Our Lady of Fandom | Sunday Morning

[notlikejack]

A near constant in the past twenty years for Bobby was church on Sunday.  The past ten or so had made Sundays the busiest day of his week, and while he supposed he could have gone off-island to continue that trend, he felt called instead to the old stone church on the island.

It wasn't nearly appropriate to celebrate a Eucharist in a church he was

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Sermon

[notlikejack]

"And so Jesus tells us to be perfect," he said, working through a sermon that was barely half-finished. "It's an impossible idea. Even Jesus wasn't perfect. He lost his temper, snapped at the Pharisees, got frustrated with his own disciples. And if Jesus, the one we call Son of God can't be perfect, how can we be? Doesn't that just become another in a long list of requirements that we struggle to fill every day? One more brick in a load we can barely seem to carry? 'Be perfect just as your Heavenly Father is perfect.' Suddenly it's less a possibility and more just another way we fail every day.

But there is another way to think of it - the word translated here as “perfect” is teleios in the Greek. And teleios, in addition to perfect, also means whole, full, mature, dedicated, undivided, or even actualized. Teleios is what we are when we become the person God created us to be. And this word teleios is a variant of the word telos, which means end or goal. Our end or goal, is of course, the Kingdom of God, a Kingdom with different rules, different values, different qualities from the daily world most of us inhabit.

Maybe Jesus isn't telling us to be perfect - with all the instant burdens and failings that word implies - maybe, instead, he's telling us to live like it's true. Live like the world he envisioned in the Sermon on the Mount is true, live like the Kingdom of God is true. And then, just then, we can move a little closer to teleios."

Re: Sermon

[scruffnfeathers]

Castiel sat towards the back of the church, marveling at the novelty of viewing a service from this end.

Re: Sermon

[guardian_god]

As much as this was not the church Dimitri had attended during his time in Fandom, it was Sunday and that called for some quiet time of reflection.

Amazing how Fandom actually allowed him to sit in quiet for a few moments. It was a miracle.

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[guardianborn]

"You are so predictable," Rose murmured as she slid into the seat next to him. What? This was nearly a tradition.

Re: Sermon

[guardian_god]

"And you are a stalker," he answered quietly, lips tilted just enough that Rose would know he was teasing her but not that he was smirking outright in church.

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[guardianborn]

She looked down to hide her own smile. "I'm here for the good of my soul," she replied under her breath.

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[guardian_god]

Dimitri had to cover his mouth with his hand and fake a cough to cover that laugh. She always claimed she was there for the good of her soul, and he never could manage to believe her.

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[guardianborn]

"Shhh, Dimitri, we're in church," Rose murmured, her eyes still lowered.

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[guardian_god]

She was such a pain in the ass sometimes, and yet still his friend. "I am aware, Rose."

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[guardianborn]

He wouldn't know what to do without her as a friend. It was a mutual feeling. "Shouldn't talk through the service."

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[guardian_god]

"You're telling me that?" he murmured. It was good the priest didn't seem bothered by them.

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[guardianborn]

She widened her eyes innocently then stayed silent for a moment before leaning over close to him. "It's weird in English."

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[guardian_god]

"It's not Eastern Orthodox, either," Dimitri pointed out with a sigh.

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[guardianborn]

"Now who's sounding parochial?" Rose murmured jokingly.

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[guardian_god]

"I was merely pointing out another reason you might find it weird," he informed her.

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[guardianborn]

She shot him a glare. "Thanks, comrade."