27th October 2013 – 23rd Sunday After Pentecost C

This week I have had to take time off from my ministry in order to have surgery. This “reflection” is from Words For Worship.

STEWARDSHIP THOUGHT:

John Ames, the fictional preacher in Marilynne Robinson’s Pulitzer prize-winning novel, Gilead, writes tenderly and wisely to his young son:

“And grace is the great gift. So to be forgiven is only half the gift. The other half is that we also can forgive, restore and liberate, and therefore we can feel the will of God enacted through us, which is the great restoration of ourselves to ourselves.”

The “pouring of Spirit out on all flesh” would be mistakenly understood if it were similarly only “half the gift”, concerning itself only with interior blessings. The redeeming force of God’s Spirit would also pour out through us to others, given permission and openness of heart to do so. Can you identify how God’s will is best and clearly enacted through you?

Words For Worship, Media Com 27th October 2013.

Blessings to you

Reverend Shan