URC Daily Devotion 13 August 2025

Wednesday 13th August
 

Church Related Community Work 3
 
1 Peter 4:8-11
 
Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins.  Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling.  Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms. If anyone speaks, they should do so as one who speaks the very words of God. If anyone serves, they should do so with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To him be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen.
 
Reflection
 
This is one of those times when a Bible passage feels very appropriate. I wonder if the writer has been watching over my shoulder? I confess, I grumble – ask anyone! There has even been talk of getting a “grumble box” for the café counter so that every time I grumble, I must pay a fine! I wouldn’t mind paying a fine, to be honest – if the person who keeps putting spoons in the knife drawer also has to pay one!
 
I have come, over the years, to realise the usefulness of grumbles, though. Working with and in the community I hear a lot of grumbles – and while it can be just a simple grumble, often it’s a sign of something more. Sometimes people just want to know they have been heard – a way of letting off steam while someone listens. Like letting the pressure out of a lemonade bottle slowly so you don’t get lemonade all down your trousers. It can also be a way of saying “I’m worried about something” – like the lady who isn’t sleeping well, who eventually tells me of her bigger worry which is preventing her sleeping.
 
It’s a privilege to be able to listen to, and perhaps help with, people’s grumbles; to be part of their lives in a useful way. I believe it’s one of God’s greatest gifts, to be allowed to listen, to be given the strength to serve – to lighten the burdens of others and empower them to move forward in some small way.
 
Prayer
 
Lord,
help us to be attentive to the words of others,
give us the patience to listen and hear
that we might serve you
and our fellow travellers in a meaningful way.
Amen