Description
Over the next 5 weeks of Pentecost, our focus is an invitation to Check Your Heart. We will dive into the stories from chapters 10 -13 of Matthew’s gospel which show us the way Jesus prepares and sends the disciples out into the world to spread the good news. These stories are instructions coupled with parables to help contextualise the quest at hand. The parallel lectionary track for this month is from Romans 6-8. Paul’s letter to the people offers words of encouragement, instruction on contextual living and a healthy dose of Check Your Heart thrown in to reorient those who strayed from the path and practices of Jesus.
As we read these stories in coming weeks, our task as Pentecost People is to really listen to the heart message of these stories, to check our own hearts – because attitude is everything, and to reorient ourselves, our communities and our practices to those in line with the core teachings of Jesus.
We begin with this first week’s gospel from Matthew 10: 40-42. Two very small and yet powerful verses offered as part of the final instruction Jesus provides the disciples on how to go out into the world. The reading from Romans 6: 12-23 is a call to holy living and a reminder again to Check Your Heart when it comes to your motivation and consequent actions. Paul doesn’t pull any punches here and doesn’t shy away from using strong language and imagery to show the way to live alive in Christ.
The activities for this week invite us to explore these readings by slowing down and meditating on the word with our Scripture Stones and upsizing our prayers with our mega magnetic meditations.
Written and Compiled by Rev Amanda Nicholas
