Prayer:
Loving Lord, help us to realize just how amazing, how necessary, how compelling, how singular your love for us is. Amen.
Bible Reading:
Philippians 3:8-14
Silence:
One to two minutes
Reflection:
There have been lots of surveys done recently about the spirituality of our culture, studies about the relationship between religion and spirituality, how much people attend church, read the Bible, believe in heaven and hell. Most people believe in God, fewer pray, fewer attend church or synagogue, fewer still go along with certain religious principles, and so on. Big deal! As if somehow this information is useful for anyone except marketing experts, or politicians, or survey creators. Talk of surveys, particularly these kinds, fade when set beside this magnificent statement about one man’s relationship with God. How is it for you? Is your faith, or religious life a matter of statistical information, or is it declaration of a life transforming reality? Check out the cross and the man hung thereon – a statistic or love for you?
Action – Repentance and Creation:
Take a piece of paper and a pen and list those things that you would give up, that you would consider so much clutter in your life, that fade into nothing when you consider the importance of Jesus Christ in your life. Long list, short list, no list? How come?