OPEN AND ACCEPTING

OPEN AND ACCEPTING As CHRISTIANS-we are called upon To be OPEN & ACCEPTING to Our friends=NOT judgmental If your family and friends Want to a choose a DIFFERENT WAY In life- That is UP to them If their way PROVES to be In error-OUR HEART and our arms NEED to remain open and accepting To them and for them “I am sending him-that is- MY OWN HEART-back to you” Philemon 12 OPEN and ACCEPTING is a beautiful image Of what it means For us to be a friend To another (if not a parent-for that matter) MY parents taught me love-and- WERE open and accepting towards me- And threw in A TOUCH of discipline- When needed BUT mostly they taught me love- TRUSTED me to know right and wrong And rarely-if ever-judged me They not only were my parents But they were my BEST FRIENDS They were OPEN & ACCEPTING Of me As we should be to our Family and friends “........and the Lord ACCEPTED Job's prayer” Job 42:9 “The Lord Has heard my CRY For MERCY The Lord ACCEPTS my prayer” Psalm 6:9 “Very truly I tell you Whoever accepts anyone I send ACCEPTS ME And whoever accepts me Accepts the ONE who sent me” John 13:20 YES-thanking God and Jesus For being open and accepting of me And BEING OPEN and HONEST and loving Towards my own family and friends WHEREVER their life takes them As Christians=we are CALLED To be open-honest-and ACCEPTING This year IS the year of MERCY As called on by the POPE And being open and accepting Towards others IS the HEART OF MERCY “REMEMBER Lord- Your great mercy and love For they are from of old” Psalm 25:6 “He has shown you-O mortal- What is good And what does the Lord REQUIRE of you? To act justly And to LOVE MERCY And to walk humbly With your God” Micah 6:8 In today's reading Paul writes Philemon On behalf of Onesimus He urges him to ACCEPT His former slave as a friend “MORE than a slave- A brother........ As a man and in the Lord” Philemon 16 Dear GRACIOUS God-gracious Lord WE thank you for being OPEN & ACCEPTING toward us And calling us “FRIEND” HELP US to extend These same MERCIES toward others In God and Jesus' name Robert P. Wallman 11-10-16 Ps INSPIRED by an article in LIVING FAITH MAGAZINE by Judy Schueneman