July 22, 2007
Pentecost VIII

Service & the Word

One of the invitations that we find in this week's gospel reading is for us to think about who we are as a church; to ask the question, what makes us different from a service club? Do not both the church and the service clubs work fairly hard at helping and caring for others? So the question continues, what makes one group a church and another simply a service club?

The church is different from a service club because it recognizes that occasionally we need to put aside the work we do for the Lord and just spend some time being with him. The Church recognizes that it is the word of God that gives life, and the word of God that strengthens us to do good, and so the church turns toward God and listens to the word and sits at the feet of the eternal much as Mary sat at the feet of Jesus.

It is the word that enables us to serve and to make a difference in that service, it is the word in and through us that allows us to have eternal love; the love that is never anxious, worried, or hurtful to others. No one is a Christian who simply does the word, we must also hear the word and dwell in the word and let the word made flesh in Christ our Lord be also incarnated in us.

Silito

Take a look at some of the previous messages from the Rector