Thought for Monday, 30 January 2023

 Ephesians 4:1-2

Therefore I, a prisoner for serving the Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy

of your calling, for you have been called by God.  Be humble and gentle.  Be patient with each other, making allowance for each other’s faults because of your love.

Today’s passage is part of a letter written by the apostle Paul to the early church in Ephesus while he was imprisoned in Rome.  I believe when any of us decide to open our bible, attend a service of worship, help at a church function, pray to God or anything ‘church-related,’ that we are being called by God to do so.  It just isn’t something that we have decided ourselves on the spur of the moment, or something that we just do through habit.

If we accept that calling then we have a responsibility to listen to God’s word, listen to what we are being taught and change our behaviour accordingly based on the guidance we are given through the scriptures.  Paul asks us to be humble and gentle and patient with our fellow Christians.  This can often be quite challenging but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try to follow Paul’s instructions.

At this time within the Church of Scotland, there is much turmoil with Church buildings closing, too much work for the number of ministers we have, aging congregations and fewer young folks within the life and work of the Church.

We have agreed to being part of a ‘cluster’ of Churches which includes the congregations of Kirk ‘O Shotts, Newarthill, New Stevenston Wrangholm and Holytown.  At our initial meeting (which at that time also included Chapelhall), it was all very friendly, and we all expressed our views of the current situation over a cup of tea.  Further meetings of our cluster will have to take place as we each find our way through the guidelines for the next phase of the process and it is inevitable that at some point, there will de disagreement on the best way forward with the representatives of each cluster trying to get the best outcome for their own congregation.  This will be a difficult time for all and there will be varying degrees of relief and disappointment experienced.

The final part of today’s piece of scripture tells us that we have to ‘Be patient with each other, making allowance for each other’s faults because of your love.’  I hope and pray that all involved will do their utmost to follow Paul’s appeal with the love of Christ being central to every consideration and every decision.

Prayer – Heavenly Father, we arrive from different backgrounds and traditions,
yet share one faith; we are, each of us, unique and precious to God, and are members of one Body; we have different dreams and doubts, yet our hearts beat with one hope; we are graced with different gifts, so we offer them to You in service to the one Lord, in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, Amen