Opening Prayer: Almighty God, you have created us, called us,
chosen us to be your people. We wait now
to receive your word of guidance and blessing.
Grant unto us ears to hear, eyes to see, and faith to respond to your
love and leadership. In the name of
Jesus Christ. Amen. (A Guide to
Prayer for Ministers and Other Servants by Rueben P. Job and
Norman Shawchuck)
Scripture: Ephesians 1:3-14
Journal: How does it make you feel to know that God has
chosen you to be his very own? What does
it do within you? What is your response
to his grace and love?
Reflection:
This longing that wells up in us, though, does not
spring into existence on its own.
"God is always previous," is the way the theologian Von Hugel
put it. "You would not have called
to me unless I had been calling to you," is the way Aslan put it, the lion
in the Narnia Chronicles who called Edmund and three other children from England
into the magical land of Narnia. The way
the apostle John put it was, “We love because he first loved us."
Maybe, too, that is why we long.
"God's yearning for us stirs up our
longing in response," says Howard Macy in Rythms of the Inner Life. God's initiating presence may be ever so
subtle—an inward tug of desire, a more-than-coincidence meeting of words and
events, a glimpse of the beyond in a storm or a flower—but it is enough to make
our heart skip a beat and to make us want to know more." (Windows of
the Soul by Ken Gire)
Prayers
Closing Prayer: How blessed is God! And what a blessing he is!
He’s the Father of our Master, Jesus Christ, and takes us to the high places of
blessing in him. Long before he laid down earth’s foundations, he had us in
mind, had settled on us as the focus of his love, to be made whole and holy by
his love. Long, long ago he decided to adopt us into his family through Jesus
Christ. (What pleasure he took in planning this!) He wanted us to enter into
the celebration of his lavish gift-giving by the hand of his beloved Son.
Because of the sacrifice of the Messiah,
his blood poured out on the altar of the Cross, we’re a free people—free of
penalties and punishments chalked up by all our misdeeds. And not just barely
free, either. Abundantly free! He thought of everything, provided for
everything we could possibly need, letting us in on the plans he took such
delight in making. He set it all out before us in Christ, a long-range plan in
which everything would be brought together and summed up in him, everything in
deepest heaven, everything on planet earth.
It’s in
Christ that we find out who we are and what we are living for. Long before we
first heard of Christ and got our hopes up, he had his eye on us, had designs
on us for glorious living, part of the overall purpose he is working out in
everything and everyone. ~The Message
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