What if the apostle Paul was writing you a letter? 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.
Christ, through the gospel, wants to tell us who we are, and not only how wonderful we are, like my beloved mother did her in letters and notes. Christ also wants to tell us the truth about ourselves, with that same big love and affection. He wants to tell us how deeply he loves us, but he also wants to make us uncomfortable and squirmy. Because he is asking us to serve on another, and to sacrifice for one another. Remember, the sacrifices that Christ asks of us are not meant to destroy us, but to bring us to new life – because this also was the sacrifice of Christ, not to give up his life only to suffer and die, but to create new life, to lead to resurrection.
This message is excerpted from “Letters and the gospel” by Heidi Haverkamp in the June 2021 Gather magazine. Today we commemorate Columba, 597; Aidan, 651; Bede, 735; renewers of the church.
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