WEDNESDAY, March 17 (Patrick)

1 Corinthians 12:1-11. To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.

Christianity proclaims the God of all people and "of all things visible and invisible." He is the God of the Hindu, the atheist, the communist, the fascist, the humanist, and the garden variety agnostic, just as much as he is the God of an assorted variety of Jews and Christians. He is the One Unchanging Reality in a universe whose only constant is change. He is near us when we feel lost, just as he is near us when we are aware of his presence. We would not know to feel lost, were we totally unaware of his presence.

People in the world would not know they are separated if it were not for our basic unity in God. God is real whether or not people have in their minds an idea that there is a God, whatever their notions about his nature.

A constant danger for Christians is that we may lose awareness of God's loving and redemptive power in the world. When we do this, we lose our mission to proclaim and to reveal or disclose the nearness of the kingdom of heaven to every person. We lose our apostolic mission and begin to judge others by how much they are like ourselves. When we cannot see manifestations of the Spirit in our brothers and sisters, we become spiritually impoverished. (1966)

PRAY for the Diocese of Brisbane (Queensland, Australia)

Ps 101, 109:1-4(5-19)20-30 * 119:121-144; Genesis 50:15-26; Mark 8:11-26

View the daily Lectionary Readings at Satucket.com.
Or view the Bible passages at Biblegateway.com.

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This meditation teaches a hard lesson

Mar 17, 2010 at 8:33 am

Written by Steve Doutt,

This is very difficult. I mean that it is difficult to do. It is easy to talk about. Why is it that I fall, so easily, into judgmentalism? Why do I feel that if I separate myself from God, God is weakened? Why do I quickly make the jump from feeling special and unique...to feeling that I am the center of the universe? Why am I afraid to share these thoughts with you?

...

Mar 17, 2010 at 10:18 am

Written by Elaine Doan,

yes, Steve, hard questions indeed.
and I add another: Am I less Christian if I do not sense God leading in the same direction as some other Christians in my church?

Following Christ! Do we all, always? In any ways?

Mar 17, 2010 at 1:16 pm

Written by Gaye Anne McWade,

Jesus said that He only did what He saw (knew) His Father do. I see Him as the only human to totally "love the Lord with all His heart, soul, and strength and love His neighbor as Himself." We can reach to Him and through His strengths of graces, walk upward. My ways may or may not match my peers, but the common ingredient would be devotion to Christ—to be a Christian. What's there to judge? Only self's desires.

Thank you both, and add "Muslims" to the list

Mar 17, 2010 at 11:55 pm

Written by Steve Doutt,

Elaine and Gaye,

Thank you both. I also often wonder what happens when two earnest believers in God are praying for opposite outcomes? Jumping to another topic, I guess we can attribute the first paragraph of the meditation to the fact that it was written in 1966; but, He is also the God of the Muslims.

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