Meditation for Trinity 12 2025
Almighty and everlasting God, you are always more ready to hear than we to pray and to give more than either we desire, or deserve:
Pour down upon us the abundance of your mercy, forgiving us those things of which our conscience is afraid, and giving us those good things which we are not worthy to ask save through the merits and mediation of Jesus Christ your Son our Lord.
Luke 14: 25 – 33
Now large crowds were travelling with him; and he turned and said to them, ‘Whoever comes to me and does not hate** father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and even life itself, cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not carry the cross and follow me cannot be my disciple. For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not first sit down and estimate the cost, to see whether he has enough to complete it? Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it will begin to ridicule him, saying, “This fellow began to build and was not able to finish.” Or what king, going out to wage war against another king, will not sit down first and consider whether he is able with ten thousand to oppose the one who comes against him with twenty thousand? If he cannot, then, while the other is still far away, he sends a delegation and asks for the terms of peace. So therefore, none of you can become my disciple if you do not give up all your possessions.
**N.B. the word used is μισέω (miseō) – which literally means ‘To love less, or to prefer someone or something less than another’ – to translate the word as ‘hate’ implies anger and that is not a valid translation in this context.
er… can I just keep my stamp collection?
No.
Looking for a video for this week’s meditation, I found lots of versions. Most of them were missing a verse. Guess which.
Yup. You got it. The one that begins ‘Take my Silver and my Gold…’
The hymn ‘Take my life’ may possibly be the most difficult in the Hymn book to sing with sincerity. Just look again at what we are asking.
Take my life,
Take my hands,
Take my feet,
Take my voice,
Take my lips,
Take my silver and my gold,
Take my intellect,
Take my will,
Take my heart,
Take my love,
Take myself.
You will notice there are no exclusions. Take my everything, we ask.
Every single thing I am.
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. And it is given back to us, sparkling clean and pure. At no cost to ourselves other than a promise to now take on the role of being the body of Christ on Earth, in all we do and say.
And yes, we will find that to be an impossible challenge – but one to which we aspire, with heart and mind and soul (and all the others mentioned above). We miss the mark. Often. Fortunately, and blessedly, we can always sing that hymn again. The Lord will never tire to hear it and respond in unending sacrificial love.
Previous Posts
Praying Together 22nd June 2025
As Christians, may we never regard mercy and compassion towards others as weakness, naivety or gullibility, but display the traits which demonstrate that we follow a Saviour who came to rescue those left behind.
Praying Together 15th June 2025
You couldn’t fly a kite inside a church building –for the Kite to fly you’d have to go into the windy street outside. Where does that place the need for the Spirit to act?
Praying Together 8 June 2025
Of all the strange things happening on the Day of Pentecost, perhaps the most puzzling is when God appears to have second thoughts. In Genesis 11, He makes it difficult for people to understand each other’s language
Praying Together 1st June 2025
The song by Mary Black, ‘Bless the Road’, while written as from a parent whose child is leaving home alone for the first time – maybe first day at primary school, going to college, beginning an independent life – always puts me in mind of the thoughts and blessing of Jesus as He prays for His disciples before His Ascension.
Praying Together 25th May 2025
‘Peace I give to you… do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not be afraid.’
His peace is not remote and only there at the end of things – His Peace is with us now.
Praying Together 18th May 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.
Praying Together 11th May 2025
Wherever there are people who have no freedom to make choices about their lives, where there is inequality and injustice, slavery exists.
Praying Together 4th May 2025
But difficult as it is to forgive, it is even harder to be forgiven – even though words of forgiveness have been offered, there will be times during early sleepless hours of wondering whether it will ever be possible to forgive oneself.
Praying Together April 27th 2025
The passage from Matthew’s Gospel gives a warning and example against which every Christian teacher and leader must be tested. As fallen humans, everyone will fall short of perfection– but we can measure lives against it.
Praying Together 20th April 2025
So together, morning, noon and night, we shout Thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Praying Together 13th April 2025
He is sinless, we were not – but He takes our sin unto Himself, allowing us the freedom to choose to serve His purpose rather than our own
Praying Together 6th April 2025
Everyone runs in her own way, or his own way. And where does the power come from, to see the race to its end? From within. Jesus said, ‘Behold, the Kingdom of God is within you.