Recently in worship, we’ve been using the following prayer after we collect our offering and before we begin our communion liturgy:
Blessed are you, O God, maker of all things. Through your goodness you have blessed us with these gifts: our selves, our time, and our possessions. Use us and what we have gathered, in feeding the world with your love, through the one who gave himself for us, Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord. Amen.
All that we are, and all that we have, belongs to God. It’s one thing to say that…and it’s a whole ‘nother thing to live that. Because if we live knowing and trusting that all that we are belongs to God, in the words of Pastor Brian Stoffregen, “we cannot say about our lives that ‘this part belongs to God, so I will give it to God. Everything we are and everything we have belongs to God. Everything we are and everything we have we are to give back to God.” And that includes our very being. As people made in the image of God, and gifted with the gifts God has given each of us, God is at work in each of you to bear the image of God’s Kingdom to the world.
So this week, consider for yourself:
- When people look at you, how might they see you as an image of God?
- And, how might your presence re-present God to others?
In all that we are, we are image bearers of our God who desires to live in relationship with us, and in relationship with all creation. We might restrain ourselves from giving our whole selves to God as a sacrifice of praise. But even still, God’s light within us will shine through as the Spirit moves us to join in God’s mission today.