Daily Worship

Ministry of reconciliation

Roderick MacLeod November 11, 2013 0 0

2 Corinthians 5:11-21

So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer.17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come:[a] the old has gone, the new is here! 18 All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: 19 that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. 20 We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: be reconciled to God. 21 God made him who had no sin to be sin[b] for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

Father, Son and Holy Spirit
gather us into your strong embrace.

We yearn for the quality of relationship you embody!

Thank you for those bonds of friendship, love and acquaintance
which enrich our lives.

How we ache when cherished companions are taken from us
and, oh, the pain of fractures when they occur.
Forgive the clumsy words and ill-judged actions
which scratch the fragile skin that binds us,
marring the beauty of hearth and home with bitter distress.

“Against you, you only have I sinned...”
Merciful God, make to us each drop of the happiness shed
a tear, a drop of the Saviour's own life-blood.
So help us to count the true cost and never lightly hold
those you have given to be dear to us.

We do not ask to be spared the pain
because it matters that much.
What we seek is reverence for what is holy:
true friends, lovers, family, neighbours
and that you would soothe the suffering hearts
of those who are discovering how much they matter...

In the name of him who comes as reconciler
and calls us into his ministry of reconciliation
even Jesus. Amen