Friday, July 20, 2007

Bishop Gene Robinson on "eternal life"

I was fortunate yesterday to catch this before it scrolled off the front page at An Inch at a Time. Bishop Gene Robinson preached at All Saints Episcopal Church in Pasadena this past Sunday. I thought the sermon was quite good, and transcribe most of it. Here's just a sample of what +Gene had to say, in his sermon centering around the parable of the Good Samaritan...

You know, more and more, I am convinced that the Christian life is not about life after death--it's about life before death. What God does for us after death, God will take care of. But what we do with life before death is up to you and me. That's the real reward of Christianity, isn't it? Not so much life after death, but life before death. It's not an accident that in our confession now, and in the absolution which follows, we don't say "and may God *bring* you to everlasting life", but keep you in everlasting life. It gets to start now...if we are awake. If we understand that in the doing of God's will, we already participate in everlasting life.

Much more, plus a link to the video of the sermon, here.

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