At mass yesterday we had a reading from St. Paul to the Corinthians. Consider the following:
“What is expected of stewards is that each one should be found worthy of his trust. Not that it makes the slightest difference to me whether you, or indeed any human tribunal, find me worthy or not. I will not even pass judgement on myself. True, my conscience does not reproach me at all…”
Doesn’t your heart go out to the Corinthians? Wasn’t St. Paul an annoyingly smug correspondent? He comes to a sticky end and one can’t help feeling that a small number of Corinthians were wondering whether Paul, on arrival in heaven, got busy telling God how to manage matters better. I once heard a monk say that St. Paul was necessary for the organisation and administration of the early church but that he must have been tedious and irritating company.
In his sermon, the priest told us all not to worry, all would be well. Which was comforting but not quite as well put as the Gospel itself:
“Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: And yet I say unto you, that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith? Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.
Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.” [King James Bible version]
That’s probably enough material for your immortal soul for one day.
Being a presbyterian, and predestined, I’m not worried about “unearthly” things, but the earthly things are liable to be a bit tricky.
Quite. It’s a nice idea, but what do lilies do when there’s Japanese knotweed in their patch?
I remember a school chaplain explaining to me that the most up-to-date thinking in modern theology was that Paul had more or less invented Christianity and that if Jesus was real at all he was probably a fairly minor prophet and just a convenient peg for Paul to hang his hat on. This was the Church of England, you’ll not be surprised to hear, and it didn’t seem to trouble his faith at all.
All, I would like to point out that the title was a typo, I was looking out for your immortal souls, not your immoral souls, I am sure all your souls are perfectly moral
WOL, oooh, predestination, cool.
Praxis, you echo my mother-in-law http://www.belgianwaffle.net/?p=1188
TM, reallly? Goodness, it’s all true about the CoE..