Easter 5

Sun

7 May

Christ is risen. He is risen indeed! Alleluia!

Today is the Fifth Sunday of Easter. Click here to watch Valonia Dsouza,
Emily Paterson and Jeremy Harris tell the Emmaus road story from
Luke 24 and here to listen to a reflection on this week’s theme:
Gratitude. The reflection concludes with this prayer from the
Night Prayer service:

God our Creator, our centre, our friend,
we thank you for our good life, for those who are dear to us,
for our dead, and for all who have helped and influenced us.
We thank you for the measure of freedom we have,
and the extent to which we control our lives;
and most of all we thank you for the faith that is in us,
for our awareness of you and our hope in you.
Keep us, we pray you, thankful and hopeful
and useful until our lives shall end. Amen.

Don’t forget to continue with your daily gratitude practice.

 

 

 

Mon

8 May

The gratitude practice which began on Easter Day is now several weeks old. Carrie Newcomer has written a poem about daily gratitude and how it shapes a life. Click here to listen to her read the poem Three Gratitudes, and here for the text. Reflect on how this practice is shaping you.

Take a photo of your gratitude wall and post it to our Facebook page or on Instagram #resurrectionnz or #resurrectioncalendar.

 

Tue

9 May

Gratitude is the antithesis of a consumer culture. It requires that we shift our focus from what is missing in our lives, to the abundance that fills it.

There are many tools that can assist in cultivating gratitude. Rabbi Brian Meyer invites us to practice Sufficiency. Click here to watch him describe this gratitude practice.

 

Wed

10 May

Steven Charleston writes, “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. That sounds right to me. It means that if I want to see beauty around me, I need to be a beholder. I need to open my eyes. I need to look for the beautiful every day. Instead of walking with my head down, lost in my worries and focused on work, I can look up to see the beauty of God’s creation, the beauty in simple acts of kindness, the beauty in the face of the person speaking to me. How beautiful life is, that precious dream of breath, if only we have the eyes to see it, and the vision to behold its endless blessing.”

Be a ‘beholder’ today. Soak up the beauty of the world around you. In prayer, name your gratitude to God.

 

Thu

11 May

Courtney E Martin writes,
“gratitude is not just about empty platitudes
or forced dinner table exercises.
It’s about marvelling.”

Malcolm Gordon captures marvelling and gratitude in his song So Much Life.

Click here to listen to it.

 

 

Fri

12 May

In the prayer after communion from the Eucharistic Liturgy of Thanksgiving and Praise, we say:

Accept our thanks for all you have done.
Our hands were empty, and you filled them.

This imagery is particularly clear whenever we cup our hands to received Eucharist. Today as you spend time in prayer, cup your hands. Reflect on these words. How has God filled your empty hands?

 

 

Sat

13 May

Click here to be led through The Examen.

Concluding Prayer:

God of opportunity and change,
praise to you for giving us life at this critical time.
As our horizons extend, keep us loyal to our past;
as our dangers increase, help us to prepare the future;
keep us trusting and hopeful,
ready to recognise your kingdom as it comes.
Amen.