Clothe yourself with Love Col. 3:14

Our OT lesson begins with a word from God by the prophet Malachi a contemporary of Nehemiah. The Temple was already rebuilt, but there was still idolatry and neglecting the Temple service. We would think that since they had already returned from exile and had suffered enough that they would shape up for now, but no. Malachi helped them discover where they went wrong and showed them that God’s true intention was to heal them and to tell them of his plan to send them the Messiah who would to take away their sins. His words were scary; they are a warning! He said: “The day is coming burning like an oven! The day that will burn all the arrogant and evildoers!” As good people of the book, Israelites understood that this wasn’t good at all. It was a warning from God against those who were sleepy, complacent, indifferent to God’s word. They were dishonoring God in those very things where they should honor him. Paul saw this danger in Thessalonians and warned those who were idle and careless....

Today we celebrate the Feast of All Saints! If there is one thing to recognize in the lives of the saints, it would be that they came to know their need for God. This is the very heart of the matter for Christians in every age – a recognition of our need for God. This is a world of confusions and anxieties; with so much fear about the future – we often wonder …where is it all going? We certainly have asked this question during the cold war era. Has it all changed now? No. We still wonder if we are closer to WW3. This is a world that has increasingly gone ungodly/unspiritual. A world that seeks no longer its solutions in God the creator. Yet here in the lives of the saints, we have sure signposts for the Church in the present and into the future of how they lived Christian lives in their world with so many tough challenges. They faced unimaginable executions like being put in a barrel full of hot burning oil. This torture is still existent today: In some places in Africa, on account of...