Sunday, August 27, 2023

Twenty-First Sunday in Ordinary Time

The Revised Common Lectionary passages for the Lord’s Day are:
– First Reading: Exodus 1:8-2:10
– Psalm 124:1-8
– Second Reading: Romans 12:1-8
– Gospel Reading: Matthew 16:13-20

The liturgical color for the day is: Green

Good thinking produces good behavior. 

Paul’s view is we present ourselves as this living connection to God—living sacrifice—and in so doing we are transformed from the world through the renewing of our minds—through good thinking.  The result or product produced by good thinking is a discerning of what is the will of God.  “…so that you may discern what is the will of God – what is good and acceptable and perfect.”

It is in this good thinking that we are able to discern what God would have us do.  It is in this good thinking that we come to conclusions of what in our life is good and acceptable and perfect.  God places that in us as we put our thinking in that good place.

On the other side of that card is the reality that if things are a mess in our lives (oh, and right now there is plenty that is a mess) it is important to get our mind going in the right direction.  In so doing our actions work towards what is good and acceptable and perfect rather than away from it.  If our orientation is bad and negative the result is that our behavior will match.  If our orientation is good and God, the result is that our behavior will match.

We shift the balance in our own lives when we redirect our thinking.  That is the gift of Romans 12.  If our orientation is good and God, the result is that our behavior will match.

Mindset matters.  Focus matters.  Orientation matters.  If our mindset, our focus, and our orientation is towards God, then we grow out capacity for discerning “what is good and acceptable and perfect.”

—

Rev. Dr. Daris Bultena
General Presbyter and Stated Clerk