It is one of my very favorite readings...
It sheds light upon my 'obedience'... it gives me courage and conviction... it is the reason I am what I am...
"By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance; he went out - not knowing where he was to go...
All these ... did not receive what had been promised but saw it and greeted it from afar and acknowledged themselves to be
strangers and pilgrims on earth,
those who speak thus show that they are seeking a homeland.
If they had been thinking of the land from where they had come, they would have opportunity to return. But now they desire a better homeland, a heavenly one." - Hebrews 11
'For there is no distinction' ... 'all that is important is that one be created anew.' 'There is no more slave nor freeman, male or female'... 'we are a new creation in Christ... old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.'
"Let us go to him outside the camp, bearing the insult which he bore. For here we have no lasting city; we are seeking one which is to come. Through him let us continually offer God a sacrifice of praise, that is, the fruit of lips which acknowledge his name." - Hebrews 13
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Some want to be free of their attachment to their sexual orientation, but they want this to be in such a way that they will still retain possession of that identity; so God is to approve what they themselves want, and there is no decision to relinquish it (in order to go to God), even if it might be better for them if they did. - My paraphrase a selection from the writings of St. Ignatius of Loyola.
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ReplyDeleteI've never cared much for this reading. It sounds too much like it's coming from someone with 'issues' around key aspects of their own identity. Also, if there are "no distinctions," shouldn't we dispense with denominational terms, affiliations, and distinctions such as "Roman Catholic"? Funny how we never hear about that rather obvious implication from those Catholics who are eager for gay people to 'move beyond' their sexual orientation.
ReplyDeleteI never thought of it like that.
DeleteAnyway, I suspect this isn't the only scripture you dislike.
;)
Can anyone really 'dislike' a reading from Scripture? I know they can, of course, but maybe rather should they? It's something to struggle with it, to come to terms with it, but it's God's Word. Shouldn't IT be working us over, sifting us, rather than us sifting it with our 'likes' and 'dislikes'?
ReplyDelete