The Wright Words

Dear Friends in Christ,

A skeptic promised British preacher Alexander Maclaren (1826-1910) that he would attend his church for four Sundays on which Maclaren would be presenting the main tenets of Christianity. The skeptic listened intently to Maclaren's sermons. After the fourth message he presented himself for church membership, saying he had received Christ as his Savior. Maclaren was delighted and could not resist the impulse to ask which of the four sermons brought him to this decision. The man replied, "Your sermons, sir, were helpful, but they were not what finally persuaded me." He said that after church one Sunday as he was helping an elderly lady on a slippery walk, she looked up into his face and said, "I wonder if you know my Savior, Jesus Christ. He is everything in the world to me. I would like you to know Him too." The man said, "That remark sent me home, where on my knees I found Christ for myself." . 

The great fifty days of the Easter season underscore the experience of knowing the risen Christ in real life. The New Testament writers go to great lengths to describe the presence of Jesus in many situations like going fishing, having breakfast, or even in prison. The notion that God can be known walking by your side at Safeway is an incredible thought even today when you think about it. Yet even more astounding is that Jesus wants to include us in His salvation plans for the entire world person touching person. An elderly lady's heartfelt sincere belief in the reality of a living Jesus caught the attention of a skeptic's searching heart.

This is practicing the presence of God. Fr. John Powell has a sign in his room that he sees every morning when he wakes up.: WHAT HAVE YOU GOT GOING TODAY, GOD? I'D LIKE TO BE A PART OF IT. THANKS FOR LOVING ME. Wouldn't be something to get in on what the Savior is doing in the world today? Go right ahead, his bright twinkling eyes are looking in your direction.  

Yours in the risen Christ, 

Fr. Scot