Love

“Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God.Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.”  — 1 John 4:7-8 

“This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.”  — John 15:12  

As we rebuild the Temple of the Lord, we are being remade in the image of Christ. A crucial part of that remaking is the purifying of our lives that we may become holy as He is holy. It is a process. We are being set apart from the world; not removed from the world, but becoming different from those around us, and wholly belonging to Christ. The world no longer has any claim upon us. But though the world may no longer lay claim to us, we are called to be in the world and to love those who are still mired in its clutches. 

But how do we do this? The learning is in the doing. We learn to love the unlovable. C.S. Lewis said, “The rule for all of us is perfectly simple. Do not waste time bothering whether you ‘love’ your neighbor; act as if you did. As soon as we do this we find one of the great secrets. When you are behaving as if you loved someone, you will presently come to love him.” This is exactly what Jesus told us in Luke’s Gospel: “But I say to you who hear, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you,bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you…If you love those who love you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them” (6:27-36). 

Truly it is difficult to love some people, but as we see from the example of Jesus and the truth of God’s word we can do it. He gives us the power through the Holy Spirit to demonstrate compassion and spend time with social outcasts just as Jesus did. We can do a multitude of things that we think we cannot do if we just call upon the Holy Spirit to work in and through us to do it. God loves the unlovable and He loves us … even though we are sometimes unlovable too. This is how Jesus loved, and He commanded us to do the same, saying, “just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another” (John 13:34). Jesus was willing to die for us when we were yet sinners (Romans 5:8). Can we not be bothered to make simple sacrifices for those unlovable ones around us? We are to love one another so that the world will see Jesus manifested in our lives—to see that we are different. Why would they want to be part of a Church that looks no different from the institutions of the world?

As was noted in the meditation on Thursday, February 18, love for one another is the mortar that holds the bricks of the Temple together. But just as mortar which is applied correctly not only holds the bricks in place, but also enhances the finished look of the structure, so our love holds the members of the Body together and makes a Temple attractive to the world. The world is looking. But what are they seeing? In the second chapter of Peter’s first epistle he talks about the “living stones” being built up into a “spiritual house” and that we are to “keep our conduct among the Gentiles honorable…” He explains, “For this is the will of God, that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people.Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God.Honor everyone. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the emperor” (1 Peter 2:15-17).

There has been a lot of talk this past year about freedom. People have argued that their freedom is being taken away by the government. There have been Christians who refused to obey the authorities and have gathered in large crowds, and there were those who refused to wear masks, enabling the spread of the Covid virus. The world is watching! Are we using our freedom as “a cover-up for evil”? Jesus said that we are to love others “as I have loved you.” He sacrificed everything to give us the opportunity to have eternal life. To be Christlike is to sacrifice ourselves to give life to another.

We are called to be set apart, to be different from the world. “Your way of acting should be different from worldly ways” (Rule St. Benedict 4:21), “that we should be holy and blameless before Him” (Ephesians 1:4). It’s about relationship. Yes, we are called to love one another in the Church, but we are also called in Christlikeness to love the unlovable: the refugees, the racially different, political opponents, and our unruly neighbors. Jesus said, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it” (Mark 8:34-35). Love in action is the beginning step of becoming holy.

Becoming Holy

“He chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him.”  — Ephesians 1:4  

“…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’.”  — 1 Peter 1:15-16  

“For I am the Lord your God. Consecrate yourselves therefore, and be holy, for I am holy.”  — Leviticus 11:44

“Speak to all the congregation of the people of Israel and say to them, You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy.”  — Leviticus 19:2  

As we come to the halfway point in this Lenten season it appears that we have been called to a formidable task. How can we even begin to meet the demands of being built into a holy Temple for the Lord?  We would inevitably come up short if we were to attempt to meet the challenge of pursuing excellence and becoming Christlike in our own power.  Without God, we would fail.  However, we know that with God, all things are possible (Matthew 19:26; Mark 9:23; 10:27). 

The reconstruction of God’s Holy Temple, then, can only be achieved when we are submitted to God’s purpose and plan for each one of us. Each brick must be made of the right material, and any impurities must be burned away. It is important, therefore, for God to cleanse and purify us that we may be built by Him into His Holy Temple. In the Ephesians passage quoted above, we are told by Paul that “we should be holy and blameless…” We are to be set apart by God, for His Kingdom. Another way to state that is found in the Rule of St. Benedict (4:20-21): “Your way of acting should be different from worldly ways. The love of Christ must be preferred to all else.” When we put Christ first, we will behave in a way that differs from the behavior of those who are in the world and without Christ. This process of becoming holy is what we will examine as we study the virtues of this coming week.

Today is known as “Laetare Sunday”. The name comes from the introit (the beginning of the liturgy) in the Latin Mass for the Fourth Sunday in Lent. As the clergy enter the sanctuary, these verses are sung: 

Rejoice, O Jerusalem; and gather round, all you who love her; rejoice in gladness, after having been in sorrow; exult and be replenished with the consolation flowing from her motherly bosom. I rejoiced when it was said unto me: ‘Let us go to the house of the Lord.’ (Isaiah 66:10; Psalm 122:1)

The Lord wants us to be “replenished” and to persevere. There is more work to be accomplished in the rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem. So “Let us go to the house of the Lord” for it is there that we will receive the encouragement, provision, and replenishment necessary to do the work that God has called us to do.

As we move forward through this pilgrimage of Lent, let us look at what God desires of us in becoming holy, and let us rejoice! For God is doing His work in us that we may be remade in His image. As St. Peter reminds us in his first epistle (2:5), “you yourselves like living stones are being built up into a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.” God is doing the work and we are being built up. He is making us holy so that we may be built into a “spiritual house”. For it is “not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, says the Lord of hosts” (Zechariah 4:6). All of this does appear to be a formidable task if we move our focus away from Him. But as Jesus declared to His disciples, “With man it is impossible, but not with God. For all things are possible with God” (Mark 10:27).

Confess

“For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function,so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another.Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them…” —Romans 12:4-6

We are called to rejoice in hope, be filled with the joy of the Lord, and to practice humility and patience. We have been called to the exercise of the virtue of excellence. And we have not always done well in this calling. When things do not go as we hoped and when our patience is tried, it is easy to get frustrated and angry. That is our self-seeking desire rearing its ugly head.  We want these obstacles to disappear. We want to retaliate against these threats to our will. And left unchecked, we begin to live outside the moment attempting to take control of the situation.

During this year of tribulation we have all been called upon to make sacrifices. We have each  been faced with a variety of difficulties. And sadly, many who profess the Name of Christ, have rebelled against these limits on our freedom in Christ, and have sought to force our will upon the situation and upon others around us. Annoyance at the contrariness of things has led to cynicism and grumbling. God is not in favor of His children grumbling (Exodus 16:1-12; John 6:43; 1 Cor. 10:10; Jude 16).

So, let us pause and reflect on the virtues we have examined this week. And let us ask God for the grace to lay down our will, and to forgive our grumbling hearts. Let us seek the God who loves us with unquenchable love, and ask for renewed joy and hope, the patience to persevere, the humility to accept our place in His renewed Jerusalem, and the gift of His glory and excellence.

O God of Glory, forgive us for our impatience and doubt, our despair and grumbling hearts, and grant us the true grace of your love, that we may know the joy of your salvation, and the hope of glory in Your Son Jesus Christ. May we know You and the power of Your Spirit working in and through us for the building up of Your Church, the rebuilding of Your Temple in the image of Christ. Help us, by Your grace to live in the moment and to see You at work in our lives and in the lives of those around us. And may You receive all of the praise both now and forevermore.  Amen.

Excellence

“His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence…”  — 2 Peter 1:3  

During the first week of Lent we examined the pursuit of excellence in living our lives in Christ by putting on godly virtue. What we are examining here is the virtue of excellence which is the “knowledge of Him”—His power at work in us through our intimate relationship with Him. This virtue is the exercise of “His divine power [by which He] has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to His own glory and excellence…” God has called us, and has granted us “all things that pertain to life and godliness.” Excellence, therefore, comes from Jesus. It is the gift of His glory.

It is interesting to note that this verse from St. Peter’s second letter is the only place in Holy Scripture where “glory” and “excellence” are used together. Peter is telling us something new and refreshing about living in the moment in Christ.  We are called by Him to participate in His excellence for His glory. The virtue of excellence is not an achievement of our effort—it is a gift! To participate in the excellence of God’s glory, His splendor, His radiance, His love, is a gift of God’s life giving grace given to us in Jesus Christ.

St. Paul refers to the virtue of excellence in Philippians 1:9-11, where he says, “And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment,so that you may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ,filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.” Paul exhorts us to “approve what is excellent”. The word excellent comes from the root meaning something strong or powerful. To approve of something excellent is to cherish the power and sovereignty of God at work in us in this present moment. The excellent things we are called to approve are the things that are essential to the Church. When Paul describes the gifts of the Spirit to the Church at Corinth, he says that he will show them “a still more excellent way” to use those gifts (1 Cor. 12:31). The excellent way is the more powerful way to employ the gifts. And that way is the way of love described in 1 Corinthians 13.

The virtue of excellence, then, is the virtue of God’s strength at work in us for His glory. And that virtue is manifested in His love working through us for the building up of the Body of Christ. As Paul says in that passage in 1 Corinthians, we exercise the virtue of excellence “for the common good” (12:7). Jesus not only revealed the glory of the Father in His ministry, He revealed His excellence in power over sickness, demons, and nature. By “His own glory and excellence” He performed signs and wonders; He spoke with authority; healed the sick; raised the dead; and forgave sin. And the power of the virtue of His excellence has been granted to us by the Holy Spirit. St. John declares in the opening chapter of his Gospel that “to all who received Him, who believed in His Name, He gave power to become children of God” (1:14). This is the virtue of the “knowledge of Him”. As a bride is “known” by her bridegroom so we are called to know and be known by Christ. That is the grace of living in the moment with Christ, touching and being touched by His glory and excellence.

Patience

“Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer.”  — Romans 12:12  

“And we urge you, brothers, admonish the idle, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with them all.”  — 1 Thessalonians 5:14  

One of the most difficult verses of Scripture for me to understand is Romans 8:25 “But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.” I find this passage difficult because it is not something that I experience readily. If I do not see the things that I hope for, I become impatient. In my fallen nature I want it NOW. Many of you have heard me say, “Don’t pray for patience because God will give you opportunities to practice it.” This past year has been a never-ending opportunity for all of us to practice patience. And we need to pray for more.

In the Romans 12 verse quoted above, the apostle commands that we be “patient in tribulation, [and] be constant in prayer.” Living in the moment calls for a daily appeal for patience. St. Ambrose said, “Patience is greatly approved of by God, for by daily waiting it desires the coming of the kingdom of God and does not doubt just because it delays.” The practice of keeping the Daily Office either in the Prayer Book or the Liturgy of the Hours grounds us in the practice of patience. It helps us recognize the need for God’s presence throughout the hours of the day to meet the challenges of the day.

But patience is also an interactive exercise. Miranda works with the public and I must interact with people both within and outside of the Church. For both of us, particularly as introverts, this can be challenging.  We sometimes sigh to each other and bemoan that “This job would be so easy if it weren’t for the people.” Then we remind each other that this job wouldn’t exist if it weren’t for the people. We need to be patient with others in order to take our part in the walls of Jerusalem. St. Paul reflects this truth in his appeal to the Church at Thessalonica to be patient with each other. The walls of the Temple will only stand if the bricks of the wall fit smoothly together. Paul, therefore, says, “We ask you, brothers, to respect those who labor among you and are over you in the Lord and admonish you,and to esteem them very highly in love because of their work. Be at peace among yourselves.And we urge you, brothers, admonish the idle, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with them all” (1 Thess. 5:12-14). We may not always agree with those who “are over [us] in the Lord”, and we may find it difficult to deal with the idle, fainthearted, and weak among us. But we are called to be “patient with them all.” That can be a difficult prospect. But with God “all things are possible.”

I do not always find it easy to “hope for what we do not see, [and] wait for it with patience.” But with daily prayer, and God’s grace, I can live more closely to the ideal of living in the moment. Prayer is work. The word liturgy means “the work of prayer” or the “work of the people”. Walking in patience can be hard work. St. Chrysostom said, “Hope is feeling confidence in things to come…The name of patience belongs to hard work and to much endurance. But even this He grants to the one who hopes in order to comfort the weary soul.” We may have weary souls, but by God’s grace we will “Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, [and] be constant in prayer.”

Humility

“He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?”  — Micah 6:8  

“Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.”  — Philippians 2:3-4  

To walk humbly with our God is a daunting prospect when we recognize that there was no one born of woman who was more humble than Jesus.  He was God, but was willing to take our human form. As St. Paul says, “And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross” (Phil. 2:8). He came to serve (Matt. 20:28). He entered Jerusalem riding on an ass (Zechariah 9:9).  He washed His disciples’ feet (John 13:5). The Son of God did not choose to be born into luxury or even in the capital city of Jerusalem. He chose Bethlehem. As the prophet Micah says of the city of David, “But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, who are too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel…” (5:2). Rich Mullins, in his final album entitled “The Jesus Record”, says of Jesus that “the hope of the world rests on the shoulders of a homeless man”, and that “He was a man of no reputation.”  How can I walk humbly with the One who is humility incarnate?

The key to this humble walk is living in the moment. Too often, we guard our hearts and our reputations. When we think that we have been slighted, overlooked, or otherwise humiliated, we tend to contemplate comebacks to the slights, or plan ways to rescue our hurt emotions. That is living for the future, while trying to redeem the past. That is not living in the moment. Or we make plans for ways and means to get noticed, for our talents to be put on display. Again, looking to the future, not living in the moment. St. Paul, in the passage quoted above says, “Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.” Living in the moment means that we need not be afraid of our past failings and sins, for they have been redeemed in Christ. We need not fear the future, for if we are following in the footsteps of Jesus we will not falter. That is what Micah declared when he prophesied that we are to “walk humbly with our God.”

The walls of the New Jerusalem cannot be built on pride.  For “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble” (James 4:6 cf. Prov. 3:34). A proud brick will crumble under its own weight. “Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall” (Prov. 16:18). We each have a place—a ministry—within the Church, within the Body of Christ, that we are called to fulfill. It may not be as glamorous as someone else’s. It may even be a behind-the-scenes ministry which accrues no notice. But, in the overall scheme of the Body, there are no unimportant parts. What you bring to the Church—the walls of this Temple—is absolutely essential to the whole. As St. Paul exhorts, “For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned.For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function,so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another.Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them…” (Romans 12:3-6).  We need each other. We need to work together in humility, to stand firm on the foundation of Jesus and the apostles and prophets. Then, alone, will the walls be plumb and the New Jerusalem secure.

Joy

“And do not be grieved, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.”  — Nehemiah 8:10  

“These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.”  — John 15:11  

“Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance…”  — Romans 5:3  

“Rejoice always”  — 1 Thessalonians 5:16  

“Finally, my brothers, rejoice in the Lord.”  — Philippians 3:1  

The shortest verse in the Bible is John 11:35, “Jesus wept.” The next three verses on the list of shortest verses are 1 Thessalonians 5:16; 5:17; and 5:20. Paul had a lot to say, and wanted to stress his point with short, concise, emphatic statements. He gives fifteen imperatives in ten verses. “Rejoice always!” is the shortest verse, but not in any way the least in importance. He doesn’t tell the Church to be happy. He says, “rejoice always.” This is a choice that we make regardless of the circumstances: to find joy—the joy of the Lord—in the moment.

The Joy of the Lord is your strength. It is the Lord’s joy. And He wants to pour that joy into us. “These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.” This joy that we are being exhorted to embrace is a two way experience. We are commanded to rejoice and to live the immediate moments of our lives in the joy of the Lord; but the Lord also experiences joy in our relationship with Him. When God looks at us, He rejoices. We are the Bride of Christ. We are loved! And the Scripture promises that He rejoices over us as a bridegroom rejoices at the sight of his bride. The prophet Isaiah said, “…as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so shall your God rejoice over you” (62:5). We want the current suffering to end, but joy is not dependent upon temporal happiness. Joy is not the absence of suffering. Joy is the presence of Christ in our lives. When we have the risen Christ in our lives we have assurance of God’s redeeming love. Mother Teresa said, “A joyful heart is the inevitable result of a heart burning with love. Never let anything so fill you with sorrow as to make you forget the joy of the Christ risen.” 

We cannot conjure up this type of joy. We cannot do this in our own power. We rely on God’s grace to carry us when temporal events conspire to discourage us. This is why Paul tells the Church at Rome during a time of persecution that, “Through Him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God.Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings…” And why is all of this possible?  “Because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us” (5:2-5). 

There is an old house just off of Dryman Mountain Road. Over the past fifteen years I have watched this abandoned home slowly collapse on itself. It is uncared for and as I described it to someone one day, it is “a sad old house”. As I meditated on joy and the walls of Jerusalem, the Lord reminded me of this home and of how I described it to my friend. The Lord does not want a sad old house for His Temple. He wants walls filled with joy. The joy of the Lord is our strength. A temple built in joy will be strong. “Rejoice in the Lord”. And may His joy be in us.

Hope

“For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now.And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees?But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.”  — Romans 8:22-25  

“Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure.”  — 1 John 3:1-3  

When St. Paul wrote to his young protégé, Timothy, he opened his first letter with these words: “Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by command of God our Savior and of Christ Jesus our hope…” When we think of hope, we usually think in terms of expectation. But what Paul is saying here is that Jesus is “our hope”.  He is the incarnation of all of the virtues upon which we are contemplating in these meditations. He is the incarnation of the virtues we are pursuing in our calling to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem. To acquire these virtues we need the One who is the very manifestation of them. Do we want a large dose of hope in these troubled times? Look no further. Jesus is our hope.

We have been exhorted to pursue excellence, and to be remade in the image of Christ. And now we are being encouraged to live in the moment, for it is in the present that God meets His people. He has given us instruction in the past and the promise that “when he appears we shall be like him”, but it is in the present moment that our hope in Him will purify us. For St. John says, “everyone who thus hopes in Him purifies himself as He is pure.” If we are going to be built into the walls of His New Jerusalem, we must be purified. The dross must be burned away, and the bricks fully cleansed.

This is what we have been talking about. God is purifying His Church—His people. We are God’s children now. And He is transforming us to be fully like Him! Paul tells the Church at Rome that we ourselves have the firstfruits of the Spirit. When our lives are purified by the Holy Spirit we can begin to manifest those fruits of the Spirit (Gal. 5:22-23).

It is not easy to walk in hope when things are coming against us from a multitude of directions. And right now, between the pandemic, political turmoil, and social unrest, many have lost hope. Schools are reeling, students are struggling, jobs have been lost, businesses closed, and people are dying in record numbers. Where is the hope? And how does one manifest the “firstfruits” in these uncertain times? When our focus turns to the things of this world it is easy to lose hope. But here is the truth for those who are in Christ: Jesus is our hope. 

The author of the epistle to the Hebrews said, “Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen” (11:1). That word substance can also be translated as “assurance”, or “reality”. When we stand in Jesus, who is the incarnation of hope, we know that His promises are sure, and that there is NOTHING that can come against us that He is not capable of carrying us through. It is a temptation to try to take control and make things happen, to correct the problem ourselves in our own strength; but in HIM we have hope that He will triumph over our circumstances. That is why St. Paul repeatedly tells the Church at Ephesus to “stand”.  “Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might.Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil…and having done all, to stand firm.Stand therefore…”  (6:11-14). We don’t stand in the past or the future. We stand in the present moment, fully covered in the armor of God.

Jesus is our hope. When we stand in Him we can be purified, strengthened, and encouraged. There is no need to be afraid of the past, the present circumstances, or the future. Our hope is in Christ Jesus, and He will clothe us in the full armor of God.

Living in the Moment

“Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.”  — Matthew 6:34  

The Episcopal Church of the Ascension, Dallas, my home parish, was established in a farmhouse on Central Expressway in 1960. At that time, this area of north Dallas was totally undeveloped. In 1964, we bought 3 acres of land on the other side of the highway for $30,000 and built a very nice sanctuary. Less than 20 years later the city of Dallas had expanded and the corridor of Central Expressway became prime real estate. The diocese received an offer to  relocate the church to Greenville Avenue. The capital investment company would buy the new property for us, and would pay $3,000,000 to purchase our current building. The Sunday Bishop Davies came to the parish to tell the congregation that he had accepted the offer, he said, “Every person in this room has visions of what the new church will look like. Some want us to rebuild the church on the new site exactly as it is here. Others have visions of a gothic cathedral. And others want an ultramodern, multi-use facility. What we should all be asking is, ‘What does God want?’”

These are anxious times. Over the past year many have asked, “When will things get back to the way they were?” We want our lives to return to “normal”. We want to return to church as it was. That is not going to happen. God is dismantling the Church. There are things about the Church that have needed changing for a long time. There are new things that God wants to put in place. And we all have visions of what we want the Church to be. But God is in the process of rebuilding the Church in the image of Christ. We should be asking, as Bishop Davies exhorted my home church, “What does God want?”

God is rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem; He is reconstructing His Temple. The old walls are being dismantled, and construction on the new walls has begun. We can hope to revisit the past; we can long for some brighter future; or we can live in the moment, fully trusting that God is doing better things for us right now than we can either ask for or imagine. Jesus said in the passage quoted above, “do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.” These are troubling days, but Christ is sufficient for the day. Time and eternity intersect in this moment. When we live for the past, or have our eyes fixed on the future, we miss the visitation of Christ in the present.

The rebuilding process may be long and it will require of us patience. We must give God the time and space to do His work in us, remaking us in His image. We don’t know what needs to be done. We need to humbly submit to His plan and purpose for our lives and the life of His Church moment by moment. For those who are in Christ, there is “fullness of joy”, just as He promised (John 15:11; 16:24). To know Christ is to be confident in His ability to provide for our every need in every circumstance. St. Paul wrote to the Church at Philippi from prison during a very troubling time of persecution. He could not be with the Philippians face to face (and Zoom wasn’t available at that time). They faced the prospect of losing everything, even their lives. But Paul assured them, “Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christand be found in him…” (3:8). These are words of hope for today.

So let us look at the virtues to which God is calling us in our present circumstances. And let us rebuild the walls of Jerusalem with the materials that He has chosen, according to His plan for His Temple. 

Confess

As we reflect upon the virtues of this week, we can recognize from the Word that God is calling us to be remade in the likeness of Christ Jesus. This remaking is a matter of transformation, a purifying of our character, allowing God to burn away that which does not belong, and filling our hearts—our lives—with Him. 

When we are honest, we can admit that we are not always Christlike in our actions. And even when we, on occasion, behave in a manner worthy of Christ, our motives are not always pure.  We may appear gentle, honest, or good, but our hearts are not always in line with our actions.  We can become envious of others, dissatisfied with our place in the walls of the Temple. We allow jealousy to take root in our hearts, holding others in contempt, and ridiculing them behind their back. However, our God is gracious. Through prayer, we can ask God to give us a spirit of gentleness and take away any feelings of self-righteousness. We can ask Him to work His transformation in our hearts, and to reveal ways we can show the virtues of this week to others so that we may reflect Christ’s character.

But it all begins with repentance. We have strayed from His way like lost sheep, following our own devices and desires. When we hold on to those desires, God will not try to overrule us and force Himself upon us. When we humbly admit our need for His grace, He will flood our lives with His love, filling us with His grace and truth. Then the transformation can begin.

So, let us confess our sins, and ask God to begin transforming us into the likeness of His Son Jesus Christ, filling us with the virtues of His character.

Almighty and most merciful Father, we have strayed from your ways like lost sheep. We have followed too much the devices and desires of our own hearts. O Lord, have mercy on us.  By your grace cleanse and purify us in your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord; and grant, O most merciful Father, for His sake, that we may hereafter live a godly, righteous, and sober life, to the glory of your holy Name.  Amen.