I Peter 4:10 April 19, 2014

Greg Lund                    

I Peter 4:10     

April 19, 2014

As every man has received the gift, even so minister the same one to another, as good stewards of the manifold  grace of God.

Holy Saturday is a strange day.  Nothing is said about it in the Bible.  It is the day sandwiched between Jesus’ death on Friday and his resurrection on Sunday.  Holy Saturday is the day when nothing appeared to be happening.  The body of Christ was still in the tomb.  His disciples were still huddled behind locked doors, terrified and grief stricken.  Jesus’ followers had no doubt prayed that God would protect him.  Instead, Jesus was dead, and the silence of heaven was deafening.  

This day reminds us of the many times when God appears to be doing nothing.  What happens in the times sandwiched between our prayers and God’s answers?  My neighbor is a master gardener.  I saw him, a few weeks before the snowstorm, planting bulbs around his mailbox.  That garden plot still looks dead, but we know what happens to bulbs in spring.  They carry life.

On Holy Saturday, the faith of the disciples was bruised, but not dead.  When God seems silent and our faith runs dry, that is when God’s people grace each other.  There are times when I need you to have faith on my behalf, when my tank runs dry, and vice versa.  “As each one has received a gift, employ it for one another as good stewards of God’s varied grace.”  Grace sprouts from each of us in different forms:  generosity, teaching, compassion, wisdom and more.  

Even when nothing seems to be happening, God’s grace is growing.  

Ever-present God, give us grace for the times when we cannot hear You.  Grant us patience to wait for answers to prayer, and eyes to see them when they arrive.  Through the Risen One we pray, Amen.