We "Everyone who acknowledges me before others, I will acknowledge before my heavenly Father. But whoever denies me before others, I will deny before my heavenly Father,” words at the close of today’s Holy Gospel from St. Matthew ch. 10-33.

Some of you have heard me tell this story that happened to me not too many months ago.

As a pastor and priest in this city for 37 years, I get invited to pray in a lot of public places.

Some months ago, in one of those places, a public meeting, I prepared and presented the kind of prayer one would expect to hear from a priest of Jesus Christ.

After the meeting, a guy comes up to me in a rather “cheeky” way, as the British would say, and he asked me if I would not use the name of Jesus in my prayer, as in “We ask this in the name of Jesus Christ, Our Lord, forever, and ever. Amen.”

I was stunned!

I immediately asked him who in the room was not Christian, for I thought I knew everyone there, and that each  was Christian.

He lied to me when he answered that he was not Christian because he later confessed that his wife was Jewish, and he was Christian, but she wasn’t even in the room.

So he goes on to reprimand me, reminding me that here in America we live in a pluralistic society where there is separation between Church and State and all religious must be respected equally.

Well, of course, I had plenty of come-backs that I wanted to respond with, but the older I get, the more I let discretion be the better part of valor.

And so I came home, and I thought about this challenge, I prayed about, I sought counsel and advice from a priest who works for the Federal Government as a chaplain and learned what the US Government policy is: that clergy have a 1st Amendment right to pray publicly in their own traditions in the name of free speech.

But through all this discernment, the closing of today’s Gospel from Matthew kept haunting me: “Whoever denies me before others, I will deny before my heavenly Father.”

Not only that, but I work for this person, called Christ Jesus; I’m His ordained employee.

So I realized that I just could not accede to this man’s challenge in the context in which it was made.

I mean: if I were giving a prayer in a very obviously public ecumenical setting where there were Jewish, Muslims, Christians, and whoever else, of course I would generalize it in such a way that it would be as inclusive as possible.

But this was different: giving in would have been pandering to a proponent of political correctness for it’s own sake and for the sake of his own political prowess and power over others in the group.

And I saw through that, and would not give in.

And when I explained that to my challenger, such a volley of viciousness erupted from him that I thought I was wrestling with one of those evil spirits Jesus talks about in the Scripture. How sad!

Please don’t misunderstand: I believe there’s a time and place for politically correct language, but it must be phrased charitably, and never at the expense of truth.

Here’s another example, and you’ve heard me refer to this before:

Reducing the Trinity from persons to functions,

From Father, Son and Holy Spirit,

To Creator, Savior and Sanctifier.

These are functions, not people, and it certainly is not true to the Bible’s revealing them as Father, Son and Holy Spirit.”

So yes, in today’s Gospel, Jesus is trying to motivate the apostles to go out and preach His message, the Good News of a better way to live,” and not to be afraid to do it.

That applies to all of us! Whether in word or in deed.

And at this point we remember and appreciate St. Francis of Assisi’s words that we preach more strongly by our actions than our words.

He said preach the Gospel always; use words only if you have to.

But above all do not be afraid to do it in the name of our Lord, Jesus Christ, for everyone who acknowledges me before others, I will acknowledge before my heavenly Father. And whoever denies me before others, I will deny before my heavenly Father.”

For the sake of your eternal salvation, don’t ever take that chance!

So, Thank you.