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St Mary's
Church Almondsbury
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To know God, build up each
other as Christians, and proclaim Jesus Christ as Lord to our neighbours |
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Home | Services | Mid-week | Children & Youth | Community | Groups | Who's
Who | Gallery | Links | Find Us |
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ŇSpiritual Disciplines for Ordinary PeopleÓ Sermon Series |
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Sermon 2: Slowing down and celebrating |
ÔRejoice before the Lord your GodŐ (Deut 16:11) |
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Create space and celebrate GodŐs goodness, so
you can be busy - not hurried. Hurry = acting with haste, urgency or pressure Busy = occupied with work,
being active We have hurry disease – always on the
go:
It is good to be busy (a full life doing
GodŐs will) rather than hurrying (filling our lives to fulfil our self worth). To move from hurry to busy we need to: 1. Create space The
Old Testament had regular festivals based on the agricultural year - here
Weeks and Tabernacles - roughly our Harvest Festival. It
made people stop, take time out, and stand back. They
were still working hard to collect the harvest, but in the midst of this they
reflected. Harder
today as with technology have lost rhythm, every day increasingly the same. In the midst of everyday life in the Feast of
Weeks or Booths the people lived outside in homemade twig tents for 7 festal
days. A different ambience allows reflection from a wider perspective. When
do you do this? 2. Celebrate GodŐs goodness The
service of God is not a cheerless ritual. The
primary purpose is to give thanks to God for his generous provision. There is
a general spirit of joyful thanksgiving to God. We
need not to just empty our minds, but to focus on GodŐs goodness. The
Feast of Weeks recalled deliverance from Egypt – it remembered them of
their own tough times and how God had lifted them up. The
current harvest showed them this. When do you give thanks to God? (e.g. saying
grace for food). 3. Consider others Having
thought how God had provided for them they naturally moved on to remember the
needy and make special provision for the deprived. Thus led them to share
GodŐs bountiful gifts with others. The
action (being busy) came after creating space. By creating space and celebrating GodŐs
goodness they were busy, not hurried. |
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Contact
the Church Office Rev. Philip W. Rowe, Vicar of Almondsbury and
Olveston with Aust |
Email the Website Administrator |
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