URC Daily Devotion Friday 12 January 2024

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12 January 2024
It is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me
 

Galatians 2: 19 – 21
For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ;  and it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.  I do not nullify the grace of God; for if justification comes through the law, then Christ died for nothing.

Reflection
January is a month which always prompts me to reflect. It is the start of a new year, the anniversary of my ordination is in January and this year I am beginning a new role in ministry as a Synod Moderator. Paul’s affirmation, ‘It is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me’ is a good basis for my reflection.

What does this affirmation mean for me? Do others see Christ in me and through me in the way I live my life, not just my ‘professional life’ but in all aspects of my living? What does this affirmation mean for you?

In 2009 the National Synod of Scotland agreed its Aspirations.  We seek to:

  • celebrate, in our worship and in our living, God’s unconditional love as revealed in Christ
  • respond to God’s love through inclusive worship;
  • show that the love of God is radical;
  • continue our journey towards church unity;
  • understand, and work with, people of other faiths and none;
  • work for peace and justice;
  • act on our concern for all God’s creation;
  • be committed to developing our faith both personally and corporately.
Over ten years later the aspirations are still an expression of the Synod’s life-in-community. Thinking back over the years, different aspirations have been of greater importance at particular times, but we continue to turn to them as indicators of what we aspire to be, how we aspire to live as a community of God’s people and how we participate in God’s mission within the life of our nation and beyond.  They are broad enough for different perspectives to be held within each aspiration, they are focussed enough to help us articulate our identity in Christ.

I also find them an energising and challenging framework for my own discipleship, offering a celebration of who God is and a framework for responding to that personally in my own faith journey and in my relationship with others.

Prayer
For me to live is Christ:
with him new life begins;
his loving touch renews my mind and takes away my sins.
from him true living springs:
he comes, and with his radiant love transforms all common things.
to serve is now my aim;
to help wherever there is need, and care in Jesus’ name.
for him my life I’ll spend;
my strength, my aim, my hope, my Lord, from now till my life’s end.
                                         Peter Henry Kelay Tongeman (adapted)

Today’s writer

The Rev’d. Lindsey Sanderson, Moderator, National Synod of Scotland

New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright © 1989, 1995 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.