[Propertalk] Fwd: [propertalk.topic] Lent 4 Epistle

[Joe Parrish]

Forwarded:





-----Original Message-----
From: Fr HC Smith <howard.smith at anglican.org.au>
To: Propertalk <propertalk.topic at ecunet.org>
Sent: Thu, Mar 31, 2011 2:03 am
Subject: [propertalk.topic] Lent 4 Epistle


Friends,

Here are a few thoughts towards a sermon on the Epistle for Lent 4.

Howard
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* Today we are up to the 4th Sun in Lent and our reading from Ephesians 
talks about living as "people of the
light".
- and when the Scripture talks about that, it is suggesting to
us that we have choices; you can choose to live in the dark
or you can choose to live in the light.
+ For people who belong to the Lord Jesus, the natural way of life
is to choose the light.
- We are told that living in the light means being honest and
truthful, and it means trying to please the Lord;
- but living in the dark means doing worthless things.
+ As we live our lives, almost moment by moment we are faced
with choices: we can choose to do this, or we can choose to do that;
- we can choose to get angry, or we can choose to be polite;
- we can choose to be helpful, or we can choose to be selfish;
- we can choose to give up, or we can choose to keep on going; etc
+ Our Bible reading today tells us that no matter how strong the
pressures on us may be, no matter how nasty they may be, we
still have to make a choice whether to give in or to resist.
+ And the good news is that when we choose to do good things,
when we choose to be honest and truthful i.e. when we choose
to live like people of the light, we are in fact setting an
example for other people to follow.
+ The more often people see others doing good things, the more
they are inspired to do good things too;
- and the opposite is true as well: when we see people doing
worthless things - when they live in the dark - then other
people will be inspired to follow their example.
+ So if we want to do something about making the world a better
place to live in, if we want to do something about overcoming
all the violence and nastiness there is about the place, we can
really do something by choosing to live in the light.
+ The opposite is true too: If we choose to live in the dark, then
other people will follow our example too.
+ But we have chosen to live in the light by trying to please the Lord.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
The Rev'd Dr H.C. Smith
 Retired Anglican Priest
 Orange NSW
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
 



 
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