Welcome to ROOTS at home for adults
Resources to read and reflect on this week's Bible passages
Copyright
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© ROOTS for Churches Ltd (www.rootsontheweb.com) 2002-2020.
Reproduced with permission.
As the disciples in the locked room reached out and touched you,
let us reach out and touch you today, living Lord Jesus.
Let us feel your scarred hands and feet.
Let us put our hands in your side.
Let us be still and know that you are our Lord and our God.
Amen.
This week's Live your faith sheet
(Bible notes, prayers, a picture and questions for reflection, a live your faith action)
Active peace
When questions and fears torment us we will often seek a safe place where we can hide. Similarly, the disciples sought refuge behind the locked doors of the upper room. However, it was empty of the one presence that would bring them relief and release. Suddenly, Jesus stands among them speaking his word of peace, and resolving their questions by demonstrating that it is really him, risen from the dead. Peace, however, is not a comfort blanket. It is a calling to share and to be that peace to others.
How can we share and be that peace to others in our current situation?
Positive speaking
The first words Jesus spoke were, ‘Peace be with you!’ He would have been aware of their anxieties and fears and wanted to allay them at the first opportunity. He could have come into the disciples’ presence saying words like, ‘I told you I would rise, so why didn’t you believe me? You’re supposed to be my followers and friends, the ones I’ve been closest to. Where is your faith?’ Are we always ready to begin conversations with positive words — even when we need to make some kind of criticism? Do we begin with the positive? Do we make our criticism honest but helpful? Do we base our relationships on fear or on understanding?
Peace chain
Start a peace chain by passing on 'Peace be with you' via phone, email, social media, making a poster, sending a card, etc.
What do you see?
What we see is affected by circumstances. Find optical illusions by doing an internet search on ‘one picture two images’. Can you see both pictures? How does the perspective affect your perception of what you can see?
Trusting God
Write down a few words or images that represent any questions or doubts you may have about your faith (especially those you may not be prepared to raise with someone else). Cradle those questions in your hands as a sign of offering them to God, and say to yourself, ‘God can be trusted with these’. Pray:
Jesus said to Thomas:
‘Do not doubt but believe.’
Thomas replied: ‘My Lord and my God.’
Jesus says to me:
‘Do not doubt but believe.’
I reply: ‘My Lord and my God.’
Spend some time telling your Lord and God that you trust him with all your cares and concerns. Then relax into his presence and worship him.
A prayer of praise
Loving God,
we praise and adore you for your great compassion,
for giving us new birth into a living hope.
The glorious truth of the resurrection astounds us;
we pray that we never lose the wonder
of what you have done for us,
of the wonderful, lasting inheritance
you provide for us.
Amen.