Praying Together 6th July 2025

So the commandment is a challenge. To love those who betray you. Those who jeer. Those who wield the whips embedded with flint, hammer in the nails, pierce your side.

Meditation for Trinity 3 2025

Collect for Trinity 3

Almighty God, you have broken the tyranny of sin and have sent the Spirit of your Son into our hearts whereby we call you Father: Give us grace to dedicate our freedom to your service, that we and all creation may be brought to the glorious liberty of the children of God; through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Luke 10: 1-11, 16-20

The Lord appointed seventy others and sent them on ahead of him in pairs to every town and place where he himself intended to go. He said to them, ‘The harvest is plentiful, but the labourers are few; therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out labourers into his harvest. Go on your way. See, I am sending you out like lambs into the midst of wolves. Carry no purse, no bag, no sandals; and greet no one on the road. Whatever house you enter, first say, “Peace to this house!” And if anyone is there who shares in peace, your peace will rest on that person; but if not, it will return to you. Remain in the same house, eating and drinking whatever they provide, for the labourer deserves to be paid. Do not move about from house to house. Whenever you enter a town and its people welcome you, eat what is set before you; cure the sick who are there, and say to them, “The kingdom of God has come near to you.” But whenever you enter a town and they do not welcome you, go out into its streets and say, “Even the dust of your town that clings to our feet, we wipe off in protest against you. Yet know this: the kingdom of God has come near.”

‘Whoever listens to you listens to me, and whoever rejects you rejects me, and whoever rejects me rejects the one who sent me.’…

…The seventy returned with joy, saying, ‘Lord, in your name even the demons submit to us!’ He said to them, ‘I watched Satan fall from heaven like a flash of lightning. See, I have given you authority to tread on snakes and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy; and nothing will hurt you. Nevertheless, do not rejoice at this, that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.’

“You can take your toothbrush, but that’s about it. No money or comfortable shoes, no small talk on the road – you need to be totally focussed on your task. Don’t try to provide for yourselves – you will be living only on charity, so accept whatever food you are given and be grateful. In return for what is provided, you are to bless and proclaim the coming Kingdom”

You can almost hear the muttering of the newly-commissioned team of apostles as they discuss what Jesus has told them about the work they have to do. How will we live?, they are asking themselves. What if people refuse to accept us? What if no-one will listen? What if we don’t say the right things? What if I ‘m not up to the task? What if we fail?

I guess those sort of questions aren’t only restricted to the seventy – they’re pretty common to everyone who has been given a job of work they don’t feel qualified to do, or a responsibility on which the lives of others depend. That’s when we have to trust that the person who gave us the task knew what they were doing and believed in us – even though we perhaps didn’t!

The seventy had faith in Jesus, and so off they went – much to the discomfort of the demons who they would cast out in His name. They went out in trepidation – they came back in triumph.

And so we ask ourselves what task Jesus has for us, trusting that He has given us the capacity to perform it. It might be daunting – but we can imagine his smiling greeting when we return with news of our ‘success’.

p.s. Always remember that ‘success’ is simply doing His will – it’s not necessarily achieving the outcome we would ourselves consider to be ‘successful’. Leave that definition with Him.