Pursue love and strive for the spiritual gifts, and especially that you may prophesy. 1 Cor 14: 1 (NRSV)
Katie preached such a great sermon on prophesy on Sunday - if you didn’t hear it, listen to it now! I loved the way she wooed us to pursue and seek the gifts of the Spirit, especially prophecy - and for the way she edged us into the slightly uncomfortable place of an open mic time of sharing what we felt God might be saying to us. THANK YOU, Katie!
As I was re-listening to the sermon and reflecting this morning, I was reminded of the story of Jesus entering Jerusalem:
As he was now approaching the path down from the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to praise God joyfully with a loud voice for all the deeds of power that they had seen, saying, “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven, and glory in the highest heaven!” Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, order your disciples to stop.” He answered, “I tell you, if these were silent, the stones would shout out.”Luke 19:37-Luke 19:40 NRSV
I am grateful for the ways nature does cry out about God’s glory - but even more encouraged by the reminder that it is all of our responsibility to keep shouting out about the wonder of God. This is good news: we can all ‘prophesy’, telling of God’s goodness, fathfulness, constancy...
This week can you take a risk and speak out more truth about God into situations? Look for opportunities - they will be there, ready to be seized!
And then ponder - which gifts are you ‘eagerly desiring’? Are you ‘pursuing’ love? What are your takeaways from this series on 1 Corinthians and how are you weaving good practices of seeking hard after God’s heart changing you? So grateful for the work of the Holy Spirit in all our lives! If you have a story you want to share - why not write ‘a reflection’ and share it with us?
In other news:
Have you signed up to contribute some RILA goods?
Are you coming hiking on May 8? Email me or Jenni for more details!
Guys - are you looking forward to your cookout on May 14? Quauhtli has more details.
All - don’t forget every alternate Friday morning there is a time of prayer for the men/women at 7am - and every Tues/Thursday we have the rhythm of noonday prayer. Why not add praying in community at least once a week to your rhythm?
Want to go for a walk or grab a coffee? Email me and let's fix a time!
Your hope-filled pastor,
Liz
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