{"id":1910,"date":"2018-12-09T20:42:20","date_gmt":"2018-12-09T20:42:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.hatfieldroadmethodist.org\/wptest\/?p=1910"},"modified":"2018-12-15T09:03:58","modified_gmt":"2018-12-15T09:03:58","slug":"day-fourteen-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.hatfieldroadmethodist.org\/?p=1910","title":{"rendered":"Advent 2018 – Day Fifteen – You are the sunshine of my life"},"content":{"rendered":"

Today’s song is You are the sunshine of my life by Stevie Wonder.<\/p>\n

And I know that this must be heaven,
\nHow could so much love be inside of you?<\/p>\n

Today\"\"<\/a>s Psalm is the concluding one of the book of Psalms.<\/p>\n

We are designed to worship God for we are made in his image. The Psalm is a call to all creation at all times and in all places to give God extravagant praise using every available musical instrument.<\/p>\n

Music and worship are a creative activity. The song writer forms the words which help us give praise back to God.<\/p>\n

There are times when I am playing guitar and singing that I am lifted to a place where I am connected to the \"\"<\/a>presence of God in our worship. Shivers run down my back and my heart skips a beat. The truth is that it is not what instruments we use or how well we play them. The importance is why and how we use them.<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

The sunset photograph above was taken walking our dog yesteday evening, the camera only gives an impression of the glorious liquid gold that made me praise God for his creation. We fulfill the central reason for our existence in giving praise to God. So we join all creation in praising our awesome, powerful, wonderful God.<\/p>\n

As we worship on earth we also join the angels in the worship of heaven. In this Advent time we pray that we will worship God with our whole lives and as we sing together our carols let us pour out our love to him with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength.<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Psalm 150<\/h3>\n
\n

Praise the Lord<\/span>.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Praise God in his sanctuary;\"\"<\/a><\/span>
\npraise him in his mighty heavens.<\/span><\/span>
\nPraise him for his acts of power;<\/span>
\npraise him for his surpassing greatness.<\/span><\/span>
\nPraise him with the sounding of the trumpet,<\/span>
\npraise him with the harp and lyre,<\/span><\/span>
\npraise him with timbrel and dancing,<\/span>
\npraise him with the strings and pipe,<\/span><\/span>
\npraise him with the clash of cymbals,<\/span>
\npraise him with resounding cymbals.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Let everything that has breath praise the Lord<\/span>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Praise the Lord<\/span>.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Prayers and Reflection<\/h2>\n

Helpful Hymn:<\/h3>\n

Hymn: Songs of Fellowship\u00a0 464 \u2013 Praise Him on\u00a0 the trumpet, the psaltery and harp<\/p>\n

Contemplation saying.<\/h3>\n

\u201c\u2026Let everything that has breath praise the Lord<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>\u201d.<\/p>\n

Let us pray together.<\/h3>\n

Contemplative Prayer.<\/h3>\n

Think of the saying in order to understand context and meaning,<\/p>\n

Feel the meaning of the saying with and in your heart,<\/p>\n

Pray, using the saying, for yourself or others. With only a name and without explaining the reasons or pre-defining any answers.<\/p>\n

Listen for God\u2019s voice in the quiet of your prayers.<\/p>\n

Pray using your own prayers or one of those which have been prepared below.<\/p>\n

Twitter Prayer<\/h3>\n

Loving God, help me this Advent time and at all times, to praise you with every atom of my mind, body and soul. Amen.<\/p>\n

Facebook Prayer<\/h3>\n

Lord, our psalm today fills us with fire and enthusiasm for worshiping you. Help us set aside our inhibitions and fill our worship with music, singing, clapping and dancing. Help us release all we are to you in our worship. Amen<\/p>\n

Full Prayer<\/h3>\n

Lord, we praise you at every moment of our lives.\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

We struggle to draw words from our souls which will express our love for you and respond to your love for us. We offer you the best words that we are able and they are enough for you.<\/p>\n

We have received our very lives from you and in our prayers we are illuminated by our connection with you. We are renewed and revitalised as we praise you. We long to remain in your presence and so we worship you.<\/p>\n

We search for your\u00a0movement in our lives and we join you in that movement which carries us along the path you have prepared for us.<\/p>\n

Let us always and everywhere praise, worhsip and adore you. Amen<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

<\/path><\/svg><\/i> \"Loading\"<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Today’s song is You are the sunshine of my life by Stevie Wonder. And I know that this must be heaven, How could so much love be inside of you? Todays Psalm is the...<\/p>\n

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<\/path><\/svg><\/i> \"Loading\"<\/p>\n

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