It’s Advent, but Christmas is coming!
‘The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world.’ John 1:9
As part of my daily devotion I use Lectio 365 from 24/7 Prayer. Over advent Lectio 365 is helping me in praying through each verse of the Christmas story captured in Luke’s gospel. Last week I was deeply struck by Mary’s story, which led me to use the reflections as part of our weekly prayer gathering at Ballymena House of Prayer (BHoP).
Highly Favoured
Luke 1:28-30 says,
28 The angel went to her and said, ‘Greetings, you who are highly favoured! The Lord is with you.’
29 Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. 30 But the angel said to her, ‘Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favour with God. 31
Wow, what a greeting to receive! Mary was obviously greatly troubled by being face to face with an angel, as I guess you or I may be…1 But then to hear herself being described as highly favoured by the Angel and being told that the Lord was with her must have been deeply moving.
As I thought about these words I was stuck that being highly favoured is not a feeling (many of us can struggle to ‘feel’ God’s love and grace), but a statement of truth and involves a decision of choosing to live in obedience to God’s Word, even when all around and in us can ‘feel’ like we are not loved. As we reflected on these truths at BHoP we offered to anoint each other with oil as a mark of the Lord’s presence and being highly favoured.2
Can I suggest that when we do something symbolically like receiving anointing with oil, or perhaps even more so, receive the bread and wine at communion into our body, these acts can speak powerfully to our souls of being highly favoured and the Lord being with us.
Dear Lord,
May I know I am highly favoured and that You are with me.
Amen.
Surrender
When we receive the Lord’s favour, we can live out the His promises.
After Mary had received the message that she would conceive, give birth to a son and name him Jesus, the Son of the Most High, Luke 1:38 says,
38 And Mary said, “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.”
Having being present at all our children’s births I can say with some conviction that giving birth is an act of surrender to the pregnant women’s body naturally wanting to give birth. Mary believed she was highly favoured and surrendered herself to the Lord’s Word and promise to her.
Jill Weber, the convenor of The Order of the Mustard Seed talks about having our heart preset to yes before the Lord. She says,
‘The answer is yes Lord… now what is the question?’3
I am deeply challenged by Mary’s surrender and find that having my heart preset to yes involves the daily (sometimes hourly or even every minute) act of yielding my will to the Lord.
What about you?
Dear Lord,
The answer is yes… now what is the question?
Amen.
Humility
In Luke 1:46-47 Mary responds to God’s Word and promise to her saying,
46 ‘My soul glorifies the Lord
47 and my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour,
48 for he has been mindful
of the humble state of his servant.
Mary was very aware of her own humble state. As I have lived through some of the challenges of life over the last years, I have become so aware of the pride that has been alive in my heart. I am thankful the Lord has been able to show me my pride and I have been able to turn away from this.
Humility is the gift by which we can see who we really are - broken, but highly favoured, and empowered to fulfil all that God has called us to fulfil.
As I was reflecting on the gift of humility I was reminded of the humility of two Moravian missionaries who were able to fulfil God’s call.
As I understand it, in 1732 a Dutch ship left the Copenhagen harbour bound for the Danish West Indies. On board were these two young missionaries ready to sell their lives into slavery to reach the slaves of the West Indies with the gospel. As the ship slipped away from the harbour they stood on the bow of the boat and cried out,
‘May the Lamb that was slain receive the reward of His suffering.’
Their voices rang in the ears of their families and loved ones gathered at the harbour to say good bye. It is said this cry became the rallying call for all Moravian missionaries.
Our prayer is that we will have the humility to see who we really are and fulfil all that He has called us to fulfil.
Dear Lord,
May the Lamb that was slain receive the reward of His sufferings.
Amen.
Giving thanks…
As we take the final steps toward the end of this year we are so grateful for so many blessings.
We have been (and still are) blown away with the Lord’s provision for us as we have stepped out on this journey.
We are so grateful for Eliza’s first weeks at school, she is already making friends.
We are all grateful for new friends and catching up with old friends.
We are grateful to have been able to receive visitors - Alison’s brother from Dallas & a few friends from Lee Abbey (please do let us know if you would like to visit us).
We are so grateful for Alison’s new job, starting in the new year.
We are so grateful for not being responsible for making Christmas happen for anyone apart from our family this year. This will be the first Christmas ‘off’ for 20 years - Hooray!
We are so grateful for being able to have neighbours around for mulled wine and mince pies last weekend.
We are giving thanks for growing ministry opportunities where we are seeing God at work…
We are so grateful for growing clarity in the call God has placed on our lives in being here.
Crack of Dawn Prayer - We are praying around the gateways to the town of Ballymena and seeing new shoots of unity as Christians from different traditions come together to pray.
New churches becoming part of the 24 hour prayer initiative - One Church One Day in and around the Ballymena area.
The opportunity to preach at Bethel Temple, Portglenone.
Leading Ballymena House of Prayer weekly gathering.
Organising Shine Your Light Carol Singing and Mince Pie give away in Ballymena town centre. There were 40 people singing and giving away 400+ mince pies - https://www.shineyourlight.org.uk
Growing connections with Church Leaders across the town.
Prayers - Would you join with us in praying?
‘We must lay before Him what is in us, not what ought to be in us.’4
We continue to pray for God’s financial provision into the new year.
We pray for a good start to Alison’s new job on 6th Jan.
We pray for friendships for us all as we continue to transition to life here in Northern Ireland.
We pray that we will be able to enjoy this first Christmas in our new home and away from the busyness of the last years at Lee Abbey.
We pray for key conversations and meetings coming up in the new year that will draw church leaders and church communities closer together in prayer & mission for the needs of the people of Ballymena.
We continue to pray for Ballymena House of Prayer and the vision for a 24/7 Prayer Community.
Pounds - Would you join with us by giving?
In the New Year we are asking the Lord to provide an additional £1000 per month towards our living expenses.
If 40 people gave £20 per month (recognising that some could give more and other may not be able to give as much or at all…) that would cover our monthly living costs.
Please scan the QR code to go to our Stewardship supporter page.
Would you be willing to give towards the need of a laptop for ministry use?
Click the ‘Support us through Stewardship’ button to go directly to our Stewardship Individual Partner Account where you can give in a tax efficient way.
People - Would you join with us for a call?
On Sunday Jan 26th from 8.00-9.00pm why not join us for catch up video call to chat and pray together?
And finally we would love to know how to pray for you. Please send us a message with any specific prayer requests.
Message us to let us know if you would like to join us on 26th or send us your prayer updates…
Thank you so much for all your love and support over this last year. May you know the Lord’s peace and joy this Christmas and into the new year.
Love,
N,A,S,E & E
Read Angels by Hope Price, one of our subscribers, for true stories of how Angels touch our lives - Hope was also recently interviewed about Angels on Songs of Praise - https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m0025x9c/songs-of-praise-angels
The Bible Project offer a great little video on anointing -https://bibleproject.com/explore/video/anointing/
Jill Weber is a pilgrim, spiritual director, writer, musician, wife and mother, who has brought leadership to communities of prayer, mission and justice for the last eighteen years. She serves on the international leadership team of 24-7 Prayer UK as Director of Houses of Prayer and is Director of Spiritual Formation at Emmaus Road Church in Guildford, UK. She is also the Global Convenor of the Order of the Mustard Seed, an international lay, ecumenical religious order. In 2001, alongside her husband Kirk, she co-founded the Greater Ontario House of Prayer in Canada, and served as it's Abbess for 17 years. She and her team of urban missionaries explored the ancient monastic practices through the cultivation of ecumenical prayer spaces, intentional communities, leadership development and missional partnerships.
C. S. Lewis, Letters to Malcolm: Chiefly on Prayer