What if the entirety of the gospel is a letter, written to each one of us, inviting us to be transformed by God’s love and affection for us? Written, like a letter by my mother, to tell us something about how wonderful we are, but also to tell us what God expects us to do – to resist injustice, to choose compassion and sacrifice, to truly affect the lives of others – and beyond even that, to be transformed ourselves?
Jesus’ message, his life and his death are about abundance in life; but this is a kind of abundance that also offers us to sacrifice. What if the Biblical Paul were writing a letter to you? A letter that demanded something of you? That asked you with genuine love and affection, to give up a privilege, or a possession, a source of income, or even a right, for the sake of someone else? I invite you to ask God, in a spirit of prayer, what that might be.
This message is excerpted from “Letters and the gospel” by Heidi Haverkamp in the June 2021 Gather magazine. Today we commemorate Peter and Paul, Apostles.
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