Sabbath thoughts
Two seemingly random thoughts that crossed my pastoral mind today:
1. Secularism “normalizes” death by mostly ignoring it or treating it as no big deal, and focusing almost exclusive on the present life. Religion normalizes death by embracing it as the longed-for escape from the present world. Christianity regards death as the great enemy to be vanquished by Jesus Christ, in order that we may once again live in the body the life for which we were created on the earth. (I’m following Schmemann pretty closely here.)
2. Many of us are quick to regard our anger toward other sinners as “righteous indignation.” It is worth pausing to consider whether our anger is righteous, or whether it is in fact sinful anger in a righteous cause. This is a significant difference.
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