Some of the famous people in the Bible seem unlikely choices to do God’s work – but they were chosen! If they were, why not you and me?
Noah was a drunk, Abraham too old, Isaac was a daydreamer, Jacob was a liar, Joseph was abused, Moses had a stutter, Samson had long hair and was a womaniser, Jeremiah was too young, King David was an adulterer and a murderer, Elijah was suicidal, Jonah ran from God, Naomi was a widow, Jacob was a bankrupt, Peter denied Christ, all the disciples fell asleep while praying (and ran away when Jesus was arrested), Martha was a worrier, Zacchaeus was too small, Timothy had an ulcer, Paul arrested and approved of the killing of Christians, and Lazarus was dead.
That’s an unusual journey through the Bible, to remind us how frail we all are. We need each other, in love and in encouragement, and we need to acknowledge that all our blessings come from God to be shared with others. From our weaknesses, we strengthen one another. God wants us to need each other.
Today is the Church’s World Communication Day. Here is a prayer given by the bishops that we can pray together:
“Lord, make us instruments of your peace. Help us to recognise the evil in communication that does not build communion, to remove the venom from our judgements, to speak about others as our brothers and sisters. “You, O God, are faithful and trustworthy. May our words be seeds of goodness for the world: where there is shouting let us practice listening; where there is confusion let us inspire harmony; where there is ambiguity let us bring clarity; where there is exclusion let us offer solidarity; where there is superficiality let us raise real questions; where there is prejudice let us awaken trust; where there is hostility let us bring respect and friendliness, where there is falsehood let us bring truth.”
Fr John
(13th May 2018)
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