Friday 8 July 2022

Today is Friday the 8th of July, in the 14th week of Ordinary Time.

Bifrost Arts sing, ‘O God Will You Restore Us?’ Where might you need to return to the Lord and be restored today?
O God, will You restore us
And grant us Your salvation?
O God, will You restore us
And grant us Your salvation?
I will hear what God proclaims
The Lord our God proclaims peace
Kindness and truth shall meet
Justice and peace shall kiss
O God, will You restore us
And grant us Your salvation?
Here is the fast that I choose
To loosen the bonds of the oppressed and break their chains
Let righteousness and justice go out before you
Then You will call out and I will hear
O God, will You restore us
And grant us Your salvation?
Near indeed is His salvation to those who call on Him
He will incline His ear and hear their prayers
Truth shall spring out of the earth
And justice will rain down from heaven
O God, will You restore us
And grant us Your salvation?
The Lord will guide you on a righteous path
His vindication will shine down forth as the dawn
Your people will be called repairers of broken walls
Making straight the path to proclaim His reign
O God, will You restore us
And grant us Your salvation?
O God, will You restore us?
Please grant us Your salvation

Today’s reading is from the Prophet Hosea.
Hosea 14:2-10

Take words with you
and return to the LORD;
say to him,
‘Take away all guilt;
accept that which is good,
and we will offer
the fruit of our lips.
Assyria shall not save us;
we will not ride upon horses;
we will say no more, “Our God”,
to the work of our hands.
In you the orphan finds mercy.’
I will heal their disloyalty;
I will love them freely,
for my anger has turned from them.
I will be like the dew to Israel;
he shall blossom like the lily,
he shall strike root like the forests of Lebanon.
His shoots shall spread out;
his beauty shall be like the olive tree,
and his fragrance like that of Lebanon.
They shall again live beneath my shadow,
they shall flourish as a garden;
they shall blossom like the vine,
their fragrance shall be like the wine of Lebanon.
O Ephraim, what have I to do with idols?
It is I who answer and look after you.
I am like an evergreen cypress;
your faithfulness comes from me.
Those who are wise understand these things;
those who are discerning know them.
For the ways of the LORD are right,
and the upright walk in them,
but transgressors stumble in them.

A long reading, that falls naturally into three parts. In the first, the people acknowledge that they have tried to live independently of God. Do you recognise anything like that at any point in your own life?

In the second part, God accepts their repentance, and makes extravagant promises about the future. If those promises are addressed to you, what do you make of them?

In the third part of the reading, the people are invited to discern the paths in which God now wants to lead them. How do you react to that invitation?

Notice especially, as the passage is read again, the ways in which this conversation between God and God’s people develops.

Finally, add your own contribution to this conversation, saying to God whatever you find in your heart towards the end of this prayer.

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.