Thursday, August 25, 2022

 

Thursday, August 25, 2022


Psalm 135

Prayer of Manasseh

Romans 15:22-33


The God of peace be with all of you.


In case you were confused by the set readings this morning, the Prayer of Manasseh is a short passage written as to be inserted in between yesterday's readings and tomorrow's. It is found in the Apocrypha, a set of writings not considered as being inspired by the Holy Spirit, but still profitable for spiritual growth. See Article VI of our Articles of Religion if you would like to know more about how we view these writings.


Let's look at Paul this morning. At the time of writing, he just wanted to let the people in Rome know what he was up to (social media status updates didn't exist back then). The church in Jerusalem was suffering for want of food and supplies (as was indeed the whole region). Paul had decided to take up a collection from the churches around Greece and Macedonia to get the brothers and sisters in Jerusalem the supplies they needed. We still do this today; quite often in church we will be asked to contribute to special collections for flood and bushfire relief.


But look especially at Paul's attitude in all this: he thinks it is very important that the people in Jerusalem know that they have friends from across the border. He also wants the collection being given to be a form of “service”; service being our highest calling. Finally, he wants the church in Rome to pray that the relief fund might be “acceptable to the saints”: that the church in Jerusalem will receive the charity in the good mood in which it was given. Giving and receiving: we must be able to do both. But this is not just good life advice. It is also the pattern of God in the Trinity. The highest example of this is Jesus' life, death, resurrection and ascension. Through this, and any time we give or receive (or both), we will find “joy and refreshment” because it will be the power of God's love flowing through our life.



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