A reading from the letter of St. Paul to the Ephesians
Brothers and sisters:
That means everyone. All of us. No one is excluded.
Be kind to one another, compassionate,
No name calling.
forgiving one another as God has forgiven you in Christ.
Help us, Lord, to understand and forgive – or simply to forgive – to comfort the sorrowful and heal the scars of division.
Be imitators of God, as beloved children, and live in love,
That doesn’t say, “act like children,” it says imitate God like children do, free of animosity and hatred.
as Christ loved us and handed himself over for us as a sacrificial offering to God for a fragrant aroma.
We may have to suffer for a bit, but offer the suffering up for the needs of others who have less than you, suffer more than you, are more forgotten than you.
Immorality or any impurity or greed must not even be mentioned among you, as is fitting among holy ones,
This may require us to turn off the television.
no obscenity or silly or suggestive talk, which is out of place,
In public or in private. In verbal or electronic form.
but instead, thanksgiving.
You are an ambassador of others. Your needs are secondary. You are running for an office that serves, not saves.
Be sure of this, that no immoral or impure or greedy person,
Oh, Lord give us strength.
that is, an idolater,
Help me form my conscious sincerely.
has any inheritance in the Kingdom of Christ and of God.
Give me courage discern the essential from the merely desirable, the good from the less good, the less good from the bad.
Let no one deceive you with empty arguments,
But doesn’t that cover most of the arguments I hear.
for because of these things the wrath of God is coming upon the disobedient.
God will sort it out in the end.
So do not be associated with them.
Help me reflect the Light, oh Lord.
For you were once darkness,
Sometimes it feels that I still am.
but now you are light in the Lord.
Thank you, Jesus.
Live as children of light.
And invite others to do the same.