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God calls his
people to follow Christ, and forms us into a royal priesthood, a holy
nation, to declare the wonderful deeds of him who has called us out of
darkness into his marvellous light. The Church is the Body of Christ,
the people of God and the dwelling-place of the Holy Spirit. In baptism
the whole Church is summoned to witness to God’s love and to work for
the coming of his kingdom. To serve this royal priesthood, God has
given a variety of ministries.
Because each of us is unique in gifts, career, talents, friendship groups and so on, there are some opportunities presented to us, as individuals, to share the Gospel that may not be repeated. As the laity we have more contact with non-church-goers than the clergy; we have the chance to cherish and care for others, to show them Christ through us. Our friend ‘Anon’ said sometime ago that ‘you may be the only Bible that someone reads.’ What a responsibility and a privilege that is! There are still many who have a vision of God as a strict and aloof figure sitting on a throne passing judgement, possibly even condemning humanity unjustly. I find the joy of telling people the truth about God, about how much He loves and cares for them and seeing them come to believe this is incredibly special. As I talk about Jesus and remind myself of all that he has done for humanity I get a tingle down my spine. At our baptism or confirmation we were reminded that God ‘claims us for His own’ and this was signified by the sign of the cross on our foreheads. God has delivered us from the darkness of sin into the light of His love. He has transformed our lives. How can we not share that?!
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