29th Sunday in Ordinary Time 20th October 2019 (YEAR C)

Many years ago I remember hearing the story of a charismatic prayer meeting which went all night. Apparently the leader was convinced that, ‘God wants to do a strong and powerful work here tonight and we have to show we are worthy.’ So he insisted that everyone stay until it happened. By dawn nothing had overtly occurred, so the leader declared, ‘God has worked hundreds of miracles here tonight – on the inside.’ He may have been right, but it sounded like mystical spin doctoring to me! What worries me about his story is that it can portray God as a remote and severe figure whom we need to convince that we are serious about him before he will be moved by our plight.

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