- - 【講話】アブラハムの物語(3)
- - 【説教】シラ書に学ぶ信仰と知恵
- - 【講話】教会の戦争協力への反省から
- - 【論文】『基督教週報』に見る紀元節大礼拝(1939年)
- - 【聖餐式の言葉から 5】
- - 【説教】御言葉を食べたエレミヤ
- - 風が吹いて【尹東柱の詩 5】
- - 【講話】アブラハムの物語(2)
- - 【説教】主よ、わたしを憐れんでください
- - 【第8回 日本聖公会 いのちをみつめる祈りの集い】「教会の戦争協力への反省から」
- - 【聖餐式の言葉から 4】
- - 【説教】祈っておられるうちに
- - 【説教】執り成してくださる方
- - 弟の印象画【尹東柱の詩 4】
- - 【説教】種を蒔くイエス
- - 【聖餐式の言葉から 3】
- - 【説教】キリストの中に入る洗礼
- - 【聖餐式の言葉から 2】
- - 【説教】一人の従順によって
- - 【説教】鷲の翼に乗せて
【Message】 Be imitators of God
Ephesians 5:1-2
August 8, 2021 Proper 14
International Congregation of St. Agnes Church
Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children, and live in love, as Christ loved us.
Thus says Paul in the Letter to the Ephesians (5:1-2). This is the last sentence of today’s second reading.
Be imitators of God, as beloved children.
As Paul says, we want to be imitators of God in thought, word, and deed. We want to live in love and peace.
In order to be so, and to do so, we must keep in mind the latter half of the sentence.
Be imitators of God, as beloved children.
We are beloved children of God. God loves us as his children. This is the foundation of our faith and life.
Through Jeremiah, the prophet, God says to us,
“I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore I have continued my faithfulness to you.” 31:3
Jesus loved his own. It’s written like this in the Gospel of John.
“Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.” 13:1
We are his own. Jesus loves us to the end.
We are beloved children of God, and beloved disciples of Jesus.
This is the foundation of our faith and life.
Now let us listen to the first half of the sentence.
Be imitators of God, as beloved children.
We want to be imitators of God. We want to live in love and peace, because our God is the God of love and peace.
Jesus said in Beatitudes,
“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.” Mt.5:9
In August we think about peace more than in other months.
We pray for all those who died in the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. We pray for children, women, and men whose lives are disfigured by war or terror.
As beloved children, let us be imitators of God.
As beloved children, let us be peacemakers.
Let us live in love and peace, because our God is the God of love and peace.