Jesus’ message (the heart of his Gospel or ‘Good News’) is that God doesn’t think or act
like us. Before God we are all equal – all created beings and sinners redeemed by Christ.
God owes us nothing, therefore he can be generous to all because he is love itself. St Paul
grasped this and preached it, as in Ephesians 2. 8-9: ‘For it is by grace you have been
saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by
works, so that no one can boast.’
We have no claim on God, nor any right to lecture him on what he does with his gifts –
all is grace. Our task as Christians is to acknowledge that, receive it gratefully, and
proclaim it to others. That is why our normal Sunday service is called the ‘Eucharist’,
meaning ‘thanksgiving.’ Gratitude is the best response to grace. At each Eucharist we
receive the mystical gift of the body and blood of Jesus through which he forgives our
sins and sets us free to love God our Father and all others for God’s sake. He asks us to
go out and show the same generosity as he does. Let us give thanks to the Lord our God!
Collect
God, who in generous mercy sent the Holy Spirit
upon your Church in the burning fire of your love:
grant that your people may be fervent
in the fellowship of the gospel
that, always abiding in you,
they may be found steadfast in faith and active in service;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever. Amen.
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