challenge”!

Read the Gospel of Mark in 40 readings. You could do it in 40 days (good for stamina and discipline) or just read two or three passages per week. The important thing is to commit to it, put the times in your diary and then stick with it as much as possible. That way you will establish the healthy habit of reading the Bible on a regular basis.

Click here for a list of the 40 passages, always with a thought or a question for each day…

 

 

Prayer: God can take our jumbled lives…

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… and make something beautiful. Make sure you watch this video to the end!

A Postscript to VE Day: Bonhoeffer’s Creed

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Dietrich Bonhoeffer was executed for his resistance to Hitler on 9 April 1945 in Flossenbürg Concentration Camp, only four weeks before VE Day. He wrote this creed days before his execution by the Gestapo:

I believe that God can and will generate good out of everything, even out of the worst evil. For that, he needs people who allow that everything that happens fits into a pattern for good.

I believe that God will give us in each state of emergency as much power of resistance as we need. But he will not give in advance, so that we do not rely on ourselves but on him alone. Through such faith all anxiety concerning the future should be overcome.

I believe that even our mistakes and failings are not in vain, and that it is not more difficult for God to cope with these as with our assumed good deeds.

I believe that God is not a timeless fate, but that he waits for and responds to honest prayers and responsible action. Amen.

(Flossenbürg Concentration Camp today: Walking into the light)

Easter Pilgrim: A Journey through the Lord’s Prayer

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Sign up to the Church of England’s #EasterPilgrim: The Lord’s Prayer reflections and receive exclusive emails over this special season… 

Today’s reflection…

May the God of Hope fill you!

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A Blessing from Romans 15:13 

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

A thought from Lectio365 Prayer App (highly recommended!): 

To know God is to know hope. His will for us, according to the apostle Paul, is fullness of joy, fullness of peace and so much hope that it overflows from our lives into everyone we meet. They walk away from spending time with us feeling brighter, more confident, less worried. How on earth is this possible, especially right now when the world is so bleak and our own personal circumstances are so incredibly difficult? Well, it’s not about positive-thinking. The apostle Paul says that we receive peace and joy by trusting God, and we receive hope by being filled with the power of his Holy Spirit.

Of course I am not immune to all the despair, the heartbreak and the real problems of the world. I often feel hopeless, but God does not. And so I take a little time now asking him to fill me afresh, that I might ‘overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.’

Find out more about Lectio365…