Grace, Love and Fellowship

Will you be reading this shortly before attending an Anglican Eucharist? No? Never mind; the words of scripture in the passage below will be familiar to you, and they are the ones with which the congregation is greeted at the beginning of that service. The passage itself is adapted from an article by Michael Thompson in the latest issue of Ministry Matters.

When Jesus referred to the "kingdom of God" he was speaking of a kingdom founded on those qualities we name. often unreflectively, at the beginning of our weekly celebration - "The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit." These words mean more than we mostly take them to mean, I think. Most of the time we recognize them as a signal that worship is about to begin, recognizing them as religious words without recognizing that they are laying a claim on this time, this place, and on those of us who gather in them. This isn't just (St. John's/St. Swithan's...) ; this is a holy place, governed by the ethic of the kingdom of God, an ethic of grace over entitlement, of love over hostility and indifference, and of fellowship over the lonely pursuit of personal aggrandizement. From the first words uttered by the presider, we are told to expect a transforming encounter with God.

It's the nature of public worship that we move from prayer to scripture to hymn with little or no opportunity to reflect. You or I might dally on some word, everyone else plowing merrily (mindlessly?) on, only to suddenly wake to the fact that we have lost our place and the whole sequence of worship.

Anyway, for this Sunday, and perhaps for a few more, I intend to prepare for worship by meditating on that opening greeting as an invitation "to expect a transforming encounter with God".