Locked-down, but not alone
We have all woken to a very different world today. It is a much smaller world in which, for most of us, most of the time, our home will be the limit of our movements. An unprecedented fear and uncertainty dominates everyone’s waking thoughts.
Jesus Christ, and the hope he alone can bring, is not locked-down. His compassionate love is powerfully at work in the NHS, our neighbours and in the way relationships are being maintained or created online.
One way in which we are finding comfort and connection is through the daily reflections from our Ministry Team. Today’s is from Reverend Tom Saunders.
Reverend David Parry
Image © Angela Saunders 2015Prayer
Keep us, good Lord, under the shadow of your mercy.
Sustain and support the anxious,
Be with those who care for the sick,
And lift up all who are brought low,
That we may find comfort
Knowing that nothing can separate us from your love
In Christ Jesus our Lord.
Keep us, good Lord, under the shadow of your mercy.
Sustain and support the anxious,
Be with those who care for the sick,
And lift up all who are brought low,
That we may find comfort
Knowing that nothing can separate us from your love
In Christ Jesus our Lord.
Gweddi
Cysgoda ni, Arglwydd da, o dan adain dy drugaredd.
Cynnal a chadw’r rhai sy’n bryderus,
Bydd gyda’r rhai sy’n gofalu am y cleifion,
Côd galon y rhai sy’n isel eu hysbryd
Er mwyn inni gael ein cysuro,
Gan wybod nad all dim ein gwahanu ni
Oddi wrth dy gariad di
Yn Iesu Grist ein Harglwydd.
Prayer by Rev. Dr. Sam Wells
Vicar of St Martin’s in the Field
Translation from the Diocese of St David’s
Psalm 121
I lift up my eyes to the hills;
from where is my help to come?
My help comes from the Lord,
the maker of heaven and earth.
I lift up my eyes to the hills;
from where is my help to come?
My help comes from the Lord,
the maker of heaven and earth.
He will not suffer your foot to stumble;
he who watches over you will not sleep.
Behold, he who keeps watch over Israel
shall neither slumber nor sleep.
he who watches over you will not sleep.
Behold, he who keeps watch over Israel
shall neither slumber nor sleep.
The Lord himself watches over you;
the Lord is your shade at your right hand,
So that the sun shall not strike you by day,
neither the moon by night.
the Lord is your shade at your right hand,
So that the sun shall not strike you by day,
neither the moon by night.
The Lord shall keep you from all evil;
it is he who shall keep your soul.
The Lord shall keep watch over your going out
and your coming in,
from this time forth for evermore.
Salm 121
Codaf fy llygaid tua’r mynyddoedd:
o ble y daw cymorth i mi?
Daw fy nghymorth oddi wrth yr Arglwydd:
creawdwr nefoedd a daear.
it is he who shall keep your soul.
The Lord shall keep watch over your going out
and your coming in,
from this time forth for evermore.
Salm 121
Codaf fy llygaid tua’r mynyddoedd:
o ble y daw cymorth i mi?
Daw fy nghymorth oddi wrth yr Arglwydd:
creawdwr nefoedd a daear.
Nid yw’n gadael i’th droed lithro:
ac nid yw dy geidwad yn cysgu.
Nid yw ceidwad Israel:
yn cysgu nac yn huno.
Yr Arglwydd yw dy geidwad:
yr Arglwydd yw dy gysgod ar dy ddeheulaw;
Ni fydd yr haul yn dy daro yn y dydd:
na’r lleuad yn y nos.
Bydd yr Arglwydd yn dy gadw rhag pob drwg:
bydd yn cadw dy einioes.
Bydd yr Arglwydd yn gwylio dy fynd a’th ddod:
yn awr a hyd byth.
Although it isn’t always the most obvious thing to spring from the headlines of our news websites, there have been many heart-warming examples of people pulling together and encouraging each other through these difficult days. Families and friends have picked up the phone; neighbours have done the shopping and run errands; and, for most of us, the early panic is easing a little as we start to see how we will manage. But still, many people – and especially the most vulnerable among us – are having to ask the question “From where is my help to come?” with a real urgency, and the idea of us ‘going out’ into public spaces, and of others ‘coming in’ to our personal space has become a reason for anxiety when it used to be a reason for joy.
The message of this short psalm is that, good times or bad, day or night, coming or going, the Lord watches over us at every moment: the Lord is never asleep or off guard. God, who made heaven and earth, makes each one of us with infinite care and patience, and his care for us is unceasing. There is no ‘social distancing’ between you and God… there is no distance at all between you and the Lord, who hears every prayer that you whisper.
Prayer
Keep us, good Lord, under the shadow of your mercy.
Sustain and support the anxious,
Be with those who care for the sick,
And lift up all who are brought low,
That we may find comfort
Knowing that nothing can separate us from your love
In Christ Jesus our Lord.
Keep us, good Lord, under the shadow of your mercy.
Sustain and support the anxious,
Be with those who care for the sick,
And lift up all who are brought low,
That we may find comfort
Knowing that nothing can separate us from your love
In Christ Jesus our Lord.
Gweddi
Cysgoda ni, Arglwydd da, o dan adain dy drugaredd.
Cynnal a chadw’r rhai sy’n bryderus,
Bydd gyda’r rhai sy’n gofalu am y cleifion,
Côd galon y rhai sy’n isel eu hysbryd
Er mwyn inni gael ein cysuro,
Gan wybod nad all dim ein gwahanu ni
Oddi wrth dy gariad di
Yn Iesu Grist ein Harglwydd.
Prayer by Rev. Dr. Sam Wells
Vicar of St. Martin’s in the Field
Translation from the Diocese of St. David’s
caruconwy.com 
Thank you Tom – really encouraging…
LikeLike