It appears that the ESV Lectionary is down. I managed to find the RCL text on the PCUSA mission page, it is less user-friendly, but it will suffice. The text for today flows from last night’s post, and the best introduction to it came from that great Virginia gentleman and Papist, John C Wright, commenting on a scurrilous Lutheran blog called Vox Popoli.

“Only a matter of time before some catholic comes in here and pins the blame on Luther.”

I pin the main blame on Nicolaitans, myself. Darn those guys! They thought that the Church would be more popular and appealing to the surrounding pagans if we ate meats offered to idols and accepted the fertility rites of Aphrodite, Ashtarte, or Hermaphroditas lawful.

Since the time of the Apostles, there have been men willing to sell their birthright of the love of Christ for a mess of pottage of the love of the World.

Wright’s words rang with me. I think he had nailed the Nicolaitans. We are approved for hating them. We are approved for our endurance. But I have this problem, shared my many of the reformed presbyterains: I tend to live in my head and not love.

I find love problematic. I know how to do it: I love my fiance and my kids and my parents. But because love has been conflated with lust, and I don’t love the “adult shop” that is two doors down from the box any more than I love the fact that the stairs we take to get to the box often stink of urine.

Love has become a wedge issue to separate us from God. And this may have happened to Ephesus.

Revelation 2:1-7

¹“To the angel of the church in Ephesus write: These are the words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand, who walks among the seven golden lampstands:

²“I know your works, your toil and your patient endurance. I know that you cannot tolerate evildoers; you have tested those who claim to be apostles but are not, and have found them to be false. ³I also know that you are enduring patiently and bearing up for the sake of my name, and that you have not grown weary. ⁴But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first. ⁵Remember then from what you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent. ⁶Yet this is to your credit: you hate the works of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate. ⁷Let anyone who has an ear listen to what the Spirit is saying to the churches. To everyone who conquers, I will give permission to eat from the tree of life that is in the paradise of God.”

How do we discover this? There are two parts I can see. The first is that we need to worship. Worship is not all things: one has to have content with one’s worship (there are many churches who take great care with their choir and liturgy anno care for their sermons). Style matters less than the worship: I have seen both high church, the modern mega style band, and neo Celtic liturgies fall flat, for the spirit was not with them.

The Pro photographer loves this video, and it allows worship.

Tne second thing we have to do is love those around us. We cannot solve all the problems in the world or our neighbourhood. But we can help people. We can provide, we can build, we can counsel, we can pray. Here I’m quoting Sister Hearthie.

While we wear human flesh, while we live in a material world, while we suffer hunger and thirst … it is natural that we focus on physical things. It is even good, within bounds. The hungry should be fed, justice should be pursued, beauty should be created, houses need to be built and cleaned.. there are things to be done.

But we lose sight of the first thing when we lose sight of why we do these things. We do these things for other people. We build houses for the joy of building – but also so that the children can grow up in a house, because that gives them a better start in life. We cook meals to nourish bodies. We create civilizations because they’re the best places for humans to grow. We do these things because God tells us to do these things, but the things are not the end in themselves, it is service to God, service to others that is the driving force.

It is easy to drop into Martha Syndrome (it applies to both men and women) where you concentrate so much on the work to be done that you don’t stop to focus on the “why”. And “why” is *always* people. Souls will last to eternity, physical things, however worthy, will burn.

We show love not by pious feelings or virtue signalling or by slogans. All those things can be hacked: they will be hacked.

Do not let love be seen as a means to be tolerant. The teaching of the church has been that we live rightly. It has always been that we live rightly. For in the final day, all that will be standing is God and the chosen.

Be among them. For all may be received in hell, but hell is converged, without any truth, beauty, goodness and honour, and is boring.

*/