Trinity 8
Collect
Blessed are you, O Lord, and blessed are those who observe and keep your law: help us to seek you with our whole heart, to delight in your commandments and to walk in the glorious liberty given us by your Son, Jesus Christ.
Ephesians 2: 12-22
Mark 6: 30-34, 53-56
For he is our peace; in his flesh he has made both groups into one and has broken down the dividing wall, that is, the hostility between us.
Ephesians 2:14
Try reading that verse after watching the News. It just doesn’t ring true. Paul might have been talking about the hostility between Jew and Gentile, but he could have been talking about any conflict in the last two thousand years, based on differences of culture, race, tradition, tribalism, prejudice and beliefs. If anything, today’s hostility is worse, with media reporting fuelling the flames.
But his assertion is true, nonetheless – it’s just that even though the dividing wall has indeed been broken down at the foot of the Cross, people still have to make the effort to walk across it, and unfortunately they rarely do. To walk across demands an understanding and acceptance that reaching a consensus takes an effort of will, but it does not mean our own beliefs have to be compromised – rather, instead, it means respect and tolerance for difference.
I have no need to be threatened by the worldview held by other people – I have enough trouble worrying about my own failure to live according to the challenges of my faith. It is all too easy to look at the speck in another’s eye while ignoring the plank in our own. We live in God’s created world with many different people; but when it comes down to it, we are all His children, brothers and sisters. In Christ, there is no East nor West. No dividing wall – unless we make one.
Previous Posts
Praying Together 30th March 2025
As Julian of Norwich wrote, ‘the example of a mother’s service is closest, most willing, and most sure because it is most true’, and thus we use that example as part of our Lenten journey.
Praying Together 23rd March 2025
God gives us the freedom to make that choice, and will always offer us another chance when we fail, as He did to the barren fig tree.
Praying Together 16 March 2025
Unlike the other tragic heroes, Jesus has no flaw or blemish other than those inflicted by others: the scars on His back, the thorn-blood on His forehead, the betrayal by His friend.
Praying Together March 9th 2025
God’s demand for perfection need not discourage you in the least in your present attempts to be good, or even in your present failures.
Praying Together 2nd March 2025
God of the nations, whose sovereign rule brings justice and peace, have mercy on our broken and divided world.
Praying Together 23 February 2025
Meditation for the Second Sunday before Lent CollectAlmighty God,you have created the heavens and the earthand made us in your own image:Teach us to discern your hand in all your worksand your likeness in all your children;through Jesus Christ our Lord,who with you...
Praying Together 16th February 2025
And if you accept Him as Lord, allow Him to lead you as you walk into the future without looking back, and do what He has equipped you to do as His body on earth
Praying Together 9th February 2025
We are all asked to have the faith to put out into deep water, but we must remember that we will never be on our own. Peter’s ministry was made possible by the power of the Holy Spirit, as will ours.
Praying Together 2nd February 2025
We are all called to be the Body of Christ in His entirety – and we are to take the example of all ‘Saints’ who have gone before, both male and female, as models of our required behaviour.
Praying Together 26th January 2025
Most importantly, in the face of what appears to be a society built upon prejudice and hatred, we are sustained and strengthened by the knowledge that in the end, love will triumph, leaving the wordly values of the tyrant to be forgotten.
Praying Together 19th January 2025
Jesus has demonstrated His authority and power. He takes something ordinary, and it becomes extraordinary. He turns water to wine. He heals the past and offers a new future. He changes his followers from sinner to saint.
Meditations 5th January 2025
With the same eyes as the Magi, we look into the manger, see the light of the world – be it for the first time, after a dark time, or in our daily devotions – and every time we see something new.