Brothers and Sisters,
The collect for this coming Sunday is one that always sticks in my memory:
O God, you declare your almighty power chiefly in showing mercy and pity: Grant us the fullness of your grace, that we, running to obtain your promises, may become partakers of your heavenly treasure; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.
Amen.
This collect sticks in my memory because of the way it begins. We address God the Father, noting his almighty power. He reigns over everything. He’s omnipotent. His might is incomparable. He is absolutely sovereign.
How does he demonstrate that power to us? He demonstrates that power most of all in his mercy. He calls us to come to him in faith. He forgives our sins for Christ’s sake. He adopts us into his family and invites us to call him Father. He gives us the hope and the promise of eternal life. He watches over us by his perfect providence.
The omnipotence and sovereignty of God is a great comfort to the Christian. He doesn’t declare his almighty power by being a terror to us. He doesn’t declare his almighty power by remaining at a distance from us. He doesn’t declare his almighty power in condemning us.
He declares his almighty power in his perfect and unending love for us.
Thanks be to God!
In Christ,
Fr. Caleb