Day 18 – Worship God together
Morning prayer
Start you day with this prayer
There is none like You, Lord.
You are awesome in every way.
I stand in your presence today, Father,
allowing your Holy Spirit to saturate my heart and soul.
Your love is so amazing.
You quench my thirst.
I bow before You and lift my eyes to You
as in your presence I find refuge.
Open my eyes to see and my ears to hear, Lord,
so I will receive what I believe.
(Silence)
Let your will be done.
Amen
Prayer station
Use this symbol to lead you in prayer for the day.
Symbol: Newspaper
We pray for businesses and for companies who find themselves under financial strain, and who need to make difficult decisions about the way forward.
We ask for God’s guidance and wisdom in trying times.
Reflection
Read this reflection on the text for the day.
Instead, be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another with psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit. Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ – Ephesians 5:18-20.
To be able to worship God together is one of the biggest privileges of being part of God’s family. That is why Paul encourages the congregation in Ephesus to sing psalms, songs of praise and other spiritual songs together, to build one another up and honour God.
To worship God together has a double function, according to Paul. Firstly, it praises God for who God is and for what God does for God’s children. In this sense, the purpose of worship is to praise God and make God’s Name great. That is why we should always thank God for everything – and specifically for our salvation – in the Name of Jesus.
Our communal worshiping of God also has a second purpose. In the words of the songs we sing, we confess to one another that we believe in God. By singing together we strengthen each other’s faith. Our worship, therefore, is also a communal confession of faith. That is why it’s so important that we take note of the words we sing and that we sing it wholeheartedly.
Father, thank you for the privilege to be able to worship You with music and song. May the songs we sing praise your Name and strengthen our faith in You. Amen.
Isaac’s Soap Opera
Watch this video with your children
Liturgy for life
See the ordinary things you do in and around the house as signs of God’s care.
A new world on the Monday
The grave was open. Jesus has been resurrected. It is a new world.
Elizabeth Ann Seton said, “Live simply so that others may simply live.” Now that all of us have realised for quite a time that we do not have to go to the shop every day or weekend to buy new things, that we actually have enough, I would like to invite you to think together about the few months that is ahead of us.
There are many people across the world whose income and lifestyles are being dramatically affected by the lockdown regulations. Millions of people’s are left without any usable income. Around the world the people who are being affected the most by the events of the last two months, are the poorest among us.
I want to invite you in this next week of solitude to go through your house, with the people who live with you, and look at everything you own. Then I want to invite you to choose from your abundance of good, usable items some that you would be able to use yourself, but that you do not need that much. Many local authorities and municipalities already have drop-off points where food and items can be dropped and given to people who need it. Look in the local media or on your municipality’s social media pages where items can be dropped off.
I believe that we cannot move through these times without being different people on the other side or act differently.
Children’s activity
Play with your children.
Wow! Isolation. Lockdown. Days in which we’re only allowed to be in our homes (or gardens) and can only go out for the most essential things like food and medicine. It can be a little rough! All the things we usually do during the day, like school, sport, church … are not happening anymore. It can really confuse you and maybe even bore you a little. These daily readings will help you to spend some time with Jesus every day in a creative and fun way. You can do these readings and activities by yourself, with your siblings, or with your entire family. Ask one of the grownups to post your activity on Facebook so that others can enjoy it with you. Tag it with #solitudecalendar #churchtogether
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The few days after Jesus was resurrected from the grave, was strange. People did not fully understand what had happened, but one thing was sure: Jesus was alive! He rose from the dead! And we praise Him! When we praise Jesus, we make Jesus’s Name great and help each other to stay strong in our faith. We remind each other who Jesus is.
What is your favourite song about Jesus and why?
What word can you think of to describe who Jesus is or what He does for you?
Activity
See if you can create some musical instruments to praise Jesus with.
Use these instruments and sing a few songs to praise Jesus.
Creative prayer
Colour and reflect (Instructions are available under the picture)
INSTRUCTIONS
• Choose your art materials such as coloured pencils, coloured pens and koki pens. Any of these will work.
• Colour in the picture and do the activity.
TIPS
• Choose no more than five colours. If you’re unsure of which colours to use, take out all the colours and put them on the table. Close your eyes and pick up five.
• It may be easier for you to first start colouring the edges and not big blank spaces.
• Don’t stop halfway, especially if your reason for stopping is that you think your picture isn’t pretty. This is the purpose of the activity – to get your attention away from unnecessary thoughts like, “Am I doing this right?” and to focus on the people that you love.
• When you’ve finished colouring the picture, put the picture in a prominent place in your house, like your bedroom or in the kitchen.
Consider sharing your picture on social media with the hashtags #solitudecalendar #churchtogether
Thank you’s and testimonies
Share your testimony with us! Use the online form below.