"Let your Spirit, O Lord, come into the midst of us to wash us with the pure water of repentance, and prepare us to be always a living sacrifice to you; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen."
Psalm 79:1-9, Daniel 9:3-10, and Luke 6:27-36
Fortunately for us, God no longer requires the gift of a burnt offering of sacrifice from us. We're not expected to go out to buy a piece of livestock to offer up to God whenever we need to make a confession or supplication to God. That practice went away a long time ago, and I'm sure you're as grateful as I am that we don't have to do sacrifice cows or doves to the Almighty.
That doesn't mean, though, that we don't make offerings to God. We know about the offerings of time and treasure, the typical things asked of us in stewardship campaigns. Our collect today speaks of another way of giving to God when it asks God to "prepare us to be always a living sacrifice" washed with the "water of repentance."
To be a living sacrifice is to live a life holy to God. This can be an incredibly difficult thing to do, especially when we can think, "What about my offering? Isn't that ample?" or "I've already given my time to the church this week. Shouldn't that be enough?" Finding the strength and ability to be a "living sacrifice" to God can be a great challenge. It's about giving up more of ourselves than we can comfortably give, offering more of ourselves than we normally would.
The opportunity to be a "living sacrifice" changes everyday. Hopefully we're all aware enough to seize the opportunity when we can.
1 comment:
The hard part about trying to be a living sacrifice is that there is very little feedback or positive reinforcement. It all comes from within or so it seems.
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