Wednesday, September 25, 2013

God's Will Or Ours Be Done?

". . . not my will, but thine, be done."  Luke 22:42

Well, the likeable little Pope Francis is at it again.  Other priests in the hierarchy are running around behind him cleaning up potential misunderstandings of what he says.  No wonder people might misinterpret.  For instance, what did he mean when he said -- badly paraphrased here -- that the church couldn't just speak out against contraception and abortion, but that it had to achieve a balance?  It could be interpreted as contraception and abortion are okay now, or it could mean they have to do something on the other side of the scale to balance the requirements of no contraception and no abortions.  The next day he clarified.  Every aborted baby has the face of Jesus.

When he first asked who was he to judge others for being gay, priests moved in quickly to make it clear that the church would accept such individuals in services.  They said it didn't mean it was okay.

But about women who feel called to the priesthood, there is still an emphatic no.  Women, he said, are more important to the church than Bishops . . ..  I won't quarrel with that.  Servants are more valuable to any establishment than the masters.  It is the servants who do most of the work.  They just aren't to get all uppity and start to assume control.

However, whose will are we to obey, mine or thine?  Jesus had the answer in Luke 22:42.

If God called women to the ministry, what right does man or woman have to deny God's will?  (None is the correct answer.)  Besides, I read somewhere recently that the Hebrew word we interpret as a man's name, Adam, is really translated as human being.  Want to think about that for awhile?

Not our will, but Thine, Father, hard as that is to say and mean.



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