It is so stimulating working as a chaplain in the University, alongside so many people learning. I enjoy meeting in the STV and being alongside elite athletes training to reach their goals. It is a reminder that we are continually being transformed.
Lifelong learning is a constant process, and should be going on within us all the time. As a new year gets underway, it’s a time for review. How is life going? We can do a more formal self-audit:
- What is achievable?
- What do I need to change?
- Is there resolution or reconciliation needed?
In Christ we have a helper. The Holy Spirit is there to guide our thinking, speaking and doing. And we walk life with Him, hand in hand. As the psalmist tells us, this is right hand to right hand (Ps 63: 8, 73: 23) - that is a handshake. Paul talks about transformation in his letter to the Romans:
“Therefore I urge you brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God – this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is – His good pleasing and perfect will.” (Romans 12: 1-2)
What a great passage about transformation – to offer ourselves in worship, to be distinctive and not conform, but be transformed, and to then discern God’s will.
There is one God and therefore one will of God, and that is to proclaim Jesus Christ. This leads to a sense of unity and one church. Note I am talking about unity and not uniformity - there are different styles of worship. But we should always remember that there is one church in Jesus Christ’s name. The CofE has just completed a week of prayer for Christian Unity.
And that worship starts with grace, God’s love for us and we are transformed by this love freely given. A closing prayer:
Almighty God,
In Christ you made all things new: transform the poverty of our nature by the riches of your grace and in the renewal of our lives make know your heavenly glory. Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
O worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness.
Nigel
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