In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
In the Gospel reading today, our Saviour is speaking directly against the way we are formed here in Canada. Our Lord is speaking about the absolute necessity for unity – for unity in our life, for unity in ourselves. He says that we cannot serve two masters. He gives examples which show how we are so divided, and the consequences of this division. We, who are living in this modern, western society, are prepared to live in a divided sort of way. We are encouraged to live in this compartmentalised and divided way (not merely two divisions, but usually multiple divisions). It can happen that we show one face when we are at work, another face when we are with our family, another face when we go to church or another face wherever else we go. We do not limit ourselves to being merely two-faced. Sometimes the face is accompanied by a somewhat different personality.
It is natural for us to behave slightly differently in one context or another, and when we are having a conversation with one person or another. However, it is not natural to be very different. Sadly, this is how people have come to behave in our society, behaving very differently in one context or another. It is almost like being a different person, sometimes. This is contrary to what the Lord is telling us to do.
It is important for us to remember those very crucial words that our Lord has said : “‘What is highly esteemed among men is an abomination in the sight of God’”. This abomination is our focussing on ourselves, and putting ourselves in the place of God. Throughout history, human beings have been mostly concerned about personal power, acquisitiveness, and making themselves comfortable here on this earth. In the context of all this, they have been forgetting that God is in charge. As a consequence of this they have been determining that they are in charge. A human being will put himself in the place of God, and will say : “I am in charge of my life. I do not need anyone. I do not need anything. There is only me that counts. I am in charge of everything”. This is how bad it can be. This is how it goes, too, when we are so forgetful of who we are, and Who is the Lord, and what is our way.
As Christians, we have to remember that we are dependant. We are not God. We are indeed, dependant. We depend on the Lord for everything. He created us. He brought us into being. He is with us in the course of our whole life. He is nurturing us in everything that we do. He is protecting us in everything that we do. In the course of my life, I have been protected from a great number of consequences of absolute stupidity. I have very great confidence in how the Lord is protecting us. I still have memories from childhood when I was so reckless that I should have been dead at five. However, the Lord did not let that happen. The Lord and His Guardian Angels protected me, and spared my parents from undue sorrow. (That does not mean that they were not anxious, but they did not have undue sorrow.)
We have to remember that we are dependant on the Lord, and that we need to be calling upon Him at all times, in every place, for everything. That is partly what the Apostle is saying when he is writing about how we are supposed to be encouraging the gifts of the Holy Spirit in each other, and the attitude we need to have. There is a catch-phrase nowadays that I hear from time to time which actually works (because it also rhymes in English) : We Christians have to learn to live at all times with the attitude of gratitude. This is precisely what the Apostle is saying : our lives as Christians have to be reflecting our gratitude to God, and be lives of constant thanksgiving for everything. We have to be giving thanks to God for His protection, for His love. We have to be giving thanks that we are standing here today in the Temple of the Lord, that we are His servants, and that there are fruits of His love in our lives.
Here is this point again. Attitudes of gratitude are not going to be showing in our lives unless there is genuine love for the Lord. The characteristic response of this relationship of love with the Lord is, in fact, gratitude : giving thanks to God for getting us up in the morning, for food that we have to eat, for shelter under which we can live in this very cold climate, for protection and safe arrival on every journey that we take. Gratitude is giving thanks to the Lord for His love and His provision. I do not produce all sorts of things by my own power. It is the Lord who gives. We can have every sort of technological advance in terms of food production, and so forth. What do we do with our technological advances ? We kill weeds, and make food that is not so good for us in the end because of our great skills. However, the Lord has always provided and is always providing for us. He has always enabled the earth to provide what is good for us. Ever since the beginning He has been like this with us. We have to do our part, but we have to do our part in harmony with Him.
In order to try to live our lives more in the context that is natural and correct for a Christian (constantly living with the attitude of gratitude, constantly giving thanks for everything), let us ask the Lord to renew His love in our hearts. Let us ask Him to build up and strengthen His love in our hearts so that we will have true, spontaneous, instinctive gratitude towards Him. In that way our lives will proclaim His love, and everything about us will glorify our Saviour, Jesus Christ, together with the unoriginate Father, and the all-holy, good, and life-giving Spirit, now, and ever, and unto the ages of ages.