LITURGY

26th Sunday of the Year

WORD OF GOD
If only the whole people of the Lord were prophets,
and the Lord gave his Spirit to them all!
(Numbers 11:29)
 

WORD FOR TODAY
The Spirit of God is not a tidy thing. It blows wherever it wills. We have to get used to seeing God speaking through the strangest of people and in the most unlikely of places. Only if we are open to God working through others will the Spirit be able to be active in us.
 

WORDS FOR WORSHIP
We pray now that God’s will may be done, that the Spirit may rule in our lives and lead us to the most unexpected of places, as we turn to God in the words our saviour taught us to pray... Our Father...

FAITH IN FOCUS: ONE OF US?
Martha Lewis was distressed when her house was burgled. It wasn’t so much that she had lost her pension money and some jewellery that her late husband had given her. It was more a sense of outrage that someone had invaded her privacy, gone through her things and interfered where they had no right to be. She was only grateful that she had been out at bingo at the time. It could have been worse.
So when the local police phoned to say that some of the items had been recovered, she walked to the police station with a spring in her step. She’d only been inside the place on a couple of occasions and laughed to herself what people would think if they saw her coming out!
It was a hive of activity inside. The desk sergeant was processing a group of people who had had too much to drink and started a fight. There was a woman sitting with car documents who had been called to produce them after some minor traffic infringement. And there was a shabbily dressed youth who was clearly on drugs.
As she looked at the young man Martha sniffed. Those dreadlocks couldn’t possibly be healthy and he probably hadn’t washed them in a month. Why he needed to have so many rings piercing every possible extremity was a mystery to her. She was annoyed by the swishing bass sound that came from the earphones of his personal stereo and wondered why he hadn’t even bothered to tie the laces of his trainers. Anyway, thank God her grandchildren had steered clear of drugs. She’d been very strict with Violet, her daughter, and it had paid dividends with the way she was now bringing up her own children.
The policewoman took her to a room where Martha confirmed that the recovered property was indeed hers. She thanked the officer but the officer told her not to thank her but Mr Williams who had found them. “There he is,” she said, “with the dreadlocks and the stereo.”
Jesus said, “Anyone who is not against us is for us.”
 

TO CONTACT US: OUR LADY OF LOURDES FLEMING FIELD SHOTTON  COLLIERY DURHAM DH6 2JQ