Week: Peace
As usual, we start by pausing and taking a deep breath:
In and out.
In and out.
We remember that God is here, and so together we prepare ourselves to be with God.
Pause
God of rescue and restoration, thank You for Your beautiful mission to save the whole world. Here we are, Lord. Fill us with Your Spirit, and send us so that we can join in with Your mission.
Florence Li Tim-Oi was the first female Anglican priest, which is what church leaders in the Church of England are called. Let’s begin by REFLECTING on what the Bible says about celebrating the good leaders in our lives.
Read by Kumi
Hebrews 13:7
Remember your leaders who taught you the word of God. Think of all the good that has come from their lives, and follow the example of their faith.
Hebrews 13:7 (NLT)
Florence Li Tim-Oi was born in Hong Kong in 1907. One day, when she was in a church service, a speaker asked if there was a girl who wanted to serve the church in China? Although Florence Li was still very young, she desperately wanted to do this, so she prayed, ‘God, would you like to send me?’ And God did!
When she was a bit older, Florence Li went to Macau in China. In those days the Anglican Church didn’t let women become priests so she agreed to become a ‘deacon’ or ‘helper’ instead. She wasn’t allowed to baptise people or perform weddings or give out bread and wine – the church had to ask priests from other cities to visit and do all that – but she helped in lots of other ways.
Then, in the 1940s, there was a war, and it meant that priests couldn’t travel to Macau anymore. So the Anglican Church leaders in China made a big decision – they asked Florence Li to become the priest in Macau, to lead the church during this difficult time. Because of this, Florence Li was the first woman anywhere in the world to become an Anglican priest. It would be another 30 years until the Anglican Church allowed more women to become priests but Florence Li’s example, and her willingness to help and serve the church in China, helped to convince many people that this was a good thing to do.*
When Florence Li was young she already knew that she wanted to be a church leader. Let’s pause and talk about today’s question which is: If we’re young now, what would we like to do when we’re older? And if we’re already a bit older, what did we want to do when we were young?
Long before she was a priest, Florence Li was a helper. Whatever we want to do in the future, helping others is a great place to start – it’s a way to show God’s love.
Loving God, as we offer You all of our hopes and dreams – the things we’d like to do with our lives – we ASK You to show us how we can get started by helping others.
Let’s be quiet for just a moment and ASK the Holy Spirit to show us one person who we can help, and what we can do to help them, over the next few days.
Florence Li knew that God had called her to serve as a church leader for a long time before anyone agreed to let her.
Father God, we pray for Christians like Florence Li who You have called to serve and lead in some way, but other people aren’t letting them. We ASK You to give them patience, and we also ASK that You open doors for them that other people can’t shut.
And now, let’s use Florence Li’s childhood prayer as our YES prayer.
Loving God, would you like to send us? We say YES to listening for what You want us to do, and we say YES to doing it too, just like Florence Li.
Let’s put a hand on our heart.
Father God, fill us with Your love. Help us to love You, and everything that You’ve made.
Let’s point to our eyes.
Lord Jesus, help us to see You, and to see others the way that You see them too.
Let’s point to our ears.
Holy Spirit, help us to hear You, and give us courage to do what You say.
* Biographical information from https://ltof.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/It-takes-One-Woman.pdf
Phil lives close to a beach in the north of England with his wife, his daughters and his dogs. Phil works for 24-7 Prayer, mostly doing Lectio stuff, and helping to run Prayer Spaces in Schools. He runs a lot, usually for long distances. He likes curry, mountains, reading books and he still plays Pokemon Go.
Kumkanikazi (Kumi) lives In Johannesburg, South Africa with her parents and 4 siblings.
You’ll often find her in a stylish outfit, baking up a storm or creating videos.
