Prayer for the Week April 25
Read John 10: 1-18 The Shepherd and His Flock
We are very excited in the Darlington District as several of our churches have been exhibiting the Knitted Bible recently and this week my own chapel at Barnard Castle is hosting the exhibition. Some of you may have seen the exhibition elsewhere as this popular traveling display, featuring 36 hand-knitted scenes from the Old & New Testament, seems to hurtle up and down the country? It was beautifully crafted & created by members of St George’s URC in Hartlepool and launched in 2008. We are inviting all the children from local nurseries and schools and their parents, locals and passing tourists to come into our church, in the centre of this very rural market town (made famous during the pandemic by Dominic Cummings’ visit,) to discover Bible stories in a new way and to meet our church family.
It’s good to look at Bible stories in a new and fresh way, we often discover something we have missed, not understood fully, or have simply passed over previously. I’m not very good at re-reading a book or novel I have already read. But not so with the Bible, even though I have been seriously studying & then preaching for over 20 years I am a long way off knowing all the scriptures or understanding all the depth of wisdom within its pages, even a life time will not be long enough. But in this passage recorded by John we are given such assurance by Jesus’ words. Vs 7, “I tell you the truth, I am the gate for the sheep.” Vs 9, “I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved.” Vs 14, “I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me – just as the Father knows me and I know the Father – and I lay down my life for the sheep.” (NIV)
The parable of the good shepherd in John 10 likens Jesus to a shepherd who acts as the gateway to abundant life for his sheep. The shepherd lying across the gate is the gateway to life, a shepherd who lies down and stands up regularly, a movement that in this Gospel symbolises the flow of heavenly grace through the Word made flesh, who is now close to the Father’s heart.
Prayer
Lord, we thank you for calling us here regularly.
To this place where we can tune into your voice
and drown out the din of the world’s voices.
We praise you for the deep knowledge we have of you,
as your spirit guides and enlightens us to become a
trusting flock of our Good Shepherd.
Thank you, Lord Jesus, for teaching us
to hear your voice in the Gospels
and in the stillness of our personal prayer.
Good Shepherd, may we ever raise our voices in praise,
to the one whose firm, gentle command
is our gateway to life in all its abundant fullness. Amen.
Hymn
Singing the Faith 479 The King of love my shepherd is Henry Williams Baker
Debs Coggrave – LP in the Darlington and Teesdale Circuit and Trustee for Cumbria, Darlington & Newcastle Districts
