PRAYER MOMENT
Saturday
25 January 2014
A BRIGHT LIGHT
Pause. Be in the presence
of God on the way to Damascus.
Reading. “I was
nearly at Damascus when about midday a bright light from heaven suddenly shone
around me.” (Acts 22:3-16)
Reflection. The
conversion of St Paul, which we celebrate today, is yet another manifestation
of the Epiphany. This time Jesus shows himself to a zealot for the Jewish law
who was prepared to torture and kill those who became Christians. He hears the
voice, “why are you persecuting me?” The voice does not say, why are you
persecuting my church or my people? The message is clear that “when you do it
to one of these, the least of my brothers, you do it to me.” Jesus is the one
who gives life to his people. You cannot separate him from his people. Paul was
later to be overwhelmed by that realisation: “I am alive; yet it is no longer I
but Christ living in me.” (Gal 2:20)
Prayer. We thank
you, Lord, for the gift of Paul to your church in her formative years. Help us
too to have that sense of your “living in us and we in you” so that we have courage
to face the challenges we meet. Amen.
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