Church of the Transfiguration, Sneem

‘…make friends for yourselves by means of dishonest wealth so that when it is gone, they may welcome you into the eternal homes…’

It didn’t matter what you had been, said or done – like Paul, you were given the chance to repent.

So, if we truly offer Him everything, does that leave us with nothing? Quite the opposite. When we give our life to Jesus, it includes the bad bits as well as the good bits.

The heavenly banquet has only one rule of etiquette – That you accept Jesus , the Christ, as Saviour and Redeemer. And then your place and theirs is at the head of His table, alongside Him.

Salvation does not ever come through religious practice – it comes through Christ, the only sinless one, whose sacrifice is given as a free gift in love, to those who can’t help themselves.

We ask that our faith is strengthened in the power of the Spirit when it is tested – and that we will have the courage to live as the Body of Christ, who alone offers life.

And while we think of the things we value most, do we remember that we are of such value to God, that His Son was prepared to go into the flames for us?

In a word, it is all prayer, a rich sequence, choreographed in different moments of gathering, praise, listening and communion.

Jesus comes to us in many ways and with many faces. Are we aware we may ‘entertain Angels without knowing it?

May we never miss meeting your gaze,
in the eyes of our sibling, the stranger.