Owe no one anything, except to love one another; for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. The commandments, "You shall not commit adultery; You shall not murder; You shall not steal; You shall not covet"; and any other commandment, are summed up in this word, "Love your neighbor as yourself." Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore, love is the fulfilling of the law. Besides this, you know what time it is, how it is now the moment for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we became believers; the night is far gone, the day is near. Let us then lay aside the works of darkness and put on the armor of light; let us live honorably as in the day, not in reveling and drunkenness, not in debauchery and licentiousness, not in quarreling and jealousy. Instead, put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.
When you combine Paul's words with the teaching in the Gospel Lesson (see previous posting) you are given two critical pieces of the recipe for healthy community and dynamic service in Christ's Church.
First: We are to maintain open, forgiving and truth speaking relationships with others.
Secondly: We are to live in a spirit of love and practiced discipline. We should not be naive about the inner life...the "secret" places of our hearts.
It is so easy to become blind to my own faults, especially if I am dwelling on the way "others" affect me, and how I relate to them. As long as I can stand on the fringe of what is going on and choose to withdraw or wash my hands of the matter (write it off) I may fall into the seemingly safe attitude of blame (of myself or others). If they would only do this or that, or, if I had done this or that, things would be different. These situations focus upon visible or audible aspects of behavior...words and deeds.
In Paul's counsel, though, is the call to honestly acknowledge what goes on within -- the matters of the heart -- the deepest intention of what I do and how I do it. This truth provides a clear glimpse of the areas where I have a slippery slope...where I could easily slide into external behavior that really would hurt, offend, or violate the other. Over time, the honest awareness of my OWN stuff will enable deeper humility and total reliance upon Christ's abiding light at the center of all I say and do.
Stepping into the light of Christ allows our focus to shift from external, physical and material stuff. Christ at our center compels us to look deeply into the deepest regions of motivation. To be honest, what we see there may not always be pretty. Nomatter how disciplined we become there is almost always a chink in our inner space where temptation still has a handle. And those chinks, left unacknowledged, send ripples outward that then may become manifest in all sorts of "wrongs", small and large. That it is why it is so important to pay attention to the confession at the beginning of the worship service: we bring forth the things we have done or left undone.
By confessing our sins in the presence of God and one another, we claim the power of forgiveness of "self" first and foremost. We put on the new way of being that is possible as grace and God's loves wash us...completely.
Paul proclaims that the Light of Christ is readily available...close at hand. That is why prayer, worship, and our presence at Holy Communion are all so critical.
Throughout this year, let us remember how important it is to be "in" Christ. Allow the lesson written by Paul help you prioritize the practices that will move your focus aways from the way of the world (the flesh) and center your thoughts, feelings, words and deeds clearly in the Light of Christ.
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