Opening Prayer: Heavenly Father, as the day dawns and calls me
to my labors I ask you to enable me to gladly do the work to which you beckon
me. May I do it as a servant of Christ
doing the will of God from my heart.
Amen (Disciplines for the Inner Life by Bob Benson and Michael W.
Benson)
Scripture: Matthew 10:1-20
Journal: What does it mean to be sent? What words or phrases in this passage help
capture the nature of our mission and our calling?
Reflection:
The more I think about the meaning of living and
acting in the name of Jesus, the more I realize that what I have to offer
others is not my intelligence, skill, power, influence, or connections, but my
own human brokenness through which the love of God can manifest itself. The celebrant in Leonard Bernstein's Mass
says: "Glass shines brighter when it's broken...I never noticed
that." This, to me, is what
ministry and mission are all about.
Ministry is entering with our human brokenness into communion with
others and speaking a word of hope. This
hope is not based on any power to solve the problems of those with whom we
live, but on the love of God, which becomes visible when we let go of our fears
of being out of control and enter into His presence in shared confession of
weakness.
The great paradox of ministry, therefore,
is that we minister above all with our weakness, a weakness that invites us to
receive from those to whom we go. The
more in touch we are with our own need for healing and salvation, the more open
we are to receive in gratitude what others have to offer us. (Gracias!
by Henri J.M. Nouwen)
Prayers
Closing Prayer: Lord, take my lips and speak through them;
take my mind, and think through it; take my heart, and set it on fire. Amen. (Little Book of Prayers by W. H.
Aitken)
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