19 Or don’t you know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you? Don’t you know that you have the Holy Spirit from God, and you don’t belong to yourselves? 20 You have been bought and paid for, so honor God with your body.
Reflection
On May 1st , Laura and I were fortunate to visit St. Patrick’s Cathedral in Dublin, Ireland. Through the years we have seen amazing, old, and not so old, historic churches but none have had the relational and connectional feel that is in this church.
Perhaps part of the reason is the beliefs that they express today: “We believe that God is love. Love is the principle that undergirds all that exists. God invites us to trust that love and to live a life of faith that reflects God’s generous love in our dealings with others. We believe that God becomes known to us primarily in three ways. God is the creator, without whom nothing would exist. The human face of God is Jesus Christ. The God that is with us and in us, we name the Holy Spirit. Together we call the Creator, Jesus, and Spirit the Holy Trinity. God is a mystery that is greater than our language. A mystery is different from a puzzle: puzzles end when solved, whereas mysteries are lived with. The doctrine of the Holy Trinity is an invitation to explore the mystery of God on an exciting journey of discovery.”
Perhaps this church feels connectional because it is so old being founded in 1191. Perhaps it is partly the people who were part of the church such as Jonathan Swift, an Anglo-Irish poet, author of books such as Gulliver’s Travels, satirist, and political pamphleteer who served the last 30 years of his life as Dean of the cathedral. I was so impressed by a few words he penned that I took the picture below.
Today’s scripture cries out to us to acknowledge and appreciate the gift of the Holy Spirit within us. Swift’s words from 400 years ago express anguish at how religion has been used as a tool for fault finding rather than love. Paul is writing in chapter 6, over 1,600 years earlier, at a time when he has been with the Corinthians for about three years. He has taught and shared so much with the Corinthians but at the beginning of chapter 6 he describes believers suing each other in the Roman courts rather than glorifying God in body and spirit.
by Clarence Beverage
For Pondering and Prayer
The writing of Jonathan Swift and the Apostle Paul remind us that we are not perfect, no one is, but throughout history, even today, Christians can lose their way or be misled.
What do you do to consciously stay in Love with God, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit?
Since we each are fallible, what could we do, perhaps in small groups, in conversation, writing or prayer to make us stronger?
Prayer: Dear Lord, There are many things we can be thankful for. Those who speak truth to help bring us back again to your word are of true value. Through your Spirit may we each seek to see, and share, your love and truth. Amen.