Our theme for the third week of Lent is God in who we are

Bible reading:   Psalm 139.13-16

For it was you who formed my inward parts; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.

I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.

Wonderful are your works; that I know very well.

My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth.

Your eyes beheld my unformed substance.

In your book were written all the days that were formed for me, when none of them as yet existed.

Prayer

Thanks be to Thee, by Lord Jesus Christ,

For all the benefits that Thou hast won for us

For all the pains and insults that Thou hast borne for us.

Most merciful redeemer, friend and brother,

May we see Thee more clearly,

Love Thee more dearly,

And follow Thee more nearly.

Amen

Reflection by Anthony Everitt

It is as though the penny has finally dropped for the psalm-writer; “I am fearfully and wonderfully made”, and he ascribes this to God; “you knit me together in my mother’s womb, my frame was not hidden from you when I was being made in secret”. However we view science or creation, the world, the universe in which we dwell is wonderfully constructed. The fundamental building blocks of physical existence are indeed wonderful; the complexity that is built up from such simplicity at the core of basic physics and chemistry. We could sit for hours simply beholding the wonder of the universe, and of what it is to be human. Observe, remember that we are living beings with more independence, sheer will and freedom than any animal on earth. Maybe it is that independence, that freedom, that will, that makes us in the image of God? It is that freedom and will that are an especial gift to humankind, that makes us human. 

Then wonder all the more that God blessed our humanity by becoming human in Jesus. He shared in what we are, that we might share in what He is; so humankind is restored to be fully what it should be; for we are what God made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared to be beforehand to be our way of life.