Amazing God of blessings and peace, pour out Your healing touch upon the needs of this dear reader or their family; in Christ Jesus I pray, amen.
Our text for today comes from 2 Corinthians 13: 11 Finally, brothers and sisters, farewell. Put things in order, listen to my appeal, agree with one another, live in peace; and the God of love and peace will be with you. 12 Greet one another with a holy kiss. All the saints greet you. 13 The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with all of you. (NRSV).
Jesus said, "Where two or three are gathered, there's going to be trouble!" Well, okay, Jesus didn't say this, His promise was more powerful and positive; but the truth is that in the Church we find some of the most troubling things we can ever not hope to find, but do. It was no exception with the early church, people have a tendency to find fault either with each other or with the systems in place or whatever. The Corinth church was a source of great pain for the Apostle Paul. He wrote, it is believed, three letters to them, the second of which was lost, but our Bibles contain what are named 1 and 2 Corinthians. Some believe that portions or the main thoughts in the lost second letter are found in the closing chapters of 2nd Corinthians. The good news was that the church had finally solved its problems with each other and with Paul himself. This brought great joy to Paul.
Trinity Sunday is a great day to affirm the positive of the Church. At its best (or is it "our" best) the Church is a wonderful place to be. When we allow God's love to flow from heart to heart, the blessings cannot be contained in that one place and should be spread beyond the four walls of the church. Paul knew as should we that as we affirm the Triune qualities of God, we can affirm expressions of that source for great fellowship and mission: (v. 13) 1. We find grace in the Lord Jesus Christ. 2. We find love in God. 3. We find common purpose (communion) and interaction with the presence of the Holy Spirit. And that is something the hurting world can benefit from if we just share it.
PRAYER: Loving God, we praise You and thank You for the way You express Yourself in our midst. May this Sunday's time together be a time when we can celebrate Your love, Your grace, and Your communion with us. And may it be something that we willingly share with others. I pray this in Christ Jesus' precious and powerful name, amen.
Have a great and blessed day in the Lord!
Eradio Valverde
