Friday 14 October 2022

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Today is Friday the 14th of October, in the 28th week of Ordinary Time.

Paul Zach sings, ‘Nothing to Fear’. Become aware of God’s gaze of love upon you now…

When you pass through the waters

I will be with you

And the depths of the rivers

Shall not overwhelm

When you walk through the fire

You will not be burned

I am the Lord, I am the Lord

And there is nothing to fear, nothing to fear

There is nothing to fear, nothing to fear

For I am with you always

In the depths of your sorrow

I wept beside you

When you walked through the shadow

I drew you near

Yesterday, today, tomorrow,

Always the same

I am the Lord, I am the Lord

And there is nothing to fear, nothing to fear

There is nothing to fear, nothing to fear

For I am with you always

What can separate you from my perfect love?

What can separate you from my perfect love?

What can separate you from my perfect love?

Do not fear, do not fear, do not fear

Today’s reading is from the Gospel of Luke.

Luke 12:1-7

Meanwhile, when the crowd gathered in thousands, so that they trampled on one another, he began to speak first to his disciples, ‘Beware of the yeast of the Pharisees, that is, their hypocrisy. Nothing is covered up that will not be uncovered, and nothing secret that will not become known. Therefore whatever you have said in the dark will be heard in the light, and what you have whispered behind closed doors will be proclaimed from the housetops.

‘I tell you, my friends, do not fear those who kill the body, and after that can do nothing more. But I will warn you whom to fear: fear him who, after he has killed, has authority to cast into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him! Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? Yet not one of them is forgotten in God’s sight. But even the hairs of your head are all counted. Do not be afraid; you are of more value than many sparrows.

What was the Pharisees’ hypocrisy all about?

Masquerading. Saying one thing, being or doing another: are only Pharisees guilty of hypocrisy or could I put my own hand up to practising it too?

Pretence. Another word for hypocrisy. The opposite of being genuine, being authentic, my true self. I could ask God to help me better know my true self - with all its foibles, its strengths, its weaknesses.

As you hear the passage again, notice God countering evil with all that is light and true and good.

How does it feel to know that every hair on my head is counted? That God notices even the sparrows? That God’s way is light, not the burdensome way of the Pharisees’?

As this prayer time draws to a close I consider the choices I’ll make today, aspiring to be genuine and true. I ask for God’s help to choose the better way.

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.