Week: One Anothers
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
Our Father in heaven, we know that You are with us and that You want to talk with us – so we respond very simply by saying: ‘Here we are, we’re ready. Teach us how to pray.’
Benedict focused his life on helping people to live more like Jesus as they prayed, worked and rested. Let’s REFLECT on what the Bible says about this.
Read by Elanor
Matthew 11:28-30 (NCV)
Matthew 11:28-30
[Jesus said] ‘Come to me, all of you who are tired and have heavy loads, and I will give you rest. Accept my teachings and learn from me, because I am gentle and humble in spirit, and you will find rest for your lives. The burden that I ask you to accept is easy; the load I give you to carry is light.’
Benedict was born in Italy in the year 480, and while he was still young his parents sent him to study in the capital city, Rome. Benedict didn’t like it though – he felt overwhelmed by the busy city life – and so, when he was a bit older, he left Rome and settled in the wilderness where he lived alone in a cave for three years – just him and God. Benedict spent a lot of his time praying, and over the years, he learned that praying involved more than just his words – it involved offering every part of his day to God; his work, his rest and his play too. And it also involved listening to God.
Eventually Benedict was asked to run the local monastery. A monastery is a place where groups of people live, pray, worship God and work together, and the people who live in them are usually called monks. Benedict wrote a set of guidelines to help the monks focus every part of their lives on God, just like he’d done while in his cave. These guidelines became known as Benedict’s Rule.
One of the interesting things about Benedict’s Rule is that it also encourages readers to look after their physical and mental health, and to get plenty of rest. Benedict’s monks served God by praying and studying and working hard, but they were also expected to look after themselves by resting and relaxing. These sound like good rules!
Let’s press pause and talk about today’s question, which is: If we were in charge of the world for a day, what new rules would we invent?
The first word of Benedict’s Rule is, ‘Listen’. Let’s be quiet for a moment and listen for anything that the Holy Spirit might want to say to us now. It might be a word or a picture, a verse from the Bible or a line from a song. It could be anything, but let’s pause for a moment and listen.
Who do we know that has been working hard and might need a break? Perhaps our parents or carers have been busy looking after us? Perhaps someone we know has a really difficult, tiring job? Whoever it is, let’s ASK God to help them rest and relax.
Loving God, we ASK You to help them get the rest they need. As it said in our Bible reading today, we ASK you to give them rest. Help them to connect with You in prayer. Refresh and refuel them.
And if there’s anything that we can do to help them, so that they can get some rest, let’s do it.
Benedict understood that prayer involved more than just words – it involved our bodies and our attitudes too. One of his most famous prayers put it like this:
Gracious and Holy Father, give us the wisdom to discover You, the intelligence to understand You, the diligence to seek after You, the patience to wait for You, eyes to behold You, a heart to meditate upon You, and a life to proclaim You, through the power of the Spirit of Jesus, our Lord. Amen.*
And now, let’s say YES together by inviting God into every part of our lives.
YES, Lord God, we want to know that You are with us in all we do. As we invite You into our working, our resting and our playing, we ASK You to fill us with Your Holy Spirit.
Pause
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.
Chris lives in Melbourne, Australia with his wife and two boys. He works for 24-7 Prayer Australia and Red Church and is also a professional musician. When he’s not working or drumming Chris enjoys going on long hikes in the mountains with his boys and playing table tennis.
Elanor is 12 years old and lives in East London with her parents and younger brother. She enjoys going on adventures with her friends, reading lots of books, horse riding, acting, singing, dancing and finding different ways to pray to God.
