Tuesday, 26 November, 2002

Again from the second lesson from Christ the King Sunday.

I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints, and for this reason I do not cease to give thanks for you as I remember you in my prayers. I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation as you come to know him, so that, with the eyes of your heart enlightened, you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance among the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power for us who believe, according to the working of his great power. Ephesians 1:15-19



The prayer is for the community to be gifted by the Spirit. These are not merely gifts that will bring into our lives "stuff" or what we want. These are gifts that enable us to see the reign of God in all its glory breaking in to this day. This is to be a "spirit of wisdom and revelation" sufficient to change the way we see all things for we will see all things through the lens of promise. Today, the horizon is exposed and the end is handed to us as an inheritance and we are invited to leap into today trusting in that view from the very horizon of the end of time. We are ordinary folk. And yet, to ordinary folk there comes a power for life that makes the ordinary into the extraordinary - which is simply revealed in our freedom to serve one another for there is nothing to prove within our lives. The greatest gift is already ours - that's a promise. Therefore, we are able to engage this day with new vision and great hope.



Connection: Sometimes the most powerful gift we bring into our day as we are among others is the ability to see opportunities in which we are held up by God's love and we become instruments of that love in all we do.



Precious Lord, you make us a people whose lives are filled with many changes and new beginnings and a rich history. Remind us that it is in this day that we begin again to give you thanks for the gift of vision that enables us to see the ways of your glorious reign unfold before us. Amen.