"We Have Been Called Out Of Darkness" (Messages From The Pulpit)

     As a person who identifies with the teachings of the Christian church I've come to believe that we must eventually make a decision to acknowledge that we are imperfect creatures. That we all fall into sin. That we all fall short of The Glory of God.
     When this happens we are come boldly before God and confess our sins. Some confess in the privacy of our homes and as with Catholics whom confess in our hearts as well as go to confession in which a penitent person offers themselves to a priest who listens to the confession and offers a penance (such as reflecting upon the sin and envisioning Jesus coming to us and accepting our heartfelt apology) and finally assuring the penitent solace and assurance of forgiveness.
     What ever the case may be God throws our wrongs into the sea of forgetfulness.
     Everyone who does so has come to a point in their lives that they realize that they are heeding the call into the perfect light of God.
      This is one way of God's correction. When one of us sees the light we become a light to those around us who are still in darkness.
     You see God has made the best of the fall of mankind. Our freedom becomes a ripple effect. Christ didn't come to condemn the world he came that through him we may be set free.
     We can identify with others whom have shared similar worlds of darkness, sin, and corruption. And it's with such common bonds that we can relate with others and offer ourselves as an example of how God has pulled us out of quicksand that threatens to swallow us whole.
      The church chose to celebrate the birth of our Savior on December 25th. You see December 25th is when the days grow brighter.
      We are confirmed in Christ in the sacrament of baptism as we symbolically die to our sins, our old lives are buried and are raised from death and into eternal life.
      Our conversion doesn't end when we make our vows before God at the time of our baptism. With our sins ever before us we must daily take up our cross and walk toward the light of the risen Christ.
     When we see fellow Christians falling under the cloak of darkness we should lend a helping hand.
     No longer the blind leading the blind. We are the forgiven leading the forgiven.