Lorica

The context of our existence is time, and the very meaning of our life is revealed in the consecration of time- by making life liturgical. To fully arrive at the sabbath is to be perfected in God. That is the Sabbath over yonder, the Eternal Sabbath post Resurrection. But what is the Sabbath now, on this side? The Sabbath now is a journey to being fully alive, and we pass through times, and seasons, and cycles of life, in which this journey must be consecrated to God continuously. There are many side ramps along the way which would distract us, so we need something to hold on to that will lead us home: and that is the liturgical life. A major part of us keeping the Sabbath is to prioritize the sacrifice of the Mass and a life of prayer.

We know that Jesus has overcome the power of death, he has restored life and given us a reason to live with hope. And yet he has not removed death from our experience, not yet. He has not removed the stimulus of grief and sorrow and pain in this present life- we still go through it. We still face disappointments and temptation to despair. We can get angry and resentful and accuse God of all kinds of things, or we can trust in His goodness, and justice, and love, and know that while we still exist in a place where death and sorrow must be passed through, we know through godly hope that Jesus will have the last word, He will be there to say "stop weeping and arise".

There may be other ways of diagnosing or describing our problem, but I do think that this one thing that I'm going to share with you is the underlying catalyst for all of it, and that recognizing it in all its forms would be very helpful for us. The thing that I think lies at the root of all our trouble, is a feeling of insecurity. Some might appropriately call it fear, but I think "insecurity" is more helpful, it's more relatable, and descriptive to what we are feeling. From a scriptural and theological point of view, we can actually say that this feeling of insecurity lay at the bottom of the very first sin, and at the root of every other sin that follows. Our parents were tricked into taking the forbidden fruit by the deciever because he was playing on their natural state of vulnerability.

While all will be raised, not all will be made whole. This is where we come to the second story, "the story of the one grateful leper". This is where Luke zooms in and asks us who we are: are we the one grateful leper? Or are we one of the 9 who has ignored what God and Christ has done for us? Remember, when Luke writes this, he writes this for Christians. It's to remind us of our faith and to apply to our own lives. All were healed in the story but only one was made whole. All were healed in the story but only one was saved. Jesus has healed us all by the power of His Love, but the only one who was saved was the one who had faith.

He who has ears to hear, let him hear! Hear that as a command. It's not as if He is saying to us that some of you have ears and others don't, so I guess it's just too bad that you can't hear. To us today when He says "he who has ears", he means you. All of us who have received Christ- we have ears, so listen. Listen carefully to the Word of the Lord, as it comes to us in the still, small voice, as it comes to us from the Scriptures and as it comes to us through our brothers and sisters' mouths.

This is our chief work: it is to pray. To cry out to God for help, to offer him thanksgiving and praise. This is what we are to be about. And if anything takes precidence over this, it is idolatry. That's what the primordial sin was, in the garden of eden when they ate the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The essence of our sin, the sin of our parents, was basically to take control of their lives, apart from God.

St Paul is saying to the Church, you need to understand something important here- I don't want you to be unaware. There are not two different people of God, the Nation of Israel and then the Church. There is just one people of God. Israel is the Church and the Church is Israel, now some have been pruned out and others have been grafted in but there is one vine. God's work is of a whole cloth, the new is not new because it is a radical departure from the old or of a different species. The New is the Old but fulfilled. The purpose for the point in this passage is to say to the Corinthians that you are perfectly capable of repeating what they did and suffering the consequences.

A true, sacramental Christian marriage is the domestic church. It is the manifestation, between a man and a woman, of the bond of love which exists between the head and the body, between Jesus Christ and his Church. And a marriage, a godly marriage, functions and flourishes according to the same grace that governs how we, as the body of Christ, love our Head, Jesus Christ, in obedience. Authority, in the sense of servant-leadership, is foundational and necessary in all divinely appointed relationships. It even exists within the Godhead. And if a marriage is going to be godly, good, and beautiful, it will exist there as well.

The steward shrewdly uses mammon to obtain future security once he was cast out of his master's house. He made friends by reducing their debt. So that when he was thrown out he could go to them and they would give him a place to stay in return for the good deed he did for them. Jesus is saying that we should use mammon to make friends so that when we leave this world we will have an eternal home. Through the right relationship with things, we can achieve a right relationship with other people, and with God.

What we all want is to see the beauty of the Lord. But we can only see it in a state of holiness, the prophets speak of the beauty of holiness because the prophets were caught up and saw the beauty of the Lord. The pure in heart shall see God, St. John tells us. Our gradual taken from Psalm 34 says: "They had an eye unto him and were enlightened, and their faces were not ashamed". To be illumined is to gain the knowledge of God through encounter, and that encounter only comes through holiness.

It is not good for man to be alone- that is a practical and metaphysical declaration that God made clear from the very beginning of our existence. It is not good to be alone- and one can be alone even in a crowd. It is not good to go it alone. it is good to be in the sheepfold among the flock. The enemy of our soul is the divider of the brethren, he plots and schemes as to how he can divide and fracture and tear asunder the unity of the brethren, this is his primary goal, if he can do this he has set the stage for the kill. We must be wise to his schemes, and not allow ourselves to be drawn into this trap, to be lured away from the sheepfold.

There are enemies all around whose sole purpose is to steal our peace by destroying our gentle and tranquil spirit. They have all kinds of tricks and weapons to incite us to anger and agitation. But the truth is, we are our own worst enemies because they can do nothing to us without our cooperation. At the end of the day our enemy does not take our peace away, we give forfeit it. We must not engage in things that will disturb that peace. Not only must we avoid doing things that trouble our tranquility be must also actively guard it. We are in fact engaged in a war to maintain peace.

Someone who fears the Lord is someone who is not playing games with reality. To fear the Lord is to face reality with humility and respect, this is the beginning of Wisdom- We cannot rightly see the truth if we are trapped in the deceit of desire and irrational emotion. Fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom because it is only after we face the bald truth of things only when we see things as they are that we can align our lives with that truth- that is wisdom made possible by the fear of the Lord. I suppose there is no greater fool than the one who knows the truth and does not love the truth by living according to the truth.

We have work to do. We have come a long way, God has been so gracious to us, but we have work to do. The absolute meaning of our life, our very existence is to feed on god by offering the sacrifice, by offering ourselves in the sacrifice of the lamb, and then going out into the world in the spirit of power to live holy lives and to draw all men to god. Todays Feast of the Body of Christ, Corpus Christie, this is the feast of great joy and satiation, because our hunger has been satisfied with angels food, the bread of heaven, the flesh of God made Man, there should be no greater joy for us. This is how we feast, we should pull out all the stops. We need to learn how to feast. We need to learn how to rejoice and give thanks. And it's not just something that happens spontaneously, you realize that feasting requires asceticism and discipline every bit as much as fasting does? We fast so that we can offer the sacrifice with purity of heart, we feast so that we can offer the sacrifice in joy. But they're both so that we can offer the sacrifice.

The knowledge of God, and of the fulness of life, and truth, and joy, and love, comes to man at Pentecost because that is when we received the Holy Spirit, and that is why we celebrate the dogma of the Trinity in association with the feast of Pentecost- which is the culmination of Pascha. Today, this very particular Sunday is the octave day of Pentecost, and the capstone of Pascha, and on this day we celebrate the knowledge of God who is Father, Son and Spirit because we have received the Holy Spirit into our very selves.

This 50 day revelry comes to fruition today and what is His is now ours, the Spirit who is the love between the Father and Son is ours and we are His. His power is ours, His peace is ours, His victory is ours, His Majesty, and scepter, and throne, and confidence that all will be well is ours even in this world which is still trying to kill us. Let it try, let it spit and spurt it’s dying threats- it is no consequence for us because we have received The Spirit of life and power, we have been enflamed with Holiness and cannot die.

When Jesus said on the Cross that "it is finished", He did not mean that there is not still a lot to be done. It is finished, but there is stil much to be brought to fulfilment. Death is dead- sin is broken- but we still contend with death and sin in this world. He warned them repeatedly of what they would face even though He was glorified and said it was finished. So where does that leave us, 2000 years later? Where did it leave the disciples huddled together in an upper room praying and waiting for God knows what- something that Jesus told them to wait for. It leaves us desperate and hungry for the one thing, the only thing, the absolute one thing in the in-between time while we prepare for his return, while we contend with our enemies, while we are being made perfect and Christified. And that one thing is the gift of the Holy Spirit.

When Jesus makes the wild promise to the disciples when he tells them that whatever they ask the Father in the name of Jesus, he will give it to them, a little common sense tells us that Jesus is not talking about power ball, a reservation at Noma, a high IQ or even a miracle of healing. He refused that to Paul, and I'm pretty certain that Paul, being a good baptist, must have ended his prayer with "In Jesus' Name". He still didn't get what He asked for. Neither did Job. I'll tell you who got their prayer answered: it was Satan, when he asked for access to attack Job. God granted Satan his request and refused both Paul and Job. He refused their prayer requests unto their salvation, and granted Satan's request unto his condemnation.

The only way we can be solidly fixed and find the joy we desire is if we are all fixed on the same desire and commandment. In our life in the here and now, there is something at the center which holds us all together as one: there is a power to unite that works though our faculties. Our individual faculties, of love and desire, when we share the same love and desire within a community of persons, then, we will share one mind, and one will.

How important were these days for the future of the Church and the mission of the apostles. It was in these 40 days that Jesus instructed the apostles concerning the kingdom of God, He gave them commandments and commissioned them to build His Church. In these sweet days of light and happiness their cups run over with joy even as he was preparing them to die- but they could not be sorrowful because he had Risen from the dead and they would die no more- in these days even death was a joy to them because in the Risen Lord they were witnessing the net result of a holy death- eternal glory.

The Good Shepherd knows his sheep and they know him. He has come to give abundant life for the sheep. The Good Shepherd lays down his life for the sheep, while the hireling is only concerned for himself and when he sees the wolf coming he abandons the sheep and runs away. The sheep are left defenseless, the sheepfold is broken apart, the sheep flee and are separated from one another and dispersed into the wild. There are many lessons to be learned from this but I want to emphasize one thing which is necessary for our perpetual gladness. In all the passages about bad shepherds and good shepherds there are three aspects which come up again and again, three things which the bad shepherds fail to do and three things which The Good Shepherd does. The Good Shepherd feeds the sheep, protects the sheep and gathers the sheep together into one flock. That is the last line of our gospel lesson today, Jesus says: "and there shall be one fold and one shepherd."

It seems to me that we know how to fast better than we know how to feast. Which is odd, if you think about it, I mean who would not rather feast than fast? Why would we do a better job at fasting than feasting? I think perhaps we have a a much better idea of the tools or instruments of fasting, and we are a bit fuzzy on the means of feasting. We simply don't know how to feast properly.

The crucifixion took place near a busy road for maximum impact on the populace. And there were many passing by. The Jews vehemently hated Jesus, they thought he was a blasphemer, unclean, possessed by an evil spirit, one who wanted to defile their temple. They wag their heads in derision as they revile him with taunts and ridicule. There were three categories of mockery which resembled the three satanic temptations of Jesus, this is a return of Satan to try and torment him.

Ultimately, Jesus washing the disciples' feet was a prophetic act predicting His death. That is why they did not yet understand, that is also why Jesus said if I don't do this, you have no heritage with me. If you do not embrace the scandal of the cross, you are none of mine. In addition to a prophetic act, the foot washing also has the symbolic power of demonstrating humble servitude as the norm amongst his family. But it is a humble servitude rooted in the willingness to die for one another because Christ has died for us. It is not just about servitude, it is about dying.

There was no noble motivation for Judas' betrayal, no deeper logic to it. It is a dire warning to all Christians that Judas fell into such depths of wickedness, his heart was utterly blackened as a culmination of repeated petty sin. It shows the power and danger of sin if it is not dealt with. How many people have betrayed Christ, perhaps not as famously as Judas, but nevertheless they have walked away one small step at a time, ever so slowly, just as John tells us they did in his day.

The Collect for Holy Monday mass says: "...that we who amidst so many adversities do fail by reason of our weakness; may be renewed through the pleading of the Passion of thy Only- Begotten Son." But the phrase in last night's collect rendered in English: "may be renewed..." is far more powerful and startling in the Latin. What it says in the original Latin is: "That we... may breathe in the suffering of your Only-Begotten Son." The physical act of taking fresh clean air into our lungs, moment by moment, as a natural, life sustaining rhythm of assimilation is a very good metaphor for what this collect says we are to be doing, and this is how we avail ourselves of God's pardon, this is how it becomes real, and immediate in our life, prayer is breath.

Today in this very holy week, six days before the Passover we have a story of beauty. Not just any story of beauty, and there are many, but this is a beautiful story for the ages according to Jesus' own reckoning. This is one of His personal favorites and He immortalizes it with his prophetic Word, He sanctions this story of his anointing by Mary as the beautiful story which will be remembered and adored for all time. Thank you, Mary, for showing us how to love our Lord, how to be beautiful in the midst of ugliness.

Jesus' triumphal entry into Jerusalem which we celebrate this day comes before His Passion- the great joy and triumph of this event replete with cries of hosanna and praise is going to be shortly followed by another journey of the greatest sorrow, suffering and death. What happens today is a foreshadowing of His ultimate and final entry into the heavenly Jerusalem, which occurs at His bodily Ascension into heaven. This is the significance of our procession halting at the doors of the Church and the Subdeacon banking on the door with the cross. Lift up your heads oh ye gates, that the King of Glory may come in- who is this king of glory? The Lord strong and mighty- it is through the cross that the doors are opened to the heavenly kingdom.

Jesus rejected any semblance of individual autonomy, He never fought for himself as an independent individual, He never put himself forward to gain something for himself, never succumbed to the temptation to secure himself, even in his darkest hour when he felt alone. Christ's perfection through suffering was, essentially, the reversal of the human attempt for autonomy. Christ took our humanity to subjugate the human will and person to the Heavenly Father- even in the midst of suffering, even unto death, especially unto death, it was a destruction of autonomous human will: a total burning and holocaust of our independence from God.

We have so many needs in this life, so many fears, so many insecurities, so many wants and desires, there's so much discontentment in our life, we're searching searching search. Trying to fill up something, running about, looking here, there... looking for some kind of satiety. Answers. And we forget about Jesus. We forget about him like he's not even there. Like he's an afterthought. We forget to pray. We forget to pray! We grab everything, except go talk to Him about it. We don't hound Heaven. We don't look to Him as our Source, as our Helper, for everything. For your headache! Pray, before you pop the asprin! Pray first. Seek him first. If you're happy, who are you going to go to first? Go tell Jesus you're happy! First! Before you tell anyone else! He should be, in Deacon David's words, your best friend.

I can think of no better representation of Satan in pop culture than King Théoden's counselor, Grima Wormtongue. If you've seen that movie, you can't get that image out of your head. Grima means "mask" in old english, and so Grima Wormtongue means a "masked deceiver". Théoden is trapped under this spell, he becomes a shell of a man. He's basically lost his marbles. He's held under this force of darkness, both his mind and his body is riddled with disease. This is a good depiction of the effects of how the devil works. Saint Paul writes in his epistle, "Let no one deceive you with empty words", and going on he says, "The wrath of God falls upon the sons of disobedience, do not be partakers with them". But the source of their power to enslave, is evil words, empty words, words that are not of the truth.

On this feast, we remember when a young girl was alone in her house in contemplation. She had, for many years, been fostering a spiritual state of preparedness, indifference. Her indifference was, she was ready to do whatever God asked of her. Her yes was critical to this event of God becoming man. But she was ready to obey, not knowing what it would mean for her. She was just prepared, prepared to say yes to God. No matter what that entailed. Her heart was in a condition for many years of being prepared. That was her only concern: that she would give herself, to God, without reservation. And that's why we look at her as a model, that's what we're trying to emulate.

Our life is full of choices. Full of choices. Moment by moment, we have choices: what we're going to think about, what we're going to do and not do. A good and holy life depends, largely, on making very deliberate and wise decisions. Not just the big long term decisions, but the immediate, little ones. One of the consequences of the fall, and our mortality (and really, the permeation of death in all creation, one of the most insideous consequences is really our lack of ability to focus. We are distracted. This is perennial for all of us. There is an inner dividedness, this aimless wandering, even in our thoughts. It's hard to know what we are to do. This is the source of a lot of woe in this world. This problem is so serious, in fact, that the entire apparatus of the liturgical and devotional life (of which Lent is part) has been constructed by the Church, in the Spirit, to deal with it.

Episode Notes What's our attitude as we charge off into this Holy Season of Lent? Are we, like our elder brother driven into the wilderness by the Spirit to fight the devil, with fasting, and penitence, prayer and sacrifice? Every day in Lauds I love saying verse 6 of Psalm 149: "Let the praises of God be in their mouth; and a two-edged sword in their hands." Praise God, and slay the enemy.

Remembering is always the first step in turning to God. Man's first step away from God was a failure to remember. It doesn't sound nearly as hideous as it is, but what really lies at the root of all our sin, and all our woe, is forgetfulness. It's not so much what we have done that is man's great failure, but what we have failed to do. The on-going power of sin, even in our lives, those of us who have come to chirst and been baptized, is simple neglect. And a Holy Lent for us will consist of attentiveness and remembrance.

Saint Paul says that we can be eloquent, we can be eloquent to the point of the angelic, we can see the mysteries, we can expound upon them, we can enlighten those around us. We can do miracles. We can give all that we possess, and be great altruists. We can suffer in our body for God and for others. But Saint Paul says that if we do these things without Love, then all of these things that we might do are meaningless. Without love, all these works, and amendments, and satisfactions, turn to dust.

When we hear Christ speak of the one with the noble, good heart (and how does He describe this person? The one who clings to the word), there is a seriousness about it. The Word of God in Christ is not for silly, lazy people. The demons are going to steal it, or, you know, it's not going to last. it won't take root. If we are going to last, if we are going to be saved, we have to bury it deep. So the demons can't get at it. So the love of the world can't choke it out. And burying the word in our heart, as the psalmist says, requires something of us.

Jesus spoke in parables. Is Jesus still speaking in parables? The obvious answer is, we just read the parables this morning, and we take the reading of scripture in the context of liturgy as Jesus directly speaking to us, so we have to say yes, He is still speaking in parables. But beyond and past the Holy Writ, is he speaking to you in parables, in your life? Is he speaking to the world in parables? Or has he given up parables? Maybe he's given up parables and gone on to more straightforward means of communication in your life. That shouldn't be too difficult of a question to answer. If he does still speak to us in parables, do we get what he's trying to say to us? Or are we left scratching our heads? Does the seed of the word of christ penetrate the soil of our heart? Does it take root? Or does it get swept away by the wind, snatched up by the birds? Do we get additional information from Christ? Well, if we're left in the dark, which we so often are, there's a reason for it.

Since we have been redeemed by the Blood of Christ we live for Him now, there is a kingdom coming down out of heaven of which we are citizens, he has delivered us from the power of darkness and transferred us to the Kingdom of the Son. Our loyalty lies with the Kingdom of Jesus Christ, his body the Church.

The letter itself testifies that the events being described show us an example of martyrdom which is conformable to the Gospel- which is to say we are going to describe for you the exemplary death of a great and holy man who died in the same holy way that our Lord and the Apostles died. The Epistle of the Smyrneans which describes Polycarp’s death is the Proto-Martyrology- the first work of its kind in the Church. It is notable not just because it is the first- it really set’s the tone for all subsequent martyrologies- it is Polycarp after Jesus and the Apostles of course, but it is Polycarp who teaches us how to die- and there is little in this world more beautiful than a holy death.

Episode Notes Leviticus 14:1 begins: “The Lord spoke to Moses….” What follows in chapter 14 are the complex instructions for what to do when a person thinks they have been cleansed from leprosy. These detailed instructions are given to Moses directly from the Lord. As we look at Leviticus chapter 14 and read the story of Jesus healing the Leper and then instructing him to go now and follow these very requirements, we should keep in mind just who the Lord is who gave Moses these very instructions. The Lord who, several thousand years ago gave Moses detailed instructions for a cleansed leper is the very same person telling this leper to go and fulfill these requirements. The Lord in Leviticus is Jesus Himself now standing before this recently cleansed man and referring him back to his original directive.

The things of greatest significance in this life have something to do with birth, death or conjugation. The arch of a life is defined on both ends by baptism and a funeral and marriage at the center holds equal place of import. The very creation and fullness of the human, male and female is summed up in marriage. Likewise the new creation is fulfilled as Christ and His bride the Church.

Episode Notes Not many of us are from noble stock or the aristocracy- (is anyone here from the aristocracy?) we should relish this story which draws attention to the simple poor rustic shepherds who were lowly esteemed laborers in their day. And it is even more impressive that Luke devotes so much space to them. They who were invisible and lowly esteemed by society have been highly esteemed by the Evangelist who goes on and on about them, they were highly esteemed by the angels who put on quite a show for them, they were most highly esteemed by God Himself who arranged all of this and has had it recorded for all the ages to delight in.

Episode Notes Tonight, the Lord of Hosts, Judge of Nations and terror of the wicked- is a small, helpless, vulnerable baby who is crying and wants his mother. The Man of War is a crying baby, and his mother coddles him, wraps him tightly in strips of cloth and holds him close and nurses him. This is the man of war, a plump little baby crying for his mother. We must feel some tenderness knowing the holy baby Jesus. Tenderness that His mother feels for him. For all the talk of war, and enemies, and hard brutality and destruction- On this night, this festival reveals our God, our man of war as He also is to us, a tender precious, gentle, weak, vulnerable baby. This sentiment is every bit as central to our faith as that of war and the destruction of the Devils works- more so, because the war will end but the tenderness will only grow and the sweet fragrance that we enjoy in this festival of Christmas will wash away all the residue of the ugly and hard battle of our punishment.

Episode Notes We are often befuddled by the Jews rejection of Jesus. Even with all the physical evidence staring them in the face, the astonishing undeniable miracles- I mean they tried to kill Jesus after he raised Lazarus from the dead- It is bewildering to us to conceive of their rejection of Jesus after all he did. But we are told in the Gospels repeatedly the reason they rejected Jesus- they rejected him because their hearts were hardened. Ok… That’s no reason to crucify Him. Well this is only bewildering because we do not understand what a hardened heart can do to a person- it makes them insane, incapable of seeing clearly, of making wise decisions, of knowing what’s what. It takes away their reason and makes them beasts. That’s the reality of someone who’s heart has become truly hardened. Now who wants to be a foaming pet on a demon’s leash? Good news is we know how to avoid such a condition. Repentance- that is the cure and preventative medicine for a hardened heart.

Episode Notes John was a man -sent from God. We know that his conception was miraculous, next to our Blessed Mother and the Savior John’s nativity is the one other nativity feast we celebrate- he was slightly older than Jesus, of the priestly class, they met while in their mothers wombs and John leapt for joy. We read that John was filled with the Holy Spirit while in the womb- he went out into the wilderness and became a great ascetic and to be with God. He knew God in the Wilderness, God spoke to him and told him things as he did the prophets of old but John was greater than all the prophets of old, there had been no one greater born of women.

Episode Notes I have heard recently of a person who is very angry at God for all the awful things he does to people or allows to happen to people- which I suppose, in this person’s mind is the same thing- if he allows it, he might as well have done it himself- in the final tally, He is responsible for all the awful things. It is a somewhat understandable position to assume and one that God anticipates. He is quite aware that this is how things appear and He warns us repeatedly of the threatening delusion. God is not the author of evil, can not be tempted by evil nor does he tempt any man with evil. And yet all the same he does test our faith that it might be proven. Proven to be true- and proven as in refined and made perfect. And the testing of our faith consists in a fiery trial of suffering- in some form or another. Why does he have to be so mean, can’t he just prove our faith another way, with walks by the lake and mimosas at brunch? We’ll no he can’t as a matter of fact or else I’m sure he would.

Episode Notes There is no one without sin. Our confidence is not in our sinlessness but in the Goodness and mercy of God to forgive the honest sinner who fears and waits upon the Lord. What does it mean to fear and wait upon the Lord? To wait is one who has hope in God’s mercy and goodness, to fear is to recognize the uncompromising nature of reality, that is the Holiness of God- that this eternal blaze of glory, goodness, joy and truth will destroy all that is treacherous and disloyal. Jesus said if you deny me before men I will deny you before my Father in heaven. God does not just forgive the honest sinner but he invites him into his divine counsel and gives him and his descendants the earth.

Episode Notes Jesus warns us in the gospel this morning that there is a great tribulation coming. Whether he speaks of something yet to happen or something that has already happened- there will be tribulations until the end. He promised us in the world you will have tribulation. Why? He is God, He is good and wants us to be happy, I mean he created us for the express purpose of being filled with delight and joy. So why doesn’t he just fix it all with a wave of His hand- why this tribulation? Apparently it would not be what is best for us or else He would.

Episode Notes A phrase from St. Paul’s letter to the Ephesians caught my attention this morning. He tells the Ephesians to redeem the time because the days are evil. The days are evil… It’s hard to image something written 2K years ago that could sound more contemporary. We are likely in the beginning throws of the collapse of a civilization. It has happened before, and if Jesus tarries it will happen again. Feeling our contemporary demise acutely we may miss the obvious, St. Paul was also in days which were evil, and that was long ago with much historical and social water under the bridge. We have no corner on evil days, mankind has been living in days which are evil for a very long time.