The Reason for Our Hope

A Reflection on the Second Reading for May 17th, 2020:
Sixth Sunday of Easter

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1 Peter 3:15-18

Beloved: In your hearts sanctify Christ as Lord. Always be ready to make your defence to anyone who demands from you an accounting for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and reverence. Keep your conscience clear, so that, when you are maligned, those who abuse you for your good conduct in Christ may be put to shame. For it is better to suffer for doing good, if suffering should be God's will, than to suffer for doing evil. 

For Christ also suffered for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, in order to bring you to God. He was put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit.
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Pause. Pray.

And then read more...

Once I got lost in the word of.  I went to Kansas City to pray, well more so to explore how worship is prayer. Someone challenged me to spend six hours in the company of people actively worshipping God, but not to open my mouth. Just sit still and spend the time meditating on the first chapter of the Book of Revelation. Six whole hours. On one short chapter. I never made it past the third word of Rev1:1 ‘The revelation OF Jesus’ — all the ways of OF… the revelation that describes Jesus… the revelation that belongs to Jesus… the revelation that originates from Jesus… the revelation related to Jesus… the revelation of which Jesus is the source… the revelation that is a part of Jesus… the revelation of which Jesus Himself is the very substance. As one group of musicians replaced another, I fell apart before Him, lost in the many ways in which revelation and Jesus were connected by the small and seemingly simple word of.


Here, I am lost in the invitation — the invocation — to sanctify Christ.
 


Sanctify Christ?  Really?  


The Holy One,
The Anointed One. 
The Holy Spirit descended on Him, 
The cloud of the Presence covered Him,
10,000 angels were held at bay while He gave His life for us, 
The Glory of God raised Him.


What could I possibly ever do to sanctify Him beyond that? 
Crazy talk, Saint Peter! 


But Peter started with… ’In your hearts.’ 


Oh my Jesus!


It’s not enough for You that You were sanctified
by the Jordan River with John the Baptist, 
or on Mount Tabor with Peter and James and John, 
or on Golgotha with the two thieves, 
or in the Heavens with God the Father. 
You are holding out for more. 
You want to be sanctified in the banged up and dented place that is my heart. 


He wants to be sanctified in the banged up and dented place that is your heart. He wants to be sanctified in the banged up and dented place that is the heart of every person we meet. He wants us all, and He wants all of each of us. There is the reason for our hope. 


‘… in order to bring you to God.’


All He went through, so that we all could come home.


Let us pray: 

Oh my Jesus, help me to let You all the way in. Saturate my heart, soak it with Yourself. Sanctify Yourself in my core, it was made for You. Amen

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Noreen Smith

Photo by Rubén Bagüés on Unsplash

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