imprint

I had a busy weekend, but what was odd is that two very different people used verses from Philippians. The first person was giving an eulogy for a funeral at a funeral. He said his friend's life Philippians 2:3-5: "Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus (NIV)." He went on to say my friend's dad was truly a gentleman, a gentle man. Being at a funeral in general, but hearing these words made me stop and take stock. It was along the same lines of hearing the sermon on success. The guy argued that Christians shouldn't think in terms of success but rather faithfulness.

Then, the new youth minister of our church prayed a verse from Philippians (Message) to inaugurate her stint: "So this is my prayer: that your love will flourish and that you will not only love much but well. Learn to love appropriately. You need to use your head and test your feelings so that your love is sincere and intelligent, not sentimental gush. Live a lover's life, circumspect and exemplary, a life Jesus will be proud of: bountiful in fruits from the soul, making Jesus Christ attractive to all, getting everyone involved in the glory and praise of God." If she can teach one teenager that, bully for her.

These verses culminated in our Alpha discussion on sin. We were discussing how we react to the word "sin". This older lady who grew up in Montreal in the Catholic Church said she always grew up categorizing sin into mortal and venial sins, but now they don't separate the types. Now, they define sin as "no love". My first reaction was "How very French". Then, I started thinking about what Jesus said the two greatest commandments are to love God and love your neighbor as yourself, and I'm thinking that this is an accurate definition of sin. It holds up to my experience. And, the two Philippians verses are about living a holy life (without sin) and they are about love-- a sincere and intelligent love not sentimental gush. It's the way Jesus loves us. Can you imagine having those verses read at your funeral?

Now, I get to go live these ideas out in the messy, rainy real world with a friend that has disappointed me deeply. Ah, we shall see. The collect for yesterday started out, "God most powerful, who uses his power to bring about mercy and grace..."