Romans 1:11-12
For I am longing to see you so that I may share with you some spiritual gift to strengthen you—or rather so that we may be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith, both yours and mine.
I often find it difficult to profess my faith to those around me. Either the right opportunity doesn’t come up or if it does I remain silent rather than say, This I Believe… and then proceed to tell the story of how God’s grace in my life means so much to me. It is for this reason that I so envy Paul in this lesson (and many other of Paul’s writings). Paul is “longing to see” the church in Rome not only to share some spiritual gift with them to receive their word and be mutually encouraged. Paul is clearly filled with the Spirit and can hardly restrain himself from spreading the Good News. No fear of being looked at as some sort of weirdo, no Paul is, “not ashamed of the Gospel; it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who has faith…”
I suspect I’m not alone in being timid in speaking out about God’s message of grace. Maybe the first step is just to greet the stranger I may see on a Sunday morning at All Saints. That simple greeting and hand shake may be just the gift of the spirit that person needs. That doesn’t sound so hard.
Jeffrey Witt
Today we begin sharing the offerings of members of All Saints who worked together to create a daily Lenten devotional book. For Ash Wednesday, we hear the words of Jesus. Join us for worship today at noon and 7 pm. Then, Sunday morning at 8:30 and 11. Visit http://www.allsaintspalatine.org for full calendar and information and respond to this email message to request to be removed from our distribution list.
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