Hebrews 12:14 - 13:3
Readings for this week October 23 - 19
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Day 1 – Working for Peace
Silence, Stillness and Centering before God (2 minutes)
Scripture Reading – Hebrews 12:14
We must follow after peace. That should be the hallmark of the disciples of Jesus. In fact, in our current context, locally, nationally and globally, one of the most countercultural things the followers of Jesus can do is work for peace. It certainly won’t be easy; we will have to actively pursue it and work hard for it. Peace doesn’t just happen, it isn’t easy to achieve, and it isn’t always going to be around. But we are to relentlessly pursue peace. Jesus said blessed are the peacemakers; peacemakers are not always welcomed, are often reviled and certainly do not have an easy task. Jesus brought peace between God and us. We need to work for peace between each other. This is one of the practicalities of discipleship.
We seek outer peace yes, always, but inner peace too, the peace that has been established between God and us, through the work of Jesus. And, also, there is the peace that comes from letting go, from no longer struggling to pursue the baubles and trinkets dangled before us; the peace that comes with accepting our true identity as children of God and showing others that they are his children too and that he loves them. We need to be bringers of peace in all its many forms: decrying war and destruction; working to turn hatred into acceptance; brokering forgiveness; helping to heal tired and ravaged souls; bringing calm to troubled lives. We serve the Prince of Peace; let us be true ambassadors of the peace that he brings and the new life it makes possible for all.
Question to Consider
How is your life, it is one in which peace has a prominent place? How are you working for peace in your community and in the wider world?
Prayer
Lord God, help me be a peacemaker, whatever the cost. Give me strength when it is not easy, but also the courage to bring your peace into the dark corners of the world where peace seems impossible. Amen.
Conclude with Silence (2 minutes)
Day 2 – Sharing God’s Grace
Silence, Stillness and Centering before God (2 minutes)
Scripture Reading – Hebrews 12:15
As grateful recipients of God’s grace, we are also to make sure that no one lacks God’s grace. We are channels of his grace, ambassadors of renewal and forgiveness, offering grace to a world that needs us to show it how to receive grace and how to offer it to others. Everyone gets hurt; in many ways this cannot be avoided. But we can choose how we react to the pain and the damage. Will we be gracious? Will we try to forgive, to help in the healing? Will we show others the way to live in God’s grace? Or will we go in the other direction, letting our bitterness grow? Will we chew over the hurt or slight that we have received and nurse the grudge to let it fester?
This latter type of response lacks grace. This response, as easy as it is to fall into, fails to love and fails to see the other person as the beloved of God too, as hard as that is to sometimes when we are in pain. We can’t let that root of bitterness grow, because it will pull us down and so many other things – and people – with us. We need to air it out, talk it through, pray about it, seek counsel and advice. Above all, we need to let God grow his character in us, so that we might be gracious to others the way he has been gracious to us. If we have been hurt, let’s not hurt others. Let’s lay our hurt at the foot of the cross rather than laying into others and hurting them.
Question to Consider
What has been the most surprising situation in which others have offered you grace? Why? What was your response? How did it change you?
Prayer
Gracious God, I will never stop thanking you for your grace, and for those through whom you have given it to me. May I be a channel of love and grace to others, giving back and passing on what I have received. Amen.
Conclude with Silence (2 minutes)
Day 3 – Keep on Loving
Silence, Stillness and Centering before God (2 minutes)
Scripture Reading – Hebrews 13:1
Whatever community the author of Hebrews was writing to, it is safe to say that he was very familiar with the contours and realities of Christian community: the ups and downs, highs and lows, joys and frustrations of being in community. How do we know this? Because of the absolutely essential exhortation he gives them to “keep on loving” each other. He knows the importance of persisting in love. As God’s community, they are already loving each other. But it is vital that they deliberately keep on doing so. Because it doesn’t happen automatically. Communities are messy, complicated places full of human beings – things aren’t always going to go smoothly. Love is work and it needs to be worked at.
It isn’t always easy. That fact that the writer exhorts us to keep on loving shows us he knows that things can often be easy at the start of a relationship when everything is new and shiny. But eventually issues surface, personalities are revealed and clash, and it gets harder. The temptation is to walk away, go somewhere else and start again. And we will run out of energy. That’s why Jesus is the head and heart of our community; by his Spirit he renews and restores us to love again because we cannot do it on our own. But we are to keep on, even when – especially when – it gets hard. The practical life of the Christian community must have love and generosity at its heart. We must always be caring for each other in practical ways and striving to love each other more. It – like us – is an ongoing work.
Question to Consider
What makes loving others hard? What makes us want to stop?
Prayer
Loving Father, push me deeper into loving others. Give me the strength and patience to love beyond myself – and give others strength and patience to love me. In Jesus; name, Amen.
Conclude with Silence (2 minutes)
Day 4 – Offering Hospitality
Silence, Stillness and Centering before God (2 minutes)
Scripture Reading – Hebrews 13:2
Hospitality is such a vital element in the community of God’s people, as the warmth and welcome we are to offer to others echoes the warmth and welcome that God showed to us in the reconciliation of the cross. Why do we do what we do? Jesus is our motivation. What we do we do for the sake of the name, cause and kingdom of Jesus. We do not act for our own sake but for his. All we do as his kingdom subjects should be done in his service, for his glory and to his purposes – not least the open homes and tables that we should selflessly invite others to join us at. Maybe we’ll find ourselves “entertaining angels,” just like Abraham did when he offered hospitality and welcome to three strangers who just happened to approach his tent…
Is your home an open home, a welcoming home? How can we, as God’s people, live counter-culturally in our homes and cut against the social grain of exclusion, seclusion and guardedness that permeates our society? How often do we open our homes to those who have never been in them before? How often do we invite people in beyond our circle of friends and family? There will be times when God is calling us to make our home a sanctuary for others, even if it’s just for the couple of hours it takes to have a cup of tea and a chat or share a meal. God wants us to open up our homes – and also our lives – to the stranger and the neighbour.
Question to Consider
How is your home a place where others can encounter God and his kingdom? How do you offer hospitality and to whom do you offer it?
Prayer
Heavenly Father, all that I have is yours, and includes the table I eat at and the food placed upon it. May I learn to share it more and more with others – friends and strangers alike. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Conclude with Silence (2 minutes)
Day 5 – Remembering the Imprisoned
Silence, Stillness and Centering before God (2 minutes)
Scripture Reading – Hebrews 13:3
We all know that the Christian experience isn’t always sunshine and good times. The author now turns to the darker aspect of what life was like for many early followers of Jesus – and is still like for so many modern followers around the world too. Those who enjoy freedom must regularly think of, offer help to, pray for and visit those who do not. The writer was thinking first and foremost of those who were in prison for their faith, those whose allegiance to Jesus was offensive to the Roman authorities. Many would have been in prison; many others would have been executed. The writer wants his audience to remember those in prison and to visit them, to show solidarity with them, and not forget them.
Remember those in prison as if you were there with them. This requires us to use our imaginations, that we imagine – really imagine – what it is like for others in such a situation. We must deliberately and prayerfully empathise with them and put ourselves in their position, so that we might feel what it is like to be mistreated. It isn’t pleasant but it is the least we can do for our fellow members of the body of Christ who have been imprisoned for their faith. We cannot forget the people who have been mistreated. We labour on behalf of the persecuted church, never forgetting them. But the writer’s plea also applies to anyone who is imprisoned – our society uses imprisonment as a punishment to a greater degree than Rome did; we should be carrying God’s grace into each prison cell.
Question to Consider
Who are the imprisoned people you know? Who are the imprisoned that you could visit or help?
Prayer
Almighty Father, help me always remember the mistreated and imprisoned, the easily overlooked. You love everyone; help me do so as well so that those in darkness may see your light. In Jesus’ name, Amen.