It's Tuesday, 12th May 2020. 
Hello everyone, it’s Mr Keep here. 
May the Lord be with you.

We are Bishop Ridley, we are One Community, Learning & Growing Together, Sharing the Love of God.

 

Our song for today is “This Little Light of Mine
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cKkbIZtqhyQ 

 

Our Bible passage for today is Psalm 95 1-2 
Come, let us praise the Lord! Let us sing for joy to God, who protects us!  Let us come before him with thanksgiving and sing joyful songs of praise.

 

Our thought for the day
During the lockdown, my family and friends have been meeting up on Zoom, or Skype to keep in contact. Have you been talking to your friends on line?

We sometimes do a quiz and make up questions for each other. So I thoughts that today I would give you some questions, some clues, to get to our key word for today.

Here we go, I’ll give you 4 clues.….

1.    I’m looking for a three-letter word.
2.    It has two consonants and one vowel.
3.    It means happiness and celebrate.
4.    You can add the suffix “–ful” onto the end of the word.
Can you work out what it is?

 

 

 

 

 

It’s... Joy.

In the dictionary it says that joy means great happiness or someone or something that brings you great happiness.”

I wonder what brings you joy? What fills your heart with happiness? 

 

In The Bible, there is a story about Sarah and Isaac.

 

Abraham loved God very much. He enjoyed praying to God and talked to Him every day and obeying. In turn, God was pleased with Abraham and blessed Abraham by giving him lots of land. God had told Abraham to look in every direction as far as he could see, and all that land would be his. God blessed Abraham with large flocks of sheep and herds of cattle. He blessed Abraham with many servants to help care for the land and the animals. God blessed Abraham so much that he became the wealthiest man in the world at that time.

BUT...there was one thing Abraham wanted more than anything else in the WHOLE world… Abraham wanted his wife, Sarah, to have a son.

God told Abraham, “Look up at the stars and see if you can count them." He looked up, but it was impossible for him to count all the stars. There were so many all over the sky.

Then God said, "Your descendants will be like the stars. There will be so many, they will not be able to be counted."
It had been a wonderful promise, and Abraham believed that it would happen….. but… that promise had been made many, many years before. He wondered, when would it ever happen?

Then God appeared to Abraham promising that he and Sarah would have a son, but Sarah was already 90 years old, which was VERY old be having a baby! It was such joyful news that he and Sarah began to laugh!

It happened just as God had promised. A baby boy was born to Abraham and Sarah. Abraham named the baby Isaac, which means laughter. The baby brought much joy and laughter to Abraham and Sarah. They loved baby Isaac and were so happy that God had kept His promise.

Christians find their strength in God, and this can bring Christians joy, or great happiness. Knowing they can trust in God for help, guidance, love and support brings them joy.

Reflection Time 
What brings you joy and happiness? I wonder how you bring joy to others? How can you be joyful today and share joy with others? 

 

A prayer for today
Today, we have thought about joy. Could you say your own prayer about joy today? You could say:
•    Thank you
•    Sorry
•    Please

 

Dear God
Thank you that even in these times of lockdown we can still find joy around us. 
We ask for your forgiveness for times when we are unkind and might make other people feel sad.
Please help us to stay positive and to spot the joyful events, even if we have to look harder than normal to notice them.
Please help us to hold on to times of happiness and joy, so that we can remember them if we are feeling sad.

Amen.

The Lord’s Prayer
Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come, your will be done,
on earth as in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us.
Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil.
For the kingdom, the power, and the glory are yours
now and for ever. 
Amen.