成人快手

A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with Rachel Gardner, president of the Girl鈥檚 Brigade.

Good morning.

When lockdown began I feared what it would mean for my home city of Preston and the people here already gripped by poverty, homelessness and addiction. A few of us met to pray about how our church could respond - how we would love our neighbour.

Later that same day we were given a huge amount of high quality food from a local supermarket that was about to close. After we鈥檇 unpacked the bags we gazed across the sea of chocolate bunnies, rainbow coloured pasta and bath bombs that was filling the church. We wondered what on earth we were going to do with it all! Since then the newly refurbished church we planted into a few months before has become a food distribution hub, enabling us to feed every person and family who asks for help and to resource food charities and churches across this area who are feeding the most vulnerable and forgotten people in their communities. Sometimes I wonder if that explosion of resources on day one was a reminder that God always wants to give us more than we dare to ask, dream or even imagine.

Every time I walk into the church building to join the volunteers calling the lonely on the phone, cooking hot meals for the homeless or packing up food parcels for struggling families, I feel a surge of joy in my heart. God is being found by us where God always is - among the forgotten, suffering, overlooked people in our world. And in seeking to bless others, we have been blessed beyond all expectation.

I love the words from this prayer written by relief charity Christian Aid,

Breath of God,
let there be abundant life.
Inspire us with the vision of poverty over,
and give us the faith, courage and will to make it happen.

Amen