Well said, Reverend Robertson. Thank you for saying what needed to be said. For those with ears to hear, listen and understand.
Dear Bishop Budde,
That was some sermon you preached this week! Philip Pullman, the noted atheist author, loved it and suggested you should be the next Archbishop of Canterbury. Alastair Campbell, he of ‘we don’t do God’ fame, declared that you should be made person of the year. He cited you as a prime example of someone ‘speaking truth to power’. Does it not make you feel a little uncomfortable that those who don’t believe in God think that your sermon was the best thing since the Communist Manifesto?
As a fellow preacher I thought your delivery was perfect. Clear, well enunciated and with the right tone – like an angel of light. I loved the theme of unity and indeed much of how you expanded that in the 15 minutes you had. But perhaps you will allow me, a poor Presbyterian minister who doesn’t have the kind of pulpit to the powerful that you have, to also speak truth to your power?
You are in a powerful position. You belong to what has long been one of the most elitist denominations in the USA – the ultimate WASP church. You are a bishop in a prestigious cathedral, and you get to preach to presidents. (You preach to presidents about the poor, I preach to the poor about presidents). I would hope that both of us would preach Christ, and not our own politics – after all that is what we are paid to do.
I found it more than a little ironic that for 12 minutes and 30 seconds you spoke about unity and then, turning to the newly installed President, you addressed him in such partisan and political terms, that you contradicted and negated what went before.
Perhaps there is a role for such political comment (some might call it prophetic) but I suspect not at a service which is supposed to be about national unity, and at the end of a sermon which warned us about doing precisely that. I think you knew what you were doing. Every word of your sermon was carefully crafted. It is more than a little disingenuous to make a plea for unity and then issue what amounted to a personal political attack on the President. The result was – as you must have seen on X and in the rest of the media – that you again polarised the country you said you were seeking to unify. As you stated, “there isn’t much to be said for our prayers (or sermons may I add) if we act in ways which deepen the divisions amongst us”.
For those with ears to hear, listen and understand. The beautiful Truth about which he speaks.
Christ is bathed in light; let us also be bathed in light. Christ is baptized; let us also go down with him, and rise with him.
John is baptizing when Jesus draws near. Perhaps he comes to sanctify his baptizer; certainly he comes to bury sinful humanity in the waters. He comes to sanctify the Jordan for our sake and in readiness for us; he who is spirit and flesh comes to begin a new creation through the Spirit and water.
The Baptist protests; Jesus insists. Then John says: “I ought to be baptized by you.” He is the lamp in the presence of the sun, the voice in the presence of the Word, the friend in the presence of the Bride-groom, the greatest of all born of woman in the presence of the firstborn of all creation, the one who leapt in his mother’s womb in the presence of him who was adored in the womb, the forerunner and future forerunner in the presence of him who has already come and is to come again.
“I ought to be baptized by you;” we should also add: ‘“‘and for you,” for John is to be baptized in blood, washed clean like Peter, not only by the washing of his feet.
Jesus rises from the waters; the world rises with him. The heavens like Paradise with its flaming sword, closed by Adam for himself and his descendants, are rent open. The Spirit comes to him as to an equal, bearing witness to his Godhead. A voice bears witness to him from heaven, his place of origin. The Spirit descends in bodily form like the dove that so long ago announced the ending of the flood and so gives honor to the body that is one with God.
Today let us do honor to Christ’s baptism and celebrate this feast in holiness. Be cleansed entirely and continue to be cleansed. Nothing gives such pleasure to God as the conversion and salvation of human beings, for whom his every word and every revelation exist. He wants you to become a living force for all humanity, lights shining in the world. You are to be radiant lights as you stand beside Christ, the great light, bathed in the glory of him who is the light of heaven. You are to enjoy more and more the pure and dazzling light of the Trinity, as now you have received—though not in its fullness—a ray of its splendor, proceeding from the one God, in Christ Jesus our Lord, to whom be glory and power for ever and ever.
For those with ears to hear, listen and understand. For those of you who are already baptized, remember your baptism today (and everyday) and be thankful that the Lord is merciful, gracious, and kind beyond measure.
That Jesus should come and be baptized by John is surely cause for amazement. To think of the infinite river that gladdens the city of God being bathed.in a poor little stream of the eternal; the unfathomable fountainhead that gives life to all men being immersed in the shallow waters of this transient world! He who fills all creation, leaving no place devoid of his presence, he who is incomprehensible to the angels. and hidden from the sight of man, came to be baptized because it was his will. And behold, the heavens opened and a voice said: “This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased.”
The beloved Father begets love, and spiritual light generates light inaccessible. In his divine nature he is my only Son, though he was known as the son of Joseph. This is my beloved Son. Though hungry himself, he feeds thousands; though weary, he refreshes those who labor. He has no place to lay his head yet holds all creation in his hand. By his passion [inflicted on him by others], he frees us from the passions [unleashed by our disobedience]; by receiving a blow on the cheek he gives the world its liberty; by being pierced in the side he heals the wound of Adam.
I ask you now to pay close attention, for I want to return to that fountain of life and contemplate its healing waters at their source.
The Father of immortality sent his immortal Son and Word into the world; he came to us men to cleanse us with water and the Spirit. To give us a new birth that would make our bodies and souls immortal, he breathed into us the spirit of life and armed us with incorruptibility. Now if we become immortal, we shall also be divine; and if we become divine after rebirth in baptism through water and the Holy Spirit, we shall also be coheirs with Christ after the resurrection of the dead.
Therefore, in a herald’s voice I cry: Let peoples of every nation come and receive the immortality that flows from baptism. This is the water that is linked to the Spirit, the water that irrigates Paradise, makes the earth fertile, gives growth to plants, and brings forth living creatures. In short, this is the water by which a man receives new birth and life, the water in which even Christ was baptized, the water into which the Holy Spirit descended in the form of a dove.
Whoever goes down into these waters of rebirth with faith renounces the devil and pledges himself to Christ. He repudiates the enemy and confesses that Christ is God, throws off his servitude, and is raised to filial status. He comes up from baptism resplendent as the sun, radiant in his purity, but above all, he comes as a son of God and a coheir with Christ. To him and to his most holy and life-giving Spirit be glory and power now and forever. Amen.
A very good and thoughtful piece on a very difficult subject. I am thankful that there are still those who are not ashamed of the gospel and who are willing to speak clearly and truthfully about transgenderism from a Christian perspective. For those with ears to hear, listen and understand.
Nevertheless, from a traditional Christian point of view there are still two basic reasons why it is problematic to accept someone as a member of their chosen sex if they are biologically a member of the opposite sex.
The first reason is that the two books of Scripture and nature which are the basis for our understanding of the activity of God both tell us that biology determines the difference between men and women.
In the case of Scripture, the Book of Genesis tells us:
‘ So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. And God blessed them, and God said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth’ (Genesis 1:26-28).
Here the state of being male and female is directly linked to the ability to reproduce, ‘to be fruitful and multiply’. It is because God has given male and female human beings the necessary biological characteristics to reproduce that from Genesis 4:1 onwards human beings have children. Furthermore, from Genesis 4:1 the reproductive pattern determined by these characteristics remains unchanged throughout Scripture. It is men who beget, but it is women who conceive, carry babies in their womb, and then give birth.
For those with ears to hear, listen and understand.
Just as regularly as the approach of Christmas means an increase in the number of advertisements for perfume on television, so also it means that anti-Christian sceptics will proclaim that Christmas was originally a pagan mid-winter festival which Christians appropriated for their own nefarious purposes when they became the dominant religious force in the Roman empire from the fourth century AD onwards.
There are two problems with this claim.
The first is purely logical. Whatever religious festivals non-Christians may or may not have celebrated in the Roman Empire, one thing we can be absolutely certain about is that they did not celebrate Christmas. The clue is in the name. The word Christmas means the liturgical celebration (‘mass’) held to mark the birth of Christ. Non-Christians did not have such celebration for the simple reason that they were non-Christians.
The second is that there is no early evidence that the early Christians chose to celebrate the birth of Christ on what we call 25 December in order to displace a pagan midwinter festival.
Sermon originally delivered on Advent 3A, Gaudete Sunday, December 15, 2019.
For those with ears to hear, listen and understand.
Lectionary texts: Isaiah 35.1-10; Luke 1.46-55 (Magnificat); James 5.7-10; Matthew 11.2-11.
In the name of God: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Today is Gaudete Sunday, the third Sunday of Advent. Gaudete is Latin for rejoice and like its Lenten counterpart, Laetare Sunday, signals a brief respite from the more penitential and apocalyptic season of Advent where we focus on everybody’s favorite topic, the Four Last Things: Death, Judgment, Heaven, and Hell. As we have observed previously, Advent is a season that begins in the dark. It begins during the darkest days of the year and Advent gives us the opportunity to peer into the darkness of the world in which we live, including the darkness of our own lives. Advent often comes as a shock to the system for those who are new to the season. Instead of the bright festive lights and general merriment of the Christmas season, Advent calls us to ponder the second coming of our Lord Jesus, with all its serious ramifications. But this isn’t necessarily bad for us because it forces us to come to grips with the presence of Evil in our lives and in God’s world, and it also helps us truly get ready of the joyous season of Christmas that will begin a week from this Tuesday evening. Without Advent and its focus on the end times, we Christians, like the rest of our society, would likely opt to gloss over the darkness in which we live as well as the darkness of our own lives, substituting instead all the mistletoe and glitter and eggnog and jingle bells celebrations we can muster. Don’t misunderstand, I have nothing against the bright lights and tinsel and Christmas carols and all the rest that we do during this time of the year. Our house is ablaze with the festive symbols of Christmas, both secular and sacred, and I love it. But to focus on all that glitters in hopes that the darkness of our world goes away is to live in La-La Land and it will ultimately prevent us from grounding our hope on Christ where it should be, and this is what I want us to look this morning.
What do we mean when we say that Advent begins in the darkness, or what do we mean when we say that we peer into the darkness? When Scripture speaks of the darkness it usually refers to God’s good world gone bad, corrupted by human sin and the power of Evil our sin unleashed, along with the fact that our sin brought God’s curse on his creation and us (Genesis 3.14-19). All of us here today know what the darkness looks like. We suffer from alienation and anxiety, along with a host of other physical, emotional, and mental disorders. We all have suffered the death of loved ones and we are all acquainted with the various forms of suffering that afflict us. We are heartbroken over cherished relationships gone bad or hopes and dreams crushed. If we have a sense of justice at all we are astonished at the injustice that swirls around us and the vicious and vindictive conversations we find on social media. We read about, or worse yet, experience young lives being snuffed out by drug or alcohol addition and are alarmed at the seeming rise in violence in our society. This is only a small sampling of the darkness with which we must deal and every one of us carries the burden of some form of darkness in our own lives. We know what it is like to fail, to betray, and to fail to live up to our own standards of Christian living, to name just a few. This is what we mean when we as Christians talk about darkness and living in it. Not all is bad and dark, of course, but there’s sadly more than enough to go around. This leads us to ask the classic Advent questions: How long, O Lord, before you act? Is the Lord with and for us or not? Why do you allow all this evil to continue, O Lord? As we peer into the darkness of our own lives and the world around us, we often wonder if God exists; and if he does, does God really care about us and his world?
This is why Advent’s focus on the End Times and Christ’s return is so important for us to reflect on because as we peer into the darkness of our lives and world, Advent reminds us that we have reason to have hope and even to rejoice. We start with our OT lesson. In it, the prophet Isaiah is given a vision of God’s new creation when God’s curse and the darkness of this world and our lives are swept away. The wilderness, a classic biblical symbol for the darkness of this world, is transformed into an oasis and all nature rejoices. Weak hands and feeble knees, i.e., human frailty, will be made strong once again. Deserts will become pools of water and nature will once again enjoy the harmony it apparently enjoyed before human sin brought about God’s curse. No evil or evildoers will be there and therefore no evil will exist. Neither will there be any more injustices to blight our existence and cause hardship and suffering, presumably because human beings will be transformed to once again fulfill our function as God’s image-bearers who bring God’s goodness and justice to bear on God’s world so that all creation sings and praises its Creator. Sorrow and sighing will be replaced by singing and laughing and rejoicing and as the prophet reminds us here when he speaks of straight paths) and elsewhere, it will be God himself who wipes away our tears (Isaiah 25.6-9).
This is a compelling and wholesome vision of our future as God’s people. And what makes this bright future possible? God’s judgment on all that is evil, on all that is dark, both the spiritual powers and their human agents. Isaiah roars that God will come with vengeance to destroy his enemies and put all things to rights. This is the justice and judgment of God, and while there is obviously a punitive dimension to God’s judgment and justice, it ultimately is for our own good because in it, evil and evildoers are destroyed and God’s world along with our lives are no longer corrupted and afflicted by the darkness of Evil and Sin, our own sins included. Notice carefully here that Isaiah speaks of a warrior God who comes to destroy his enemies and all that corrupts and afflicts us. We are typically not comfortable with this language because it violates our idol of a God who is a kind, grandfatherly type who would never hurt anyone and who welcomes one and all. But this god is a lie and distinctly not the God of the bible, either in the OT or the NT. While it is true that God loves everyone, it is not true that God will fail to address the injustice and darkness that afflict his world and image-bearing creatures. How could we love and worship a God who stood by and did nothing to address the injustices, darkness, and evil(doers) of his world? What kind of loving God is that?
Of course, the topic of God’s judgment can be a fearful one for us because none of us is innocent. All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God (Romans 3.23). But as Christians, we are not to be afraid of God’s judgment, not because we are superior or more deserving than unbelievers, but because we believe that the terrible judgment of God has already fallen on Christ so that God himself has suffered his wrath on our behalf to spare us from his terrible judgment when Christ returns to finish his saving work. If we truly love others we must proclaim this truth to the world, both as a warning and as the joyous proclamation of the day when our God will finally make all things right and new in his new world. Many of us shy away from this because we fear it makes us look “judgmental,” a relatively new term that was certainly foreign to Jesus and the NT writers. Would we refuse, e.g., to warn a person to flee a burning building for fear of being judgmental? Would we fail to warn our kids about the dangers of drugs and alcohol or promiscuity or anorexia [name your favorite danger here] for fear of being judgmental with them? How loving is that? And if you are still bothered by this notion of God’s judgment and justice because it sounds too harsh, what kind of being do you believe God to be in the first place? Does God come to judge because he just doesn’t like us and wants to hurt us? To you parents out there, I ask this question. When you first laid eyes on your newborn child, did you wish ill on your new baby and want the worst for him/her? Of course not! What a ridiculous notion! It is ridiculous because you know you loved your child and wanted the best for him/her the moment you laid eyes on him/her! If we who are broken and fail to love so often can love our newborn babies like this, how much more does God our Father who loves us perfectly love us and want the best for us? Would a Father like this fail to warn us about the day when he intends to make all things right again so that we can be included in that new world and not excluded? God’s justice is simply a complementary dimension of God’s great love for us.
Neither should we be troubled by the language of a warrior God and God’s Messiah because the fact of the matter is that we are at war with Satan and the dark powers along with their human agents (Eph 6.12). These powers of Evil hate us and want to destroy us. They want to separate us from God, our Source of life and health and goodness, and they will stop at nothing make that happen. They are at war with us and the language of the OT prophets reflects that. We also see it in our gospel lesson this morning. The Baptist has been imprisoned by the dark powers and he is confused, despite the fact that he baptized Jesus. Are you really the Messiah, he asks Jesus? John asked this question because he expected a warrior Messiah to appear and defeat the powers and their human agents. Make no mistake. Christ knew he was at war. After all Herod had tried to kill him shortly after he was born and Satan himself waged war against him during Christ’s temptation in the wilderness. But Jesus didn’t wage war against the powers using conventional weapons. To use force and violence meant that the war was already lost. Instead, Jesus responded to John’s questions by pointing out signs of the coming kingdom of God on earth as in heaven: The deaf hear, the blind see, the dead are raised, demons are exorcised. This is what happens when God comes to rescue his people and establish his new world. This is what godly warfare looks like.
This is why Advent is such an important season for us as Christians. It reminds us that despite the darkness that swirls around and within us, we have a real future and a hope. God is waging war on our behalf to rescue us from the darkness and ultimately to destroy the forces that are responsible for the darkness. As St. James reminds us in our epistle lesson, God will answer our Advent questions. God has acted decisively on our behalf to rescue us from the powers of Evil and from ourselves by giving himself to us in a great and costly act. We are therefore to wait patiently and with real hope, the sure and certain expectation that God is good to his word and promises to us to make all things right. We are not to be afraid, nor are we to turn on each other when we do succumb to fear and the darkness because we are a rescued and redeemed people. Every time we forgive where forgiveness is undeserved, every time we love when aversion might be justified, every time we work to alleviate some aspect of the darkness in our lives and the world around us, we are engaged in the battle, not by our own power, but in the Lord’s power on our behalf. We may not see any progress being made. Things may (and often do) appear to remain unchanged, but looks can be deceiving. God uses our efforts and our faithfulness (as well as our brokenness) to accomplish his redemptive will and purposes for us and his creation. How do I know that? How do I know our future is bright and the promise of a new creation devoid of evil and suffering and death and sorrow and darkness of any kind is true? Because Jesus Christ is raised from the dead, thanks be to God! And because he is raised from the dead, I believe the promises of his cross and his Lordship are also true. I also see the faithfulness and indefatigable spirit in so many of you who give of yourselves and your resources to work on the Lord’s behalf. This is why I know the promise of Advent with it proclamation of God’s good justice coming to right all the wrongs is true.
This is also why I can rejoice today on Gaudete Sunday and you should too if you have a real and lively resurrection theology and hope. This knowledge that God will usher in his perfect justice to right all the wrongs also prepares us to hear the Good News of Christmas, of God’s light shining in the darkness, not to be overcome by it but to destroy it. This is why we need Advent, my beloved. It reminds us that we are beloved by the Father, rescued by the Son, and sustained by the Holy Spirit, and therefore we have a future and a hope because of our warrior God’s promise to defeat the forces that corrupt and hate us, and he has done so in a most unexpected way. Let us rejoice in our Advent hope as we prepare to celebrate our Savior’s first coming and wait for that great and glorious day when he returns to make everything new and right again. To him be honor, praise, and glory forever and ever.
In the name of God: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
A good article, appropriate for the season of Advent, worth your time and reflection. For those with ears to hear, listen and understand.
The fact that death is coming for all of us, raises the inevitable question of how we should view it. Is it something we should be afraid of, or not?
In the Anglican Christian tradition to which I belong, a classic answer to this question is provided by the homily, or sermon, ‘Against the fear of death’ which was authorised for use in parish churches by the Church of England in the sixteenth century.
This homily explains why there are three reasons why ‘worldly’ (i.e. ungodly) people commonly fear death:
‘…. one, because they shall lose thereby, their worldly honours, riches, possessions, and all their heart’s desires; another, because of the painful diseases, and bitter pangs, which commonly men suffer, either before or at the time of death; but the chief cause, above all other, is the dread, of the miserable state of eternal damnation, both of body and soul, which they fear shall follow after their departing, after the worldly pleasure of this present life. ‘
However, none of these causes should make a Christian afraid of death. This is because:
As compelling and real a testimony as I have ever read. Here is Truth spoken in love with all of its power, complexities, and struggles. And it is applicable to so many other areas than sexuality—whatever the sin or sins that have enslaved us. This woman gets it—in spades. God bless her and God bless her testimony.
For those with ears to hear, listen and understand.
For the first time in many months, I had a conversation with God that went something like this: “God, I don’t know how I got here. But I can’t live without You. And if there’s any way You can bring me home, bring me home.” I had to return to the Father’s house. And just as in the parable, my Father was running to meet me.
My feelings, however, remained unchanged. I did not want to leave my lesbian life, yet I knew Jesus was calling me to lay that down. I was deeply conflicted and felt at an impasse. “I am a lesbian. If I am gay, how does one repent from who they are?” As I wrestled with this question, I providentially happened upon a television program on gay rights. Among the mainly gay-affirming messages, there was a brief portrayal of Christians who were leaving homosexuality behind to follow Christ. I was shocked. I had never heard of anyone like this. Unsurprisingly, they were being portrayed as fools. The interviewer grew impatient with one woman as she admitted her continued struggle: “Come on, all this God stuff, tell us the truth. Right now, if you could choose, who would you choose? Would you choose to be with a man or a woman?” Her reply? “I choose Jesus.”
And with those words, light streamed into my soul. I thought, “I can do that. That’swhat I can do. I choose Jesus. Because I cannot say that I would choose a man. One hundred percent of me would choose a woman. But I can choose to follow Christ in obedience. My sexual feelings do not have to define me. I choose Jesus.”
Thus I surrendered my sexuality to God and focused on following Him. In doing so, I never thought my attractions would even lessen in degree, and I fully expected to be single, celibate, and perhaps struggling with longings, for the rest of my mortal life. But I was willing to do it, because I knew Who was asking: “Lord, to whom else shall we go? You have the words of life.”
In those early days, my battle with temptation truly was fierce and felt constant. I had never really struggled with lust before, but now I did. I honestly didn’t think I was going to make it, and my determination to walk a different path was a white-knuckled one. In desperation, I began meditating on Jesus and the temptations in the desert. I contemplated how, after forty days, Jesus had legitimate hunger; however, He did not wrongly use His power to meet His needs. He refused to turn stones into bread. And it was after He resisted Satan’s offers that the ministry of the angels came. I called this to mind often as I struggled to wait on God.
My repentance was still fresh when the biggest temptation yet arrived in the mail—a card from my ex-girlfriend. Of course she would come back into my life now. “I’m being kicked while I’m down,” I told a friend, “here I am trying to follow Christ, and this is the one woman I can’t resist.” I finished my rant by declaring, “But I’m not going to do it. I will not turn these stones into bread.”
As I mentioned in a previous post, I am always saddened when an orthodox Christian scholar plunges into apostasy. I am also grateful for scholars who still stand firm in the face of ever-increasing resistance. Here Martin Davie offers another excellent critique of the Hays’ new book. May God show them mercy and cause them to repent of their heresy.
For those with ears to hear, listen and understand.
In the rest of this review, I will work through the bullet points and conclusion in turn (they are the quotations in bold type) examining whether the argument set out in them, and in the book as a whole, is persuasive.
3. Bullet point 1 – the revision of biblical law.
‘Contrary to the common idea that biblical law was written once, in stone, and is unchangeable, the actual biblical story of God and humanity is one in which laws are under constant negotiation and revision. Often different law collections in the Torah say different things about the same topics. There are also stories of Moses rethinking laws when he was pressed by people with a good cause.’ (p.12)
With regard to this bullet point, the first thing to note is that there is precisely no evidence that the laws of God are a result of negotiation. Rather, God gives his laws sovereignly and unilaterally. As Psalm 1:2 puts it, it is ‘the law of the Lord’ given by God to Moses and by Moses to Israel.
Secondly, there is no evidence that God’s laws, having once been given, are then revised. They may be re-expressed in different language, as when Deuteronomy says things differently from the previous books of the Pentateuch, and they may be superseded by a new development in redemptive history as, for example, when the once for all offering of Christ supersedes the laws regarding sacrificial offerings (Hebrews 10:1-18). However, the laws themselves are never said to be revised. In the words of Psalm 119:89 ‘For ever, O Lord, thy word is fixed in the heavens.’
Thirdly, while it is correct to say that ‘different law collections in the Torah say different things about the same topics’ this does not mean that the laws in question contradict one another. Rather, they complement one another.
Are you unhappy with your life? Do you have a real hunger for something more than this world offers, for peace, for meaning, for purpose of living? It all starts with repentance, a word that describes the decision to engage in the process of turning away from ourselves and our own selfish desires and turning toward God the Father, intentionally ordering our lives to be consistent with his will and the order of creation. It’s the only thing that will ultimately satisfy our deepest human desires and needs, counterintuitive as it seems. Here, Saint John Chrysostom, one of the great Fathers of the Church, tells us how we can start to truly repent of our sins and fallen desires so that the Lord can heal us. Repentance is very hard, but the rewards are even greater. Don’t take my word for it. Learn about the testimony of millions of Christians over time and culture who testify likewise.
For those with ears to hear, listen and understand.
Would you like me to list also the paths of repentance? They are numerous and quite varied, and all lead to heaven.
A first path of repentance is the condemnation of your own sins… [T]hat will be enough reason for the Lord to forgive you, for if you condemn your own sins you are slower to commit them again.
…Another and no less valuable one is to put out of our minds the harm done us by our enemies, in order to master our anger, and to forgive our fellow servants’ sins against us. Then our own sins against the Lord will be forgiven us. Thus you have another way to atone for sin: ‘‘For if you forgive your debtors, your heavenly Father will forgive you.”
Do you want to know of a third path? It consists of prayer that is fervent, careful and comes from the heart.
If you want to hear of a fourth, I will mention almsgiving, whose power is great and far-reaching.
If, moreover, one lives a modest, humble life, that no less than the other things I have mentioned takes sin away. Proof of this is the tax-collector who had no good deeds to mention, but offered humility instead and was relieved of a heavy burden of sins.
Thus I have shown you five paths of repentance: condemnation of your own sins, forgiveness of our neighbor’s sins against us, prayer, almsgiving and humility.
Do not be idle, then, but walk daily in all these paths; they are easy, and you cannot plead your poverty. For, though you live out your life amid great need, you can always set aside your wrath, be humble, pray diligently and condemn your own sins; poverty is no hindrance. Poverty is not an obstacle to our carrying out the Lord’s bidding, even when it comes to that path of repentance which involves giving money (almsgiving, I mean). The widow proved that when she put her two mites into the box!
Now that we have learned how to heal those wounds of ours, let us apply the cures. Then, when we have regained genuine health, we can approach the holy table with confidence, go gloriously to meet Christ, the king of glory, and attain the eternal blessings through the grace, mercy and kindness of Jesus Christ, our Lord.
Have you failed at certain things in your life and done so miserably? Do you wonder how God could ever love the likes of you? Do you worry about your eternal destiny because you realize that nothing unholy can ever live in God’s holy Presence and that all human beings, because of our sin-sickness, can never be holy by our own power or doing? Are you afraid of God because you have failed to live faithfully as his image-bearer and therefore failed to please him? You should fear God because God created you and has the power to destroy you forever.
But take heart and hope. God’s love and justice for you have given you a second chance and reason not to fear him with knee-knocking terror. God has dealt with our sins on the cross and assured us that this forgiveness is real by raising Christ from the dead. Saint Peter Chrysologus, bishop and doctor of the Church, testifies powerfully to the Father’s great love, mercy, and grace toward us in the sermon below by teaching how the Father’s love is illustrated in the parable of the Prodigal Son (Luke 15.11-32). Read it, reflect on it, savor it, and most importantly act upon it in ways that demonstrate you have given your life to Christ so that you too may experience the Father’s great love for you made known in Jesus Christ our Lord’s life, Death, and Resurrection. Christ is our only hope. There is no other way, no other hope, no other chance for us to enjoy life, health, and wholeness with God, either in this world or in the new creation to come. All are invited. Are you wise enough to accept the invitation?
For those with ears to hear, listen and understand.
“I will break away and return to my father.” The prodigal who spoke these words was lying prostrate on the ground. He has pondered his fall, taken stock of his ruin, found himself mired in sin, and so he exclaims: “I will break away and return to my father.” What is the basis for such hope, such assurance, and such confidence on his part? The very fact that it is his father to whom he will return. “‘I have forfeited my sonship,”’ he tells himself, ‘‘but he has not forfeited his fatherhood. There is no need for a stranger to intercede with a father: it is the father’s own affection which intervenes and supplicates in the depths of his heart. His paternal instinct yearns to beget his child anew through forgiveness. Therefore, guilty though I am, J will return to my father.” And the father, on sighting his son, immediately covers over his sin, He prefers his role as father to his role as judge. At once, he transforms the sentence into pardon, for he desires his son’s return, not his ruin. He “threw his arms around his neck, and kissed him.’’ This is how the father judges and corrects: he gives a kiss in place of a beating. The power of love takes no account of sin; that is why the Father pardons his child’s guilt with a kiss and covers it over with an embrace. The father does not reveal his child’s sin, neither does he stigmatize his son; he nurses his wounds in such a way that they leave no scar or dishonor whatever. “Happy is the one whose fault is taken away.”
If the past behavior of this youngster has filled us with disgust and if the prodigal’s escapade has shocked us, we must ourselves be careful not to become estranged from such a Father. The sight alone of the Father suffices to put sin to flight, to keep transgression away, and to repel every kind of evil and temptation. But if we have drifted away from the Father, if we have squandered all his goods by a dissolute life, if we have happened to commit some sin or misdeed, if we have fallen into the bottomless pit of impiety and into absolute ruin, we must finally arise and return to such a Father, encouraged by such an example.
“His father caught sight of him and was deeply moved. He ran out to meet him, threw his arms around his neck, and kissed him.’’ Now I ask what place there is here for despair, what occasion for an excuse or for any kind of fear. Unless perhaps we dread meeting the Father and his kiss makes us afraid; unless perhaps we believe that it is only to get hold of him and take revenge rather than to welcome and forgive him that the Father comes and takes his son by the hand, that he presses him to his heart and embraces him.
But this life-destroying thought, this enemy of our salvation, is completely disarmed by the words that follow: ‘The father said to his servants: ‘Quick! bring out the finest robe and put it on him; put a ring on his finger and shoes on his feet. Take the fatted calf and kill it. Let us eat and celebrate because this son of mine was dead and has come back to life. He was lost and is found.’ ”’ After hearing this, can we still put off our own return to the Father?
Abortion/infanticide is a serious problem in this nation and a national disgrace. Here is a beautiful Christian response. May God have mercy on us and cause a great wave of repentance that will bring an end to this evil. For those with ears to hear, listen and understand.
What to do with a newborn whose very existence presents a crisis? That question has troubled humans for as long as they have been fruitful and multiplying. It’s one that is particularly close to my heart: My fifth daughter is adopted. She was found abandoned on a wintry sidewalk soon after birth, her umbilical cord still attached, and survived the exposure by a series of miracles. Now, she is a happy teenager in a large, loving family.
Baby hatches, installed at fire stations, hospitals, and other safe locations, present an answer. Just two days ago, a newborn was surrendered at a Safe Haven Baby Box in Woodburn, Indiana, where the nonprofit was founded. There are currently 142 Safe Haven boxes across the country. Mothers can remain anonymous, and the boxes are temperature-controlled to ensure the comfort of the infant. A silent alarm is triggered when a baby is placed inside the box.
The hatches are an update of a long-existing concept. Ancient “foundling wheels” were built into the walls of medieval convents, monasteries, and churches throughout Europe. These wheels had a bell, which was rung after the bundled newborn was placed in the receptacle and the wheel had been turned. The infant would travel from the cold and inhospitable outdoors to the warm interior of a religious house in seconds, to be collected by the sleepy nun awoken by the bell. The surrender was anonymous, sparing the baby’s family from the shame of being driven to this extremity by poverty, illegitimacy, or some other calamity. The child would later be baptized and given a last name like “Esposito,” which means “exposed” or “abandoned.” Sometimes the child’s own mother would offer herself as a wet nurse, and thus preserve the happiness of nursing her baby even if she was too poor to raise the child.
