The Futile Ways of Our Fathers

14 June 2016

Sr. Vassa Larin

“You know that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your fathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot. He was destined before the foundation of the world but was made manifest at the end of the times for your sake. Through him you have confidence in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God. Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere love of the brethren, love one another earnestly from the heart. You have been born anew, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God…” (1 Pet 1: 18-23)

Indeed I have been “born anew, not of perishable seed but of imperishable.” I am gratefully reminded of this today, when the “the futile ways inherited from our fathers“ play out, succeeding, for the time being, to divide us and disrupt all efforts to bring us together for a Holy and Great Council. It is not through the divisive words of men that we have been “born anew,” but “through the living and abiding word of God.”

So let me stay close to His word today, in “obedience to the truth for a sincere love of the brethren,” whatever the “brethren” happen to be saying or doing. It is through Christ that we have “confidence in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory.” Let us place our hope and faith where it belongs, in Him, Who alone is “without blemish or spot,” that we may “love one another earnestly from the heart.” O Lord, may Your word live and abide in us, now and forever. Amen.