Tuesday 28 May 2013

Background

How many times have you been in a church service, meeting orjust a church setting and heard the invitation, "Shall we say thegrace together?" And how many times do we intone a version of thewords contained in verse 13, yet with our minds on the coffee afterworship, who we need to see, the journey home or some otherdistraction?

Grace is a constant theme in Paul's writing - one to which hereturns to again and again. It begins many of his letters (eg Romans1:7; 1 Corinthians 1:3; Galatians 1:3), including this one (2Corinthians 1:2), and ends many of them too. For Paul, grace(ie the freely given love of God) should be in every moment of thelife of faith for all believers. Our life is dependent upon it,from the beginning to the end.

Different translations of the Bible use different words for"communion", such as "association", or "fellowship". This can refereither to a close personal relationship between each person and theHoly Spirit, or it can relate to the fellowship among believersthat the Holy Spirit produces, such as the spiritual gifts that theSpirit brings to enrich the life of all (eg 1Corinthians 12:7; Galatians 5:22). But the joy of this is that itis not necessarily a case of 'either/or' but 'both/and'!

This verse and the prayer conveniently have a very neatexpression of the Trinity (God/Father, Christ and the Holy Spirit),but its lasting power is its ability to give voice to the depth andbreadth of God's love.

The final five words "be with all of you" once again proclaimsthe inclusiveness of God's love. It is made the more poignant giventhe context and content of the letter that Paul had just written:the Corinthian church had been infiltrated by false teachers whowere challenging Paul's authority and integrity. Paul makes adefence of himself and his beliefs along with a warning of hisreadiness to exercise discipline if required. In spite of thedisagreements and threat of division, he ends by affirming that themembers of the community do stand on the same ground and belong toone another because of God's love - the grace that comes fromChrist and the fellowship which is generated by the HolySpirit.

So the next time you are invited to join in "the grace", try andbe more aware of the power of the prayer that you are praying.

To Ponder

• In verse 11, Paul writes "live in peace". How can we "live inpeace" when there is so much strife and suffering in theworld?

• What does "the communion [fellowship] of the Holy Spirit" meanto you?

• "The grace" is often said as a prayer of blessing to oneanyone. How easy is it to say when they are those you struggle tolove? What might you do in response to this?