Listen:
“May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you”. (2 Corinthians 13:14)
Reflect:
We finally got our schedules aligned and we got to meet yesterday morning after a full summer for each of us! My 3 close friends came over and we got to celebrate my birthday that was in July. Our time was so sweet and way too short. We each got to share about our last weeks, our joys and struggles – real life with its complete package of good and hard. As I was sitting there, listening to them, listening to my own soul interacting with everything that was happening, as we prayed – I felt real koinonia – fellowship.
We don’t have a good word in Romanian, my native language, for koinonia. We are using an old word that only Christians use anymore that could be translated as “taking part”. It is an incomplete word that does not describe the magnitude of koinonia, but I actually like its simple assumption. To have koinonia you have to take part. You cannot have koinonia if you are not there – physically, emotionally, spiritually – vulnerably. Koinonia is beautiful and it can be scary, too, because taking part in something can sometimes take more courage than imagined.
“May the charis (grace) of the Lord Jesus Christ and the agape (love) of God, and the koinonia (fellowship) of the Holy Spirit be with you”.
We’re invited into a fellowship with the Trinity! This is huge and amazing and so scary and mysterious! It is also beautiful as we are offered the gifts of grace, sacrificial love and presence of our God! But sometimes we might feel overwhelmed. To be invited to the table and just come feels unworthy. I sometimes find myself not coming in the presence of God because I don’t feel enough. Or I allow busyness to capture my whole soul and I make room for nothing else. Or worry and anxiety paralyze me. In spite of the amazingness that we are offered, it is easy to be distracted and not see it or receive it.
As we are starting this new ministry year, we’re invited afresh to come. We’re invited to koinonia – to take part. And to let God do the rest. We’re under construction. We’re under no pretense that we’re not in constant need of work, confession, repentance, healing. We’re raw, we’re real, we’re there. And that’s the gift that we can offer back to our welcoming and loving trinitarian God who keeps inviting us to more as he is offering us more of himself.
Prayer of Response
Lord Jesus Christ, we need and want your grace for us today. God, we need and want your love for us today. Holy Spirit, we need and want your fellowship and presence today. Make our lives and hearts attuned to you and yours. Amen.
Questions for Reflection
- What fears, worries, preoccupations am I allowing to dwell in my mind and heart these days?
- Do I truly believe that God is offering me extraordinary grace, inimaginable love and healing fellowship with him and his children? How am I receiving these in my life?
- Where do I need to find rest in him?
—Submitted by Diana Anton
Diana lives in Bucharest, Romania and serves as the Executive Director of Lifesprings International and her passion is to see women worldwide connected, encouraged and prepared to impact their communities with the love of Jesus. During Breather Month she got to visit two important cities in the history of the world—Athens and Istanbul, and on top of all the fascinating things that she learned, she got this fresh awareness that God is in control over history and he keeps writing grace stories through us as well, as part of his Story.