Mapperley Minister's Monday Mail, 19th May 2014

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Yesterday morning, we continued our series looking at who we are, and what we're here for. In particular, we were looking at 1 Peter 2:4-12.

What really struck me in the passage was that all of the wonderful descriptions of things we are as Christians – a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, God's house – are things that we can only be together. They are all singular, just like in Romans 12:1, we offer our bodies as one living sacrifice, or in Ephesians 4 we grow up from being many infants to being one mature body.

How does this happen? It happens as God builds us together by his Spirit, as we get the rough edges and knobbly bits knocked off and sanded down. It happens as we speak the truth to one another in love, as we move from seeing other people as there to make us feel better to seeing ourselves as there to serve others and help them know, love and serve God better.

This coming weekend is the church weekend away, and for those of us who are going, it's a great chance to do exactly that – to seek to be a blessing to each other, and in doing so to grow together more and more into being God's house, where people see God and can meet God, and where we shine with God's light into our community, helping others come to know him better.

God bless,

John

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