Sermon 05.06.12 :: Unlimited Patience

Easter creates a new way of life. The empty tomb creates a new people with a new set of values, concerns, habits, and hope.  Such a life often proves countercultural to the systems in which we live and work.  The habits of the new life often appear strange to the norms of our society. Today in particular, we challenge one of those prevailing norms of our society – the unspoken rule “Thou shall not judge” that prevents us from gently correcting one another when we go astray. Confrontation and correction can be difficult and uncomfortable, but in Christ we see love redefined as concern for another’s well-being in place of condescension or complacency. 

“Nothing proves that a man is spiritual like his handling of another’s sin.”   - St. Augustine

"Christian brotherhood is not an ideal which we must realize; it is rather a reality created by God in Christ in which we may participate.  The more clearly we learn to recognize that the ground and strength and promise of all our fellowship is in Jesus Christ alone, the more serenely shall we think of our fellowship and pray and hope for it."    - Dietrich Bonhoeffer

New sermon posted at reliantchurch.org