Postscript
Sermon
AS THE SHADOWS LENGTHEN
Sermons Preached On Special Occasions
From a post--retirement sermon on Christian Ethics:
There is no way back to where you started out from, so take each step along life's pathway thoughtfully and carefully. When you make a choice, always consider where the swift current of that choice may eventually sweep you. To make life's pilgrimage safer, take the Church and the Church's Lord very seriously lest you end up morally bankrupt and spiritually dead. Listen carefully to and evaluate the advice and counsel of parents, friends, and mentors lest you fall into self--destructive ways. Refuse to permit yourself to become a victim of life lest you sink deeper into that pit and then find it harder to climb back up to maturity by taking responsibility for your own life. Keep a good attitude toward others and toward life itself lest good people begin to shy away from you and you become isolated. When you suffer adverse circumstances, for you surely will, always take the high road out lest you end up where you do not want to go. These guidelines faithfully followed will not necessarily lead you to success, health, and constant happiness, but I can promise you this: you will be able to live with yourself; you will be able to look yourself in the mirror without shame; and you will live a significant life that counts.
A slightly revised older prayer of blessing for confirmands which can well serve as a daily prayer:
Dear Father in Heaven, for Jesus' sake, renew and increase in us the gift of the Holy Spirit, to our strengthening in faith, to our growth in grace, to our patience in suffering, and to the blessed hope of everlasting life. Amen.
There is no way back to where you started out from, so take each step along life's pathway thoughtfully and carefully. When you make a choice, always consider where the swift current of that choice may eventually sweep you. To make life's pilgrimage safer, take the Church and the Church's Lord very seriously lest you end up morally bankrupt and spiritually dead. Listen carefully to and evaluate the advice and counsel of parents, friends, and mentors lest you fall into self--destructive ways. Refuse to permit yourself to become a victim of life lest you sink deeper into that pit and then find it harder to climb back up to maturity by taking responsibility for your own life. Keep a good attitude toward others and toward life itself lest good people begin to shy away from you and you become isolated. When you suffer adverse circumstances, for you surely will, always take the high road out lest you end up where you do not want to go. These guidelines faithfully followed will not necessarily lead you to success, health, and constant happiness, but I can promise you this: you will be able to live with yourself; you will be able to look yourself in the mirror without shame; and you will live a significant life that counts.
A slightly revised older prayer of blessing for confirmands which can well serve as a daily prayer:
Dear Father in Heaven, for Jesus' sake, renew and increase in us the gift of the Holy Spirit, to our strengthening in faith, to our growth in grace, to our patience in suffering, and to the blessed hope of everlasting life. Amen.
