Rules for a New Year (Mid-week)

Caravaggio, Conversion of St. Paul on Road to Damascus, 1601

Rules for a New Year

Fr. Tony’s Mid-week Message

January 3, 2018

“Put away your former way of life, your old self, made rotten and deluded by desire.  Be made new again in your mind’s spirit, and clothe yourselves in a new self, modeled on God in true righteousness and holiness.  So then, putting away falsehood, let all of us speak the truth to our neighbors, for we are members of one another.  Let yourself get angry, perhaps, but do not let this ever go out of bounds:  get over your anger before the sun sets.   Do not give the Accuser any space in your heart.  Thieves: give up stealing; instead, labor and work honestly with your own hands, so you may have something to share with the needy.   Let no evil talk come out of your mouths, but only what is useful for building up.  God knows we all need to hear words that give grace. Do not grieve the Spirit, the Holy One of God, with which he stamped you for delivery to the day when the fee for liberation is paid. Put away from you all bitterness, rage, anger, bickering, and bad-mouthing each other, together with wishing anyone ill. Be kind to one another, gentle-hearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ has forgiven you.” (Ephesians 4:22-32, my translation)

This passage is the reading from this morning’s Daily Prayer office.  It expresses the basic rules that the author of Ephesians sees as necessary for new life.    He says that we should let ourselves experience the full range of human feelings, including anger, but never let any of these get out of hand.  The basic rule of thumb here is never forgetting that “we are members of one another,” that we belong to each other and owe each other good intentions regardless of conflicts or differences between us.   Casting away falsehood and lying, stealing from each other, and negative and abusive speech is how such good intentions find expression.  “Building up” or edifying each other should be our goal. 

We welcome all into the Church, and this means a great diversity and variety of people.  A member of our Pastoral Care Team reminded me yesterday that this includes people of gentle and kind dispositions and personalities as well as people who are by nature more aggressive and less tuned in to how others feel.   These rules for a new life apply to everyone, and should encourage us all to focus us on thankfulness for our blessings and a desire to make amends for our own failings.  This helps us drive “the Accuser” from our hearts, and not judge others, even those who have hurt us or others.

As the blessing adapted from Henri Frédéric Amiel, often used at Trinity, says, “Life is short, and we have little time to gladden the hearts of those who travel the way with us. So be swift to love, and make haste to be kind.”

Happy New Year. 

Fr. Tony+