Ordinary Time

Pause

Vocation is, you could say, what’s left when all the games have stopped. It’s that elusive residue that we are here to discover, and to help one another discover.

Rowan Williams in A Ray of Darkness: Sermons and Reflections (1995)

Listen

Certainly the body isn’t one part but many. If the foot says, “I’m not part of the body because I’m not a hand,” does that mean it’s not part of the body? If the ear says, “I’m not part of the body because I’m not an eye,” does that mean it’s not part of the body? If the whole body were an eye, what would happen to the hearing? And if the whole body were an ear, what would happen to the sense of smell?

1 Corinthians 12:14-17

Think

Some of my friends are very much like me. We like the same things, we listen to the same music, we read the same books. I also have friends who are almost the opposite of me. We don’t like the same books, we don’t like the same movies, we can’t stand one another’s playlists. It might seem like I’d be better friends with the people who are most like me, but I don’t think that’s always true. There are times when we need people to be like us and there are times when we need people to complete or complement us.

God gives us friends and companions who, because they are so unlike us, can help us see things differently and, therefore, more fully. Just like our bodies need eyes to see and ears to hear, the Body of Christ needs us to bring our unique perspectives and preferences in order to manifest the rich diversity of the people of God.

Columba Maynus

Pray

Loving God, I give you thanks for creating humanity with such diversity. Help me to see how the gifts and perspectives of others make the world a better, more just place. Amen.

Go

Go, a disciple, called and sent.

Go, a disciple, equipped for justice.

Go, a disciple blessed

in the strong name of God:

one holy and undivided Trinity.

Amen.