23104 Finding God in the mysteries of every day
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Matthew 28: 19 Go, therefore, and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to ]follow all that I commanded you; and behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
There has always been a kind of dichotomy within the ranks of Christians down through the centuries. In the fourth and early fifth century the dichotomy was brought to the fore in the life of Simon Stylites. He was enrapture with Jesus as his Savior and wanted to be as pure as he could possibly be and as devoted as life allowed. And there was the rub. Extreme fasting and prayer posture finally led him to the top of a 15 meter column in the midst of a ruin near modern day Taladah in Syria. He would eventually die atop his pillar, although he never really was able to escape the onlookers and gapers who came to see this curiosity in the desert. Such devotion? Did it ever bring anyone closer to Jesus?
John Wesley, the pioneer of the Holiness movement said famously,
“Do all the good you can,
By all the means you can,
In all the ways you can,
In all the places you can,
At all the times you can,
To all the people you can,
As long as ever you can.”
― John Wesley
The problem as I see it is that we have the largest part of the Church repeating the verse above, all the while living as Simon the ascetic. So many retirees and middle-aged folks live as hermits rarely engaging the world around them. I want to align myself with Jesus in all things. That is my prayer.
Larry M Lawrence- Mysteries 