Daily Reflection 27th March

Toilet rolls, pasta, rice …  I never thought I’d start a reflection with those words. Not so long ago we took our ready supply of them for granted. Now we’re ecstatic if we’re able to go out and see a shelf full of them! We begin to value what we had thought of as ‘ordinary’. We miss so many things currently denied and get anxious about getting hold of the basics.

It has put me in mind of this painting which shocked many people when it was first exhibited in the Royal Academy in 1850. Christ was being portrayed as too ordinary. He and his family are in their carpenter’s shop, their feet and the floor are dirty. A closer look, of course, reveals great symbolism of Mary’s devotion, Christ’s bleeding, the table as altar and the tools hung there – just as we are unfinished work to be crafted in God’s workshop.

Maybe it is the day to treasure what we have taken for granted and pray for those who continue to supply our daily needs, that they may be protected from infection and given renewed energy. You might find it helpful to click here for the list of key workers, many in jobs that are low paid and that society has undervalued. Imagine them in their places of work, their ‘workshops’ and ask God to bless them.

“Show me someone who does a good job, and I will show you someone who is better than most and worthy of the company of kings.”

Proverbs 22: 29

“Pan weli di rywun sy’n fedrus yn ei waith – bydd hwnnw’n gwasanaethu brenhinoedd, nid pobl does neb wedi clywed amdanyn nhw.”

Diarhebion 22: 29

And how are we to be, if we’re not one of those workers? God is absolutely in the ordinariness of what we continue to do and be for one another, living through these extraordinary times. May God bless us as we continue to grow in love for our community, and for the one who sustains us today and evermore.

Blessing
May you draw others to Christ simply by who you are.
May you trust in God more than your own strength.
May you know and express the presence of God in the ordinary and everyday.
Amen.

Gweddi
Boed i chi dynnu eraill at Grist yn rhinwedd yr hyn ydych wrth natur a thrwy ras.
Boed i chi ymddiried yng ngallu Duw.
Boed i chi ymwybod â phresenoldeb Duw ym mhethau a phrofiadau cyffredin bywyd.
Amen.