Receive the gifts of your love, new every morning

Receive the gifts of your love, new every morning

The gift of God’s love is a tremendous thing. It’s good to know that God loves us as much as he does, even more than the person who loves us the most. It’s a good feeling.

The gift of God’s love, however, is about more than how much God loves us. It’s also about our love for God, and for each other. It’s about our inner beings knowing how to love. And an inner being which knows how to love will be close to God, living and loving with him, but an inner being that has never discovered how to love will be unable to experience God. It’s love, an unbreakable love, than binds everything together.

Reminds me of the chorus of one of the few praise songs I know, one we used to sing a lot with the Church Youth Group when I led it a few years ago, written by Bob Gillman:

Bind us together, Lord,
Bind us together
With cords that cannot be broken.
Bind us together, Lord,
Bind us together
Bind us together with love.

But I think this Collect, for the Nineteenth Sunday after Trinity, reminds of something else very important. This amazing gift of love isn’t just a one off event, or even an occasional event. No, this gift of love is a gift that never ends. It’s a gift that is new and fresh every day.

It doesn’t matter how much of God’s love you give away, you’ll never be short of it yourself. Give it all away; and you’ll still have all that you want, all that you need, all that you desire.

Faithful Lord,
whose steadfast love never ceases
and whose mercies never come to an end:
grant us the grace to trust you
and to receive the gifts of your love,
new every morning,
in Jesus Christ our Lord.

Additional Collect for The Nineteenth Sunday after Trinity
is Copyright © The Archbishops Council