Week Three

Sunlight through the clouds

God does not promise us a life without storms, but we are promised that we are not alone. This week we reflect on the shafts of light that break into our everyday lives, the light that illuminates the sky and warms our souls. In literal and figurative storms we are never forgotten, abandoned, written off.

Always there is a light left on.

SEEDS TO SOW: WEATHER IS A POPULAR METAPHOR IN SONGWRITING, WHAT SONGS ABOUT THE WEATHER CAN YOU THINK OF, DO YOU HAVE ANY FAVOURITES?

Read Psalm 139: 7-12

Deeply known. 

We may sometimes feel lost in the storms of life, but we are never forgotten or truly alone, we are remembered, we are known, we are found by God.

What interests, strikes, puzzles or stands out to you about this reading? What questions do you have about God’s relationship with us?

Read Matthew 5: 43-48

It’s not just your sunshine. 

The sunlight that breaks through the clouds is the same sun that warms us all. God doesn’t have favourites. The majesty of God’s love is not that we make the best, most elite team, it’s that he wants to recruit all of us! 

God is not wonderful because we are singled out, God’s wonderful because we aren’t… because none of us have to prove we are worthy of sunshine.

How can we ourselves be sunshine for the people we meet today — especially if they are people we find difficult or frustrating?

Read Isaiah 9: 2-7

Hope dawns. 

Let’s reflect on these timeless words and then work together to use them to inspire a prayer to warm the souls of all those walking a difficult road in darkness.

* SEEDS TO SOW: These are open-ended and optional prompts and are designed for people wanting to develop their own resources in response to the themes. Perhaps if you are using this material as a group you could use these prompts to inspire a time of prayer, or drawing, or creative writing? They are a short and sweet, simply a starting off place for you and your imagination. Tailor and develop as suits your group.