A few comments on 1 Peter 1:22 - 25 Now that you have purified your souls by your obedience to the truth so that you have genuine mutual love, love one another deeply from the heart. Your have been born anew, not of perishable but of imperishable seed, through the living and enduring word of God. For "All flesh is like grass and all its glory like the flowers of grass. The grass withers, and the flower falls, but the world of the Lord endures forever." That word is the good news that was announced to you. There are many things to go at here. Let me start with something simple and yet profoundly important. Souls are the whole of us - the essence - that which literally is counted - me - you - all that we are. A 'purified' soul is one that has come to hear the good news of the love of God and become a part of that good news of the love of God - a truthfulness in the midst of the lies of the world. This may mean that it is a life that has experience showing love - being love - and therefore understands that such a life of love gets burned and put down and makes for a surprising presence to the world around us. We are 'purified' by putting ourselves out there in the name of the one who grasps us and nurtures a life for us. Obedience can frighten some folks - but it need not. It is as simple as living within the promise. Hearing the promise and having the Spirit shape us into a promising word of love. Yes, we can turn away and go another way - but - as I want to address tomorrow - we are ones who live in a new way in the middle of old things. Connection: When God pulls us into God's Reigning power, God pulls every bit of us. All that we present to the world - our talents - the work we do - the way we interact with others - our family presence - our life in the community - is accented (anointed) with the presence of the Christ of God, Jesus. Yes, there is that bit of Jesus - the Christ of God - the new being - in each of our lives and we are invited to let it shine in, with, and under our own personalities and gifts and weaknesses. In the middle of what is so common, O God, we are here ready to follow along the way of your beloved, Jesus. Along that way, we long for your Spirit to empower us for the life along this glorious way. Amen. |
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