Or do you not know that
wrong-doers cannot (without changing) inherit the Kingdom of God?

Do not be deceived.
Neither the people who are (sexually) immoral:

not idolaters nor adulterers
nor catamites nor sodomites

nor thieves –
nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor slanderers
nor swindlers
can inherit the Kingdom of God.

And this is what some of you used to be.
BUT you were washed clean.
BUT you were made holy.
BUT you were put right
in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ,
and by the Spirit of our God.

Be thou a bright flame before me,
Be thou a guiding star above me
Be thou a smooth path below me
Be thou a kindly shepherd behind me
Today – tonight -forever
Amen.

St Columba

To your shame,
I say this to you –
Is there not one among you who is wise,
who will be able to adjudicate
between one brother/sister and another?
Does one brother/sister ‘go to law’ against another,
and this before unbelievers?
Already in fact this a defeat for you all –
that you have law suits among yourselves!
Why not rather let yourselves be wronged?
Why not rather let yourselves be cheated?
But you do wrong
and cheat,
and this to brothers/sisters.

O Love, O God who created me, in your love recreate me.
O Love, who redeemed me,
fill up in me whatever part of your love
has fallen into neglect within me.
O Love, O God, who first loved me,
grant that with my whole heart,
and with my whole soul,
and with my whole strength,
I may love you.

Gertrude the Great

Does anyone of you dare
– having a case against another-
to go to law
before the unrighteous
rather than before the ‘saints’?
Do you not know
that the saints will judge the world?
And if the world is judged by you
are you incompetent to judge the least cases?
Do you not know that we will judge angels?
To say nothing of ordinary matters!

So indeed if you have an ordinary matter,
the least in the church-
sit these (as judges)!

Teach us, good Lord,
to serve thee as thou deservest;
to give and not to count the cost;
to fight and not to heed the wounds;
to toil and not to seek for rest;
to labour and not to ask for any reward,
save that of knowing that we do thy will,
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen

St Ignatius

I wrote to you (before)
in the letter,
not to be mixed up with immoral people,
– not altogether (meaning) the immoral people of this world,
or the greedy people and swindlers
or the idol worshippers.
since then you would need to leave the world!

But now I am writing to you
not to mixed up with anyone
called brother / sister
who is an immoral person
or a greedy person
or an idol worshipper
or a slanderer
or a drunkard
or a swindler.
Do not even eat with such a one.
For what (business) is it of mine to to judge outsiders?
Do you not judge insiders?
But God will judge outsiders.
Banish the immoral person from among you. ¹

1. Deuteronomy 17:7 ↩︎

Grant, Lord,
that we may hold to you without parting,
worship you without wearying,
serve you without failing;
faithfully seek you,
happily find you,
and forever possess you,
the only God,blessed now and for ever.
Amen

St Anselm

Not pleasant, your boasting
– do you not know that
a little leaven leavens the whole lump of dough.
Clean out the old leaven
so that you might be a new lump of dough,
as you are leavenless.
For Christ, our passover (lamb)
has been sacrificed.
So let us celebrate the festival
not with the old leaven
nor with the leaven of vice and evil
but with the unleavened (bread) of purity and truth.

Thank you, dear Jesus,
for all you have given me,
for all you have taken away from me,
for all you have left me.

Thomas More (c.1478-1535)

Most assuredly,
sexual immorality is reported (to be) among you,
and immorality of a such as a kind
which (is) not among the pagans,
in that someone has the wife of his father.

And are you ‘puffed up’
-should you rather not grieve?
And have you removed from your midst
the one who did this deed?

For I, for my part
(am) away in the body,
but
(present) in the Spirit,
already
have resolved (what should be done) –
as (if present)
to the one who perpetrated this in this way
in the name of (our) Lord Jesus –
my spirit and yours coming together –
with the power of our Lord Jesus,
to hand over this one to Satan
for destruction of the fleshly ,
so that (his?) spirit might be saved
on the day of the Lord.

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace:
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
Where there is injury, pardon;
Where there is discord, union;
Where there is doubt, faith;
Where there is despair, hope;
Where there is darkness, light;
Where there is sadness, joy,
For your mercy and for your truth’s sake. Amen

I am NOT writing these to you to shame you,
but I correct you as my beloved children.
For you might have a myriad of ‘people to correct you’ in Christ
but you do not have many fathers.
For
In Christ Jesus
through the gospel
I became (a Father) for you.
So I encourage you, then
to take me as your model.

For this reason,
I sent to you Timothy,
who is my beloved child
and faithful in the Lord
who will remind you of my ways in Christ,
just as I teach
everywhere,
in every church.

Then, as if I was not coming to you,
some have become puffed up.
But I will come to you soon,
if the Lord is willing,
and I will discover
not the talk of the arrogant ones,
but (even more) the power (if there is any).
For the Kingdom of God is
is not (just a matter of) word
but in power.
What do you want?-
Am I to come (to beat you) with a stick,
or in love with a spirit of gentleness?

O Lord Jesus Christ,
stay beside me to defend me,
within me to guide me,
before me to lead me,
and above me to bless me,
that with you and in you,
I may live, and move and have my being,
for ever and ever.
Amen.

(unknown)

Already you have been filled!
already you are beginning to be rich!
you begin to reign as kings without us!
and indeed I could wish you did reign as kings
so that we might reign with you too!

For, it seems to me,
God paraded us apostles last
as ones doomed to die
because we have become a spectacle to the world:
both to angels
and to people.
We are foolish because of Christ,
yet you are wise in Christ
we are are weak
yet you are strong,
you are honoured
yet we are despised.

Until this present hour
we are hungry and thirsty
we are naked and beaten
and are homeless and
we toil, by working with our hands.
Although insulted, we speak kindly
although persecuted, we endure
although slandered, we are positive
We have become the world’s scum
everyone’s scrapings- until now.

Eternal God and Fatther,
you create us by your power,
and redeem us by your love,
guide and strengthen us by your Spirit,
that we may give ourselves in love and service
to one another and to you;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen

Now,
these things
brothers/sisters
I have applied them to myself, and Apollos (as examples)
for your sake,
so that you may learn
through us
‘Not beyond what is written,’
so that you may not be puffed up
one on behalf of one (of us), against another.
For who distinguishes (between) you? ,
What do you have that you did not receive?
For if you received,
why boast,
-as if you did not receive?

O Lord Jesus Christ,
stay beside me to defend me,
within me to guide me,
before me to lead me,
and above me to bless me,
that with you and in you,
I may live, and move and have my being,
for ever and ever.
Amen.

(unknown)

In this way
let a person think about us
as servants of Christ
and managers of the mysteries of God.
Here, for the rest, it is ‘required’ amongst managers
that one might be found faithful /trustworthy.

Then as for me,
it is a small matter to me
that I am examined by you
or by a human court (day).
But I do I not even examine myself.
For I am conscious that I am nothing,
but not in this am I pronounced in the right
The one who examines is the Lord.

So do not judge anything before the time
– until the Lord comes,
who will also bring to light the hidden things of darkness
and reveal the purposes of the heart.
and at that time
the recognition – due to each- will come
from God.

Keep us, O Lord, while we tarry on this earth,
in a serious seeking after thee,
and in an affectionate walking with thee,
every day of our lives;
that when thou comest,
we may be found not hiding our talent,
nor yet asleep with our lamp unfurnished,
but waiting and longing for our Lord,
our glorious King, for ever and ever.

Richard Baxter (1615-1691)