Holy Spirit, help me gather with you, and not scatter…

 
Luke 11:15-26   

 
So much of Jesus’ ministry was about gathering – “As a mother hen gathers her chicks under her wings”. First and foremost Jesus went up to the hills to pray and ‘gather under the wings’ of his Father.  He didn’t scatter from his Father, or from his own ‘chicks’ (his disciples), even when he was nailed to a cross. And in the 40 days following his Resurrection he constantly gathered his disciples; “Lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the world”, he told them before his Ascension into heaven.  As we gather together in His Name, we continue to fulfill Jesus’ ministry of gathering under God’s Grace, and  drawing others into the healing and holy presence of God.  Just as Jesus welcomed the sick, the dying, the oppressed (notice the tax collectors and sinners He befriended), the outcasts (the Samaritans, the lepers, the thief He welcomed), and the captives he released (the demoniac in the tombs, and Saints Peter and Paul from prison), so He calls us to gather together, in His Name, with people pushed to the fringes of society.  In our comfortable pews today will we notice, and then reach out to gather into our parish communities, those who are forgotten and marginalized? Will we (will I) gather or scatter - the sick, the dying, those suffering from mental health or addictions issues, families struggling to make ends meet, the First Peoples and refugees in our country, the widowed and the orphans and the “foreigners” in our midst?  Holy Spirit of Jesus, help me – help us –like You, to gather in, not scatter away, your beloved people to Yourself. Holy Spirit help me gather with You and not scatter.   
 
He leads [us] in right paths for his name’s sake. Even though [we] walk through the darkest valley, [we] fear no evil, for you are with [us]; your rod and your staff they comfort [us].  (Psalm 23:3b,4) [ transposed into first person plural]
                                                                                   
How wonderful to know that Christianity is more than just a padded pew and a dimly lit Cathedral; but that it is a real, living, daily experience which goes on from grace to grace.
Jim Elliot
 
See a biography of the 20th century Christian martyr, Jim Elliot at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Elliot
 
Soli ad gloriam Dei
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