Enough Already

"There's not enough repentance going on here."
"There's not enough catechesis going on here."

That'll fix things. Not.

Repentance and catechesis - while they may rightly be spoken of - left to themselves become cold, abstract truths if merely pointed out as a means to an end. Pointing out the obvious does not a remedy make, although I suppose it could serve as a way of agitating souls.

Where Christ is, however, is everything that matters, even the forgiveness of sins and everlasting life. He does not, and cannot, lead into immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these. He does, however, lead to love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.

The latter are not practices any person is able to turn on and off like a faucet. Rather they spring from Christ as He is preached and administered bodily in every corner of the world, even as God has sent preachers into all the world.

It is the part of faith, when faced with a world run amok both inside and out, to receive the Word of the Lord which says, "Be still, and know that I am God." It is not the part of faith to cobble up demands of faithfulness no man can fill of his own accord.

It is the part of love, when faced with people who sin and err, first to upbraid and admonish them in private, and even this is done with a full view toward one's own sin and weakness. It is not the part of love to refrain from such counsel out of a fear of rejection, and so it is, once again, Christ Himself Who must be at work for anyone ever to will and to do what is good and right.

We live by the Spirit. We walk by the Spirit. We have no room to become boastful, challenging one another, or envying one another. So we depend from one moment to the next on the same Lord who has taught us to pray: "Let Your Name be kept holy among us, and lead us in Your paths."

This happens most concretely in Baptism, Preaching, Holy Communion, and any other occasion where the pure Word of God is, by His grace and favor, brought to bear on poor sinners.

There really is no other way for a Christian to live than by a faith that apprehends the living Christ,and such faith cannot be found apart from His Word.

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