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What's your temperature?
Dear Friends,
Have you, like I, had some anxious moments at the appearance of a cough
over the past nineteen months, that we've reached for a lateral flow
test and before that the thermometer? Taking our physical temperature
has been a vital diagnostic tool, hasn't it? But when did you and I last
take our spiritual temperature?
Our Stewardship Sunday falls on the 21st of this month and is an
opportunity for us to do just that: to take an honest look at ourselves
and assess our own response to God's overflowing love and generosity to
us. How do I give back to God and to the work of His Kingdom? What does
my giving say about me and my love for God?
Indeed, someone once said that our cheque books are a better thermometer
of our spiritual temperature than our prayer books! Because this is
first and foremost a spiritual issue rather than a monetary one.
We can give, of course, in many ways: of out time, energy, gifts and
talents as well as money. I want to thank everyone who has given so
generously in so many ways to the work of the Gospel at St Paul's over
the past year. It seems almost a miracle to me that we have been able to
sustain the work of St Paul's financially and in other ways during the
pandemic. However, in order to do so, we have had to cut back on
financial outgoings, especially the Parish Share which we cannot do
indefinitely. On top of this, moving forward, our financial situation
looks very uncertain. At the same time, maintaining some of our
essential ministries and activities has become very difficult. If St
Paul's is to survive, let alone thrive in the New Year and beyond then
it will need a fresh miracle, one which begins within us, at the
spiritual core of our beings, in our minds and hearts.
So the potential crisis facing St Paul's (and we are not alone) is not
to be addressed as a financial problem so much as a spiritual
opportunity. So please will you join me, first by praying. Praying for
God's will and work to be done here, and his will to be don, so praying
for the coming of the Kingdom of God in this place? Will you join me in
praying that we may be so filled with a fresh appreciation of the
overflowing love and generosity of God to us, that our hearts may be
touch to give back to Him out of love for Him? Will you pray that we may
respond to Him generously, prayerfully, thoughtfully, proportionally to
our income and, most of all, not grudgingly but joyfully?
This is indeed a spiritual issue. In the final book of the Bible, Jesus
warns the Laodicea church (in modern day Turkey), "I know your works;
you are neither cold nor hot. I wish that you were either cold or hot.
So, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I am about to
spit you out of my mouth."
So, what might be your spiritual temperature and mine?
With love and prayers,
Fr Kevin. |
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Fr
Kevin writes...
