Grace and peace to you from God our Father and His Son Jesus Christ.
The heat is on!
In a little story from the Old Testament, we have some friends of ours facing off an evil King.
He gave orders to heat the furnace seven times hotter than usual, and he commanded some mighty men of valor in his army to tie up Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego and throw them into the blazing fiery furnace.
So they were tied up, wearing robes, trousers, turbans, and other clothes, and they were thrown into the blazing fiery furnace.
“Look!” he exclaimed. “I see four men, unbound and unharmed, walking around in the fire—and the fourth looks like a son of the gods!”
They saw that the fire had no effect on the bodies of these men. Not a hair of their heads was singed, their robes were unaffected, and there was no smell of fire on them.
Nebuchadnezzar declared, “Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who has sent His angel and delivered His servants who trusted in Him.
This text reminds us that when things get tough, God is with us and will deliver us. It reminds us that when our life is in danger and under threat through the challenges of life that we are to trust God and remain faithful and prayerful and devoted. God is watching over us and God’s angels are protecting us. As today’s Luke Gospel (Luke 12:1-7) reminds us – we are to have our hearts set on eternal things and make sure that we don’t only protect our physical lives but make sure that our souls are in right standing with God. The fires of this life can burn up our flesh, but it is our souls which we need to protect. We have become accustomed to sanitizing our hands and wearing masks so that we do not breathe ill onto other people. Let us make sure that we are repenting, every twenty minutes and not speaking ill into the world. Let us not save ourselves from the COVID virus and simultaneously spread the virus of falsehood and fear and doubt. Our struggle is a spiritual one and our emotions and our actions must be guided by God’s Spirit.
Be assured of my prayers for you all as we seek to deepen our relationship with God through prayer and Scripture reading. I encourage you to use the resources that we are provided with to do so.
Love and peace!
Fr. Andrew.
Thanks for the lovely Gospel messages you so faithfully send out. Such a personal blessing to me.