Already you have been filled!
already you are beginning to be rich!
you begin to reign as kings without us!
and indeed I could wish you did reign as kings
so that we might reign with you too!

For, it seems to me,
God paraded us apostles last
as ones doomed to die
because we have become a spectacle to the world:
both to angels
and to people.
We are foolish because of Christ,
yet you are wise in Christ
we are are weak
yet you are strong,
you are honoured
yet we are despised.

Until this present hour
we are hungry and thirsty
we are naked and beaten
and are homeless and
we toil, by working with our hands.
Although insulted, we speak kindly
although persecuted, we endure
although slandered, we are positive
We have become the world’s scum
everyone’s scrapings- until now.

Eternal God and Fatther,
you create us by your power,
and redeem us by your love,
guide and strengthen us by your Spirit,
that we may give ourselves in love and service
to one another and to you;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen

Now,
these things
brothers/sisters
I have applied them to myself, and Apollos (as examples)
for your sake,
so that you may learn
through us
‘Not beyond what is written,’
so that you may not be puffed up
one on behalf of one (of us), against another.
For who distinguishes (between) you? ,
What do you have that you did not receive?
For if you received,
why boast,
-as if you did not receive?

O Lord Jesus Christ,
stay beside me to defend me,
within me to guide me,
before me to lead me,
and above me to bless me,
that with you and in you,
I may live, and move and have my being,
for ever and ever.
Amen.

(unknown)

In this way
let a person think about us
as servants of Christ
and managers of the mysteries of God.
Here, for the rest, it is ‘required’ amongst managers
that one might be found faithful /trustworthy.

Then as for me,
it is a small matter to me
that I am examined by you
or by a human court (day).
But I do I not even examine myself.
For I am conscious that I am nothing,
but not in this am I pronounced in the right
The one who examines is the Lord.

So do not judge anything before the time
– until the Lord comes,
who will also bring to light the hidden things of darkness
and reveal the purposes of the heart.
and at that time
the recognition – due to each- will come
from God.

Keep us, O Lord, while we tarry on this earth,
in a serious seeking after thee,
and in an affectionate walking with thee,
every day of our lives;
that when thou comest,
we may be found not hiding our talent,
nor yet asleep with our lamp unfurnished,
but waiting and longing for our Lord,
our glorious King, for ever and ever.

Richard Baxter (1615-1691)

Let no one deceive themselves.
If someone among you thinks
they are wise
in this age
let them become foolish
in order to become wise.
For the wisdom of this age is foolish
beside God,
For it is written:
He catches the wise in their craftiness¹
and again
The Lord knows the thoughts of the wise,
that they are futile²
so then
let no one boast in human people
For everything is yours.
whether Paul
or Apollos,
or Cephas
or the world
or life
or death
or the present
or the future
– you all are Christ’s
and Christ is God’s.

1. Job 5:13 ↩︎
2. Psalm 94:11
   ↩︎

Lord God,
you feed us with the living bread from heaven;
you renew our faith,
increase our hope,
and strengthen our love.

Teach us to hunger
for Christ who is the true and living bread,
and to live by every word
that comes from your mouth,
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.

Do you not know that
you are a temple of God
and the Spirit of God dwells in you all?
If anyone destroys the temple of God,
God will destroy them.
For the temple of God is holy,
which is what you are.

Eternal Light, shine into our hearts;
Eternal Goodness, deliver us from evil;
Eternal Power, be our support;
Eternal Wisdom, scatter the darkness of our ignorance:
That we may seek your face
with all our heart and mind and soul and strength. Amen.

Alcuin

According to the grace of God,
given to me,
as a skilled master-builder
I laid a foundation
but another builds on (it.)
Each person – give attention to how to build!
For nobody can lay another foundation
other than the one that has been laid down,
which is Jesus Christ.
For if someone builds upon the foundation
with gold, or silver, or precious stones or, wood, or hay or straw,
the work of each (builder) will become seen,
for the Day will make it clear,
because it (the Day?) will be revealed by fire.
And the fire will test what sort of work each (has done).
If the work that some had built remains,
they will receive a reward.
If someone’s work is burnt up,
they will suffer loss,
They themselves will be saved,
but as through fire.

God, give me grace to accept with serenity
the things that cannot be changed,
Courage to change the things
which should be changed,
and the Wisdom to distinguish
the one from the other.

Living one day at a time,
Enjoying one moment at a time,
Accepting hardship as a pathway to peace,
Taking, as Jesus did,
This sinful world as it is,
Not as I would have it,
Trusting that You will make all things right,
If I surrender to Your will,
So that I may be reasonably happy in this life,
And supremely happy with You forever in the next.

Amen.

Then, what is Apollos?
What is Paul?
Servants through whom you came to believe,
to each (teacher) as the Lord gave
I planted,
Apollos watered,
but God went on causing growth.
And so
neither the one who plants
is anything,
nor the one who waters
but the who causes growth – God
So the one who plants and the one who waters are one,
each will receive their own reward
according to their own work.
For we are coworkers, (belonging to) God,
You are
God’s field
God’s building

Eternal Light, shine into our hearts,
Eternal Goodness, deliver us from evil,
Eternal Power, be our support,
Eternal Wisdom, scatter the darkness of our ignorance,
Eternal Pity, have mercy upon us;
that with all our heart and mind
and soul and strength we may seek thy face
and be brought by thine infinite mercy
to thy holy presence;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Alcuin (735-804)

And I, brothers/sisters,
was not able speak to you
as spiritual people,
but as people with apparently only human impulses
as ‘being babyish’ in Christ.
I gave you milk,
not solid food.
For you were not yet able (to eat it),
and indeed you are not now still.
For still you are fleshly.
For since there is jealously among you
and quarrelling, –
are you not fleshly
and walking according to ‘human standards’?
For whenever you say:
‘I am of Paul’, or another ‘I am Apollos’
are you not (acting) as all too human?

Lord, you have given me so much,
I ask for one more thing –
a grateful heart.

George Herbert

Further we speak about these things
not in words taught by human wisdom
but (in words) taught by the Spirit
– interpreting spiritual things with spiritual words.
But a human-only-level person
does not receive the Spirit of God.
For it is foolishness for them,
and they cannot understand
because they (spiritual things) are spiritually discerned.
“(For) the spiritual person sif ts out all things
but they themselves are not sifted.”
“For who has known the mind of the Lord,
who instructs him?”¹
And we have the mind-set of Christ.

Be thou a bright flame before me,
Be thou a guiding star above me
Be thou a smooth path below me
Be thou a kindly shepherd behind me
Today – tonight -forever
Amen.

St Columba

1. Isa 40:13 ↩︎

For to us God revealed
(these things)
through his Spirit,
For the Spirit searches out all things
even the depths of God(‘s own self).
For who among human beings
has come to know
the things of the human being
except the human spirit
which is in them?
And in the same way, nobody knows the things of God
unless the Spirit of God (reveals them).
For we did not receive the spirit of the world
but the Spirit which is (comes) from God
so that we might understand the things
having been freely given by God to us.

O Love, O God who created me, in your love recreate me.
O Love, who redeemed me,
fill up in me whatever part of your love
has fallen into neglect within me.
O Love, O God, who first loved me,
grant that with my whole heart,
and with my whole soul,
and with my whole strength,
I may love you.

Gertrude the Great

St Ignatius