Dear Readers and Listeners, Friends in Jesus Christ,
Our watchword is taken from the Book of Leviticus, Chapter 20 verse 8, “Keep my statutes, and observe them; I am the Lord; I sanctify you,” (NRSVB). Sanctification, or being made holy, is the process that is worked by God in the lives of his children. It is a daily process, and differs from the process of justification. We are justified through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, given to for each one of us, on the Cross. Jesus has died for us, and we cannot undo what he has done, “it is finished.” We are seen by God, through the work of his Son and are justified. We are given daily grace and mercy that strengthen, sanctify and renew us. We thus become more like Jesus, and reflect his love and his mercy to all. As we need nourishment daily to sustain our bodies, we need to daily be sustained with the sanctification that God works in us, making our thoughts, words and deeds purified like silver and gold. We become wholly presentable to the Lord, as the good fruit yielded from the tree that is grafted in the Vine. God’s statutes and his commandments are rules to bring about harmonious living and fair conditions to all God’s children. When these rules are broken, relationships are fractured, and people have to suffer the consequences of the broken laws and statutes. God does not cast us away when we go astray, but calls us back. However, the aftermath of wrongful deeds can impact the earth and her people for centuries to come. Following the statutes of the Lord, builds community and peaceful living, is the result of acknowledging God’s Lordship and his reign, his Kingdom.
Jesus said, “Everyone then who hears these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on rock,” Matthew 7 verse 24, (NRSVB). The words that Jesus spoke, as he explained his Father’s kingdom, were words build on the statutes of God. These words lead to love and life, firstly towards God and the neighbour, and then towards oneself. Jesus warned that one must not judge and criticize those around you, for then you will be judged with the same measure on earth, neither must one seek the small imperfections in those around, ignoring one’s own grave faults. Jesus told his listeners that those who are wise will build their spiritual houses on strong foundations; these foundations are the laws and statutes of God. However, if we only apply the law, and have no love, then the fruit of love is not visible and one sees only the letter of the law. The law condemns, but love reconciles and brings about hope and good outcomes. Being made holy and sanctified by the work of the Spirit of God, this Spirit of Truth and love will work in us to forgive wrongs suffered, and small and big irritations that cross our way. We will be able to turn the other cheek and be a witness to God’s love working in us to bear good fruit. We will be following the paths of disciples, who have built their homes on the solid foundation that is the “rock” of the new commandment: to love one another.
The Giant’s Causeway is a geological treasure in Northern Ireland, a landscape of forty thousand basalt columns rising out of the sea. At first glimpse they look as if they are part of an elaborate human construction. At closer inspection one beholds the work of the Master Builder! It has been formed through basalt lava eruptions. This pathway between land and sea, with jutting rocks some as high as 12 metres, has been standing for at least 50 million years. We have a stronger foundation than Giant’s Causeway that we can rely on; our house will not fall, for we stand on the Rock of our Salvation. When we feel overwhelmed, let us cast our minds on how great our God, the Rock of Ages, is.
Father, you have given us the surest foundation, Jesus, or Rock and Refuge, Amen.