Saturday, June 20, 2015

Today’s Reading  |  Luke 12:35–40
“Be dressed for action and have your lamps lit; be like those who are waiting for their master to return from the wedding banquet, so that they may open the door for him as soon as he comes and knocks. Blessed are those slaves whom the master finds alert when he comes; truly I tell you, he will fasten his belt and have them sit down to eat, and he will come and serve them. If he comes during the middle of the night, or near dawn, and finds them so, blessed are those slaves.

“But know this: if the owner of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have let his house be broken into. You also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an unexpected hour.” (NRSV) 

Reflection
If you want to be a true Christian, prepare for your life to be interrupted. Those words have stuck with me for ten years since I first heard them during a homily at my hometown church. The priest continued with a story about how he felt called to assist a driver in need, stalled on the side of a highway, even though it meant arriving late to his own appointment and setting his own priorities aside for the betterment of someone else.

Those words of preparation, humility, and selflessness have stuck with me because I truly believe we are not meant to live on our time, but to live on Christ’s time. To live as true Christians, we must always seek opportunities to help our neighbors in need, but we must also be ready to answer that call for Christ when he appears as our unassuming neighbor. And when his “interruption” is during the most inconvenient of times.

Today’s reading from Luke is often regarded as an allusion to the end of times, or Christ’s second coming. However, Christ comes to us much more frequently than we like to think. In the form of a grieving friend. A young adult experiencing homelessness. An aging relative fearful of death. How we react and engage and love with those who are the most isolated or suffering is the true test of our Christian preparation here on Earth.

So we must ask ourselves, are we constantly prepared for Christ to enter our lives at a moment’s notice, even when we consider it “inconvenient?” To be true servants of Christ, we must serve one another, and we must answer Christ’s invitation to do so with humility and joy.

Prayer
God of all people, invite us to prepare our hearts and our faith, so we may serve each other with selfless love. Amen.

Written by Jackie Lorens, Director, Chicago Lights Elam Davies Social Service Center

Reflection and Prayer © Fourth Presbyterian Church

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