Living as Christ's Own (Trinitarian Feb 2019)

Father Tony’s Letter to the Trinitarians

February 2019

Living as Christ’s Own

“So then, putting away falsehood, let all of us speak truth to our neighbors, for we belong to each other. Know that at times you will be angry:  but do not commit wrong in acting on such emotion.  Try to resolve things the day they arise.   Resolve them quickly in ways that let you go to sleep in peace.  Do not make room for the Accuser.  Thieves should stop stealing; let them instead labor, creating good with their own hands, so they might share it with those in need.  Do not talk trash, but only what is useful for building up, as there is need, so that your words may give grace to those who hear. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with which you were marked with a seal for the day of being purchased back by God. Put away from you all bitterness, animosity, indignation, bickering, and slander, together with all malice, and be kind to one another, compassionate, forgiving one another, as God in Christ has forgiven you.” (Ephesians 4:17-32, TAB)

 

A while ago, I was taken aback by this passage in Ephesians. I was not in a good place.  In the days before, I had worked up a state of “righteous indignation” at someone who I believed had harmed a member of the congregation I was serving: my justice button had been pushed, and I was in full Mama Bear defense posture for one of my flock.  In my distraction, I thought that I needed to follow Jesus in his knock-the-tables-over and drive-the-impious-out mode.  I had plenty of not-so-nice things to say to and about the offender. 

But then I read this passage as part of Morning Prayer, and felt convicted.  I knew that I needed to calm down, be silent, let my anger pass, and then work gently at encouragement and kindly truth-telling rather than the MAKE THEM PAY take-no-prisoners approach I had been nurturing. 

The Church is an odd collection of broken people, each of us with our own disabilities and failings, each with our individual strengths and needs.  Some of us are natively “nicer” than others, or more outgoing.  But this does not make them better Christians than the more introverted or those with edgier personalities.    In fact, acts of service, charity, and love—even acts of gentle compassion—are perhaps more praiseworthy and meritorious for those not natively so inclined than for those to whom it comes naturally.   What’s important in trying to follow Jesus is aiming at love and compassion before all, and in accepting our varied emotions and moods but not letting them bring us to harmful speech or action. 

Grace and Peace,

Fr. Tony+