Blaenau Gwent

“For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.”

Show us, O Lord, the transience of the world in the light of heaven, the shortness of time in the light of eternity and the meaning of death in the light of resurrection; through the merits of Christ the Lord. Amen.

God of love, in whom we live and move and have our being, help us to recognise your presence in the first things:the sunrise, the newborn child, the green shoot;the up-beat, the intake of breath, the opening line.And help us to know your presence in the last things:the end page, the finished article, the closing remarks;the final flourish, the dying notes, the gentle goodnight.Above all, help us to live our lives so totally in your presence, that our beginnings and endings become the same thing.In the name of Jesus, the first and the last. Amen.

John 6:35, 41-51“Jesus said to them, ‘I am the bread of life.’” (v. 35a)

Colossians 1:15-20“and through him God was pleased to reconcile himself to all things” (v. 20)