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.