This past year I’ve had occasion to mention that there is a profound difference between a contract God and a covenant God. The contract God, which many were raised with, is the God who forgives us only after we repent and who loves us only after we’ve cleaned up our lives. This view keeps us focused on ourselves and how we’re doing in the religious project. Even when we’re doing poorly, which is most of the time, the ego is happy because we have made it the center of attention.

The covenant God, on the other hand, forgives us before we repent since Jesus’ death and resurrection were millennia before you or I ever sinned and this God loves us, even while we fail in the holiness project. This view of God disturbs the ego because it focuses our attention on Jesus Christ who is God with us in the flesh.

The Celebration of New Ministry on Tuesday night points people and rector to Jesus Christ, who calls us to live out our baptismal promises as the Body of Christ in this place and time. The first line of the Litany we will pray that night says: “O Christ the Rock, on which your people, as living stones joined together, grow into a spiritual house; Defend your Church we pray.”

With our bishop we will worship the covenant God who calls us to be the church, not for ourselves, but as a conduit of the love of Christ for the world that God creates, redeems, sanctifies, and fills.

See you Tuesday at 7 pm.

Peace in Christ,

Bill