Ends, Means, Journey

Fellow Labourers-

What a week this has been. My first week without the designate. How was it? Very busy, because there are a number of things needing my immediate attention. How am I coping? Very well, because of my support at home, the support of our Bishop, the support of the staff at church, and the support of a number of saints and friends who called or e-mailed me.

Today's subject is very apt, because we have started a journey with means an ends. In everything that we do we are expecting a desirable outcome (end). The means we use may vary, and this is the crux of the matter. Does the means always justify the end? I find that if we do not consciously draw the line then we find ourselves behaving and thinking just like the unconverted. We have joined the mass market and the pleasure seeking crowd, so much so that we applaud our naked athletes. We sit and cheer half naked beauty queens who are lined up like animals at an auction. We see the end, and some of us accept the means. We are behaving just like the crowd that the apostle Paul wrote about when they gathered at the sports of the gladiators.

Take a good look at this paragraph from the article. "In this season of Lent a similar invitation looms large before any who seek. We are invited both to see anew our motivations and the reasons of our own hearts. We are invited to examine the call of Christ to follow him to the Cross, wherever it might lead. At the end of that road, however tumultuous the means, we shall perhaps find that it was always Christ who carried us. Even now, he is among us, one worthy of being our end. If the LORD is God, why would we not want to follow? "

G.K.Chesterton said in Orthodoxy "The mere pursuit of health always leads to something unhealthy. Physical nature must not be made the direct object of obedience; it must be enjoyed, not worshipped. Stars and mountains must not betaken seriously. If they are, we end where the pagan Nature-worship ended."Yes, this is about Ends, Means, and Journey.

Robert Stewart