The earth endures

 

As long as the earth endures,

seedtime and harvest, cold and heat,

summer and winter, day and night,

shall not cease.’

- Genesis 8:22

The earth endures

 

As long as the earth endures,

seedtime and harvest, cold and heat,

summer and winter, day and night,

shall not cease.’

- Genesis 8:22

Each of us is an original!

From this morning's Daily Office...and paraphrased by Peterson in "The Message" version of the Bible:

"Each of us is an original!"

Alleluia!

~ The Rev. Peter M. Carey

Galatians 5:13-25 (The Message)

13-15It is absolutely clear that God has called you to a free life. Just make sure that you don't use this freedom as an excuse to do whatever you want to do and destroy your freedom. Rather, use your freedom to serve one another in love; that's how freedom grows. For everything we know about God's Word is summed up in a single sentence: Love others as you love yourself. That's an act of true freedom. If you bite and ravage each other, watch out—in no time at all you will be annihilating each other, and where will your precious freedom be then?

16-18My counsel is this: Live freely, animated and motivated by God's Spirit. Then you won't feed the compulsions of selfishness. For there is a root of sinful self-interest in us that is at odds with a free spirit, just as the free spirit is incompatible with selfishness. These two ways of life are antithetical, so that you cannot live at times one way and at times another way according to how you feel on any given day. Why don't you choose to be led by the Spirit and so escape the erratic compulsions of a law-dominated existence?

19-21It is obvious what kind of life develops out of trying to get your own way all the time: repetitive, loveless, cheap sex; a stinking accumulation of mental and emotional garbage; frenzied and joyless grabs for happiness; trinket gods; magic-show religion; paranoid loneliness; cutthroat competition; all-consuming-yet-never-satisfied wants; a brutal temper; an impotence to love or be loved; divided homes and divided lives; small-minded and lopsided pursuits; the vicious habit of depersonalizing everyone into a rival; uncontrolled and uncontrollable addictions; ugly parodies of community. I could go on.

This isn't the first time I have warned you, you know. If you use your freedom this way, you will not inherit God's kingdom.

22-23But what happens when we live God's way? He brings gifts into our lives, much the same way that fruit appears in an orchard—things like affection for others, exuberance about life, serenity. We develop a willingness to stick with things, a sense of compassion in the heart, and a conviction that a basic holiness permeates things and people. We find ourselves involved in loyal commitments, not needing to force our way in life, able to marshal and direct our energies wisely.

23-24Legalism is helpless in bringing this about; it only gets in the way. Among those who belong to Christ, everything connected with getting our own way and mindlessly responding to what everyone else calls necessities is killed off for good—crucified.

25-26Since this is the kind of life we have chosen, the life of the Spirit, let us make sure that we do not just hold it as an idea in our heads or a sentiment in our hearts, but work out its implications in every detail of our lives. That means we will not compare ourselves with each other as if one of us were better and another worse. We have far more interesting things to do with our lives. Each of us is an original.

"There was never a golden age..." quote from Dr. A. Katherine Grieb

A year ago, I was at seminary at VTS (Virginia Theological Seminary) and taking a wonderful seminar on Paul's Letter to the Galatians, taught by the Rev. Dr. Katherine Grieb. It was a challenging and a tremendously outstanding class and I learned an immense amount from Dr. Grieb. She is a great scholar, and a compassionate and caring person. She was an attorney before she became a priest, and has a deep knowledge of theology and the scriptures, she brings all this experience to bear in her work in the Anglican Communion. She recently spoke at the Diocesan Convention in Kentucky and spoke about the current state of affairs in the Anglican Communion ... a quote to note is this helpful reminder (that MANY of us overlook):


"There never was a golden age when everybody in the church agreed about everything."
-Rev. Dr. A. Katherine Grieb

I've also posted the entire article (from Episcope) below:

Church undergoes a 'family argument'

Episcopalian priest urges reconciliation
By Peter Smith
Louisville (KY) Courier-Journal
February 24, 2008

Kentucky Episcopalians heard a combination pep talk and Bible study yesterday from one of the leaders in efforts to keep the fragile Anglican Communion together despite what seem irreconcilable differences over sexuality and theology.

The Rev. Katherine Grieb told the annual meeting of the Diocese of Kentucky that divisions in the church are as old as the church itself, and Bible passages offer differing models on whether to split or stay together despite differences.

"We're having a family argument," said Grieb, a Virginia Theological Seminary biblical scholar and a member of a team drafting a "covenant" to hold together the Anglican Communion, which consists of the Episcopal Church and other national churches descended from the Church of England.

"There never was a golden age when everybody in the church agreed about everything," she said at the gathering at St. Peter's Episcopal Church in southwestern Jefferson County.

It’s all here …and here's a link to Grieb's excellent address to the House of Bishops last March--worth a re-read.