Morning Meditation

 

So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.

We need each other.  I know very few people who can make it on their own.  While we might idealize individualism, it is our relationships with others that help to give meaning to our lives.  When I hear this part of the passage to the Ephesians, I hear Paul reminding the church then and now that our connections to each other matter and make a difference.  I hear Paul challenging us to realize that not everyone will share the same gifts and not everyone will be faithful in the same way.  Our unity is not uniformity, it is found in the One who crafted/created/loved each of us into being.  The divine breath that fills us, the spirit that sustains/surges within us, is the source of our connection.

I also think of the great hymn, “Take My Gifts” by Shirley Erena Murray.  Read prayerfully and slowly the first verse:

Take my gifts and let me love You, God who first of all loved me,

Gave me light and food and shelter, gave me life and set me free,

Now because Your love has touched me, I have love to give away,

Now the bread of love is rising, loaves of love to multiply.

I want to invite you to hold those words today.  What responses to do these words awaken?  What actions might these words provoke for you?  How might God’s love introduced and infused in your life cause you, like bread, to rise and shine and share your presence with others in ways that are uniquely/beautifully you?

Prayer: Creatively connecting God awaken within me a chance to combine the ingredients of my life with others in humble, gentle, patient and loving ways this day.  Amen.