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1 Corinthians 1:5 NLT

'Through him, God has enriched your church in every way – with all of your eloquent words and all of your knowledge.'

Mornings are busy affairs. I am pretty good these days at maintaining a sense of peace and joy in serving, so grateful for all I have learned from my Orthodox Christian friends about the ‘Jesus Prayer’. This is a core component of my contribution to Oratory life and I relish it most of the time. I see it as one aspect of the rich gifts God has entrusted to me. Cooking is serving, hospitality offers welcome and hope.

Too often we become obsessive about gifts we perceive to be of a more spiritual nature. We lose sight of the lack of distinction God makes between spiritual and secular. We are, after all, both mortal and spiritual, and everything we do reflects these elements of our being. Church has historically led us into all sorts of problems when seeking to divide the two.

The challenge is not to deny the value of the appetites, but to discover how under God’s leading they can be our servants rather than our masters. This is a battle each one of us faces, while Paul gently reminds us that we together have all that is required to live grace-filled lives. Where the battle remains we can conclude that we are desperately in need of the Spirit’s help. One reason for participating in church is to build those horizontal relationships that we might be enriched as each deploys their gift for the benefit of the whole. Church is not simply turning up for Jesus. It is to serve, encourage and enable one another as well.

I lost my way for a while in church, for attendance was a lonely affair since there were no viable horizontal relationships. This was painful, for after a number of years looking at how best to re-engage with church, and having taken time to fall in love with the Eucharistic journey, I was at a loss to know why my hospitality skills appeared to fit so ill in what I’d hoped would have become a new home for me.

QUESTION: Are you willing to discover your gifts in the everyday service that makes up your domestic and working life?

PRAYER: Lord, help me be a blessing to your body and bride.