Sunday 11 August 2024

Today is Sunday 11 August, beginning the 19th week of Ordinary Time. Jon Guerra sings, ‘The Lord Will Provide’. Whatever you are facing today, take a moment to recognise the presence of God with you. In some way or another, the Lord will provide It may not be my way It may not be your way, but He will At some time or another, the Lord will provide It may not be my time It may not be your time; we will Trust in the Lord, and the Lord will provide Yes we'll trust in the Lord, and the Lord will provide Trust in the Lord, and the Lord will provide Yes we'll trust in the Lord, and the Lord will provide And the drive was almost over And our love was almost gone But the veins of the blood Of the love between us Held up For the ways of God are higher And the ways of God are small And the days of men amount to Nothing at all Trust in the Lord, and the Lord will provide Yes we'll trust in the Lord, and the Lord will provide Today’s reading is from the First Book of Kings. 1 Kings 19:4-8 But he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a solitary broom tree. He asked that he might die: ‘It is enough; now, O Lord, take away my life, for I am no better than my ancestors.’ Then he lay down under the broom tree and fell asleep. Suddenly an angel touched him and said to him, ‘Get up and eat.’ He looked, and there at his head was a cake baked on hot stones, and a jar of water. He ate and drank, and lay down again. The angel of the Lord came a second time, touched him, and said, ‘Get up and eat, otherwise the journey will be too much for you.’ He got up, and ate and drank; then he went in the strength of that food for forty days and forty nights to Horeb the mount of God. In this story, the prophet Elijah is fed up with God. Why do you think this is? Have you ever felt like this? God’s provision for you over the years might not have arrived in the form of a nap and a cake… But how has it arrived in times of distress for you? Perhaps you are still waiting for it to arrive now… Now listen as the passage is read once more; what really strikes you about it this time? How have you been feeling during these moments of prayer? Do you think that you might turn these feelings into a prayer to God? Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.