Description
The longest season in the ecclesial calendar is coming to an end. Next week we celebrate the Reign of Christ but this week it’s time to stop and consider how we behave and what we need to be towards God and our community.
It is also the last time we will use green as the liturgical colour of After Pentecost.
From the book of Judges 4:1-7 we learn through the experiences of the Israelites that God is patient and waits for us to call out, even when we have turned our backs on God. Within these pages you will find a prayer of trust and sharing inspired by this reading.
Psalm 123 is worth a read to remember the importance of approaching God in prayer in a humble, earnest and pleading manner. Its influence is implicit in all the activities suggested today.
1 Thessalonians 5:1-11 carries the famous passage of putting on armour, but I feel the reading is better summed up by the communal command of v 11, to build each other up. No greater example for God’s Kingdom can be found than in the mesh created by a strong community of love, that lives in the Light (v.4-8) there is a response activity included that blends this reading with that of Matthew 25:14-30.
In my approach to this reading of Matthew, I may make some feel a little uncomfortable especially those that are familiar with the emphasis on the moral interpretation of this text. I wanted to emphasis the often-forgotten context of a it being a metaphor for God’s Kingdom, that everyone’s contribution and attitude is to be multiplied towards creating God’s, and our dwelling place.
