Today’s ‘Guest writer’ is Nicola Jones
At the Catholic school I work at, we focus on two virtues and values each half term that encourage the children to live their lives like Jesus. This half term, we are focusing on being grateful and generous. At the moment we might think that it is very difficult to be grateful for things, as life is so different to the lives we were living this time last year. We might also be thinking about how we can show generosity when we are in our own homes and not seeing anyone?
In assembly we heard the story of the feeding of the 5,000. Read John 6: 1-14.
We thought about who was showing generosity and gratefulness in the story. Imagine being that small boy. I wonder how he felt when he realised that he was the only one who had food in that huge crowd? He didn’t have to share his food with anyone. Who would have known if he had kept it all to himself? But he knew what he had to do. He knew that he had to share his food with all the people around him. He showed a huge amount of generosity that day by offering the small amount he had, which Jesus turned into something that he could never have imagined.
And because of that one small act of generosity, there were over 5,000 people who were grateful. They may not have known where that food had come from, but they must have been extremely grateful that it was there.
So, back to our lives today. What is it that we are grateful for? When I asked the children, they said things like friends, family, food to eat, clothes to wear, somewhere warm and safe to live, Church, school and even technology. I am sure that somewhere in that list there is something that you can be grateful for today. It might not be a huge thing, but in the story the people were grateful for 5 loaves and 2 small fish.
How can we show our generosity? Again, it does not have to be a big thing. It might be a message to a friend, either with technology or through the post. It might be phone call or a prayer for someone. It might be checking on your neighbour. It might be donating to a charity. These are all things we can do from the comfort of our own homes. Remember, Jesus can turn our small act of generosity into something much more than we could ever imagine.
So today think about how you can be grateful and generous.
‘People who practice being grateful are more generous
and do more paying it forward.’ Lainey Garretson.
Listen to Thank you Lord for this Fine Day on You Tube. You can always make up your own verses adding in what you are grateful for.
Looking forward to a time when we can all be together again.
Nicola
Give thanks with a grateful heart - give thanks to the Holy One;
give thanks because He's given Jesus Christ, His Son.
And now let the weak say 'I am strong', let the poor say 'I am rich',
because of what the Lord has done for us;
Henry Smith © 1987 Intergrity’s Hosaana! Music
News to pray about:
Pray for Sue’s daughter Helen as she continues to work in the Intensive Care unit at the QE hospital.
Pray for Judy as she tries to make arrangements to come home for her mum’s funeral – if she has to quarantine for 2 weeks in both countries then it may not be feasible. Also pray for her dad Peter as he mourns the death of Gillian.
Continue to pray for Steph’s family as they care for her mum’s husband – his health continues to deteriorate.
Sunday Morning:
We are going to start using ‘Zoom’ for our Sunday Morning 10:30am live-stream, enabling those who ‘don’t do facebook’ to have the opportunity to join us. All being well, the Zoom meeting will be live-streamed on the church’s facebook page. The link below will enable you to join us, if you haven’t been on zoom before, it will ask to download some software, and then you will be able to join us. I will endeavour to open it 10 minutes before we start.
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86883239013?pwd=WWxEaWhWODgyeENUUUJDWmhBY1M3QT09
We are also endeavour to make sure you can watch a recording of the event on facebook anytime after the event ends - Stephen