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Quiet Service - Resources

Quiet Service 16th November 2014

Introduction.

Following on from our service this morning on the Parable of the Talents. I have used some resources to let us reflect on some of the decisions we may have to make in our lives, especially on how we will use our God given talents.

I have divided our time together this month into three short sessions to focus and direct our thoughts.

1. A reminder that God is with us as we make every decision in our lives.

2. A time to reflect on the worries and fears we have when we are preparing to make decisions.

3. A time to process some of the decisions we are thinking about at the moment.

As always the sections are only a way to shape and focus our thoughts. If you have a prayer bursting to get out which doesn't seem to fit - just pray it - it will be right. God is not constrained by our desire for structure and neither should we be.

The Service.

We start as always with a time to prepare, a time to set aside the concerns of the day so that we can be ready to hear God.

Let us pray together.

Loving God we come to you in the quiet of the evening. We set aside our busy day to spend some time with you.

We need to be refreshed, renewed and reawakened to your presence with us. We pray as we reflect and seek your guidance that you will make clear to us the pathways we should travel. Amen

Read: Matthew Chapter 6 Verses 25 - 34

1. God is with us in all of our decisions.

As we travel through life we are faced with many decisions sometimes we are overwhelmed by them we are almost caught like rabbits in the headlights of our indecision.

So often we lose sight of the fact that God is with us as we make our decisions, sometimes our minds shut down and we forget that God is there with us at all.

Please Read - Psalm 139 verses 1 - 18

We will make use of a safety pin to act as a reminder of God being with us at all times.

We can forget that we have secured the safety pin to us and by accident catch a glimpse or brush against it and are reminded that God is here.

It is of course true that the better we hide the pin the less likely we are to come across it. This is the same with our contact with God we need to keep God in our thoughts in a "place" which will be obvious to us on a regular basis.

We remember that God is always with us regardless of the decisions we make. Whether they are good or bad decisions. Whether the outcome is as we planned or hoped or nothing like what we had imagined.

We pin the safety pin to our clothes as a reminder in that moment that God is with us here and now and at every point of our lives.

Let us pray together...

Music: I can almost see Your holiness

2. We bring our fears and concerns to God.

Decisions always carry with them worries. Have I made the right decision? should I have chosen the other way?

Read: Luke Chapter 10 verses 38 - 42

We use a stone to represent these worries and fears. The stone is cold, hard and inflexible as sometimes the choices we have seem.

Activity

Select a stone and hold it in your hand, feel its shape and texture.

Feel the warmth from your hand flowing into it gently driving out the cold from the stone. Taking away some of the harshness of the stone.

Imagine that the warmth is God's love flowing into, over and around your worries and fears.

Spend some time asking God to take away those doubts, worries and fears.

When you are ready drop the stone into the bowl of water. See the water surround and embrace the stone. See the beauty revealed by the water as the surface of the stone is made wet and the light reflects and refracts on it.

Imagine the light of God's love revealing to you the path ahead of you.

Let us pray together...

Music: Be still for the presence of the Lord

3. We bring the decisions we need to make to God

It is good to spend time with God evaluating decisions we have churning in our minds.

Read: Proverbs Chapter 3 verses 5 - 10

Take a coin and look at it select one side and think of the difficult decisions you have in front of you at the moment. Looking at one side think of the reasons for saying yes

Turn the coin over and looking at the other side think of the reasons why you should say no.

If you would like to make some notes on the piece of paper please do so.

The idea is not to toss the coin and make a random decision but rather to use this time of quiet together to pray and evaluate the choices you have. Seeking God's guidance as you do so.

Place the coin either side up at the foot of the cross as both the first step of making the decision and as a symbol of placing the decision firmly before God.

Let us pray together...

Music: Father I place into your hands

A closing prayer.

Loving God we thank you for the time we have spent together. We take things from your creation to help us better understand you. We bring before you all of the situations and choices we have been reflecting on and place them, without fear, before you. As we go about our daily tasks may we be aware of your promptings in every decision we make. We pray in the name of our Saviour Jesus. Amen.