The Already But Not Yet: Reflections on Ephesians 4.1-7, 11-16

The Already But Not Yet

Reflections on Ephesians 4.1-7, 11-16

A Celebration of New Ministry for Marion Wong

17 December 2018

The Parish of Saint Matthias and Saint Luke

Vancouver BC

Click here to listen to the Sermon as preached at the Celebration.

Ephesians 4.1-7, 11-16

                  ^4.1I therefore, the prisoner in the Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy of the calling to which you have been called, ²with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, ³making every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.  ⁴There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to the one hope of your calling, ⁵one Lord, one faith, one baptism, ⁶one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in all.

                  ⁷But each of us was given grace according to the measure of Christ’s gift.

¹¹The gifts he gave were that some would be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, ¹²to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, ¹³until all of us come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to maturity, to the measure of the full stature of Christ.  ¹⁴We must no longer be children, tossed to and fro and blown about by every wind of doctrine, by people’s trickery, by their craftiness in deceitful scheming.  ¹⁵But speaking the truth in love, we must grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, ¹⁶from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by every ligament with which it is equipped, as each part is working properly, promotes the body’s growth in building itself up in love.

            When I was ordained in 1981, I was appointed Deacon to the Bishops of Colorado. My responsibilities included planning the visits of the Diocesan and Suffragan Bishops, communicating with the ordained and lay leadership regarding matters of pastoral concern and doing whatever else the Bishops wanted me to do.  Those of us who are ordained are familiar with that wonderful line in the ordination service --- ‘And other such duties as may be assigned to you from time to time.’

            One morning I received a call from Saint Luke’s Hospital in Denver.  In those days the Hospital was closely connected with the Episcopal Church and had its own chaplain.  It just so happened that the chaplain was away on holiday and a patient had requested communion.  Not knowing who to call, the nurse called the Diocesan Office and I agreed to go.  I admit that I was a bit annoyed.  The chaplain should have called me before leaving so that we could arrange coverage by one of the nearby parishes.  So here I was, in midst of preparing a major budget presentation, winging off to the Hospital to do someone else’s job.

            The patient’s name was Eulalia and, in the years to come, she and I would become friends.  But that day all I saw was an elderly woman who was taking me away from my ‘real work’. I introduced myself, ‘Richard Leggett, Deacon to the Bishops.’  She didn’t seem too impressed, but we chatted for a while before I began the communion service.  

            Everything was going fine until I got to the Lord’s Prayer.  I heard myself say, ‘And now, as our Saviour Christ has taught us, we are bold to say . . . . ‘  Then I could not remember any of the words --- traditional or contemporary.  We stumbled along, Eulalia being unsure of where this confused young deacon was going.  Communion was shared.  I muttered some sort of concluding prayer and sat in silence.  Eulalia looked me up and down a couple of times.  She reached over, patted my hand and said, ‘It’s okay, Father Richard.  You’ll get better at this!’

            A few years later when I officiated at Eulalia’s funeral, I remembered what she had said to me when we had first met.  Hers was a difficult funeral, not just because a wonderful woman had died after many years of battling cancer.  Hers was a difficult funeral because her family, whom she loved fiercely, had split over the ordination of women and sat on opposite sides of the church, glaring at each other.  I remember preaching about how we are already one in Christ through our baptism but not yet as truly one as God wants us to be.  We are, I said, a work in progress.  Eulalia had taught me that baptism and ordination were only beginnings.  I still had much to learn and I would always be in the process of becoming who I am as a Christian and who I am as a priest.  And she was right.

            This ‘already but not yet’ is at the heart of what the writer of the Letter to the Ephesians is trying to say to the Christians at Ephesus and, some two thousand years later, to the Christians who gather here tonight to celebrate the new ministry of Marion Wong as Rector of the Parish of Saint Matthias and Saint Luke. In the first part of tonight’s reading we hear that we are already one because

·     there is one body and one Spirit,

·     there is one hope of our calling,

·     there is one Lord, one faith, one baptism, and

·     there is one God and Father of all.

            But this unity is not yet fulfilled because of the divisions that continue to exist not only between Christians and non-Christians and between differing Christian communions.  Sometimes divisions exist within congregations and the unity which is already ours in Christ falls under the shadow of rivalries, hurt feelings and unrealized expectations.  Sometimes we fail to know we are one in Christ because we cannot see beyond the boundaries of our congregations and so we cannot see the riches of God’s gifts poured out, not only on each one of us, but on our sisters and brothers who are members of the same body and who share the same hope.

            Tonight we gather to do something more than celebrate the beginning of a new relationship between Marion and this Parish of Saint Matthias and Saint Luke. We gather to reaffirm that we are already one in Christ and that, through the gifts that the Spirit bestows on individuals and communities of faith, we are growing into that unity, so that the whole world may see ‘that things which were cast down are being raised up and that things which had grown old are being made new, by [Christ] through whom all things were made’. [1]  What happens in the days, weeks, months and years ahead here on 49^thAvenue between Oak and Cambie matters, not just to this congregation, but to all of us, who strive as disciples of Christ to proclaim the good news of God in a society whose ears are sometimes deaf to our voices and whose eyes are sometimes clouded to the signs of God’s kingdom already present among us.

            God needs us.  God needs this congregation of disciples as witnesses to the unity of the human family, a present reality and a future hope.  But we will not ‘get better’ as Eulalia once promised me, if we are not committed to each congregation as if it were our own.

·     And so I ask every baptized Christian who is not a member of Saint Matthias and Saint Luke to stand.  Will you offer, as far as lies within you, your gifts to the people of Saint Matthias and Saint Luke so that this congregation may grow in the love and service of Christ? If so, please say, ‘We will.’  ‘We will.’ Please remain standing.

·     Now I ask every member of the Parish of Saint Matthias and Saint Luke to stand.  Look around you.  You are surrounded by a cloud of witnesses.  You are not alone nor are you asked to stand alone.  Will you, as far as lies within you, continue to grow into the fullness of the stature of Christ, not for your own sake alone, but for the sake of the community where you have been called to serve?  If so, please say, ‘We will.’  ‘We will.’  Please remain standing.

·     Marion, I ask you to stand.  Look around you.  You are surrounded by disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ, both from this Parish and beyond. You are not alone nor are you asked to stand alone.  Will you, as far as lies within you, used your gifts to equip the saints for the work of ministry in this congregation and in this community you have been called to lead?  If so, please say, ‘I will.’  ‘I will.’  Now you all may be seated.

            ‘Well done’, I can hear Eulalia say to us.  But do not forget that tonight is but a beginning.  We are one in Christ.  We are one in the ministry entrusted to us by a loving God, But we are not yet fully who and what we are called to become.  We still have a ways to go in our journey of faith and ministry. But we will get better as we go along together. 

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[1]The Book of Alternative Services1985, 634.

Under Orders and On Active Service: Reflections on Ephesians 6.10-20 (RCL Proper 21B, 26 August 2018)

Under Orders and On Active Service

Reflections on Ephesians 6.10-20

RCL Proper 21B

26 August 2018

Holy Trinity Cathedral

New Westminster BC

Click here to listen to the Sermon as preached at the 10.00 Eucharist on Sunday the 26th t Holy Trinity Cathedral.

Ephesians 6.10-20

                  ^6.10Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his power.  ¹¹Put on the whole armour of God, so that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.  ¹²For our struggle is not against enemies of blood and flesh, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.  ¹³Therefore take up the whole armour of God, so that you may be able to withstand on that evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm.  ¹⁴Stand therefore, and fasten the belt of truth around your waist, and put on the breastplate of righteousness.  ¹⁵As shoes for your feet put on whatever will make you ready to proclaim the gospel of peace.  ¹⁶With all of these, take the shield of faith, with which you will be able to quench all the flaming arrows of the evil one.  ¹⁷Take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

                  ¹⁸Pray in the Spirit at all times in every prayer and supplication.  To that end keep alert and always persevere in supplication for all the saints.  ¹⁹Pray also for me, so that when I speak, a message may be given to me to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel, ²⁰for which I am an ambassador in chains.  Pray that I may declare it boldly, as I must speak.

            Both Paula and I grew up as the children of serving members of the United States Air Force.  We grew up knowing that we might find ourselves relocating to some new town or country at the pleasure of the President of the United States as expressed through the chain of command.  Just as our fathers served the defence needs of the United States, so we served our fathers and our country by supporting our fathers and, especially, our mothers. We learned to adapt to new contexts and to understand the notion of ‘being under orders’.

            My father was transferred to Germany in 1960 and we followed along.  Those were particularly tense times with the building of the Berlin Wall and the Cuban missile crisis.  Because of his security clearance there were several times my father disappeared without our knowing where he was or when he would return. We did know that, if the Warsaw Pact forces invaded what was then West Germany, we would find ourselves under their control.  Risk was not limited to our fathers; we shared in it.  We were as much on active duty as our fathers were.

            Paula and I also grew up at a time when the military came under greater scrutiny and growing criticism, especially during and after the Vietnam War.  Our fathers were lumped together with others as ‘war-mongers’ even though Paula and I knew our fathers as men who understood their role to be defensive and geared towards keeping the peace.  I remember my father’s anger when Oliver North, dressed in his Marine officer’s uniform, testified before Congress and claimed what has been called the ‘Nuremberg defence’ --- ‘I broke the law but I was following orders.’  My father was proud of his oath to defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic, and, in Oliver North, he saw a ‘domestic’ enemy of the Constitution.

            Perhaps some of you have had similar experiences or share some of the views that Paula and I have encountered over the years when we tell people that we are ‘Air Force brats’.  These experiences and feelings can make it difficult to hear today’s reading from Ephesians with its military imagery and say, ‘Thanks be to God.’

            But the followers of Jesus had good reason to be concerned about their safety in early decades of the Christian movement.  Those who were slaves risked physical violence and even death if their owners were hostile to the ‘new’ religion.  Those who were Jewish faced opposition and exclusion from their families and possible death at the hands of local religious authorities.  Those who were Gentiles but not slaves could lose their livelihoods and perhaps their lives if they did not participate in the non-Christian religious rites of their cities and of the Empire.

            So should we be surprised that the writer of Ephesians turns to the image of a Roman soldier preparing for battle as an image for how Christians should live in difficult times?  Not at all. To be a Christian is to be someone under orders and in active service of God in a world that is not always receptive to the good news of God in Christ.  The good news, it has been said, always comes first as bad news to someone, especially those in power and those who feel threatened by the love of God in Christ.

            And how shall we defend ourselves?  Today we hear some familiar exhortations from earlier portions of Ephesians.  We defend ourselves (i) by speaking the truth; (ii) by living lives of justice, kindness and humility; (iii) by working for peace, whether locally or globally; (iv) by having faith and confidence in God’s purposes for us and for the whole of creation.

            And who shall we approach those who find us inconvenient or a threat, those whom the writer describes as the rulers, the authorities, the cosmic powers of this present darkness, the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places?  We approach them with the Word of God which is simply the story of God’s love for us and revealed in the creation of the universe, in the saving love of Jesus of Nazareth and in the power of the Spirit to do infinitely more in and through us than we can ask or imagine. 

            Friends, today’s reading is not about an aggressive assertiveness of the supremacy of our faith over any other.  Nor is it an exhortation to build walls to keep ‘others’ out or to divide the world between what is ‘holy’ and what is ‘profane’.  Today’s reading is a reminder that we, as disciples of Jesus, still have work to do and that we should not expect that the good news of God in Christ will always be greeted with cheers and with commitments to change. And so, as the writer tells us, we need to be prepared (i) to speak God’s truth in love, (ii) to resist anger and to live in peace with everyone, believer and non-believer, (iii) to work for the common good of all creation rather than for the advantage of one group over another, for ‘us’ over ‘them’.

            We are, as the Book of Common Prayer says, ‘the Church militant on earth’, not ‘militant’ in aggressively asserting our privilege but ‘militant’ in our service to Christ who came to serve not to be served.  It is what is means for us, as much as it means for those in the armed forces, to be under orders and on active duty for the One who calls us out of darkness into the glorious light of Christ.

O God, 

the author of peace and lover of concord, 

to know you is eternal life, to serve you is perfect freedom.  

Defend us your servants form the assaults of our enemies, 

that we may trust in your defence, 

and not fear the power of any adversaries; 

through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Now Is the Right Time: Reflections on Ephesians 5.15-20 (RCL Proper 20B, 19 August 2018)

Now Is the Right Time

Reflections on Ephesians 5.15-20

RCL Proper 20B

19 August 2018

Holy Trinity Cathedral

New Westminster BC

Click here to listen to the Sermon as preached at the 10.00 Eucharist on Sunday the 19th.

Ephesians 5.15-20

                  ^5.15Be careful then how you live, not as unwise people but as wise, ¹⁶making the most of the time, because the days are evil.  ¹⁷So do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.  ¹⁸Do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery; but be filled with the Spirit, ¹⁹as you sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs among yourselves, singing and making melody to the Lord in your hearts, ²⁰giving thanks to God the Father at all times and for everything in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

         Every family has at least one time in its life when it faced both welcome and unwelcome challenges.  The autumn of 1990 and the spring of 1991 was just such a time in the life of our family here in Metro Vancouver.  The Board of Governors at Vancouver School of Theology had unexpectedly given me the gift of a full year’s sabbatical rather than just the six months I was entitled to have so that I could make significant progress on my doctoral thesis.  The same day that I learned of the Governors’ decision, Paula told me that she was pregnant with Owen, our youngest, and that he would be born in October, just as I was beginning my sabbatical --- another bit of unexpected news.  Juggling two young children, a pregnant wife and the research and writing of a thesis made for an autumn that was, to say the least, both eventful and stressful.

         We did have an unexpected source of support. Marjorie and Cyril Powells, retired missionaries of the Anglican Church of Canada, took up residence in the apartment across the hall from us at VST.  Their presence was a gift of calm, of stability and of perspective during that autumn.  A few months after Owen was born, early in the spring of 1991, Paula and Marjorie met for a cup of tea.  The conversation turned to the future and Marjorie asked Paula what her heart was calling her to do in the years ahead.  ‘I want to become a priest,’ Paula said, ‘but I’ve been waiting for the right time to begin the process.’  Marjorie was a very wise person and she replied, ‘Paula, there is no such time as the “right” time.  There is only the here and now.  We do what we think God is calling us to do and figure out the details as best we can as we go along.’  That afternoon I arrived home to learn that my spouse had applied for admission to VST. And, just as Marjorie said, we worked out the details as we went along.  Even now I have no regrets.  It was not and has not been easy, but it was the right thing to do.

         There is a sentence in today’s reading from Ephesians that Paula and I could have used as our working principle during those days: “Be careful then how you live, not as unwise people but as wise, making the most of the time, because the days are evil.” [1]  The writer reminds his audience that the days are ‘evil’, in other words, they are living in a time when being a Christian is not easy in a culture and society that was often hostile to the claims of the good news of God in Jesus.  Some Christians at that time might have thought that it would be better to hunker down and avoid notice, in the hopes that the promised ‘day of the Lord’ would come soon.  But hunkering down was not then, nor is it now, an option for the disciples of Jesus.  To be sure we wait with longing for the promised ‘day of the Lord’, but we live in the present.

         Our present day, just as it was for our ancestors in the faith, is both the ‘meantime’ and the ‘mean time’.  It is the ‘meantime’ because we live and witness to Christ in the time between Jesus’ life, death and resurrection two thousand years ago and the day when God’s purposes for the creation will be fulfilled ‘so that we and all [God’s] children shall be free’.[2]  But our time is also the ‘mean time’ because we are witnesses to the continued human resistance to doing justice, to loving kindness and to walking humbly with God. What the writer of the Letter to the Ephesians describes as evil days we might easily call ‘mean times’ when the ‘better angels of our nature’ struggle to assert themselves against ‘the evil powers of this world which corrupt and destroy the creatures of God’. [3]

         My friends, there is always something said for taking time to discern what God is calling us to be and to do, whether as individuals, families or communities, and then to plan how we are to move towards the goals we have discerned.  But we can find ourselves paralyzed when we keep looking for the ‘right’ time to act upon the plans we have made.  The only real time we have is ‘now’.

         This is something that the writer of Ephesians knew all too well.  When he exhorts his audience to make the most of ‘the time’, he chooses a very particular word for ‘time’ --- ‘kairos’.  ‘Kairos’ is sometimes translated in the New Testament as ‘the right time’ or ‘the fullness of time’.  It is a quality of human experience rather than a measure of our journey around the sun which is the source of our calendar and our clocks.  ‘Kairos’ is the realization that we are living right now, right here, with these people in God’s reign of justice and peace.  The world we hope for is both a future hope and a present reality --- if we have eyes to see it, ears to hear it, wills to embrace it and hands to work with God in making it present now.

         In the months and years ahead this community of faith we call Holy Trinity Cathedral will write a new chapter in the story of our life and witness to Jesus here in New Westminster.  Our decision to re-develop this property is a clear indication that we do not plan to hunker down and hope for ‘better’ times.  We have chosen to act and, in choosing to act, we have set ourselves on a path which will no doubt bring unexpected challenges even as it will bring unexpected gifts of God’s grace.  What we shall be five or more years from today, we can only imagine.  But what we can say is that we are God’s children now, that we have a part to play in God’s love and compassion for New Westminster now, that we are being transformed, bit by bit, into stronger and more able disciples of Jesus now.

         Friends, we are not unwise people.  We know that we are living in the ‘meantime’ and in the ‘mean time’.  But we shall make the most of the time, giving thanks for all that God has done for us, all that God is doing for us and all that God will do for us.  And we shall work things out as we go along, knowing that we do not travel alone but in the grace of God, in the love of Christ and in the communion of the Holy Spirit.

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[1]Ephesians 5.15-16.

[2]The Book of Alternative Services1985, 215.

[3]The Book of Alternative Services1985, 154.

Becoming Who We Are: Reflections on Ephesians 4.25-5.2 (RCL Proper 19B, 12 August 2018)

Becoming Who We Are

Reflections on Ephesians 4.25-5.2

RCL Proper 19B

12 August 2018

Holy Trinity Cathedral

New Westminster BC

Click here to listen to the Sermon as preached at the 10.00 Eucharist on the 12th.

Ephesians 4.25-5.2

            ^4.25So then, putting away falsehood, let all of us speak the truth to our neighbours, for we are members of one another.  ²⁶Be angry but do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, ²⁷and do not make room for the devil.  ²⁸Thieves must give up stealing; rather let them labour and work honestly with their own hands, so as to have something to share with the needy.  ²⁹Let no evil talk come out of your mouths, but only what is useful for building up, as there is need, so that your words may give grace to those who hear.  ³⁰And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with which you were marked with a seal for the day of redemption.  ³¹Put away from you all bitterness and wrath and anger and wrangling and slander, together with all malice, ³²and be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ has forgiven you.

            ^5.1Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children, ²and live in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

            Early in the twentieth century the nephew of the American writer Henry James overheard his uncle in his study.  The nephew leaned closer to hear what was being said.  After all, his uncle was one of the most respected intellectuals of his time.  Anything he had to say must be important.  The words James’ nephew heard his famous uncle say were these:  ‘Three things in human life are important.  The first is to be kind.  The second is to be kind.  The third is to be kind.’

            The writer of the Letter to the Ephesians could have said something similar two thousand years ago.  The first chapters of his Letter focus on what we might call theological reflection on the mystery of God in Christ.  For many of his listeners I can imagine some head-scratching as they tried to understand the writer’s meaning.  I think that all of us can sympathize.  There’s a part in all of us which wants to say, ‘So what’s the point you’re getting at?’. And the writer’s point is the same as James’:  the most important thing in human life is to be kind.

            He makes this point towards the end of today’s reading.  Unfortunately, his point is lost on us when we hear or read the text in English.  What we heard this morning was ‘ . . . be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ has forgiven you.’ [1]  But, in the original Greek, the writer is expecting us to laugh just a little, because he makes a pun.  What he writes is ‘ . . . be chrestosto one another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christoshas forgiven you.’  Chrestos, the Greek word for kindness, sounds a bit like Christos, the Greek word for Christ.  We could fairly read this sentence as follows:  ‘ . . . be Christ-liketo one another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ has forgiven you.’

            For the writer of the letter to the Ephesians the meaning of ‘kindness’ is found in being Christ-like.  It’s not some vague feeling, some polite deference to another person.  Genuine kindness, for Christians, is the choice to be, in any given moment, in any given relationship, in any given place, the presence of Christ.

            You have heard me say that you and I are made in the image and likeness of God. Every human being, whether a person of faith or not, is made in God’s image.  God’s image is the God-given ability of every human being to act with justice, to love tenderly, to serve one another and to walk humbly with God. This is built into our very DNA. It can be suppressed, it can be tested, it can become dormant, but, when a human being is free, when a human being is able to tap this reservoir of grace within herself or himself, this image of God lies within each one of us.

            But having the image of God within us is not enough.  We are called to grow into the likeness of God as made known to us in the person of Jesus of Nazareth.  It is a life-long pilgrimage of learning and rehearsing a way of being alive, a way of being a genuine human being.  It is a pilgrimage that includes blind trails and wrong turns, but a pilgrimage that always offers a way back towards our goal.  It is a pilgrimage intended to create what Christian spiritual writers call a habitus, a ‘habit’ of being Christ-like, of being God-like in our choices.

            ‘Now all this is well and good’, I can hear those first Christians say to the writer of Ephesians.  ‘But tell us how we can become more like Christ, more like God, in the reality of our daily lives?’

·     Speak the truth in love.  ‘Christian speech is truthful, helpful, positive, is kind, has words of forgiveness . . . . ‘ [2]  Speaking the truth in love does not mean we ignore hard truths.  But it does mean we choose our words carefully, always with an eye to heal rather than hurt, to build up rather than tear down, to bring light rather than shadow.  It’s not easy, I know.  If you’re like me, you’re still working on it.  But what God expects of us is an honest and committed effort.  And the habitus of being Christ-like, of being God-like finds a place within us.

·     Resist the temptation to act in anger.  All of us feel anger; it is a naturally-occurring physiological response to the challenges of life.  But what is expected of a follower of Jesus is to choose whether we allow our anger to control us and our actions or whether we find ways to use the energy of anger to heal rather than hurt, to build up rather than tear down, to bring light rather than shadow.  It’s not easy, I know.  If you’re like me, you’re still working on it.  But what God expects of us is an honest and committed effort.  And the habitus of being Christ-like finds a place within us.

·     Work for the common good rather than personal advantage.  It’s hard to keep this in mind when we live and breathe a culture of acquisition, hoarding and careless consumption.  Nevertheless, we are stewards of God’s gifts. Everything we have as members of Christ’s body we hold in trust for the One who created all things, for the One who is the giver of all things, for the One who breathes life and love into all things. Sometimes when I see the gap between those who have much and those who have little, those who have power and those who do not, those who believes themselves above everyone else and those who feel themselves below others, I grow weary of trying  to heal rather than hurt, to build up rather than tear down, to bring light rather than shadow.  It’s not easy, I know.  If you’re like me, you’re still working on it.  But what God expects of us is an honest and committed effort.  And the  habitus of being Christ-like, of being God-like finds a place within us.

            We come here, Sunday after Sunday, for many reasons.  Sometimes we come for solace, sometimes for pardon, sometimes because it’s what we’ve always done.  But we also come for strength, for renewal, for a reminder of who we are and whose we are.  We come because God’s image within us draws us like a magnet towards one another and towards this community of faith.  We come because we know that here, among Christ’s friends, among our friends in Christ, we become more truly ourselves.  We hear what Henry James’ nephew heard, if perhaps in a slightly different voice, ‘Three things in human life are important.  The first is be Christ-like.  The second is be Christ-like.  The third is be Christ-like.’  It’s a challenge, I know.  But it is who we are.  It is who with God's help and strength we can become.

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[1]Ephesians 4.32.

[2]The New Interpreter’s Study Bible, vol. XI, 432.

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