No Hands, No Feet...but yours

During Epiphany, we are looking at a Prayer of Teresa of Avila, a 16^th century nun. Her prayer is well known and has been set to music and used in numerous meditations and no doubt as the theme of retreats. Last week we explored the first line “Christ has no body but yours”. This week we move on to the next line and get into the action of the prayer.
“[Christ has] no hands, no feet on earth but yours” says Teresa. What exactly does that mean for us as we seek to live as Followers of the Christ?
We each have gifts and talents that we can use for God’s glory. Sometimes we think that we have to have a lot of money or be incredibly smart or come up with some sort of amazing new invention to be worth recognition. There is currently a commercial running that points out that many of the ‘big ideas’ of recent history started in garages, at restaurant tables, or in dorm rooms by ordinary men and women who had just a little idea, which exploded into something big.
The same is true about our work for Christ. Max Lucado says that whatever we use for the Kingdom is the donkey that moves the Kingdom a little further down the road. He tells of a Hawaiian woman whose ‘donkey’ was her gift of carving wood into Bible shapes and then pasting verses on them to inspire others. (I cannot recall which of his books has this story in it.)
Recently I heard a commentator ask, “Have you ever noticed how often God uses seemingly unimportant people to do God’s work?” He cited the unnamed boy with the loaves and fish and the woman with the alabaster jar of perfume whose name isn’t mentioned. There are plenty more examples throughout the Bible of men and women who were nothing until God stepped into their lives: Joseph, Noah, Rahab… just to name a few.
Jesus tells his followers, “You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hidden. No one after lighting a lamp puts it under the bushel basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.” (Matthew 5: 14-16) All that we do is a reflection of our life as Followers of Christ and builders of the Kingdom.
We all remember the Parable of the Talents in which “a noblemen went to a distant country” and left his slaves/servants in charge of some money to “do business…until I come back”. When he returns, he demands an accounting and rewards those who were diligent. However, the one who simply wraps up the money is rebuked, “I will judge you by your own words, you wicked slave! You knew, did you, that I was a harsh man, taking what I did not deposit and reaping what I did not sow? Why then did you not put my money into the bank? Then when I returned, I could have collected it with interest.” (Luke 19:12-26 & Matthew 25:14-30) Of course, the point of the parable is that we should use our gifts, not ‘keep them for a rainy day’.
It is easy to discount the impact of our individual gift because we don’t see the whole picture that God does. Each of us is a thread in the huge tapestry that is life and the Kingdom of God. You may see your life as a tangled and knotted mess, when from the front of the tapestry the thread forms a glittering highlight on the finished piece. Maybe you are like one of the threads forming the tree or the strand of multi-colored yarn in the edging from this close-up of a weaving by Edith Zimmer. We threads cannot see the completed image, but we are vital to the completion of it.

Which of your gifts are you currently using to ‘move the Kingdom down the road’? Are there some you have buried in the ground that you should dig up and use? Can you think of new ways to use the gifts you have? Let your hands and feet be used by God to build a tapestry or as this new song from Francesca Battistelli says, ask God to "Write Your story on my heart..."

Write Your Story, Francesca Battistelli

They say
You're the King of everything
The One who taught the wind to sing
The Source of the rhythm my heart keeps beating

They say
You can give the blind their sight
And You can bring the dead to life
You can be the hope my soul's been seekin'

I wanna tell You now that I believe it
I wanna tell You now that I believe it
I do, that You can make me new, oh

CHORUS
I'm an empty page
I'm an open book
Write Your story on my heart
Come on and make Your mark

Author of my hope
Maker of the stars
Let me be Your work of art
Won't You write Your story on my heart

Write Your story, write Your story
Come on and write Your story, write Your story
Won't You write Your story on my heart

My Life
I know it's never really been mine
So do with it whatever You like
I don't know what Your plan is
But I know it's good, yeah

I wanna tell You now that I believe in
I wanna tell You now that I believe in
In You, so do what You do, oh

CHORUS

I want my history
To be Your legacy
Go ahead and show this world
What You've done in me
And when the music fades
I want my life to say

I let You write your story, write Your story
Write Your story, write Your story