Beauty surrounds us, but we usually need to be walking in a garden to know it - Rumi
Last Friday marked the Feast Day of St Luke the Evangelist. What an amazing man he was! Doctor, writer of the third Gospel and its sequel the Acts of the Apostles, missionary and companion to St Paul on his perilous journey through Asia Minor and into Europe. In a letter that many people believe was written at the end of St Paul's life he says "Only Luke is with me" 2 Timothy 4:11 NIV. Luke then was a constant and faithful companion right up until the end. Truly a charitable man.
Many of us will feel that we do not have the many talents or indeed the strength of will that Luke had and thus we are unimportant and not called to do God's work as he was. Yet we do have God given talents that we can use in His service. St Paul lists a few: 'Now you are the body of Christ and each one of you is a part of it. And God placed in the church first of all apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healing, of helping, of guidance and of different kinds of tongues'. 1 Cor 12:27-28 NIV. "Well yes,you may say, "but even so I am not qualified,. I don't know enough theology for a start and I am not confident when talking to people about God. I attend church every Sunday. Is that not enough? Someone else can do the evangelizing bit." Regular church attendance is of course important with the celebration of the Sacrament of Eucharist essential in my view but as St James says: 'In the same way faith by itself, if not accompanied by action, is dead.' James 2:17 NIV. So what to do? The clue lies in the word 'action' in St James' Epistle. What is important is what you do and what you say; in other words how you live your life. It may be helping a neighbour in trouble, maybe spending time listening to her troubles, getting involved in a community project to help the homeless or helping out at a food bank. Whatever it is remember that you are called to do it for the greater glory of God, just as St Luke did all those years ago.
1 Comment
Steve Givens
21/10/2019 03:51:11 pm
Church leadership is a universal call to holiness and "stepping up and forward" required by our baptism...The Church is all of us. Thanks for this, Peter.
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AuthorI am an Authorised Local Preacher in an Anglo Catholic parish church, in the Diocese of Essex UK Archives
February 2022
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