14 November 2022 - but now I see

Today's Readings

(Audio)

They told him,

“Jesus of Nazareth is passing by.”

The crowd recognized Jesus of Nazareth, and for various reasons they followed him in such numbers and with such noise that the blind man noticed and wondered as to the cause of the commotion. Yet the description of the crowd for Jesus, "Jesus of Nazareth", while valid, was still only partially correct. It was a though this identification implied the knowledge of his origin as with those in the synagogue at Nazareth who asked, "Is not this the carpenter's son? Is not his mother called Mary? And are not his brothers James and Joseph and Simon and Judas?" (see Matthew 13:55). To be sure the crowds must have heard of some of the wonders he had done to follow him at all, but were perhaps still skeptical as was Nathanael, who asked "Can anything good come out of Nazareth?" (see John 1:46). The crowds were never a reliable source of truth about Jesus himself. They had a variety of answers as to who he was, some more correct than others, but still always with error mixed in.

And he asked them, “Who do the crowds say that I am?” And they answered, “John the Baptist. But others say, Elijah, and others, that one of the prophets of old has risen.” (see Luke 9:18:-19).

These crowds seemed like the ones who would be likely to solve the mystery of Jesus, for they were witnesses to what he said and did. They were not physically blind and their sight had been gifted with the vision of Jesus in his human nature. Yet for all of that their physical sight seemed only to amplify their spiritual blindness. By contrast, the obvious and literal blindness of the beggar seemed only to enhance his spiritual sight.

He shouted, “Jesus, Son of David, have pity on me!”

The blind man recognized in Jesus the promised Son of David, the Messiah who would restore the Davidic kingdom. But in this recognition he saw more than a merely human king, for a human king could not be asked for the mercy or pity that this beggar asked of Jesus. Even kings as great as David and Solomon could still not restore sight to the blind. Fortunately for him, the beggar's eyes were not sources of distraction as they were for others. Neither did he allow the voices of others that rebuked him to dissuade him. He recognized that in Jesus the Messiah the one whose life was the light of men had come into the world (see John 1:4). The beggar's blindness was no match for that light because it was the very light that shines in the darkness, and which the darkness can never overcome (see John 1:5).

With the crowds, and often with us, it is rather different than it was for the blind man. We are more often like the Pharisees whose sin remains because they believe that they can see and do not recognize their spiritual blindness.

Jesus said to them, "If you were blind, you would have no guilt; but now that you say, ‘We see,’ your guilt remains" (see John 9:41).

The voice of our own inner thoughts is often like the rebuke of the crowds, telling us to be silent, to not make a fuss, to not elevate our hopes unrealistically, to not trouble Jesus with our problems. The vision we behold with our eyes is often preoccupied with that which is only superficial. Don't trouble the healer, we tell ourselves. He is busy and our problem is in any case intractable. Even so, our own darkness cannot dim the light of Christ. The dawn from on high has truly visited his people (see Luke 1:78). If we will only allow ourselves to recognize our blindness we will be in a much better position to recognize, by faith, the true light. Already before the physical healing was granted a true miracle of restoration of spiritual vision was effected. The light of Jesus shined on the beggar whose natural blindness, humility, and persistence shaped his response of faith. The first miracle was the vision whereby he recognized Jesus as the Son of David. The second which followed naturally, but was less significant in the long run, was the restoration of his physical sight. 

“What do you want me to do for you?”

He replied, “Lord, please let me see.”

Jesus told him, “Have sight; your faith has saved you.”

In what ways are we blind and in need of the light of the world to enlighten us? Let's not allow the so-called wisdom of the crowds to turn us aside. Let's not be so preoccupied with the distractions of "desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life" (see First John 2:16) that we miss Jesus when he passes. He is the Dayspring from on high and calls us to walk and to rejoice in his light.

He immediately received his sight

and followed him, giving glory to God.

The author of Revelation calls us to be on guard against a particular form of blindness. We can perform well and tick all of the boxes and believe ourselves to be fully living the Christian life, and yet it can be without that deeper motivation that love is meant to give, ours for him, and his love for us.

Yet I hold this against you:

you have lost the love you had at first.

Realize how far you have fallen.

Spiritual sight of Jesus is what we need so that our hearts can be moved to love him more, as the beggar was so moved when his own sight was restored. This love will then be the organizing principle for our works, our labor, and our endurance. Our various works will no longer feel so much like disjointed efforts on our part, but will more and more come to be simply be a part of our following Jesus, giving glory to God.

Matt Maher - Canticle of Zechariah

Todd Agnew - Grace Like Rain

13 November 2022 - to whatever end

Today's Readings

(Audio)

While some people were speaking about

how the temple was adorned with costly stones and votive offerings

The beautiful and spiritual things of earth are good, but they are meant to help us direct our minds toward things of heaven. They possess goodness by participation, and are primarily symbols of a goodness that is greater and as yet unseen. It is necessary for such symbols to give way so that the deeper reality can be apprehended. At one scale this happened when the world that the temple of Jerusalem represented was destroyed by the Romans. The various symbols of Old Testament sacrifice thus ended and gave way to the reality to which they pointed, the true Paschal lamb who had come. At another scale it will happen again at the end of time when the old and fallen creation itself gives way to the renewal of all things, and even the efficacious symbols of the sacraments give way to true vision. Jesus taught his followers keys for living in end times, whether the end of Second Temple Judaism, or the end of time. They are useful keys for us as well, whether or not we live in the last age. For if we do not live in the last age, nevertheless we recognize many of the signs of which Jesus spoke, and can assume that we are at minimum participating a dress rehearsal. 

"Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom.

There will be powerful earthquakes, famines, and plagues

from place to place;

and awesome sights and mighty signs will come from the sky.

What were the keys Jesus taught his followers to ensure they would be able to persevere in such times? He told them to not be deceived, to not be terrified, and to be ready to rely on the Holy Spirit rather than on themselves.

"See that you not be deceived,

for many will come in my name, saying,

'I am he,' and 'The time has come.'

We must be grounded in the truth Jesus taught in order to about the deception of the devil, who is a liar and the father of lies (see John 8:44). Jesus gave us his Church as the pillar and foundation of truth (see First Timothy 3:15) and through also gave us the Scriptures which are "profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness" (see Second Timothy 3:16). Only thus grounded in the truth that comes from God can we hope to avoid falling prey to the sensationalistic claims made by others. Untethered from our true hope in the Messiah we might give undue credence to political figures who seem either to be the solution to all of our problems, or else the cause of them. 

Without knowing the true trajectory of history we will probably experience terror in the face of wars, earthquakes, famines, and plagues. But when our hearts hear Jesus say "do not be terrified" we can have the peace that comes from knowing that, no matter how bad things seem, God's plan is undeterred and his promise holds. There are various legitimate contenders vying to cause this terror in us, whether our modern plague, or global warming, or the various geopolitical struggles that seem only to escalate. But these things are not themselves the end. If they were in fact the end we would likely be left too terrified to be able to help mount a useful response, to do our part, because it would then seem that everything was falling apart, and headed only for irredeemable destruction. It is precisely the peace that is the gift of Jesus to us that makes us useful in these preliminaries to the true end of history. We are able to remember that even as all the things of this world are shaken they are only shaken to reveal that which cannot be shaken. This causes us to cultivate the unshakable in ourselves, which is precisely what is needful in any worldly crisis.

This phrase, “Yet once more,” indicates the removal of things that are shaken—that is, things that have been made—in order that the things that cannot be shaken may remain (see Hebrews 12:2).

What is our primary role in these times that precede, by however much, the end of all things? It is to give testimony to name of Jesus. We may or may not be led before kings and governors, but none of us are exempt from witnessing to Jesus in whatever sphere of influence he has given to us. If we are properly grounded in the truth and if we avail ourselves of the peace that is his gift we will be in a good position to heed the guidance of the Holy Spirit even in what would otherwise be very stressful moments. To hear the still small voice we need the truth of Jesus to point us toward it, and the peace of Jesus to calm all of the competing noise enough for us to hear it. It often seems easier to prepare our defense beforehand. But this strategy never seems to work, does it? No matter how perfectly our planned conversations, without the help of the Spirit there is always something unexpected to throw us for a loop, always something we wish we had said or not said. Only the Spirit himself knows the perfect testimony for a particular person at that precise moment in her life.

Remember, you are not to prepare your defense beforehand,

for I myself shall give you a wisdom in speaking

that all your adversaries will be powerless to resist or refute.

If we remember these keys Jesus gave us we will be ready to face a world in which at least some things are assuredly going to end. Even in such times we will be able to heed the command of Paul to work quietly and eat our own food rather getting caught up in the business of others, even if that business purports to be apocalyptic in nature. Our hope will be rooted beyond the shakable and insubstantial present moment, anchored in the eternal heavenly temple, in Jesus himself (see Hebrews 6:19). However much chaos and evil seems to fill our world we will nevertheless cling to our hope that "there will arise the sun of justice with its healing rays".

Let the sea and what fills it resound,

the world and those who dwell in it;

let the rivers clap their hands,

the mountains shout with them for joy.

Before the LORD, for he comes,

for he comes to rule the earth,

he will rule the world with justice

and the peoples with equity.

Marty Nystrom - Awake, O Israel

Elevation Worship (featuring Chris Brown & Brandon Lake) - LION

12 November 2022 - slow to answer?

Today's Readings

(Audio)

He said, “There was a judge in a certain town

who neither feared God nor respected any human being. 

Piety makes us immediately and intentionally dismiss any apparent similarity between this unjust judge and the God whom he did not not fear. We know that God has a special love, not indifference, for the orphan and the widow. Yet our rushing to produce a pious defense of God might cause us to miss some of the point Jesus was making. The comparison between the unjust judge in the parable and God himself was intentional, since the figure of the judge stood in for the one who would hear and grant or deny petitionary prayers. In one way the comparison was like another comparison between earthly fathers' care for their children and God's concern for all humankind:

If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him! (see Luke 11:13).

In the above comparison the earthly fathers are not presented as entirely unsympathetic, however. They know how to give good gifts to their children. They will not give a serpent to a son that asks for a fish or a scorpion to one who asks for an egg. The analogy is similar to that of the unjust judge in that they both reason from a lesser to a greater. But why is the parable in today's Gospel reading so extreme in presenting an apparent caricature of a figure in the place of God?

‘While it is true that I neither fear God nor respect any human being, 

because this widow keeps bothering me

I shall deliver a just decision for her

lest she finally come and strike me.’

We may suggest that Jesus was here applying his sense of humor, which must have indeed been a self-deprecating sense of humor to use a comparison of this sort with his Father. But by leading with humor perhaps he hoped to allow us to recognize a stereotype of God which we would never consciously confess but which sometimes seeps into our thinking about him, especially when we try to "pray always without becoming weary".  Do we not, at times, slip into seeing God is a judge with little interest in the concerns of women and men, even orphans and widows? Because, after all, if he was truly concerned, wouldn't more miracles result from prayer? Paul himself wrote that God was "no respecter of persons" (see Romans 2:11). Did he mean more than that he was not impressed by a person's status in society? Did he also imply a more general disinterest her most heartfelt needs and desires? 

I shall deliver a just decision for her

lest she finally come and strike me.

We tend to see God as a figure whose good is competitive with our own, and who has a limited amount of resources from which to act. With this view we see our prayers as always trying to prod one who is all but disinterested into expending effort on our behalf. Since we feel as though we must purchase or earn a result it seems we have nothing with which to persuade the judge but repetition tending toward annoyance. Jesus, by giving this parable, was telling his listeners that he saw and understood this deep psychological wound that affected, most likely, all of them. 

Will not God then secure the rights of his chosen ones

who call out to him day and night? 

By calling our attention to our unconscious stereotypical reproach of God Jesus hoped that we would be able to transcend it, to see, by making at conscious, that it was absurd, even if it still appeared that our prayers were answered slowly or not at all. We are meant to realize that God truly is concerned with all of our needs and desires, especially those of the most needy such as widows and orphans. He is a judge who is infinitely just, whom it costs nothing deliver his just decision on our behalf. If he seems slow to answer we are meant to realize that the problem is with our perspective, not with the unseen reality.

Will he be slow to answer them? 

I tell you, he will see to it that justice is done for them speedily.

In order for us to pray always it can be enough to have a limited and imperfect vision of God, and of how our prayer affects him. But in order for us to pray always without losing heart we are meant to learn more and more the perfect transcendent goodness of God. It is a goodness that is diffusive of itself, and motivated him to create us because he desired for us to share in and experience that goodness. Our images of earthly fathers and judges and authority have all been tainted by human failings. But Jesus wants to help us heal the way in which these failings have tainted our image of God himself.

For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family (see Ephesians 3:14).

Our true power in prayer and in living the Christian life will come when we learn to give reverence to "the Name" that is more than plausibly pious lip service. It is probable that for most of us this will require healings of our hearts which only Jesus can provide. How gracious of him, then, to begin this healing remedy with humor, even here emptying himself so that we might be made full.

Blessed the man who fears the LORD,

who greatly delights in his commands.

Chris Tomlin -  Good God Father

11 November 2022 - rescue priorities

Today's Readings

(Audio)

Jesus began to speak of the revelation of the Son of Man that would occur only after he was "rejected by this generation" (see Luke 17:25). On one level this did was probably in reference to his coming again in glory. But on another it probably pertained specifically to events which that generation would witness when the judgment upon Jerusalem that culminated in the destruction of the temple. In that generation there would be found some like in the generation of Noah, righteous, who was willing to enter the ark to find protection from the coming flood. However, many in the generation of Noah were too preoccupied with business as usual to avail themselves of the opportunity of rescue.

they were eating and drinking,

marrying and giving in marriage up to the day

that Noah entered the ark,

and the flood came and destroyed them all.

This was the danger for those in Jerusalem in about 70 AD. Those Christians who were attuned to the Holy Spirit and awaiting the coming of Jesus were able to flee to the mountains and escape without harm. They were able to leave almost everything behind them in order to remain under the divine protection of God, just as Lot did when he left Sodom.

Similarly, as it was in the days of Lot:

they were eating, drinking, buying,

selling, planting, building;

on the day when Lot left Sodom,

fire and brimstone rained from the sky to destroy them all.

The danger is still a reality for us. We easily get caught up and preoccupied with eating, drinking, buying, selling, planting, and building. We tend to be too attached to our belongings to head straight from the housetop to the hills. We tend to be too attached to our projects, hobbies, and work, to simply leave the grinding stone and go. Our worldly attachments, even ones that seem harmless, can put us in danger if we give them higher priority than the Son of Man. Even hesitation is a risk we ought not take. We should pray for the freedom of heart to hear Jesus when he calls us and to follow where he leads. 

Whoever seeks to preserve his life will lose it,

but whoever loses it will save it.

If we try to save our own life we will be swept away with the flood, consumed by fire and brimstone. But if we are willing to let go of our own control, our possessions, our work, everything that seems to define in us life, and avail ourselves of the rescue mission on which Jesus came he will do whatever it takes to save us.

In his letter to the Lady John gives us two suggestions in particular that can help us have the attitude of heart that will ensure that we do choose the rescue Jesus offers.

But now, Lady, I ask you,

not as though I were writing a new commandment

but the one we have had from the beginning:

let us love one another.

Walking in love means that Jesus is first in our lives, and our neighbor in a non-competitive second place. It means we are willing to forget about ourselves for the sake of love. The detachment we need to leave the the world is not only negative, but is primarily motivated by this love for what is greater and more lasting.

Anyone who is so “progressive”

as not to remain in the teaching of the Christ does not have God;

whoever remains in the teaching has the Father and the Son.

We must remain grounded in the teaching of the Christ. This will guard us against our frequent tendency to try to justify things which are less than loving. It will help us keep our orientation toward heaven and not toward this life alone, but with a proper concern even for material things, since Christ himself took on material flesh. In Christ we see a properly ordered life in obedience to the Father revealed. If we remain in him he himself will be the ark that saves us, and the flood will do nothing more than renew the world around us.

Open my eyes, that I may consider

the wonders of your law.

Matt Maher - Lay It Down

David Brymer - Worthy Of It All

10 November 2022 - Kingdom come

Today's Readings

(Audio)

Asked by the Pharisees when the Kingdom of God would come

The Pharisees expected that the Messiah would break about the restoration of the kingdom of David. This would have been not only something that could be observed but even something obvious, for it would have meant the overthrow of the Roman occupation, a reunion of the twelve tribes, and the imperial influence of Israel itself restored. This was a hard image to shake as we can see from the disciples even after the resurrection.

So when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” (see Acts 1:6).

Those who were expecting a Messiah were expecting a political and military figure, someone who would produce tangible and verifiable results in the world. But this is not who Jesus was, nor was this the nature of his Kingdom, at least not immediately.

“The coming of the Kingdom of God cannot be observed,

and no one will announce, ‘Look, here it is,’ or, ‘There it is.’

For behold, the Kingdom of God is among you.”

The Kingdom was present among them because the King was in their midst. He extended his influence by invitation, and his Kingdom spread as his followers gave themselves more and more fully to the prayer, "thy Kingdom come" (see Luke 11:1). It might be objected that a kingdom of this sort was more imaginary than real, that it lacked the concrete benefits of an established political authority. But the Kingdom of Jesus was superior to earthly kingdoms at every level. Of these, let us consider two: food and freedom. These are two things which earthly authorities attempt to ensure for their citizens. On one level the Kingdom of Jesus worked to ensure these natural realities would be provided to the least and most neglected of populations in ways that governments tended to neglect. But even more, he addresses these needs at a level that was deeper and spiritual.

Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you (see John 6:27).

It would seem that one would need a powerful nation with a strong military to guarantee freedom. But in the Kingdom of Jesus we see that his followers found a freedom that could not be taken away no matter how powerful the authoritarian regime. We find disciples frequently imprisoned, yet with a greater and deeper freedom than many of us who are supposedly at liberty.

For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery (see Galatians 5:1).

The coming, that is the hidden progress of the Kingdom, is not something that can be observed. But the final form of the Kingdom which we await, our blessed hope, is something that not only can be seen, but which in fact cannot be missed.

For just as lightning flashes

and lights up the sky from one side to the other,

so will the Son of Man be in his day.

The call for each of us is to invest in the hidden Kingdom of Jesus now so that when this lightning of revelation flashes and reveals it we will be found therein, found in Jesus himself. We can invest in the Kingdom here and now by living out our various relationships, not according to what we might demand by our worldly entitlements, but according to the higher call of the Gospel of freedom.

Perhaps this is why he was away from you for a while,

that you might have him back forever,

no longer as a slave but more than a slave, a brother,

beloved especially to me, but even more so to you,

as a man and in the Lord.

The more we live a Kingdom lifestyle now, with relationships rooted in Kingdom truth, the easier it will be for us when that final flash of revelation lights up the sky. We want it to be the case that the Second Coming of Christ reveals us as already his citizens, already in some measure prepared for the fullness he will bring. We cannot hope to live now as primarily citizens of earthly kingdoms and then, on the last day, to find a smooth transition to eternity, if indeed we find it. Let us not run off in pursuit of the distractions of our present age, but focus instead on our hope, and on living in as those who believe in it.

The LORD shall reign forever;

your God, O Zion, through all generations. Alleluia.

Elevation Worship ft. Brandon Lake - There Is A King

Matt Maher - The Lord's Prayer (It's Yours)

Newsboys - Secret Kingdom

9 November 2023 - before and after

Today's Readings

(Audio)

He found in the temple area those who sold oxen, sheep, and doves,

as well as the money-changers seated there.

Jesus went to a place that was meant to be "a house of prayer for all the peoples" (see Isaiah 56:7) but instead found "a den of robbers" (see Jeremiah 7:11). Jesus himself was deeply concerned that the Court of the Gentiles described here and the entire temple fulfill its true purpose. He was zealous for it in a particular and remarkable way because it was his Father's house. And for the same reason he had the authority to drive out those who misused and abused the temple. Jesus, as the Father's only begotten Son, desired to establish a chorus of right praise, true and spiritual worship, for which the temple was always intended.

Do you not know that you are the temple of God,

and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?

The temple in Jerusalem only signified the presence of God. We are each of us temples of the Holy Spirit in a way that far surpasses that temple. This should make us thankful, but should also inspire in our hearts some holy fear. For if Jesus treated the money changers as he did for the sake of temple worship, what might he not do in our hearts in order that our own worship be made right and true? Might he not even come to us with a whip of cords in order to help chase from our hearts the false claimants to our attention, our love, and our worship? We can see that there is precedent for this. But if he does so, we are to recognize it as his mercy, helping rid us of the noise, the frequent injustice, and the subjugation inherent in the world of give and take, that we might have room for worship in the freedom of the Spirit.

“Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up.”

Jesus will in fact tear the temple down to its very stones in order to raise it up again in perfection. But he takes this first upon himself, as he takes all of our sin upon himself, to refashion our very human nature back to the blueprint of the divine image in which it was made. What is happening when Jesus cleanses the temples of our hearts is not so much him going from building to building tearing us down and building us up, but rather incorporating us into that great building of which he himself is the cornerstone, the Church. This does necessitate some adjustments to the component parts, but only so that they may fit the more perfectly into the place for which they were always intended.

But each one must be careful how he builds upon it,

for no one can lay a foundation other than the one that is there,

namely, Jesus Christ.

It is easy to get hung up preliminary steps that involve refashioning and, at some level, destruction, and forget about the hope in which this is done. But the construction project we're describing is ordered toward the resurrected life of Jesus himself in which we hope to share, in which we in fact do share even now by faith. And this risen life is more than a fair trade for the money changers and the rest. The hope contained herein is far greater than anything that the world alone could offer. May we learn to appreciate the zeal of Jesus for us and begin to let that same zeal characterize our own lives.

Every month they shall bear fresh fruit,

for they shall be watered by the flow from the sanctuary.

Their fruit shall serve for food, and their leaves for medicine.

Andy Park - The River Is Here

8 November 2022 - no profit motive

Today's Readings

(Audio)

Would he not rather say to him,

‘Prepare something for me to eat.

We are called to remember that we are servants, servants who are in fact unprofitable. The one who created all things out of nothing has no need of us. We are indebted to him from before we begin. Our work is never so much as to put him in our debt. We ought never imagine that we are owed anything. Having the proper understanding of who God is, perfectly and eternally happy in the shared life of the Trinity, in need of nothing, and who we are, creatures utterly dependent on God for our being at every moment lest we slip back into the non-existence from whence we came, helps us avoid the risk of presumption. 

Who among you would say to your servant

who has just come in from plowing or tending sheep in the field,

‘Come here immediately and take your place at table’?

If we remember that we are unprofitable servants we won't act like wicked servant who begins "to beat his fellow servants and eats and drinks with drunkards" (see Matthew 24:49). That individual forgot that he himself was a fellow servant and began to entertain a sense of entitlement that was both self-destructive and harmful to others. 

When we don't insist on God serving us from a sense of entitlement we can instead receive it with surprise as unearned and unexpected gift.

Blessed are those servants whom the master finds awake when he comes. Truly, I say to you, he will dress himself for service and have them recline at table, and he will come and serve them (see Luke 12:37).

We know that the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve, demonstrated definitively in his washing the disciples feet and giving them the gift of himself in the Eucharist. Yet this is not meant to make us proud or presumptuous, as though he were somehow obligated to do these things for us. His offering was entirely free and uncompelled, and all the more beautiful for that fact. We are to remember that Jesus, even when he comes to us as gift, is and remains our master. Although he has no need of our service he still delights to make use of us, to make us increasingly gifts to others as he himself was first a gift to us. He gives us as servants for our own sakes, hoping that we will see that if it was good and noble for him it will be so for us. If it did not impinge on his limitless divine freedom to serve us it need not make us feel subjugated when we act as his servants in the world.

‘We are unprofitable servants;

we have done what we were obliged to do.’

It is actually preferable that we are permitted to be unprofitable, because then we aren't subject to the whims of the market or our own limited abilities. Jesus will not cast us out for being unable to give him something that he did not first give us, since no such thing can exist. We don't have to somehow prove ourselves as worthy. We are permitted to remain unprofitable servants, provided that we are willing at least to continue to act as servants.

What is the point of the service to which we are all called? Jesus himself is training us to be more like him, teaching us how to begin to live the life of heaven even here and now.

For the grace of God has appeared, saving all

and training us to reject godless ways and worldly desires

and to live temperately, justly, and devoutly in this age,

as we await the blessed hope,

the appearance of the glory of the great God

and of our savior Jesus Christ,

who gave himself for us to deliver us from all lawlessness

and to cleanse for himself a people as his own,

eager to do what is good.

Matt Maher - The Way You Love Me

WLP Choir - Make Us True Servants