Thought for the Day, Choral Evensong, Sunday 16 July 2017 by Clare Heard, at St John the Baptist Church, Holland Road

Thought for the Day, Choral Evensong, Sunday 16 July 2017 by Clare Heard, at St John the Baptist Church, Holland Road

Gifts

What gifts have you been given in life? What blessings have you received?

The reading from Samuel is all about David recognising the blessings he has received from God. Not only recognising them but also seeing that he has been blessed in order that the whole Israelite nation may be blessed. This is about the blessings we receive overflowing beyond our immediate families and friends, to entire nations. David clearly sees this, and is aware that all he has comes from God as gift, as part of his plan for the Jewish people.

But then in Luke, we see Jesus weeping over Jerusalem. It is like the gift from God has been forgotten, the people have turned away and rather than using their blessings to bless others, have turned the temple into a place of profit, have stopped listening to God. The leaders do not recognise Jesus for who he is. They have shut their eyes and ears and tried to keep God’s gifts for themselves.

And thinking this through made me wonder whether we recognise the many blessings we receive from God, and whether we use them to bless others. And so I want to ask today, what are the greatest gifts you have been given? Maybe a particular talent or vocation? Maybe material wealth? Maybe a love for a certain part of God’s creation – children, animals, our planet?

Have a think about the many blessings you have, pause to recognise your gifts – because we all have gifts and talents, even if some are more obvious than others.

And then ask yourself how you are using them to bless others in our world. What are you doing to bring God’s kingdom here?

Because being a Christian is not simply about being nice to people – it is a fundamental shift in the way we view our world. Christians recognise that the most important thing we have is loving relationships – relationships with God, relationships with each other and with our creation.

Everything we do, everything we say, should be concerned with building and affirming these relationships – blessing our world however we can.

This may be through giving to charity, or volunteering in poorer communities, but it will also be through the choices we make every day. Choices over how we spend our money, choices over the things we buy, choices over the way we treat people who are different, or difficult.

And these can be difficult choices – sometimes the things that are best for our world are not the things that immediately give us what we want. Sometimes the right choices involve doing without and making sacrifices.

The readings today remind us that we have received many blessings – they call us to be thankful, and also thoughtful over how we use them, remembering that we are all called to share God’s love with our world in any way we can.

What are your greatest gifts? How will you use them?