Create a peaceful space to pause, and allow yourself to feel God’s presence alongside you, as near to you as your own breath. In following the reflection below, as a church we will draw closer to God and to one another as we grow in faith and deepen our sense of belonging to God.
Mark 6:15 ‘Sharing the Word’ (God’s Word Translation)
Then Jesus said to them, “So wherever you go in the world, tell everyone the Good News”.
Everyone called my father Ian, (pronounced the Welsh way – Yan), and my mother was always known as Kit. When I was born, my father sent a telegram to my aunt saying just, ‘All well, Kit and Ann’, which she took to be a misprint by the GPO for ‘Kit and Ian’. It wasn’t until a fortnight later, when my concerned aunt phoned to see if there was any news of my arrival that the misunderstanding was discovered.
When we obey Jesus’ command to tell everyone the Good News wherever we go in the world, we don’t have to present the good news perfectly but it is obviously important that the essential message gets across. We don’t have to know the answer to every difficult question but we should be ready to share the basic gospel message. This means several things. Firstly, of course, we need to know the Bible story and so regular reading of scripture is important. If we can do that with Bible study notes, it’s even better. Belonging to a Housegroup, which studies the Bible together, can be a great help too.
Secondly, we must hold our awareness of God’s love in our minds and hearts all the time. We can share our own experience of that love with others, and doing this means consciously remembering the occasions when we notice how God is at work in our lives. A very helpful tip I was once given suggested keeping a record of the special times that I was conscious of God acting in my life, or maybe times that I became aware of his hand on me afterwards. That was a good hint, because however much we may be convinced at the time that we’ll never forget those special moments, we’re fallible humans and so we don’t always remember without something to prompt us.
Many of us are reticent about sharing our faith because we want to respect the privacy of other people, their views, their beliefs. Often though, when an opening is there – a question asked maybe – we’re just not ready and so miss a golden opportunity to pass on the Good News of God’s boundless love. Being ready is the key.
Prayer:
Heavenly Father,
Stir in our souls the desire to renew our faith
and deepen our relationship with your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ,
so that we might truly live the Good News.
Open our hearts to hear the Gospel
and grant us the confidence to proclaim the Good News.
Help us to be ready and always to recognize when opportunities arise
to share the Gospel with others.
Pour out your Spirit, so that we might be strengthened to witness to the Gospel in our everyday life through our actions as well as our words.
May we witness boldly to the saving grace of your Son, Jesus Christ. In his name we pray.
Amen.
Reflection & Prayer © 2021 Ann Caffyn.
Image freely available online.
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