Sacred Scrabble

The last two years have felt so serious haven’t they, each week another scandal / covid / scandal sandwich.

As we approach 2022, I don’t know about you, but I need a serious of dose joy, of fun, of frivolous endeavours. We need time to re-explore our hobbies, our passion, our past times and those things that make us unique and special and joyous beings.

As we start 2022, we start from a place of knowledge; wonderful, empowered, knowledge.

We know that God loves us, believes in us, and wants the best for us.          We know that the Holy Spirit has already given us that which we need to work in Jesus’s name. 

This year we will continue to explore how our faith shapes and informs the big things in life; family, friends, work, service to others, our community mission.

But I ask you to join me this year in asking how our faith can shape and inform the small things in our lives; how can it be present in our hobbies, passions and creative past times?

We are all different, we all have odd and unusual hobbies and things we like to do in our down time; What’s the weirdest thing in your life that can become a new faith-based practice for you this year?

Let us go to God in prayer;

We thank you for this new year, this new start, this new opportunity to look at ourselves with new eyes, to hear others with new ears and to approach the cross with a new reverence and a new yearning.

We thank you for our deep knowledge, our ability to firmly place our faith in you and be rooted in your love for us. We thank you for the wisdom you bestow up on us and the grace you so feely give us. As we start this year, we have all we need when we remember we have you. We have all the gifts and skills at our disposal to carve a fabulous river through this year, bringing refreshment to all we meet.

Heavenly Parent This year we want to go deeper on our journey with you, and we do this by remembering you walk with us through all moments of our lives, not just the moments we choose to acknowledge you, not just the moments we turn to you. You are there every second of every day and so we seek this year to connect deeper with you through all the wonderful things we do, no matter how small or trivial they may seem. If it matters to us it matters to you.

And so, Holy Spirit be present with us when we workout at the gym, bring us spiritual strength.

Holy Spirit be present with us when we stick new stamps in our collecting book, give us boundless curiosity.

Holy Spirit be present with us when we pick apples and crush them and juice them and make cider, bring us an understanding of others needs.

Holy Spirit be present with us when we sit and sketch with charcoals, fill us with awe.

Holy Spirit be present with us when we lip sync in the mirror to our favourite 80s songs, bring us a sense of joy

Holy Spirit be present with us when we practice our calligraphy may we sense the beauty of your world.

Holy Spirit be present with us when we play scrabble with a neighbour may we be reminded of the value of companionship.

Holy Spirit be present with us when we spend time in the garden nurturing our vegetable patch, may we connect with all that you provide for us

Holy Spirit be present with us when we labour over a thousand piece jigsaw puzzle, may we marvel at how the world around us interconnects.

Holy Spirit be present with us when we preserve fruits and pickle onions, may we tend just as lovingly to those around us.

Lord Jesus walk with us this week, every step of the day from waking through working to slumber, may we feel your presence in the smallest of moments, when we take time to focus on that which brings us peace and happiness may you be there to enjoy it with us and show us how adding a faith element to each practice can bring us to a new sense of ourselves, others, the world around us.

Lord Jesus in doing so may we show others that the humblest of activities can be an act of love and a force for good.

Amen.