Diocese of New Jersey | Bishop Councell

Alleluia. Christ is risen!

Seniors at the senior retreat in 2008 This weekend a small but faith-filled, Christ-focused and fun-loving group of young people of the Diocese of New Jersey, all in twelfth grade and about to graduate, are attending the annual retreat for seniors. This year the theme of this retreat is based upon a verse from Paul’s Second Letter to the Church in Corinth. In the contemporary translation known as The Message, it reads: “I just let Christ ”(12:10).

To encourage them, I wrote the following letter.

“I just let Christ take over! And the weaker I get, the stronger I become.” (II Corinthians 12: 10, in The Message)

“Letting Christ take over” sounds right and true (and it is), but it is not easy. This letting Christ take over is the work of a lifetime. It is the slow, steady change (conversion) that mostly happens – for most of us, most of the time — one day at a time. Of course, there are Christians who have dramatic, life-changing experiences that transform them and make them new. Such events can have such a powerful impact upon people that they will say that they’ve been born again.

A couple of centuries ago in this country, however, newly converted or renewed Christians did not say that they had been born again. Rather, they said that they had been “seized by the power of a great affection.” Most of us will be changed by being loved – being seized by the power of a great affection. God loves us just the way we are. But God loves us enough so as not to leave us just the way we are. God loves us and wants us so to love God, one another and ourselves that we are changed, letting Christ take over.

Again, for most people, we let Christ take over when we can’t control what is happening. We ask our Lord to take over the management of our lives only when our lives have become unmanageable. And when Christ does take over, one of the first things to change is our view of the weakness or handicap or mistake that brought us to our knees. Since that “handicap” (as Paul calls it in The Message) brought us closer to Christ, it becomes a gift. It’s the amazing grace of God that we need:

My grace is enough, it’s all you need. My strength comes into its own in your weakness. (II Corinthians 12:10, in The Message)

Christ takes our weakness and, through it, shows forth his strength. So, don’t hide your weaknesses! Christ is ready to accept them as part of you — a very special part of you — and an offering that can be used for his purpose. As you let Christ take over, let him have your weakness. Remember that his hours of weakness on the Cross were the hours of his glory and the instrument of the greatest change that has ever happened — the salvation of the world.

This verse reminds us that the Christian life is all about being loved deeply and powerfully, over our entire lifetime. As someone has written, at the heart of the Christian faith is not a law to be obeyed or a lesson to be learned, but a person to be loved and followed. His name is Jesus. Trust him. Let him handle your weakness. Trust him. Let his strength show through your weakness. Trust him. His grace is enough for you and me. Trust him. No matter what, he is our Lord, our Savior and our Friend. Trust him.

I ask for your prayers for these young people, for their parents and families, their friends and mentors and for those who will lead them through their weekend program. Pray that they will come to a new awareness of how deeply they are loved, cherished and adored by our Lord Jesus Christ. Confident that they are beloved, may they go right onward in the next chapter of their life and ministry, eager to love and serve the Lord.

+GEC

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