Today is the second day after Pentecost Sunday.

The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with you.   
 
Take a moment and quiet yourself. Take a deep breath. Welcome God’s presence. And say, “Come Holy Spirit.”    
   
Today’s reading is from the book of 1 Corinthians, chapter 12.  
 

Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ.  For we were all baptized by one Spirit so as to form one body—whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink.  Even so the body is not made up of one part but of many.


Now if the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. f the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? But in fact God has placed the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. If they were all one part, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, but one body.


On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor. And the parts that are unpresentable are treated with special modesty, while our presentable parts need no special treatment. But God has put the body together, giving greater honor to the parts that lacked it, so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it. Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it. 
  
  
Now you are a part of the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it. As you come to prayer today, think about your relationship with and connection to your local church – which is the expression of the body of Christ in the world. Talk to the Lord about your relationship to church, and where you are finding your own ‘part’ of the whole. 
   
Paul tells the Corinthians – and us –that there should be no division in the body. Listen again to the scripture, and allow it to become a prayer for the unity of the Spirit in your local church.  
  
As we end our time of prayer today, pray for your local church leaders and for other churches in your area of the world. Pray that they would ‘hold together’ in Christ, that they would demonstrate a unity in the spirit that transcends our diversity, and that we would hold one another with equal concern.

Lord God, Almighty and everlasting Father, you have brought me in safety to this new day: Preserve me with your mighty power, that I may not fall into sin, nor be overcome by adversity; and in all I do, direct me to the fulfilling of your purpose; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. 


Music: "Make Us One" - Vineyard Worship - (YouTube)