After taking some time to sort out its proper pronunciation, Michael Renninger says, “Saint Paul’s letter to Philemon is the shortest book in the Bible. It has only 25 verses. In this short letter, Paul gently but powerfully informs Philemon that Philemon has a problem…and so do we. What’s the problem? It’s this: If we take Jesus seriously, we’ll see that Jesus is at work changing the world – and Jesus wants us to participate in changing the world. Doing that… is going to be very hard. Because changing the world begins with accepting the reality that, first and foremost, the Lord is going to change us, and change our assumptions, and change everything we thought we could take for granted in this world.” Father Michael Renninger is Pastor of St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Richmond, Virginia, and one of our most popular preachers. This week he asks the question, “What do you do when your slave becomes your brother in Christ?” Philemon had a problem, and so will we if we look at the world the way Jesus looks at it.
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