{"id":24344,"date":"2024-10-30T10:57:10","date_gmt":"2024-10-30T14:57:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/?p=24344"},"modified":"2024-10-30T11:07:17","modified_gmt":"2024-10-30T15:07:17","slug":"24344","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/?p=24344","title":{"rendered":"The Risk of Living the Gospel"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Love Your Enemies Lyric Video\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/MnVjNaBfQL0?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>You have heard that it was said, \u201cLove your neighbor\u202fand hate your enemy.\u201d But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children\u202fof your Father in heaven.\u2026 If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others?<br>\u2014Matthew 5:43\u201348&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>In a 2017 homily based on this Scripture passage, Father Richard reminds us of the foundational requirements of Christian living:&nbsp;<\/em>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As Christians, we proclaim that this scripture has authority over our lives, but I am hearing from more and more pastors from all denominations that they are afraid to preach the gospel in this country because they know half the church will walk out. You know what I\u2019m talking about. We are in a state of such deceit, dishonesty, and lack of love for anybody but ourselves that is almost impossible to preach the gospel. The ancient Israelites were told \u201cto love your neighbor,\u201d but Jesus takes it to the nth degree. He says, \u201cNo\u2014love your enemy.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Is there anything happening in America today that would make you think we believe we should \u201clove our enemies\u201d? If Christians do not decide to finally be like Jesus, then let\u2019s just give up on this whole Christian thing. It doesn\u2019t mean anything!<strong> If it\u2019s just going to church on Sunday, then we have to stop pretending we\u2019re following Jesus, because we\u2019re just like everybody else\u2014we are into power and money and deceit and war. <\/strong>If we do not preach the gospel, if we do not begin to live the gospel now, then let\u2019s stop pretending that we care about Jesus or about following Jesus.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We are in a very scary position in the United States, and the whole world sees it. We are called to engage in a great mobilization, recognition, conversion, and transformation, because now the issues are too big, too real, and too right in front of us every day.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We cannot be silent any longer. Do not expect me to be silent, and I won\u2019t expect you to be silent, either. It\u2019s going to take courage.<strong> It\u2019s going take each of us making little decisions in our little worlds to love, not just our neighbors, but even to pray for our enemies, to pray for our president, to pray for our country. If we can\u2019t do these little things, what does it all mean<\/strong>?\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Every one of us in this room has power. <strong>To pretend we don\u2019t, so we can just be silent is to say what\u2019s happening is OK and it isn\u2019t! <\/strong>I just read the gospel aloud and held the book above you. You stood up and you said, \u201cThanks be God,\u201d so now let\u2019s say thanks be to God with our lives. Thank you for allowing me to preach the gospel.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>=========<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><table><tbody><tr><td><strong><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Confusing Creature and Creator<\/span><\/strong><\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><table><tbody><tr><td><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"auto\" height=\"15\" src=\"https:\/\/mcusercontent.com\/87188c8737bc50c1a2fb8e2c9\/images\/b66516eb-1f2d-8d90-0e02-d4223f78f6f7.png\"><a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/withgoddaily.us2.list-manage.com\/track\/click?u=87188c8737bc50c1a2fb8e2c9&amp;id=c6237bf202&amp;e=f52fc38132\" target=\"_blank\"><\/a><a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/withgoddaily.us2.list-manage.com\/track\/click?u=87188c8737bc50c1a2fb8e2c9&amp;id=3a45fb7e9e&amp;e=f52fc38132\" target=\"_blank\">Click Here for Audio<\/a><br><a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/withgoddaily.us2.list-manage.com\/track\/click?u=87188c8737bc50c1a2fb8e2c9&amp;id=ddda8f3971&amp;e=f52fc38132\" target=\"_blank\"><\/a><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"auto\" height=\"35\" src=\"https:\/\/mcusercontent.com\/87188c8737bc50c1a2fb8e2c9\/images\/b66516eb-1f2d-8d90-0e02-d4223f78f6f7.png\">If the first of the Ten Commandments is about keeping God first, the second commandment is about keeping God separate. The Lord said, \u201cYou shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath . . .\u201d This command is not a prohibition against artistic works, which is how some have understood it. Traditional Islamic art, for example, usually features plants, words, or geometric patterns, but no animals or people out of an abundance of caution. Islam, which is adamantly opposed to all idolatry, doesn\u2019t want anyone to interpret God as a person or animal even accidentally. <br><br>But within the context of the Old Testament, it becomes clear this is not what the second commandment intended. Remember, the tabernacle that God himself commanded his people to build as the centerpiece of their worship included many images of animals and angels. Rather than a prohibition against certain forms of art, the second commandment establishes an absolute barrier between the uncreated God and the rest of creation. It accomplishes this by forbidding the representation of the Creator as a mere creature. <br><br>This is the basic error of all idolatry\u2014it confuses the Creator with the creature, the eternal with the temporal, the non-contingent with the contingent. It was a radical idea at the time. Other ancient cultures depicted their gods as animals, human kings, or celestial objects. When we equate God with some element of his creation, however, we diminish his glory and limit his grandeur.<br><br>Thomas \u00e0 Kempis in his classic work,\u00a0<em>The Imitation of Christ<\/em>, spoke of the utter uniqueness of God. He wrote, \u201cThe difference is great\u2014yes, very great, indeed\u2014between delight in the Creator and in the creature, in eternity and in time, in Light uncreated and in the light that is reflected.\u201d This cosmos, its creatures, and the works of human hands are marvelous, but their glory is at best a reflected one. To be against idolatry doesn\u2019t mean diminishing the value of God\u2019s good creation. It doesn\u2019t mean eliminating the beauty of art or the delight of beautiful things from our lives. <br><br>Instead, it means recognizing the glory we see in creation is not from itself. It is the indirect radiance of the Creator. Therefore, when we marvel at any created thing we ought to offer our praise and gratitude to God, rather than to the thing itself. The second commandment invites us to delight in the One who cannot be contained by space or time, nor by the human mind, and certainly not by any craft of mere human hands.<br><br>DAILY SCRIPTURE<br><a href=\"https:\/\/withgoddaily.us2.list-manage.com\/track\/click?u=87188c8737bc50c1a2fb8e2c9&amp;id=ebce1264de&amp;e=f52fc38132\">HABAKKUK 2:18\u201320<br>ROMANS 11:33\u201336<\/a><br><a href=\"https:\/\/withgoddaily.us2.list-manage.com\/track\/click?u=87188c8737bc50c1a2fb8e2c9&amp;id=ebce1264de&amp;e=f52fc38132\"><br><\/a>WEEKLY PRAYER    Leonine Sacramentary (the fifth century)<br><br>Almighty God, who did wonderfully create humanity in your own image, and did yet more wonderfully restore them, we ask you, that as your Son our Lord Jesus Christ was made in human likeness, so we may be made partakers of the divine nature; through your Son, who with you and the Holy Spirit live and reign, one God, world without end.<br>Amen. <\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>You have heard that it was said, \u201cLove your neighbor\u202fand hate your enemy.\u201d But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children\u202fof your Father in heaven.\u2026 If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24344"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=24344"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24344\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24348,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24344\/revisions\/24348"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=24344"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=24344"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=24344"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}