Monday
2 Corinthians 13.14: “May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all.”
These words, often used as a closing blessing at the end of worship, were the last words Paul wrote in the letter that caused him most personal pain. Misunderstood, misrepresented, his heart open and vulnerable to the Corinthians, many of whom had closed their hearts to him. And he writes this! These are not words that say “Everything in this church is fine!” Rather, they are written to remind them, and us, that it is the grace, love and communion of the Triune God that holds us together, nourishes our shared life, and guides and guards our relationships with each other.
Tuesday
2 Cor. 13.11a: “Finally brothers and sisters, rejoice! Aim for perfection, listen to my appeal, be of one mind, live in peace.”
When we say the Grace together, it helps to look at what Paul wrote just before writing this benediction. “Rejoice” is the Christian attitude that contradicts all the other self-indulgent nonsense we get up to! Whatever the problems they (and we) have with each other, God is at work to bring reconciliation. Aim for perfection more literally means, “Mend your ways.” Paul’s prayer and hope for each of the churches shines through these two phrases, “be of one mind, live in peace.” When we close a service with the Grace, that is what we are saying, and praying, and working towards.
Wednesday
2 Cor. 12.11b: “And the God of love and peace will be with you.”
Before we get to the Benediction, which is a wish prayer, we have a promise prayer. It follows from all Paul’s urgings to sort things out that he mentions earlier in this verse. When we work at love as agape, as “indefatigable good-will”, God who is love is with us. Where we seek peace and reconciliation, the God of peace will be with us. To say the Grace to each other, then, is to acknowledge and renew our commitment to all that those words of grace, love and communion bestow on our life together.
Thursday
2 Cor. 13.12-13: “Greet one another with a holy kiss. All the saints send their greetings.”
What is intended here is the exchange of a visible sign of fellowship, forgiveness, an open recognition that we are all guests in God’s house, entitled to be here, each of us equally honoured by our host, the Triune God of grace, love and communion. The modern practice of ‘exchanging the peace’ is our cultural version of this. It’s worth remembering that the kiss of peace lies at the heart of the parable of the Prodigal Son. The Father’s kiss is the public sign of reconciliation, love and acceptance. “All the saints” send their blessing; not those who felt like it, but all the saints, share in this practice of demonstrating the holy grace and love that infuses Holy Communion.
Friday
2 Cor. 13.14a “May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.”
And so, against the background of a troubled church emerging from self-inflicted wounds of hurt and blame, we come to each of the three elements of a Christian Benediction. “You know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, who though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor…” “By grace you are saved, through faith.” “My grace is sufficient for you.” At the heart of our own heart’s experience is the grace that loves us, found us, saved us, and keeps us. To say the Grace as we look around at each other is an act of wondering praise for the amazing grace of God in Christ. Inexhaustible grace pushes us towards greater maturity as Christ’s Body.
Saturday
2 Cor. 13.14b “May the love of God be with you all.”
God’s love for each of us doesn’t depend on us just wishing it were so for each of us. God’s love is already “shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit”. John the Apostle of love went on and on about the love of God in his letter: “If God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.” “God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God.” When we look into the faces of our brothers and sisters at the close of worship, we are wishing them, and ourselves, a deeper sense of ‘the love that drew salvation’s plan’. Together we are making a shared response that we will love God more, and love each other more, because he first loved us.
Sunday
2 Cor. 13.14c “May the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all.”
‘Communion’, or ‘fellowship’, only capture some of Paul’s meaning. Spelled out more carefully; “Your common participation in the life and power of the Holy Spirit.”[1] Fellowship can sound a cosy word. Not in Paul’s dictionary! This is about partnership, sleeves rolled up, the whole self in and shaken all about! In other words to say the Grace to each other is to commit ourselves to working together, supporting each other, being good colleagues and dependable co-workers in the Kingdom of God.
[1] Murray Harris, The Second Epistle to the Corinthians, page 962. Harris has spent a lifetime in the Greek New Testament, and is a leading scholar on 2 Corinthians. I don’t usually do footnotes in TFTD, but this one is a worthy exception, to pay tribute to a man whose academic work and meticulous scholarship have always been in the service of the church and its ministries. Like many ministers, I thank God for such vocational excellence.
Comments