Rousing Her Radiance: Day 12

Author: Andrew Comiskey
October 22, 2023

Peace Like a River

‘The hope of Christianity, the prospect of faith is ultimately based quite simply on the fact that it tells the truth.’- Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI

My unrest over the synod invites prayer upon prayer, founded on trusting God, which ushers in peace. My control’s a killer. Entrusting control of the Bride to the Bridegroom sets me free.

Prayer exchanges anxiety for peace, one petition at a time, until our hearts rest in Him. Trustful surrender invites peace like a river.

We can trust Him because He is the Author of truth, and He’s made His Church ‘the pillar and foundation of that truth’ (1 Tim. 3:15). The Church has stewarded the beauty and richness of man for woman, woman for man from the beginning. Brilliant churchpersons have deepened and elevated the meaning of Scripture’s Imago Dei (Gen. 1: 26-27) for two millenniums. That can’t be toppled by a handful of ‘synodalists’ subordinating truth to paradigm shifts and shared opinions. Relatedly, unshakeable is the truth of Christ and Church to transform victims and perpetrators of the broken Imago Dei, be they exotic sins like same-sex and trans idolatry or good old traditional ones like sexual abuse, adultery, divorce, misogyny, and porn.

Truth rises from untruth. Jesus made His Church buoyant that way.

I entrust the Bridegroom with His Bride at this disturbing synodal juncture. He is faithful to the one He loves most. And He cannot lie against the truth He authored and will wholly realize in His people.

We pray. We can entrust every voice, every meeting, every day of this synod to Jesus. Anxiety is arid, deadening, and disconsolate. Submission to Sovereign Jesus, ever true, releases peace like a river. Its water rises as we fall on our knees, immersing us. May peace guard our hearts and guide us to pray more nearly according to His will.

‘Do not be anxious about anything but in everything by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. “Jesus, may this synod surprise us by the faithful arising and sending untruth to flight. Rouse those warriors who would rather be true than nice, more faithful to You than popular with the powerful.” And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus’ (Phil. 4:4-8).

‘Father, we thank You for Jesus who established the Church on a Rock against which hell will not prevail (Matt 16:18). We pray for every Christian leader to build on Her firm foundation of sexual clarity and integrity. Father, unmask the deceiver and divider of Christians and unite us in one Spirit. As weak members of Christ, we ask for truth to guide our pursuit of sexual wholeness, for grace to sustain it, and for spiritual power to transform us. May we reflect the chaste radiance of Jesus (2 Cor. 3:18) as we “shine like stars in the universe, holding out the word of life” (Phil. 2:15-16) to a lost and hurting world.’


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