Daily Reflection 25th May

The beginning of the working week

It’s a Monday morning, and the start of week 10 of lockdown … and we’re starting two things in the approach to Pentecost next Sunday, when we celebrate the coming of the Holy Spirit and what many think of as the birthday of the church.

How do you see the Holy Spirit at work now? We are inviting you to send a picture of something that represents, for you, God at work by His Spirit today. All you need to do is give the picture a title or short description. Those we receive in the early part of the week can be incorporated into next Sunday’s service, and others in the days afterwards. Just click below. Thank you!

A little series about the working life of our community begins this week as some folk are going to share a little of how life has been through these extraordinary times, in their different places of work.

Thankfully, Zoom behaved itself yesterday and we enjoyed a great time of connecting with one another. It’s just another way in which we encourage one another and the sense of being in God’s extended family as we begin another week in His love. Today’s reflection comes from Paul Clough, who although living in Gyffin, we know is very much a citizen of the world! And as we begin this week, our prayer is for each one of us to be put to work, and be shaped in His ‘workshop’ – wherever we are.

Click here to send your ‘Holy Spirit’ picture

God’s ‘odd job’ man

Toolbox

“Dim y ffordd yma, na’r dre yma dych chi eisiau. Dewch ar fy ôl i. Gwna i fynd â chi at y dyn dych chi’n chwilio amdano.”

2 Brenhinoedd 6: 19

“This is not the way, and this is not the city; follow me, and I will bring you to the man whom you seek.”

2 Kings 6: 19

Paul Clough writes:

Over the years I have come to recognise a particular way that God has guided me. It goes like this:

I think of a great idea that will advance the Gospel and help churches grow;
God then comes along and knocks it on the head;
He then opens a door I didn’t know existed, and shows me the work He wants me to do.

Here is an example. From 1990 to 1996 I ran a small aid programme into the city of Sibiu, Romania. I also had a vision of using my teaching skills through a training programme for emerging pastoral leaders in the rapidly growing churches in Romania. In 1996 I shared this vision with the pastor of the Baptist church with whom we worked in the city. His reply was, “No Paul! I want you to go back to Britain and raise money for the Christian Centre we are building here in Sibiu.” I’m a teacher not a fund raiser; Liz and the children were with me and we were so disappointed we left the next day. En route, we stayed overnight in Hungary and our son asked us to read the Bible story about Elisha and the Arameans: 2 Kings 6: 8-20 – 2 Brenhinoedd 6: 8-20. As I read verse 19 “This is not the road and this is not the city,” I stopped and looked at Liz and said, “we will not return to Romania, God wants us elsewhere.”

We came to Conwy and I added a TEFL qualification to my teaching degree and my London Diploma in Theology. I then gained experience in teaching TEFL in Germany, and on the first Sunday explaining to the pastor what I was doing, he asked, “Would you be willing to teach English in the Eurasian Theological Seminary, Moscow?” Here was the open door I was waiting for. Since then I have had the privilege of teaching both English and Missionary Studies in Moscow, Siberia, Ukraine, Peru and Albania. Does this make me one of God’s Odd Job Men?

In this time of ‘lockdown’ God may be preparing us for what He wants us to do afterwards. He may be speaking to us now, and so here is Wesley’s famous ‘Covenant Prayer’ that offers ourselves to walk through the door to which God has led us, and to do the work for which He gives the tools:

I am no longer my own, but yours.

Put me to what you will, rank me with whom you will;

put me to doing, put me to suffering;

let me be employed for you, or laid aside for you,

exalted for you, or brought low for you;

let me be full,

let me be empty,

let me have all things,

let me have nothing:

I freely and wholeheartedly yield all things

to your pleasure and disposal.

And now, glorious and blessed God,

Father, Son and Holy Spirit,

you are mine and I am yours. So be it.

And the covenant now made on earth, let it be ratified in heaven.

Amen.

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One thought on “Daily Reflection 25th May”

sophialorenabenjamin says:

May 25, 2020 at 9:22 am

nice post. will be planning to check back often for more wisdom from you. keep sharing.

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The beginning of the working week

God’s ‘odd job’ man

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