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"Be whole as your heavenly Father
is whole." In the name Christ who calls us to wholeness.
Amen
News
you can put the additives good or bad you have
Two sermons today, on
perhaps the good side both a short they come together to be about the lane to no
longer
than a normal sermon so briefly i want to
share with you some thoughts about this gospel today on this Sunday Mr annual
meeting
a worthwhile exercise in
Bible study is the translation of the Greek New Testament
into Aramaic the language that Jesus spoke
the idea is then to translate this Aramaic
into English to see what we might hear by translating from the Aramaic language
that Jesus himself spoke
rather than from the Greek language into which is words were translated
and recorded. The most likely word
that Jesus would have used in Aramaic for the word perfect
in our gospel today is the word Tamim
which means wholeness so the words we hear from the Greek be perfect
as your heavenly Father is perfect the concluding words at the gospel this
morning
would read from the Aramaic as
be whole as your heavenly Father his whole
as I will come this morning following this liturgy to my third
annual meeting as priest in charge rector the Church of Our Savior
I have come to believe that we have achieved
a certain wholeness as a congregation I would like to share very briefly this
morning then since we have an extended Liturgy of the word
following the Eucharist in the former the annual meeting
I will be brief and sharing a buck or two about wholeness
going to one spiritual writer to be whole
is to make manifest a unique
face up God in the world a congregation therefore that has achieved a certain
wholeness makes manifest a unique
face God in the world I think we do that
here Divine Love
summons the world toward wholeness
says wendell bearing he says
I take literally the statement in the Gospel of John that God
loves the world I believe that the world was created an approved by
love that'd subsys coheres
and endures by love
and that in so far as it is redeemable
it can be redeemed the world only by love
I believe that divine love incarnate
and indwelling in the world
summons the world always toward wholeness
which ultimately is reconciliation
and atonement with God there is something in the Dept serve are being
that hungers
for wholeness and fine ality words a Thomas Merton
because we are made for eternal life we are made for an act
that gathers up all the powers and capacities a Barbie
and offers them simultaneously
and forever to God and certainly felt something
in the Dept for the being at the Church of Our Savior that hungers for wholeness
in that very sense
that this parish family is brought together for something
that joins the capacities of all of us to be offered
for the good up god's world you hear from time to time
in atomic scientists about half-life the half-life other radioactive
element I agree with another spiritual author who says the whole truth is this
the time
%uh that half-life is over done
there's no more time for half-hearted living
half-truths and dividing life into neat compartments
we have work to do here
it begins from the inside out with the commitment to see ourselves as whole
and to embrace the fullness of who we are and who we are
becoming we have tremendous resources here the Church of Our Savior
not just in endowments but in our individual
and combine talons and could pick and capabilities
we have work to do here beginning with the commitment to see ourselves
as whole and to move forward in God's grace
to spread the good word through the San Gabriel Valley
if we are striving for wholeness in God
in our lives as disciples will show it
our love does not allow for vengeful retaliation as we learned in our gospel
lesson today
instead our love extends even
to our enemies because that is what God calls us to you
such actions a faith
Fred big-name rights Jesus tells us that we cannot be whole
without loving our enemies
Jesus says we are to love our enemies and pray for them
meaning love not in an emotional sense
but in the sense a willing their good
which is the sense in which we love ourselves
in loving your enemies you see where they're vulnerable on you see
where they're scared seeing what is hateful
to you about then you may catch a glimpse also where the helpfulness comes
from
seeing the heard they cause you you may also see the hurt they cause themselves
you are still light years away from loving them
to be sure but at least you see how they are human
even as you are human and that is at least a step
in the right direction toward wholeness
and finally there is no question in my mind that we in this church have our
Savior a call to make a difference
to share the fruit wholeness with others
it was jimmy carter who said to make a difference is my one chance to be whole
to make my life count for something
I'm free to choose what that something years and the something I've chosen
is my face my faith demands
this is not optional my faith demands
that I do whatever I can wherever I am
whenever I can for as long as I can
with whatever I have to try
to make a difference to be
whole let us to make a difference
beginning with our prayers for our annual meeting 2014
listening to the words of Jesus translated
from the way they most likely respond again in Aramaic
be whole as your Heavenly Father
his whole in the name Christ
calls us to wholeness
I'm in