Thoughts for the Day

When Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, ‘he sat down at the right hand of God’, and since then has been waiting ‘until his enemies would be made a footstool for his feet.’ For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are sanctified. And the Holy Spirit also testifies to us, for after saying,

‘This is the covenant that I will make with them
after those days, says the Lord:
I will put my laws in their hearts,
and I will write them on their minds’,

He also adds, 'I will remember their sins and their lawless deeds no more.’ Therefore, my friends, ... since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us approach with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast to the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who has promised is faithful. And let us consider how to provoke one another to love and good deeds, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day approaching.

(Lectionary, New Revised Standard Version)

Thoughts

I have trouble with those who say: "I didn't get much out of that Church service today!" I know I've thought it myself on occasion! My instinctive reaction is to say "Well what did you put into it?" though I am usually a little kinder. Another comment that gets to me is: ''I don't need to come to Church to be a Christian. I can read my bible, and says my prayers at home!" The trouble is that both these comments are indicative of our age, of the "I/Me" culture.

The Epistle to the Hebrews, that we've been looking at on Sundays recently, attempts to deal with similar attitudes before they arise. The people were accustomed to making sacrifices to God to be freed from their sin, but now these new Jewish-Christians have been taught that Jesus has made the one and only sacrifice needed by offering his life for their sin. So they no longer need to go to the Temple to offer a sacrifice. But St Paul and the other Apostles knew differently. Every Christian was needed to help build up the community of faith. The gifts of the Spirit (1 Corinthians 12) are given for the whole body of the Church. If one person is missing then the whole body is diminished.

Notice that the writer of Hebrews uses the phrase:

• "Let us consider how to provoke one another to love and good deeds, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another".

We are to prod one another into doing good deeds. That could be praying for those leading worship in Church; in involving other members in helping to lead worship; in spreading the good news to the community; or in asking them to take part in activities that help others. So provoke yourself, and keep provoking others!

Lord Jesus,
sometimes we are too quick to criticise
what others have organised.
Sometimes we think of our faith
as something that only concerns us.
But You have taught us that our Church
is a whole body of people,
each with different gifts,
and that it takes all of our efforts
to spread the good news
to the world around us.
Forgive our failings and energise us
to provoke ourselves and others
to show more love.
Amen.