The Feast of St Lawrence | Wednesday 10 August 2022

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Today is Wednesday the 10th August, the feast of St Lawrence.

The Porter’s Gate sings, ‘The Promise’.

This gift you gave from the beginning

Warm light, dry land, blue water brimming

And more, from the earth there came a growing

From seed to bloom, all the while you were sowing

It was love, love given in the water

And peace, God's peace written in the letters

Of the earth, God's earth, given with a promise

Can we keep it

Can we keep it

And stars in the night to gaze on them kindly

Great light, cool moon, all aligned in the sky, see

From water came life and so from the land

To feed, not to fight, to stand hand in hand

It was love, love given in the water

And peace, God's peace, given in the sunshine

And the earth, God's earth, given with a promise

Can we keep it

Out from the silence I hear a voice, I follow it onwards

You whisper to me, I am reminded of every gift you gave

So, spirit lead me unto the waters, unto the earth you made

Teach me the secret to ever care for, to look after it

It was love, love given in the water

And peace, God's peace written in the letters

Of the earth, God's earth, given with a promise

Can we keep it

Can we keep it

Today’s reading is from St Paul’s Second Letter to the Corinthians.

2 Cor 9:6-10

The point is this: the one who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and the one who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. Each of you must give as you have made up your mind, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to provide you with every blessing in abundance, so that by always having enough of everything, you may share abundantly in every good work. As it is written,

‘He scatters abroad, he gives to the poor;

his righteousness endures for ever.’

He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness.

This beautiful reflection on generosity is in a letter from Paul to a city known for its extravagance. He reminds us that God can never be outdone in generosity and encourages us to the same wild extravagance in the service of God and of God’s people. For many of us this is harvest time. What are you hoping to harvest from your life this year?

Like Jesus, Paul speaks of reaping and sowing. Do you have a sense of what you have sown this year in your actions and words, your public and private interactions? Have you any sense yet of what harvest that might bring? We often don’t get to reap our own harvests, but can you sow in faith and hope, trusting God to harvest in due season?

As we listen once more to the reading, do any particular words, images or feelings strike you? Try staying with them as they emerge.

The passage tells us that ‘God loves a cheerful giver’. Are there things that you are able to give God and others cheerfully, or are there things you find it harder to let go of? Do you have a sense of invitation to give right now? Take time to talk to God about this.

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.