Thoughts for the Day

And so, brothers and sisters.... I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for solid food. Even now you are still not ready, for you are still of the flesh. For as long as there is jealousy and quarrelling among you, are you not of the flesh, and behaving according to human inclinations? For when one says, ‘I belong to Paul’, and another, ‘I belong to Apollos’, are you not merely human?

What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you came to believe, as the Lord assigned to each. I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. The one who plants and the one who waters have a common purpose, and each will receive wages according to the labour of each. For we are God’s servants, working together; you are God’s field, God’s building.

According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled master builder I laid a foundation, and someone else is building on it. Each builder must choose with care how to build on it. For no one can lay any foundation other than the one that has been laid; that foundation is Jesus Christ.

(Church in Wales Lectionary, New Revised Standard Version)

Thoughts

Over 34 years ago I worked across a whole Diocese. Congregations often told me of the amazing priest they'd had in the past. It can be challenging for present day ministers, and we see something of this in our reading from Corinthians today.

Paul reminds us that clergy have a job to do - to help grow Christians. He uses the image of a plant and also a building. The seed is planted in us by one person and watered by another; or else we are like bricks which someone lays on a foundation stone, and others build upon. The foundation stone is, of course, Jesus.Christ.

It can take up to six such experiences before a person becomes a committed Christian. Who planted the seed in you? Who nurtured the seed afterwards to create the kind of Christian you have become? And even more to the point, are you planting seeds in others, and are you watering that seed? Don't be selfish about it - if your faith means anything to you then keep on planting seeds in others!

Lord Jesus,
we thank You for those people
who planted the idea of God in us -
the teacher, minister, or parent -
and we thank You for all those
who have helped us to continue to grow
as Christians.
May we too learn to share our experience
and pass on the faith to others.
Amen.