I’m running late this Sunday. We are on the first week of no daylight saving, and it always takes me a couple of weeks to adjust. However, part this is also because of what is going on… the introductory quote today comes from a comment box about how the current society is running as fast as possible to primitivism. It also reflects how I feel most Fridays, and why I don’t watch the news.

The sexualization of women has reached a new low-point”

Buckle up my friend, we’re not there yet. I’m a retired marriage and family counsellor and I thought that it was that choice of profession that had made my view of humanity rest at around zero. The News can have the same effect.

Well… yes. The amount of damage I see young men and women doing to themselves — encouraged by the current elites banning of shame as a form of hate speech and redefining traditional morality as oppression… is huge. But let us turn to the word.

1 Peter 4:7-11

7. The end of all things is near; therefore be serious and discipline yourselves for the sake of your prayers. 8. Above all, maintain constant love for one another, for love covers a multitude of sins. 9. Be hospitable to one another without complaining. 10. Like good stewards of the manifold grace of God, serve one another with whatever gift each of you has received. 11. Whoever speaks must do so as one speaking the very words of God; whoever serves must do so with the strength that God supplies, so that God may be glorified in all things through Jesus Christ. To him belong the glory and the power forever and ever. Amen.

John 21:1-19

1After these things Jesus showed himself again to the disciples by the Sea of Tiberias; and he showed himself in this way. 2Gathered there together were Simon Peter, Thomas called the Twin, Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two others of his disciples. 3Simon Peter said to them, “I am going fishing.” They said to him, “We will go with you.” They went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing.

4Just after daybreak, Jesus stood on the beach; but the disciples did not know that it was Jesus. 5Jesus said to them, “Children, you have no fish, have you?” They answered him, “No.” 6He said to them, “Cast the net to the right side of the boat, and you will find some.” So they cast it, and now they were not able to haul it in because there were so many fish. 7That disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, “It is the Lord!” When Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put on some clothes, for he was naked, and jumped into the sea. 8But the other disciples came in the boat, dragging the net full of fish, for they were not far from the land, only about a hundred yards off.

9When they had gone ashore, they saw a charcoal fire there, with fish on it, and bread. 10Jesus said to them, “Bring some of the fish that you have just caught.” 11So Simon Peter went aboard and hauled the net ashore, full of large fish, a hundred fifty-three of them; and though there were so many, the net was not torn. 12Jesus said to them, “Come and have breakfast.” Now none of the disciples dared to ask him, “Who are you?” because they knew it was the Lord. 13Jesus came and took the bread and gave it to them, and did the same with the fish. 14This was now the third time that Jesus appeared to the disciples after he was raised from the dead.

15When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my lambs.” 16A second time he said to him, “Simon son of John, do you love me?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Tend my sheep.” 17He said to him the third time, “Simon son of John, do you love me?” Peter felt hurt because he said to him the third time, “Do you love me?” And he said to him, “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my sheep. 18Very truly, I tell you, when you were younger, you used to fasten your own belt and to go wherever you wished. But when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will fasten a belt around you and take you where you do not wish to go.” 19(He said this to indicate the kind of death by which he would glorify God.) After this he said to him, “Follow me.”

I have the readings in reverse order if I was bothering with rhetoric. Peter is told to follow Jesus, and in his letter he expands what it means to follow him.

We are to love and serve each other. As Peter writes, love covers a multitude of sins, in part because in love we forgive each other, and in part because in loving each other we bear witness to the world that there is another way of living. A way that is desperately needed. Because the problems we are facing are simply huge.

And if we act differently, as we should, we will stand out. We will have opposition, we will attract opposition and persecution. As long as it is words, we will survive. And if it becomes more than words, we will survive while the nation, now deemed as evil, will fail.

But we have our duty. To love each other, to serve each other… and to shun the secular system, which encourages hatred and selfishness.