Topical Message for PRE LENT

PRE LENT WISDOM FOR US ---a Topical Message of Encouragement

In the Gospel of Matthew we see  “ the character of this new community ( the Church from Matthew )  in which anger is overcome through reconciliation (5:21-26), lust is kept under discipline (5:27-30), marriage is honored through lifelong fidelity (5:31-32), language is simple and honest (5:33-37), retaliation is renounced (5:38-42), and enemy-love replaces hate (5:43-48)” The Moral Vision of the New Testament , Richard B. Hays.

The Book of Leviticus reminds us that the people of God “shall be holy, for I the LORD your God am holy.” 19:1 I was encouraged by looking at Louis Berkhof, Summary of Christian Doctrine who said unlike justification “(requiring) no work with a view to merit..” ( in other words of grace alone) sanctification is not a “legal act but a recreative act, …” “ USUALLY A LENGTHY PROCESS”

“Put to death therefore what is earthly in you : sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness which is idolatry…you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth…put on then as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility , meekness, and patience, bearing with one another, and if any one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other, as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these put on love which binds everything together in perfect harmony…” Colossians 3:5-14 ( ESV)

Human wisdom will only take us so far but can be helpful .  Here is an example for us:
“ The Cowboy’s Guide to Life”- Andalusia Rodeo
“Never squat with your spurs on.
Don’t interfere with something that isn’t bothering you.
Timing has a lot to do with the outcome of a rain dance.
If you find yourself standing in a hole, stop digging.
The biggest troublemaker you will ever deal with watches you shave your face in the mirror every morning.
Never ask a barber if you need a haircut.
Always drink upstream from the herd.
Telling someone to get lost and making them do it are two entirely different propositions.
When you ride ahead of the herd, look back every now and then to make sure it is still with you.
Letting the cat out of the bag is a whole lot easier than putting it back in.
Never miss an opportunity to shut up.”

The good thing to know is that we are in a fellowship of like minded people who are in a hospital for sinners. Here we do not shoot our wounded. Jesus so starkly reminds us in the Sermon on the Mount to “love our enemies”. If we only love those who we like we are like the ones who Jesus says, “ For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same?” Matthew 5:46-47 So if someone is bothering us how have we tried to love them anyway as Mother Teresa so aptly says in her poem, “ 
People are unreasonable, illogical, and self-centered.
Love them anyway.
If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish ulterior motives.
Be kind anyway.
If you are successful, you will win some false friends and true enemies. 
Succeed anyway.
The good you do today will be forgotten tomorrow.
Be good anyway.
Honesty and frankness will make you vulnerable.
Be honest and frank anyway.
What you spend years building may be destroyed overnight.
Build anyway.
People need help but will attack you if you help them.
Help them anyway.
In the final analysis, it is between you and God.
It was never between you and them anyway.”
*Kent Keith originated this poem in 1968, and Mother Teresa placed it on her children's home in Calcutta in a slightly different version. As a result, many have attributed it to Mother Teresa.




( despite how they treat us---because as she said, “ it is not between you and them- it was between them and God anyway.”)

We are a holy community. But we are also a loving community. Proverbs 3:3 “ Let not steadfast love and faithfulness forsake you..” James “ be doers of the word and not hearers only deceiving yourselves.” James 1:22 The necessity of holy living is all too clear from the Scriptures. Peter the Apostle quotes the passage from Leviticus saying 1:14, “ as obedient children , do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but as he who called you is holy , you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, ‘ You shall be holy, for I am holy.’ ”

The three Sundays preceding Lent is an ancient custom of the Church since 465 when the Bishop of Turin mentions it in one of his sermons. This seems a good way to prepare for it as jumping into Lent without preparing is rather mindless. How can we live our lives more in union with Christ may be the appropriate question instead of what kinds of meat we will give up. I Corinthians 3:“

According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled master builder I laid a foundation, and someone else is building on it. Each builder must choose with care how to build on it. For no one can lay any foundation other than the one that has been laid; that foundation is Jesus Christ.
Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you? If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy that person. For God's temple is holy, and you are that temple.
Do not deceive yourselves. If you think that you are wise in this age, you should become fools so that you may become wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written,
"He catches the wise in their craftiness,"
and again,
"The Lord knows the thoughts of the wise,
that they are futile."
So let no one boast about human leaders. For all things are yours, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future-- all belong to you, and you belong to Christ, and Christ belongs to God.”

As we go into Lent perhaps the words of Nouwen can also prompt us to see that this season is not meant to harm us but to bring us into God’s Holiness, love and joy.

Choosing Joy-Nouwen

Joy is what makes life worth living, but for many joy seems hard to find. They complain that their lives are sorrowful and depressing. What then brings the joy we so much desire? Are some people just lucky, while others have run out of luck? Strange as it may sound, we can choose joy. Two people can be part of the same event, but one may choose to live it quite differently than the other. One may choose to trust that what happened, painful as it may be, holds a promise. The other may choose despair and be destroyed by it.

What makes us human is precisely this freedom of choice.

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.