Jun 22 Blessings and CursesJun 29 Blessings for allJul 6 Open, Poor & blessedJul 13 Sharing, mourning &

being blessedJul 20 Gentle, grounded &

blessedJul 27 Sorted and blessedAug 3 Free, merciful &

blessedAug 10 Pure, focused &

blessedAug 17 Engaged in peace &

blessedAug 24 Committed,

persecuted & blessed

Matthew 5

1Now when he saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him, 2and he began to teach them, saying:

3"Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

4Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.

Blessings

Poor in Spirit MournAbility to be outside ourselves

Find someone/thing absent

Is Will

The kingdom ComfortOpen to change God’s presenceOpen to riches

RelationshipDeath

Moving

“Not right”

Activity

God

What we had, or didn’t have in the past

Hopes, dreams, opportunities

Mourning

Remain with

Be affected by

ConfrontRespond to (liquid prayers)

Emmanuel

Absence Presence

Abide with absence of relationship

Blessed are those who mourn, they will be comforted

"A voice is heard in Ramah, weeping and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted, because they are no more.“ (Matthew 2:18)

Abide with absence of relationship

Lamentations 11:1How deserted lies the city,

once so full of people! How like a widow is she, who once was great among the nations!

She who was queen among the provinces has now become a slave.

1:2Bitterly she weeps at night, tears are upon her cheeks.

Among all her lovers there is none to comfort her.

All her friends have betrayed her; they have become her enemies.

1:3After affliction and harsh labour, Judah has gone into exile.

She dwells among the nations; she finds no resting place.

All who pursue her have overtaken her in the midst of her distress.

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1:4The roads to Zion mourn, for no-one comes to her appointed feasts.

All her gateways are desolate, her priests groan, her maidens grieve, and she is in bitter anguish.

1:5Her foes have become her masters; her enemies are at ease.

The LORD has brought her grief because of her many sins.

Her children have gone into exile, captive before the foe.

1:6All the splendour has departed from the Daughter of Zion.

Her princes are like deer that find no pasture; in weakness they have fled before the pursuer.

1:7In the days of her affliction and wandering Jerusalem remembers all the treasures that were hers in days of old.

When her people fell into enemy hands, there was no-one to help her. Her enemies looked at her and laughed at her destruction.

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1:8Jerusalem has sinned greatly and so has become unclean. All who honoured her despise her, for they have seen her nakedness; she herself groans and turns away.

1:9Her filthiness clung to her skirts; she did not consider her future.

Her fall was astounding; there was none to comfort her.

"Look, O LORD, on my affliction, for the enemy has triumphed."

1:10The enemy laid hands on all her treasures; she saw pagan nations enter her sanctuary– those you had forbidden to enter your assembly.

1:11All her people groan as they search for bread; they barter their treasures for food to keep themselves alive. "Look, O LORD, and consider, for I am despised."

1:12"Is it nothing to you, all you who pass by? Look around and see.

Is any suffering like my suffering that was inflicted on me, that the LORD brought on me in the day of his fierce anger?

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Lamentations 3

3:14I became the laughing-stock of all my people; they mock me in song all day long.

3:15He has filled me with bitter herbs and sated me with gall.

3:16He has broken my teeth with gravel; he has trampled me in the dust.

3:17I have been deprived of peace; I have forgotten what prosperity is.

3:18So I say, "My splendour is gone and all that I had hoped from the LORD."

3:19I remember my affliction and my wandering, the bitterness and the gall.

3:20I well remember them, and my soul is downcast within me.

3:21Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope:3:22Because of the LORD's great love we are not consumed,

for his compassions never fail.3:23They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.3:24I say to myself, "The LORD is my portion;

therefore I will wait for him."

Thank God for his written Word to us

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Liquid PrayersThen Peter remembered the word Jesus had spoken:

"Before the cock crows, you will disown me three times." And he went outside and wept bitterly. (Matt 26:75)

As Jesus approached Jerusalem and saw the city, he wept over it and said, "If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace-- but now it is hidden from your eyes. (Luke 19:41-42

Mary said, "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died."

"Where have you laid him?" Jesus asked. "Come and see, Lord," they replied. Jesus wept. John 11:32-35

Abide with absence of relationship

Many of our most intimate encounters with God have happened in Grief

Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus' body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot.

They asked her, "Woman, why are you crying?" "They have taken my Lord away," she said, "and I don't know where they have put him."

At this, she turned round and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realise that it was Jesus.

"Woman," he said, "why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?" Thinking he was the gardener, she said, "Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him."

Jesus said to her, "Mary." She turned towards him and cried out in Aramaic, "Rabboni!" (which means Teacher).John 20:11-16

Abide with absence of relationship

The God of all comfort3Praise be to the God and Father

of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort,

4who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God.

Lord I come before - To be in your presence - What a friend

Abide with absence of relationship

From Amen to Action

May God give to you and to all those you lovehis comfort and his peace,his light and his joy,in this world and the next;

2 Thessolonians 3:16And may the Blessing of God Almighty,

the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, be among you and remain with you always.

Praise God, from whom all blessings flow;

Praise God, all creatures here below:

Praise God above, now let's all hear it!

Praise Father, Son and Holy Spirit!

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