It was the most popular sermon series in my forty-two years of preaching. Likely, it’s because people identified with the “Life is Messy” theme. Family relationships are messy. Work dynamics are messy. Friendships can be messy also.
Life was messy for a bishop named Anatolius (?-458). He spent his entire ministry combating heresies in the church. We’re not talking about minor theological disputes, but nothing less than the person and work of Jesus. While Anatolius embraced Jesus’ full divinity and humanity, as expressed in the Nicene Creed, there were outspoken detractors. First, there was Nestorius, who denied Jesus could be divine and human in the same person. Next, there was a monk named Eutychus who carried Nestorius’ teaching forward. Finally, there was the bishop Dioscorus, who called a rogue church council to reinstate Eutychus and brutally depose a rival bishop who ascribed to the Nicene Creed.
Anatolius presided over the church council in 451AD to mediate the mess. This Council of Chalcedon affirmed Jesus as “perfect in divinity and humanity, true God and true man.” They denounced Nestorius and Eutychus for denying Jesus’ two natures in one person and deposed Dioscorus for his unlawful actions. Like I said, life was messy for brother Anatolius. With so much turmoil, how could he sleep at night? His evening prayer provides a clue. He asked God for protection from his foes and petitioned God twice in short order for rest from the perils of the day. At the close of every stanza, he prayed, “O Jesus, keep us in Thy sight and guard us through the coming night.” The words were later set to music in the hymn “The Day is Past and Over.” What a great way to close out the day: