I bought this cyclamen last week from a display in the College in Letterkenny Donegal where I’m one of the Chaplains. It was part of a presentation on ‘Sustainability’. What is distinctive is not the leaves or flowers but the container, salvaged from a plastic drinks bottle.
While this worthy effort raised awareness of recycling possibilities and raised funds for Donegal Hospice, it has also prompted some ideas for this week’s Thursday lunchtime Scripture readings! Just as this bottle was rescued from the trash, washed clean, filled with goodness and made into something beautiful, God through Jesus saves, cleanses and renews people!
Check out our readings below.
Psalm 51
King David, by all accounts a good man and fine king, was nevertheless not beyond sinning seriously. Conscience stricken, he pleads here for cleansing, a ‘pure heart’, a renewed spirit and a restored ‘joy of salvation’.
John 3 v 16-17
After Jesus discusses spiritual renewal with religious leader Nicodemus, we read this declaration that the God Who rescued His people from slavery back in Moses’ day is now at work through His Son to save the whole world from ‘perishing’ under judgement. Forgiveness and eternal life are given instead to all who believe in Jesus.
1 John 1 v 5-9
The Apostle John returns to this theme in a later epistle, assuring his readers that those who ‘walk in the light’ God provides in Jesus, confessing our sins, are in fact ‘cleansed from all unrighteousness’.
Ephesians 2 v 1-10
The Apostle Paul repeats this truth of being ‘saved’ from the influence of evil and its consequences, emphasizing our faith in God’s amazing grace. He calls believers in Christ God’s ‘workmanship’, His ‘masterpiece’, made alive like never before and equipped with resurrection power to fulfil His plan!
While this worthy effort raised awareness of recycling possibilities and raised funds for Donegal Hospice, it has also prompted some ideas for this week’s Thursday lunchtime Scripture readings! Just as this bottle was rescued from the trash, washed clean, filled with goodness and made into something beautiful, God through Jesus saves, cleanses and renews people!
Check out our readings below.
Psalm 51
King David, by all accounts a good man and fine king, was nevertheless not beyond sinning seriously. Conscience stricken, he pleads here for cleansing, a ‘pure heart’, a renewed spirit and a restored ‘joy of salvation’.
John 3 v 16-17
After Jesus discusses spiritual renewal with religious leader Nicodemus, we read this declaration that the God Who rescued His people from slavery back in Moses’ day is now at work through His Son to save the whole world from ‘perishing’ under judgement. Forgiveness and eternal life are given instead to all who believe in Jesus.
1 John 1 v 5-9
The Apostle John returns to this theme in a later epistle, assuring his readers that those who ‘walk in the light’ God provides in Jesus, confessing our sins, are in fact ‘cleansed from all unrighteousness’.
Ephesians 2 v 1-10
The Apostle Paul repeats this truth of being ‘saved’ from the influence of evil and its consequences, emphasizing our faith in God’s amazing grace. He calls believers in Christ God’s ‘workmanship’, His ‘masterpiece’, made alive like never before and equipped with resurrection power to fulfil His plan!
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