A piece of cloth
Bible Reading: Luke 5: 33 - 38
Author: Oystein Brinch (Oslo, Norway)
Author: Oystein Brinch (Oslo, Norway)
Friday 26 April 2024 © The Upper Room.
Our church council decided that the altar cloth needed to be replaced – it was very old and the colours in the embroidery were faded. As I havebeen doing embroidery since I was a boy, I volunteered to make the new altar cloth.
When I began planning out the project, I remembered the words of Jesus quoted above. It would be impossible to stitch new embroidery on the old cloth. But it was possible to use the old pattern with new thread and new cloth.
As Christians, we use a 2,000-year-old pattern – the gospel – to shape our lives today. The thread and the cloth belong to the present and the gospel is something God gave us long ago – but it is as relevant and true for our lives as ever.
Prayer: Dear Lord, thank you for your love and grace that make everything new. We pray as Jesus taught us saying, ‘Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen.’
