ACT 1: CIRCLES

MARCH 2, 2022

All of us have circles: friends, family, immediate and wider communities – the list goes on. Today's act will prepare you for a generous Lent of connecting with and serving these circles of people.

 Find a notepad and pen – sketch out your social circles: friends, family, colleagues, sports teams, church. Notice how they might overlap, or be completely disconnected. Stretch yourself – include the circles of people that you  *could* plug into a little better, with more effort. Stick your doodle up somewhere in your house, as a reminder for the next 40 days of the people God has placed into your life. They're your opportunity to practise generosity! Is there someone in your circle that you have become estranged from, or have been avoiding over their pandemic views? This might be the time to reach out to them as well. 

If you've got a little more time today, spend some time praying intentionally for these circles and how your 40acts experience might impact on them.

 

“He answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbour as yourself.’”

 

“You have answered correctly,” Jesus replied. “Do this and you will live.”

 

But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbour?” (Luke 10:27-29)

 

As we start our series of devotionals let’s begin by thinking about the people in our lives... and the people around our lives. I suspect there will be many loved ones in our inner circles who will feel warmly affirmed and cared for throughout the next days. Beneficiaries of coffee, cake, impromptu meals and visits, hand-written notes and even active listening! But what about the people around us? Those you come into fleeting moments of contact with each week? Your neighbour?  You know their face, and perhaps their name, but we rarely know their story.

So who are you connected to? You already know the inner circle. They are your friends, family and colleagues. But just how deep are these relationships?

And what about those in the wider circles around you? What might God have in store for them – through you – over the next forty days? And what might God have in store for you – through them?