DEACON TOM ANTHONY

Sunday, June 21, 2015





SUGGESTED READING: MARK 4: 35-41


As members of our Christian Community we must always remember to greet each other with love, admiration, and true friendship. We should never take our relationships for granted. Everyone is as important to the survival and continuation of our community and when one brother leaves, the whole body feels the loss. While here, all members should contribute their presence and make their presence known so as to experience fully Jesus Christ in their lives. At the same time, through individual members, others will be able to experience Christ. Faith can be a very personal thing but there is also a public aspect to it. All of us are constantly on display as we serve at witnesses to the Living Gospel and do Jesus’ work here on this earth.

All around us the world serves as evidence to God’s greatness. Being a part of His creation means that we are sharers in this. We too become great when we recognize and accept God into our lives. Being guided by His love will allow us to be transformed into a new creation where whatever we said and did previously is forgotten. It becomes more exhilarating when we understand that this is not a onetime event but something that occurs continuously when we actually listen to what God is telling us and allow him to show us the way. This can be difficult at first but becomes easier when we practice our faith and live it. This is what God wants for us. He wants us to live our lives with Him and for Him. How can we not do this when he is indeed our father and the one who loves us beyond any comprehension of love that we have ever had.

One of the things that constantly get in the way of our relationship with God is the way that we minimize Him. Almost everyone in the world will acknowledge that there is a God yet the majority of peoples still refuse to allow this testament to have the impact that it should have. If God is amongst us, should we not react to His presence? Should we not surrender to His will instead of struggling to dismiss Him? There is an irony here. Even the most devout Christian will ignore God and instead choose to exercise his or her own will above His. This is part of our fallen nature and something that must be overcome in order to deepen our understanding and love for Him. Then we can be truly free to experience our lives correctly.

The Gospel Reading today reflects just how foolish we can be. The disciples, who already had witnessed the many miracles and wonders with Jesus, were still lacking in their full understanding of who Jesus was and what he could do. In their humanness, they minimized him and their experiences with him. Being confronted with their impending doom, the disciples were overcome with great fear. They immediately lost all trust in Jesus and rebuked him. They brought him down to a most human level; judging him in their own terms for not sharing in their fears and accusing him of having no concern for their safety. Instead of turning to him, they turned away. Instead of running to him for safety they were baffled by his apparent indifference. Christ is not indifferent. Christ is always with us. When we recognize this, every obstacle and every fear can be dismissed as easily as when Christ calmed the sea. He is that great. It is up to us to recognize that greatness and love.

Deacon Tom

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