The golden thread
14th June 2019
‘And that’s about it, friends. Be cheerful. Keep things in good repair. Keep your spirits up. Think in harmony. Be agreeable. Do all that, and the God of love and peace will be with you for sure. Greet one another with a holy embrace. All the brothers and sisters here say hello. The amazing grace of the Master, Jesus Christ, the extravagant love of God, and the intimate friendship of the Holy Spirit, be with all of you.’
That’s how Paul ends his second letter to the church in Corinth. It seems quite relevant for the end of term! But I also like the way the Message version translates the last line: ‘The amazing grace of the Master, the extravagant love of God, and the intimate fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with all of you.’
That’s a prayer and a promise for the future. But it’s good also at this point of the year to look back – to reflect on the year past. We did a bit of that in our Chaplaincy team Awayday. We thought back over our experiences as chaplains this year, and you might like to do the same:
Take some time to let images, events, encounters from the past year come into your conscious mind. You may choose to let your thoughts journey chronologically through the year, or perhaps instead to let things ‘bubble up’ in a more ad-hoc way. You may like to jot down some of these thoughts…
Then ponder, using one of these pairs of questions…
For which moments in the last year am I most grateful? For which moments am I the least grateful?
When did I give or receive the most love? When did I give or receive the least love?
When did I feel most alive? When did I feel most drained?
See what emerges, for you…
One thing that emerged for me, for which I am particularly grateful, is sharing this Communion service with you each week. We may be a faithful few – but we represent a wider group of those who sometimes join us – and for me, as we pray through this service together, we are somehow creating a centre for all that we do, and opening up a channel for God’s love to flow into this place, here in the spiritual heart of the university. So thank you!
This Sunday is Trinity Sunday – always a challenge for preachers! Sometimes in churches I’ve been in we’ve woven together three strands on a friendship bracelet, or three big ropes, to show how the life of God is known to us in the weaving together of the love of the Father, the Son and the Spirit.
But reflecting on the past year, I have another image, in a scarf I borrowed from Sarah, with a gold thread running through it. It’s an image of God’s grace being threaded through all of the parts of our life – through the light and the dark parts, through our outer life and our inner life – through our life as individuals and through the life we have shared in different ways as a community…
As we begin to notice the ways in which we have known God’s grace in the past year, we can look ahead with greater confidence. There may well be challenges and difficult times to come, but as Paul says ‘the God of love and peace will be with us for sure’ – and in the year to come our lives will be shot through again with the amazing grace of our Lord, the extravagant love of God, and the intimate friendship of the Holy Spirit.
Spend a few moments holding this past year, and all that has been part of it, before God…
Lord, as we look back, we acknowledge all that has been hard – the times when we have struggled – the hurts that still need healing – and we thank you for your grace at work even in all of this. May we continue to be open to your amazing grace…
We give thanks for all that has been good and life giving – and especially for love, given and received. We give thanks for each other, and we pray for each other – may we know more deeply the extravagant love of God…
We thank you Lord, for our journey with you, this year, and for your gentle leading in our lives. May we continue to walk with you, in the intimate friendship of the Holy Spirit…