In an effort to help you prepare for the May 1st, 2016, Sunday morning corporate worship gathering and to aid you in your own reflections on how the our relationship with Christ can make us more kind, compassionate and forgiving, I wanted to pose a few questions and provide a few resources to prayerfully consider over the coming days. Our sermon is entitled, “Imitate Christ”. The main Scripture for the day is Ephesians 4:32-5:2. The other passages are either referenced in the message or provide additional insight for reflection.
(Pick and choose from the many resources and options, which I have tried to make available for your devotional life.)
From the Scriptures
Read and prayerfully reflect upon some or all of these Scriptures. Ask God to shape your life and your church’s life to match the heart of God:
Read or listen to Ephesians 4:32-5:2, 1Peter 2:2-3, Luke 10:25-37.
(You can read or listen to all of these passages in a variety of translations at Bible.is.)
From the Creeds and Confessions
There are no creedal or confessional statements that I am aware of that directly call us to imitate Christ, aside from the Catechism of the Catholic Church. I have included that below for your reference
From line 520 we find these words: “In all of his life Jesus presents himself as our model. He is “the perfect man”, who invites us to become his disciples and follow him. In humbling himself, he has given us an example to imitate, through his prayer he draws us to pray, and by his poverty he calls us to accept freely the privation and persecutions that may come our way.”[1]
From the songs, hymns and spiritual songs of the Church
The Kind of Jesus: Lyrics & Video
For Thoughtful Reflection, Prayer, or further Study
Reflect on these words, “To follow and imitate Christ more nearly and to manifest more clearly his self- emptying is to be more deeply present to one’s contemporaries, in the heart of Christ. For those who are on this “narrower” path encourage their brethren by their example, and bear striking witness “that the world cannot be transfigured and offered to God without the spirit of the beatitudes.”[2]
The Sermon will be available online on May 1, 2016 at 12:30 pm.
Footnotes:
[1] http://www.vatican.va/archive/ccc_css/archive/catechism/p122a3p3.htm
[2] From the Catechism of the Catholic Church ,#932. This is the only catechism that mentions imitating Christ directly. http://www.vatican.va/archive/ccc_css/archive/catechism/p123a9p4.htm
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