Photo by...Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash
In my first year of high school, Australia converted to decimal currency and Simon and Garfunkel released the song, “I am a rock”. While everyone in Australia was working together to adjust to the new currency the song spoke of going it alone. “I am a rock. I am an island.”
It’s a sad song about being hurt and withdrawing into isolation in order to avoid any more pain.
We’ve had some experiences of isolation this year and depending on our nature we’ve either enjoyed or hated those times.
Our God is into community. God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit exist in a divine community of love and because we’re made in the image of God we’re also made for community.
The Christian faith in particular and life in general aren’t meant to be solo adventures. Even those with an introverted nature need others. We all need community.
Paul describes the community in terms of a body with many different and varied parts in Romans 12 and 1 Corinthians 12. The different parts of the body need each other and when they work together the body functions properly.
The beauty of this image and situation is found in the love and support we give and receive in the community. There are times when we desperately need the support of a loving community and there are times when we provide the support to members of the community.
This ‘strange’ year has highlighted the need for community. We need to care for each other and look out for each other.
It’s great to know God is always doing his best for us. It’s also clear our sisters and brothers are gifts from God. God often helps us through the community. God bless you with all the help you need and with all the strength you need to help others.
The gift of the Spirit
by Tania Nelson
Click here to download your printable verse to carry with you today.
This is how we know that we live in him and he in us: he has given us of his Spirit (1 John 4:13).
Read 1 John 4:7–21
Today’s Bible reading is an exhortation to ‘love one another, for love comes from God’ (1 John 4:7a). I don’t know about you, but I don’t always feel loving. There are times I avoid people, times when I speak hastily and inappropriately, times when I’m impatient and unkind (actually lots of times when I’m impatient … yes, something I need to work on!). I suspect you, too, have times when that loving feeling is not at the forefront.
However, while loving may not always come naturally, we know that God has given us the Holy Spirit. We can lean on the Spirit for help.
God sent Christ’s Spirit to the disciples at Pentecost, and the crowd heard the disciples preach in their own languages. God gave the Spirit to the 3,000 believers who were baptised that day. God’s Spirit came to you and me in our baptism.
Martin Luther said in his explanation of the third article of the Apostles’ Creed (the article that begins ‘I believe in the Holy Spirit …’):
I believe that I cannot, by my own understanding or strength, believe in Jesus Christ my Lord or come to him; but instead the Holy Spirit has called me through the gospel, enlightened me with his gifts, made me holy and kept me in the true faith, just as he calls, gathers, enlightens and makes holy the whole Christian church on earth and keeps it with Jesus Christ in the one true faith.
Daily in this Christian church the Holy Spirit abundantly forgives all sins – mine and those of all believers. On the Last Day, the Holy Spirit will raise me and all the dead and will give to me and all believers in Christ eternal life.
God’s Spirit is still calling, gathering, enlightening and making us holy. Come, Holy Spirit, and help us to love.
Thank you, Heavenly Father, for giving me your Spirit. Thank you, Jesus, for dying and rising to life for me. Thank you, Spirit of God, for calling me, gathering me into your church, instructing me and making me holy. Amen.
Tania is the ministry lead at Mawson Lakes Community Church in suburban Adelaide and is a pastoral ministry student at Australian Lutheran College. Tania loves taking beach walks with her husband, David, spending time with her family and friends, and reading. Sometimes she is blessed to experience all three of these joys at her family shack on South Australia’s Yorke Peninsula.
Actions speak loudly
by Tania Nelson
Click here to download your printable verse to carry with you today.
Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth (1 John 3:18).
Read 1 John 3:11–18
St John’s plea for the children of God to show God’s love through ‘actions and in truth’ reminds me of the words of St Teresa of Avila, who said, ‘We must all try to be preachers by our deeds.’ It also reminds me of the quote, which some have attributed to St Francis of Assisi: ‘Preach the gospel at all times and, when necessary, use words.’ Today’s Bible reading is a helpful reminder that our actions may speak louder than our words.
How do we preach the good news – God’s incredible love for all – by our actions? I think the fruit of the Spirit is a good place to start. When we display love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control (Galatians 5:22,23), our actions speak loudly.
A friend of mine once said that Christians make the best friends. I pray that this is truly the case! What he meant, I gather, is that Christians can be honest, loyal, trustworthy and accepting of others in their friendships. A challenge for all of us is to love our enemies as we love our friends!
Thanks be to God that he has the final word when I don’t always display the kind of actions and love that I wish to. St John summed up the good news of God’s love for us when he wrote, ‘This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us.’ Amen to that!
Spirit of God, fill my heart with love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control, so that Jesus is known through my actions and in truth. Amen.
Tania is the ministry lead at Mawson Lakes Community Church in suburban Adelaide and is a pastoral ministry student at Australian Lutheran College. Tania loves taking beach walks with her husband, David, spending time with her family and friends, and reading. Sometimes she is blessed to experience all three of these joys at her family shack on South Australia’s Yorke Peninsula.
Act kindly, love mercy, walk humbly
by Tania Nelson
Click here to download your printable verse to carry with you today.
Treat younger men as brothers, older women as mothers, and younger women as sisters, with absolute purity (1 Timothy 5:1b,2).
Read 1 Timothy 5:1–22
St Paul gives quite the list of dos and don’ts to Timothy in today’s reading. I wonder what particular issues Paul was compelled to correct.
We are given a general clue to the situation in verses 1 and 2: ‘Do not rebuke an older man harshly, but exhort him as if he were your father. Treat younger men as brothers, older women as mothers, and younger women as sisters, with absolute purity.’ The passage speaks of acting mercifully, kindly, with compassion and integrity.
Paul exhorts us, too, to recognise those ‘who are really in need’ (1 Timothy 5:3), to provide for our relatives (1 Timothy 5:8), to show hospitality (1 Timothy 5:10) and to honour spiritual leaders and teachers (1 Timothy 5:17). We are to keep ourselves pure and thereby act toward others with integrity.
Unfortunately, we don’t always act how we should. Acting kindly, loving mercy, walking humbly (Micah 6:8) – well, that’s quite the challenge! How blessed are we that we have a Saviour who forgives us when we have acted badly and forgives us when we have failed to act justly. Jesus died and rose for us, for me, and he sees me as his holy child. I am a sinner and, at the same time, through Jesus, I am a saint. Thank you, Jesus.
Father in heaven, it’s not easy to act kindly, love mercy and walk humbly as I journey through life. Help me treat others as you treat me – with kindness, compassion and love. In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen.
Tania is the ministry lead at Mawson Lakes Community Church in suburban Adelaide and is a pastoral ministry student at Australian Lutheran College. Tania loves taking beach walks with her husband, David, spending time with her family and friends, and reading. Sometimes she is blessed to experience all three of these joys at her family shack on South Australia’s Yorke Peninsula.