Sermon for Quinquagesima Sunday
All Saints’ – Thomasville
February 22, 2009
One of the rhythms of the Christian life is the marking of time. The monastics and early Christians lived a very simple and yet structured life using set cycles of prayer mapping out the hours of the day and months of the year in a quite orderly fashion. Many communities strictly adhered to the seven liturgies of the Divine Office each and every day. Our service of Morning Prayer stems from the ancient service of Matins and Evening Prayer is an adaptation of the service of Vespers.
We have now arrived at one of those junction points in our Church Kalendar as we move from Epiphany into the season of Lent. As Fr. Buechner explained two weeks ago, we’ve made the soft transition from Epiphany to the “gesima” Sundays known as Pre-Lent in preparation of the forty intentional days of Lenten Season. This is the time when we are especially called upon to take time to inventory our Spiritual health and seek God’s wisdom to open our eyes to those places where we need to make a change or strive to amend our lives.
The two stories from this morning’s Gospel speak to that very issue of blindness. The first is in a figurative sense and the other in a quite literal. It seems most fitting that we would hear these two stories from Luke together with the passage on love from I Cor. 13 as we begin the Lenten Season.
One of the things that I find most comforting when I read a passage like this one is that I am allowed to see the disciples as they truly were – confused, blinded by their own belief regarding who the Messiah was supposed to be, and generally speaking – clueless. The reason I say that is because the words of Scripture do not paint them as supermen, and yet, they were the ones who “have turned the world upside down” (Acts 17:6). This was the third time that Jesus explained to his disciples that he was heading toward Jerusalem in order to face death at the hands of the Gentiles where he will be mocked, scourged, treated spitefully, eventually crucified. This was the third time that they really had no idea what he was talking about. If you remember, it was after the first Passion prediction that Jesus had to rebuke Peter and cry out for Satan to get behind him. I should say that the disciples were blind yet again.
However, this was not at all the type of Messiah they were expecting. They knew the Psalms, and they knew the Prophets. The Messiah was supposed to set captives free. This meant kicking the Romans out of Jerusalem and living in the Promised Land not as slaves, but as a free Hebrew nation. Isaiah proclaimed that the Promised One was going to sit on David’s throne and there would be peace which had no end, and he would rule with justice and righteousness. Of course they lived a few centuries before Handel, but basically, they had the lyrics of Messiah in their heads, and what Jesus was saying did not square with what they were thinking. They had their idea of how things should play out, and unfortunately, it did not exactly square with God’s.
I’ve heard it said before that if you ever want to give God a chuckle, just tell him the plans that you have set for your life. C. S. Lewis once said that there are two types of people in the world, those who say to God, Thy will be done, and another group that God will say to them, thy will be done, and if Hell has a theme song that will be played over the loudspeaker it will be “I did it my way!”
The disciples have heard the same story now three times over and they still do not understand. The eyes of their heart were blind to the revelation of Jesus and the road He had to travel. The only way that the crown of glory could be won was through the cross. Every day of Jesus’ ministry took him one step closer to Golgotha, and Lent is a time to bring that point into focus, and meditate more deeply upon the Cross of Christ.
The story of the disciple’s blindness is now set in contrast with a blind beggar near Jericho. Jesus is making his final trip toward Jerusalem and his route took him through this city. As was the custom of those who suffered from diseases or other afflictions, they would sit along the main road into town and beg for alms from those who passed by. Most likely, the man we encounter in this morning’s story would have been one of the many people whose entire livelihood depended upon the charity of others. As we hear from our lesson, the traffic along the road where he sat had increased greatly, and the man enquires of someone as to what the commotion is all about. The person replies that Jesus of Nazareth is passing by.
I mentioned earlier that the disciples had it in their minds that the Messiah was going to sit on David’s throne and one day rule as King. If you look again at the text from this morning’s lesson from Luke, notice the title the blind man uses to refer to Jesus. He does not call him Jesus of Nazareth, or use a formal title such as Lord or Teacher or Rabbi, but rather, he calls him Son of David. By using this title, the blind man truly sees Jesus for who he is, and the disciples are blind to this fact.
There is no way to know how the blind man knew who Jesus was, but we simply know that he cried out to the Messiah for mercy, and that is exactly what he received. Twice the man calls out to Jesus not for alms, but for the Lord’s mercy. He cries out the first time to try and get Jesus’ attention, but the second cry is quite distinct and significantly more emphatic. The words used are different and the second cry for mercy as William Barclay states, is one of “ungovernable emotion, a scream, an almost animal cry. The word well shows the utter desperation of the man.”
This man wasn’t crying out just because of his physical blindness, he recognized his total blindness. He recognized that his physical condition was truly the epitome of the human condition. We are in need of mercy, and Jesus is the one and only source of that mercy. When Jesus stops and asks the man what he would have him do for him, the blind man asks to receive his sight. With only a few words spoken, the man received his sight and Jesus tells him that his faith saved him.
His faith saved him. Why that phrase? I believe that Jesus is intentionally giving the double meaning of the word which means save. Certainly in this context of physical blindness, the man is saved from a life of darkness in which he had lived prior to Jesus’ arrival. More than that his soul is saved from eternal darkness, and it is the man’s faith in believing that Jesus truly was the only source of mercy and healing that made the difference. The blind man made the leap that the disciples were unable to make until Easter and ultimately Pentecost.
Jesus knew where the road he was on ultimately led – the cross, and all of the darkness that it entailed. However, the only way in which we might live as a redeemed people, ones who could again live in harmony with God, is if Jesus paid the atoning sacrifice for our sins once and for all. The only way that we could strive to be holy as Christ is holy is for this to happen. Anglican preacher and theologian John Stott speaks of about this quite clearly in his Message on Romans:
“Crucifixion and holiness. There are, in fact, two quite distinct ways in which the New Testament speaks of crucifixion in relation to holiness. The first is our death to sin through identification with Christ; the second is our death to self through imitation of Christ. On the one hand, we have been crucified with Christ. But on the other we have crucified (decisively repudiated) our sinful nature with all its desires, so that every day we renew this attitude by taking up our cross and following Christ to crucifixion (Lk. 9:23). The first is a legal death, a death to the penalty of sin; the second is a moral death, a death to the power of sin. The first belongs to the past, and is unique and unrepeatable; the second belongs to the present, and is repeatable, even continuous. I died to sin (in Christ) once; I die to self (like Christ) daily.”
It is this second aspect of crucifixion and holiness that is ours to focus on this Lent. Let not our blindness hinder our ability to see that this is the road that leads to holiness and ultimately leads to life. Let our cry to Jesus be one in which we say with every fiber of our being and in a spirit of true humility, son of David, have mercy on me. Let his reply echo the words spoken to the blind man outside of Jericho, Receive thy sight: thy faith hath saved thee.
Saturday, February 21, 2009
Saturday, February 14, 2009
Sermon Preached for Epiphany VI
St. Andrew's - Douglas, GA
February 15, 2009
John, you aren’t going to believe what I just heard. There is a rumor going all around Galilee that this miraculous healer is traveling about, and he might just be coming to town. I’m not really sure what to think about this man because the rumors are flying. Supposedly he cast a demon out of this one fellow, and before he did, the demon called him the Holy One of God. Very strange to say the least.
I also heard that he went to the house of a couple of his followers, and one of the fellow’s mother-in-law was in bed with a terrible fever. He simply lifted her up by the hand and the fever left her and she began to go about doing her normal chores as if nothing was wrong. After that, everyone in town who had a disease, and those who suffered from demons came to him and they were all healed. Do you think that he might help you?
I could only imagine what was going through John’s mind upon hearing this news. For as long as he could remember, he had lived as an outcast. He was forced to wear torn clothing, had to shave his hair, live alone outside the camp, and constantly walked around shouting the same words over and over and over, “Unclean, Unclean.” I can’t comprehend the mental trauma associated with having to call out to each and every person you come in contact with to stay away from me lest you come too close. It wasn’t just a skin disease because you completely embodied the disease. Not only was the skin unclean, I’m sure that psychologically John felt that every fiber of his being was unclean. In a literal sense, John was a dead man walking. The most dreaded of these diseases caused the body to decay and die while the person was still living – if you consider that person’s existence living. Yet, John’s friend has just given him the first glimmer of hope he has ever experienced in his life.
Could things be about to change? Is it possible that this faith healer, this miracle worker might actually come close enough to my town to where I might actually get a chance to see him? But how is that going to be possible – I can’t get too close because he’s clean, and I’m not. Are there going to be crowds following him? I can’t worry about those things, all I can do is believe that this is my chance – this is only way that I might be rid of this dreadful disease.
And so, just as he heard, John sees a crowd coming into town. Tons of people he’d never seen in his life, and this one unassuming figure in the middle. It had to be him. This has to be the man that I heard was coming to town.
Should I run up to him? I certainly don’t want to accidentally defile someone as I try to get his attention. What should I do? What is he going to say? Can I really do this?
I have no idea if any or all of these thoughts ran through the mind of John. No, we don’t actually know the leper’s name, nor are we privy to any of the thoughts running through his mind as he prepared to meet up with this person he had heard about, and saw coming toward him. All we know are the brief words that are before us this morning. This story appears in almost the exact same form in both Matthew’s and Luke’s Gospels, and in all three instances, this miracle occurs at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry.
There are two points that I want to leave you with this morning concerning the Gospel, and its implications for us in our lives as Christians.
First, it might seem odd for me to say that we are just like the leper. How so? It’s not like anyone here is forced to shave their heads, walk around with torn clothing, having to shout “unclean, unclean” wherever we go. How can we be just like the leper? Because at a much deeper level we share his same condition. His disease affected every part of his body. He was literally dying from the inside out. Because of the disease of sin, we too are dying from the inside out except ours isn’t a skin disease, it’s a soul disease. It permeates every fiber of our being and we are in no way capable of ridding ourselves of it. We are powerless in and of ourselves to help change our condition. In the old Prayer Books in both the services of Morning and Evening Prayer, the General Confession states that “there is no health in us.” It is most unfortunate that that line was dropped from the ’79 Book because it clearly and honestly summarizes the human condition. What we inherited from Adam is something we will take to the grave. On this side of life we will constantly be waging war against the forces of the world, the flesh, and the devil.
We must emulate and follow the leper’s wise example. We must acknowledge that we are sick, diseased persons in the greatest need of a physician. We must confess that there truly is no health in us, and that sin robs us of life the way it was intended to be lived. When Adam and Eve sinned they were no longer able to live in union and harmony with God because they were now unclean, and forced to live as an outsider. They were forced to live beyond the walls of Eden, forced to wear clothes for the first time, and not literally, but figuratively forced to cry out “unclean, unclean” because their cleanliness was removed from them forever.
This brings me to my second and final point about this lesson. What Jesus did was so remarkable – not because of the healing (which was quite remarkable), but rather his gesture and words to the leper. First, when the leper assumed a posture of humility and knelt down and asked to be healed, Jesus did the unthinkable – he reached out his hand and touched him. There’s no way to know from the story how long the man had leprosy, but we can probably infer that it had been a very long time since he had been touched by ANYONE! He had lived in isolation ever since he was declared to be unclean, and was a prisoner of his own body. With one move, Jesus changed all of that. He reached out and touched him.
What this ultimately means for him, and for us as well, is that Jesus was willing to trade his cleanness for this man’s uncleanness. He was willing to trade places with this man so that he might go free. Jesus at the outset of his ministry is embodying the full substitutionary atonement – that he would give up his life so that we might ultimately live. He made it possible for us to return to the community and experience life lived to its fullest. He made it possible for the man to experience worship again. He made it possible for the man to know what it was like to be touched by another human being again. Jesus did it for this leper and he does it for us as well.
St. Athanasius in his treatise On The Incarnation makes a most profound statement that at first glance almost sounds heretical until you contemplate what he’s getting at, and what he’s ultimately saying. Regarding Jesus and his life Athanasius said that “God became Man so that man might become God.” St. Irenaeus said in his writings Against Heresies makes a similar point when he writes, “the Word of God, our Lord Jesus Christ, who did, through his transcendent love, became what we are, that He might bring us to be even what He is Himself.” Neither of these Church Fathers claims that we are assuming divine essence, but rather, through the work of Jesus Christ on the cross we begin truly to live out what it means to be “created in the image and likeness of God.”
Jesus was bearing everything that haunted this leper onto himself in order that he might live the rest of his life free from this dreadful disease. Jesus has born everything onto himself on the hard wood of the cross in order that we might live our lives free curse of the law, and might begin to live our lives as the created beings he intended from the very beginning.
As we draw close to Lent, may we contemplate the story of this leper, who drew near with faith, and asked the Great Physician to heal and cleanse him of his dreadful disease. May we also draw near to the Great Physician and ask him to heal and cleanse us from the dreadful diseases which haunt and curse us as well. For if we cry out to Him with a humble voice, and a contrite heart, we will hear him say to us in reply, “I am willing; be clean!”
St. Andrew's - Douglas, GA
February 15, 2009
John, you aren’t going to believe what I just heard. There is a rumor going all around Galilee that this miraculous healer is traveling about, and he might just be coming to town. I’m not really sure what to think about this man because the rumors are flying. Supposedly he cast a demon out of this one fellow, and before he did, the demon called him the Holy One of God. Very strange to say the least.
I also heard that he went to the house of a couple of his followers, and one of the fellow’s mother-in-law was in bed with a terrible fever. He simply lifted her up by the hand and the fever left her and she began to go about doing her normal chores as if nothing was wrong. After that, everyone in town who had a disease, and those who suffered from demons came to him and they were all healed. Do you think that he might help you?
I could only imagine what was going through John’s mind upon hearing this news. For as long as he could remember, he had lived as an outcast. He was forced to wear torn clothing, had to shave his hair, live alone outside the camp, and constantly walked around shouting the same words over and over and over, “Unclean, Unclean.” I can’t comprehend the mental trauma associated with having to call out to each and every person you come in contact with to stay away from me lest you come too close. It wasn’t just a skin disease because you completely embodied the disease. Not only was the skin unclean, I’m sure that psychologically John felt that every fiber of his being was unclean. In a literal sense, John was a dead man walking. The most dreaded of these diseases caused the body to decay and die while the person was still living – if you consider that person’s existence living. Yet, John’s friend has just given him the first glimmer of hope he has ever experienced in his life.
Could things be about to change? Is it possible that this faith healer, this miracle worker might actually come close enough to my town to where I might actually get a chance to see him? But how is that going to be possible – I can’t get too close because he’s clean, and I’m not. Are there going to be crowds following him? I can’t worry about those things, all I can do is believe that this is my chance – this is only way that I might be rid of this dreadful disease.
And so, just as he heard, John sees a crowd coming into town. Tons of people he’d never seen in his life, and this one unassuming figure in the middle. It had to be him. This has to be the man that I heard was coming to town.
Should I run up to him? I certainly don’t want to accidentally defile someone as I try to get his attention. What should I do? What is he going to say? Can I really do this?
I have no idea if any or all of these thoughts ran through the mind of John. No, we don’t actually know the leper’s name, nor are we privy to any of the thoughts running through his mind as he prepared to meet up with this person he had heard about, and saw coming toward him. All we know are the brief words that are before us this morning. This story appears in almost the exact same form in both Matthew’s and Luke’s Gospels, and in all three instances, this miracle occurs at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry.
There are two points that I want to leave you with this morning concerning the Gospel, and its implications for us in our lives as Christians.
First, it might seem odd for me to say that we are just like the leper. How so? It’s not like anyone here is forced to shave their heads, walk around with torn clothing, having to shout “unclean, unclean” wherever we go. How can we be just like the leper? Because at a much deeper level we share his same condition. His disease affected every part of his body. He was literally dying from the inside out. Because of the disease of sin, we too are dying from the inside out except ours isn’t a skin disease, it’s a soul disease. It permeates every fiber of our being and we are in no way capable of ridding ourselves of it. We are powerless in and of ourselves to help change our condition. In the old Prayer Books in both the services of Morning and Evening Prayer, the General Confession states that “there is no health in us.” It is most unfortunate that that line was dropped from the ’79 Book because it clearly and honestly summarizes the human condition. What we inherited from Adam is something we will take to the grave. On this side of life we will constantly be waging war against the forces of the world, the flesh, and the devil.
We must emulate and follow the leper’s wise example. We must acknowledge that we are sick, diseased persons in the greatest need of a physician. We must confess that there truly is no health in us, and that sin robs us of life the way it was intended to be lived. When Adam and Eve sinned they were no longer able to live in union and harmony with God because they were now unclean, and forced to live as an outsider. They were forced to live beyond the walls of Eden, forced to wear clothes for the first time, and not literally, but figuratively forced to cry out “unclean, unclean” because their cleanliness was removed from them forever.
This brings me to my second and final point about this lesson. What Jesus did was so remarkable – not because of the healing (which was quite remarkable), but rather his gesture and words to the leper. First, when the leper assumed a posture of humility and knelt down and asked to be healed, Jesus did the unthinkable – he reached out his hand and touched him. There’s no way to know from the story how long the man had leprosy, but we can probably infer that it had been a very long time since he had been touched by ANYONE! He had lived in isolation ever since he was declared to be unclean, and was a prisoner of his own body. With one move, Jesus changed all of that. He reached out and touched him.
What this ultimately means for him, and for us as well, is that Jesus was willing to trade his cleanness for this man’s uncleanness. He was willing to trade places with this man so that he might go free. Jesus at the outset of his ministry is embodying the full substitutionary atonement – that he would give up his life so that we might ultimately live. He made it possible for us to return to the community and experience life lived to its fullest. He made it possible for the man to experience worship again. He made it possible for the man to know what it was like to be touched by another human being again. Jesus did it for this leper and he does it for us as well.
St. Athanasius in his treatise On The Incarnation makes a most profound statement that at first glance almost sounds heretical until you contemplate what he’s getting at, and what he’s ultimately saying. Regarding Jesus and his life Athanasius said that “God became Man so that man might become God.” St. Irenaeus said in his writings Against Heresies makes a similar point when he writes, “the Word of God, our Lord Jesus Christ, who did, through his transcendent love, became what we are, that He might bring us to be even what He is Himself.” Neither of these Church Fathers claims that we are assuming divine essence, but rather, through the work of Jesus Christ on the cross we begin truly to live out what it means to be “created in the image and likeness of God.”
Jesus was bearing everything that haunted this leper onto himself in order that he might live the rest of his life free from this dreadful disease. Jesus has born everything onto himself on the hard wood of the cross in order that we might live our lives free curse of the law, and might begin to live our lives as the created beings he intended from the very beginning.
As we draw close to Lent, may we contemplate the story of this leper, who drew near with faith, and asked the Great Physician to heal and cleanse him of his dreadful disease. May we also draw near to the Great Physician and ask him to heal and cleanse us from the dreadful diseases which haunt and curse us as well. For if we cry out to Him with a humble voice, and a contrite heart, we will hear him say to us in reply, “I am willing; be clean!”
Saturday, February 07, 2009
Sermon for Epiphany IV - February 1, 2009
All Saints’ Church
Most of the curious attributes of Mark’s Gospel come through loud and clear in this morning’s passage. For those who have studied Mark’s Gospel in any detail will remember that his particular account of Jesus’ life is one marked by rapid movement, with scenes shifting at lightning fast speed, all the while keeping close tabs on what many commentators like to refer to Mark’s particular use of a Messianic Secret. In just over half of a chapter, Mark has already relayed the account of Jesus’ baptism by John, mentioned that Jesus was tempted in the wilderness by Satan for forty days, started his own ministry, called his first disciples, and we come now to his first miracle, the casting out of an unclean spirit in the synagogue.
Even though we only have eight verses to examine, those eight verses are incredibly rich and convey some remarkable details about Jesus’ ministry.
The scene of this miracle sets the stage for the entire story. Jesus and his first followers begin in the most natural and appropriate location – in the synagogue. Jesus’ life and ministry was centered first and foremost on his vocation as a teacher. Even though he will end up expelled out of most of the synagogues he enters throughout his life, it is most appropriate that our first exposure to Jesus through Mark’s eyes has Jesus teaching in a synagogue.
The first attribute of Jesus’ teaching ministry is that it appears to be drastically different from what they had heard from the scribes. Apparently, this is such an overwhelming revelation that Mark brackets this short passage by mentioning at the beginning and the end of this pericope that the crowds are “astonished at his teaching” and are “amazed [at this] new teaching with authority.” I believe that Mark is actually using a literary device known as a chiasma to lead us directly to the central theme of this passage – that Jesus of Nazareth is the Holy One of God.
Mark does not tell us what is so different about Jesus’ message and teaching. In fact, we really don’t have any idea how long into Jesus’ ministry this particular event takes place, other than he and Luke place it very early in their two Gospels. The only thing we know for certain is that whatever Jesus said, it made a dramatic impact on the hearers because they clearly state that the doctrine that Jesus is putting forth is not the same as what they had heard in the past from the religious authority in their synagogues.
As Mark does over forty times, he uses some form of the Greek word eu]qu>j which is normally translated immediately, forthwith, straightway, and does so three times in these eight verses. The passage says that, “and there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit; and he cried out, Saying, ‘Let us alone; what have we to do with thee, thou Jesus of Nazareth? Art thou come to destroy us? I know thee who thou art, the Holy One of God.’”
I hope you caught the pronoun use in the dialogue between the unclean spirits and Jesus because this is not a mistranslation. The pronouns used are in fact plural, and even though it says that the man in question had an unclean spirit singular, but when they speak, they refer to themselves in the plural. What are we to make of this?
The entire message of the Incarnation is that the Word became flesh and dwelt among us so that He might defeat the powers of darkness once and for all. The unclean spirits knew this fact quite well, and trembled. As James declares in his Epistle, “You believe that God is one; you do well, even the demons believe – and shudder” (James 2:19). The demons which held this man in chains knew what Jesus’ arrival meant for them and their reign over the darkness of this world, and this is why they asked with a unified voice if Jesus had come to destroy them now.
One of the recurring themes in Mark’s Gospel is that Jesus on many occasions exhorts someone to keep quiet as to his identity, and thus, leads to the notion of Mark’s Messianic Secret. Unlike John where Jesus’ identity and mission are clear from the outset, Mark wants his audience to get to the end of the story where he will confirm all of the allusions to Jesus as Messiah that were there all along. In the miracle from this morning’s Gospel, we hear those same words again, “Hold thy peace, come out of him.” The demons have given everyone a full revelation who is standing before them, and yet, Jesus bids them to keep quiet, and simply leave this poor man alone. The time has not yet been fulfilled for Jesus to reveal himself fully.
For me, I believe the most intriguing piece of this passage comes during the discussion of the crowds after the exorcism has taken place. Mark comments on the mental state of the people when he says that they were amazed, and then comes the question that is particularly puzzling when they ask one another, “What thing is this?” The reason I find this to be so intriguing is the use of the word ‘what.’ It would seem more natural for them to have asked, “Who is this?” rather than “What is this?” A ‘who’ and not a ‘what’ just cast a demon out of a man, and yet, they ask one another, “What is this? A new teaching and doctrine?” The crowds also seem to link the teaching and doctrine together as critical components for someone to be able to command the unclean spirits. However, after a closer look, their question wasn’t as off base as it might appear from a first glance. Even though most probably did not realize what they were doing, they actually illuminated a critical piece of Jesus’ life and ministry.
The link between the teaching and doctrine is fundamental in recognizing Jesus’ control over the powers of darkness. After all, as John clearly declares in his prologue, that the Word was with God from the very beginning and everything that was made was made through him. This means that those angels which fell, those unclean spirits which tormented the man in today’s Gospel, were in fact creatures originally made by God through the very same Word who does have the authority to command them.
At the end of Jesus’ life and ministry, we come to another question that sounds allot like the one we heard this morning. Pilate concludes one of his interrogation sessions with Jesus, and he asks him perhaps the shortest but most remarkable of all questions, “what is truth?” The unfortunate problem with that discourse remains the fact that Pilate didn’t hang around to hear a response. He had no idea that the Truth with a capital T was standing right in front of his eyes. He had no idea that if he had changed pronouns and asked “Who is truth?” he would have actually received the same answer.
The crowds saw a miracle performed in their midst, they were astonished and amazed, and they asked the following questions, “What is this? A new teaching with authority. He commands even the unclean spirits and they obey him.”
Perhaps they could have asked it another way, “Who is this? A new teacher who with authority commands the unclean spirits to obey him.”
In either case, both questions lead to the same source – they lead to the Truth. As the demons declared and so should we, the one working this miracle is in fact Jesus of Nazareth, the Holy One of God. The demons acknowledged Jesus as the Holy One of God. Unfortunately, throughout his ministry, many of the people who followed Jesus saw him as merely a miracle worker, spiritual healer, or something else and never recognized him for who he truly was – The Son of God.
Jesus asked his disciples one day, who do men say that I am? After a variety of answers, he asks the disciples directly, who do you say that I am? It appears that the question here at the beginning of Mark’s Gospel has come full circle. Peter of course answers and declares the Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God. The question that Jesus posed to his disciples confronts each of us as well – What thing is this? Who is this? Who do you say that I am?
The Scottish preacher James Stewart said of Jesus these words:
“In Jesus we see that He was the meekest and lowliest of the sons of men, yet He spoke of coming on the clouds of heaven with the glory of God. He was so austere that they said the demons cried out in terror at His coming, yet He was so genial, winsome, and approachable that the children loved to play with Him and the little ones nestled in His arms. His presence at the innocent gaiety of a village wedding was like the presence of sunshine. No one was half so kind toward sinners, yet no one ever spoke so red hot scorching words about sin. A bruise reed He would not break. His whole life was love. Yet He demanded of the Pharisees how they would expect to escape the damnation of hell. He was a dreamer of dreams and a seer of visions, yet for stark realism He has all of us stark realists soundly beaten. He was the servant of all, washing the disciples feet, yet masterfully He strode into the Temple and the hucksters and money changers fell over one another in their mad rush to get away from the fire they saw blazing in His eyes. He saved others, but at the last, Himself, He did not save. There is nothing in history like the union of contrasts that confronts us in the Gospels. The mystery of Jesus, is the mystery of Divine personality.”
For us the questions remain: What thing is this? Who is this? Who do you say that I am? How we answer that question makes all the difference.
All Saints’ Church
Most of the curious attributes of Mark’s Gospel come through loud and clear in this morning’s passage. For those who have studied Mark’s Gospel in any detail will remember that his particular account of Jesus’ life is one marked by rapid movement, with scenes shifting at lightning fast speed, all the while keeping close tabs on what many commentators like to refer to Mark’s particular use of a Messianic Secret. In just over half of a chapter, Mark has already relayed the account of Jesus’ baptism by John, mentioned that Jesus was tempted in the wilderness by Satan for forty days, started his own ministry, called his first disciples, and we come now to his first miracle, the casting out of an unclean spirit in the synagogue.
Even though we only have eight verses to examine, those eight verses are incredibly rich and convey some remarkable details about Jesus’ ministry.
The scene of this miracle sets the stage for the entire story. Jesus and his first followers begin in the most natural and appropriate location – in the synagogue. Jesus’ life and ministry was centered first and foremost on his vocation as a teacher. Even though he will end up expelled out of most of the synagogues he enters throughout his life, it is most appropriate that our first exposure to Jesus through Mark’s eyes has Jesus teaching in a synagogue.
The first attribute of Jesus’ teaching ministry is that it appears to be drastically different from what they had heard from the scribes. Apparently, this is such an overwhelming revelation that Mark brackets this short passage by mentioning at the beginning and the end of this pericope that the crowds are “astonished at his teaching” and are “amazed [at this] new teaching with authority.” I believe that Mark is actually using a literary device known as a chiasma to lead us directly to the central theme of this passage – that Jesus of Nazareth is the Holy One of God.
Mark does not tell us what is so different about Jesus’ message and teaching. In fact, we really don’t have any idea how long into Jesus’ ministry this particular event takes place, other than he and Luke place it very early in their two Gospels. The only thing we know for certain is that whatever Jesus said, it made a dramatic impact on the hearers because they clearly state that the doctrine that Jesus is putting forth is not the same as what they had heard in the past from the religious authority in their synagogues.
As Mark does over forty times, he uses some form of the Greek word eu]qu>j which is normally translated immediately, forthwith, straightway, and does so three times in these eight verses. The passage says that, “and there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit; and he cried out, Saying, ‘Let us alone; what have we to do with thee, thou Jesus of Nazareth? Art thou come to destroy us? I know thee who thou art, the Holy One of God.’”
I hope you caught the pronoun use in the dialogue between the unclean spirits and Jesus because this is not a mistranslation. The pronouns used are in fact plural, and even though it says that the man in question had an unclean spirit singular, but when they speak, they refer to themselves in the plural. What are we to make of this?
The entire message of the Incarnation is that the Word became flesh and dwelt among us so that He might defeat the powers of darkness once and for all. The unclean spirits knew this fact quite well, and trembled. As James declares in his Epistle, “You believe that God is one; you do well, even the demons believe – and shudder” (James 2:19). The demons which held this man in chains knew what Jesus’ arrival meant for them and their reign over the darkness of this world, and this is why they asked with a unified voice if Jesus had come to destroy them now.
One of the recurring themes in Mark’s Gospel is that Jesus on many occasions exhorts someone to keep quiet as to his identity, and thus, leads to the notion of Mark’s Messianic Secret. Unlike John where Jesus’ identity and mission are clear from the outset, Mark wants his audience to get to the end of the story where he will confirm all of the allusions to Jesus as Messiah that were there all along. In the miracle from this morning’s Gospel, we hear those same words again, “Hold thy peace, come out of him.” The demons have given everyone a full revelation who is standing before them, and yet, Jesus bids them to keep quiet, and simply leave this poor man alone. The time has not yet been fulfilled for Jesus to reveal himself fully.
For me, I believe the most intriguing piece of this passage comes during the discussion of the crowds after the exorcism has taken place. Mark comments on the mental state of the people when he says that they were amazed, and then comes the question that is particularly puzzling when they ask one another, “What thing is this?” The reason I find this to be so intriguing is the use of the word ‘what.’ It would seem more natural for them to have asked, “Who is this?” rather than “What is this?” A ‘who’ and not a ‘what’ just cast a demon out of a man, and yet, they ask one another, “What is this? A new teaching and doctrine?” The crowds also seem to link the teaching and doctrine together as critical components for someone to be able to command the unclean spirits. However, after a closer look, their question wasn’t as off base as it might appear from a first glance. Even though most probably did not realize what they were doing, they actually illuminated a critical piece of Jesus’ life and ministry.
The link between the teaching and doctrine is fundamental in recognizing Jesus’ control over the powers of darkness. After all, as John clearly declares in his prologue, that the Word was with God from the very beginning and everything that was made was made through him. This means that those angels which fell, those unclean spirits which tormented the man in today’s Gospel, were in fact creatures originally made by God through the very same Word who does have the authority to command them.
At the end of Jesus’ life and ministry, we come to another question that sounds allot like the one we heard this morning. Pilate concludes one of his interrogation sessions with Jesus, and he asks him perhaps the shortest but most remarkable of all questions, “what is truth?” The unfortunate problem with that discourse remains the fact that Pilate didn’t hang around to hear a response. He had no idea that the Truth with a capital T was standing right in front of his eyes. He had no idea that if he had changed pronouns and asked “Who is truth?” he would have actually received the same answer.
The crowds saw a miracle performed in their midst, they were astonished and amazed, and they asked the following questions, “What is this? A new teaching with authority. He commands even the unclean spirits and they obey him.”
Perhaps they could have asked it another way, “Who is this? A new teacher who with authority commands the unclean spirits to obey him.”
In either case, both questions lead to the same source – they lead to the Truth. As the demons declared and so should we, the one working this miracle is in fact Jesus of Nazareth, the Holy One of God. The demons acknowledged Jesus as the Holy One of God. Unfortunately, throughout his ministry, many of the people who followed Jesus saw him as merely a miracle worker, spiritual healer, or something else and never recognized him for who he truly was – The Son of God.
Jesus asked his disciples one day, who do men say that I am? After a variety of answers, he asks the disciples directly, who do you say that I am? It appears that the question here at the beginning of Mark’s Gospel has come full circle. Peter of course answers and declares the Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God. The question that Jesus posed to his disciples confronts each of us as well – What thing is this? Who is this? Who do you say that I am?
The Scottish preacher James Stewart said of Jesus these words:
“In Jesus we see that He was the meekest and lowliest of the sons of men, yet He spoke of coming on the clouds of heaven with the glory of God. He was so austere that they said the demons cried out in terror at His coming, yet He was so genial, winsome, and approachable that the children loved to play with Him and the little ones nestled in His arms. His presence at the innocent gaiety of a village wedding was like the presence of sunshine. No one was half so kind toward sinners, yet no one ever spoke so red hot scorching words about sin. A bruise reed He would not break. His whole life was love. Yet He demanded of the Pharisees how they would expect to escape the damnation of hell. He was a dreamer of dreams and a seer of visions, yet for stark realism He has all of us stark realists soundly beaten. He was the servant of all, washing the disciples feet, yet masterfully He strode into the Temple and the hucksters and money changers fell over one another in their mad rush to get away from the fire they saw blazing in His eyes. He saved others, but at the last, Himself, He did not save. There is nothing in history like the union of contrasts that confronts us in the Gospels. The mystery of Jesus, is the mystery of Divine personality.”
For us the questions remain: What thing is this? Who is this? Who do you say that I am? How we answer that question makes all the difference.
Sunday, January 25, 2009
Sermon for the Feast of the Conversion of St. Paul
Preached at St. James – Quitman January 25, 2009
This morning is not simply the Third Sunday following the Epiphany, but it is also the date in which the church commemorates the Conversion of St. Paul. It is quite appropriate that the church would have a date on its calendar to celebrate this event since Paul is the author of the majority of the books in the New Testament canon. The church has used his words to develop many its doctrinal statements about the Trinity, the Dual Natures of Christ, as well as, areas of theology that deal with pneumatology, which is the study of things pertaining to the Holy Spirit, ascetical theology, which is the realm of how we live out the Christian life, and many others. Without the Pauline group of writings, Christianity would certainly be drastically different from how we know it, experience it, and live it today.
Most of us know the story of Paul’s conversion on the road to Damascus, but I think it is always appropriate to hear the story again within the context of our worship so that we might meditate on those words again, and do so within this Epiphanytide in which the revelation of God was manifest to us as part of the plan of salvation from the very beginning.
Hear again the words from the Acts of the Apostles:
But Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest and asked him for letters to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any belonging to the Way, men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem. Now as he went on his way, he approached Damascus, and suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. And falling to the ground he heard a voice saying to him, "Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?" And he said, "Who are you, Lord?" And he said, "I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. But rise and enter the city, and you will be told what you are to do." The men who were traveling with him stood speechless, hearing the voice but seeing no one. Saul rose from the ground, and although his eyes were opened, he saw nothing. So they led him by the hand and brought him into Damascus. And for three days he was without sight, and neither ate nor drank.
Now there was a disciple at Damascus named Ananias. The Lord said to him in a vision, "Ananias." And he said, "Here I am, Lord." And the Lord said to him, "Rise and go to the street called Straight, and at the house of Judas look for a man of Tarsus named Saul, for behold, he is praying, and he has seen in a vision a man named Ananias come in and lay his hands on him so that he might regain his sight." But Ananias answered, "Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much evil he has done to your saints at Jerusalem. And here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who call on your name." But the Lord said to him, "Go, for he is a chosen instrument of mine to carry my name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel. For I will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name." So Ananias departed and entered the house. And laying his hands on him he said, "Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus who appeared to you on the road by which you came has sent me so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit." And immediately something like scales fell from his eyes, and he regained his sight. Then he rose and was baptized; and taking food, he was strengthened.
For some days he was with the disciples at Damascus. And immediately he proclaimed Jesus in the synagogues, saying, "He is the Son of God." And all who heard him were amazed and said, "Is not this the man who made havoc in Jerusalem of those who called upon this name? And has he not come here for this purpose, to bring them bound before the chief priests?" But Saul increased all the more in strength, and confounded the Jews who lived in Damascus by proving that Jesus was the Christ. (Acts 9:1-22)
There are so many different areas I could delve into with this passage, but I believe the role of Ananias in the story is so incredible, and so challenging to wrestle with. It says in the passage that Ananias received a vision, a dream, a message from God that he was to seek out this man, Saul. This is one of those places in Scripture where I wish we had more than just the written text. I wish we could hear the tone in which Ananias answered God. I wish we could have had his body language. I also wish we had those thoughts that were running through his head that were obviously never recorded.
If you want a modern image of this, imagine receiving a revelation from God tonight that said that you needed to go to a particular home across town and Osama bin Laden would be waiting for you to give him instructions on increasing the spread of Christianity back in Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan. If anyone had a right to have a Jonah moment and see how far in the other direction I could go, hoping and praying the God wouldn’t find me that would be the one. And yet, Ananias fulfills the title that is attributed to him – disciple. He is willing to follow the directions of the Lord, his Master, even if it required him to do one of the most unthinkable tasks. He is prepared to meet the man who he knows has already had Christians imprisoned and executed, and is armed with paperwork to haul more off to jail as he speaks.
Ananias is an example of what true discipleship truly looks like. He is the embodiment of someone who doesn’t count the personal cost of what it means to follow Jesus, and simply submits fully to His will. There are other times in Scripture where others answer in a similar fashion when God calls. The call of Isaiah should immediately come to mind when the Lord asks “Whom shall I send? Who will go from us?” and the prophet proclaims, “Here am I, Send me.” When the Lord called out to Samuel three times and he went running into Eli’s room, finally, he receives instructions to answer quite humbly and simply, “Speak for your servant is listening.” In those two instances, God is calling out to those He has chosen to be his instrument for the in-breaking of His Kingdom. I hope you caught the intentional use of the word instrument there because that is the same word used to describe Saul to Ananias. God says that Saul is to be an elected or chosen instrument.
One of the most remarkable things about the Christian faith is that God chooses us – fallen, sinful creatures to be his tools in spreading His message. In the medical industry, doctors and nurses refer to the tools of their trade as instruments, say in an operating room. I’ve never been in an OR before, but the visual images I have of the implements for a surgical procedure laid out neatly for the work they are about to do quite amazing. The attention to detail, the precision and care with which they are handled. They look nothing like the tools in my toolbox at home. Rather, the surgeon would be at an absolute loss in the practice of medicine without his instruments. I don’t want to push this analogy too far of course, because God would not be at a loss without us, His instruments, for God is perfect in His own right as a Trinity in Unity. However, he does intend for us to be readily available when called upon for service or work. He intends for us to be clean and sanitized, free from the infection of sin and stain so that we might not pass on those germs to others. He intends for us to perform as we were intended. We are made in His image, we have His spirit and breath within us. Therefore, when God uses us for His work, those who see us, should immediately see him.
We come this morning to receive the life-giving Body and Blood of Christ so that we might be His living instruments in this world. When we make our Confession of Sin, and receive Christ’s absolution, we are being cleaned and sterilized from the sin that attacks us on every front, every day of our lives. When we participate in the liturgy we are performing the fundamental nature of our existence – we were created to worship God. The only way that we can perform as God’s instruments as intended is to adopt the call to, “Worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness.” Finally, we must be ever attentive to God’s call in order that we might be ready when we are pressed into service.
Ananias was just this type of person. He answered when God called to him. He did as the Lord commanded, laid hands on Saul, and baptized him. He ultimately faded into the background so that God might be seen, heard, obeyed, and followed. We really know nothing else about this vessel Ananias. He did one thing, and one thing only, he showed Saul, Jesus. If our tombstone had one sentence on it that read, “He showed others Jesus,” then the sentence that would resound in our ears at the Resurrection would be, “Well done, thou good and faithful servant, enter into your reward.” Amen.
Preached at St. James – Quitman January 25, 2009
This morning is not simply the Third Sunday following the Epiphany, but it is also the date in which the church commemorates the Conversion of St. Paul. It is quite appropriate that the church would have a date on its calendar to celebrate this event since Paul is the author of the majority of the books in the New Testament canon. The church has used his words to develop many its doctrinal statements about the Trinity, the Dual Natures of Christ, as well as, areas of theology that deal with pneumatology, which is the study of things pertaining to the Holy Spirit, ascetical theology, which is the realm of how we live out the Christian life, and many others. Without the Pauline group of writings, Christianity would certainly be drastically different from how we know it, experience it, and live it today.
Most of us know the story of Paul’s conversion on the road to Damascus, but I think it is always appropriate to hear the story again within the context of our worship so that we might meditate on those words again, and do so within this Epiphanytide in which the revelation of God was manifest to us as part of the plan of salvation from the very beginning.
Hear again the words from the Acts of the Apostles:
But Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest and asked him for letters to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any belonging to the Way, men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem. Now as he went on his way, he approached Damascus, and suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. And falling to the ground he heard a voice saying to him, "Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?" And he said, "Who are you, Lord?" And he said, "I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. But rise and enter the city, and you will be told what you are to do." The men who were traveling with him stood speechless, hearing the voice but seeing no one. Saul rose from the ground, and although his eyes were opened, he saw nothing. So they led him by the hand and brought him into Damascus. And for three days he was without sight, and neither ate nor drank.
Now there was a disciple at Damascus named Ananias. The Lord said to him in a vision, "Ananias." And he said, "Here I am, Lord." And the Lord said to him, "Rise and go to the street called Straight, and at the house of Judas look for a man of Tarsus named Saul, for behold, he is praying, and he has seen in a vision a man named Ananias come in and lay his hands on him so that he might regain his sight." But Ananias answered, "Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much evil he has done to your saints at Jerusalem. And here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who call on your name." But the Lord said to him, "Go, for he is a chosen instrument of mine to carry my name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel. For I will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name." So Ananias departed and entered the house. And laying his hands on him he said, "Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus who appeared to you on the road by which you came has sent me so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit." And immediately something like scales fell from his eyes, and he regained his sight. Then he rose and was baptized; and taking food, he was strengthened.
For some days he was with the disciples at Damascus. And immediately he proclaimed Jesus in the synagogues, saying, "He is the Son of God." And all who heard him were amazed and said, "Is not this the man who made havoc in Jerusalem of those who called upon this name? And has he not come here for this purpose, to bring them bound before the chief priests?" But Saul increased all the more in strength, and confounded the Jews who lived in Damascus by proving that Jesus was the Christ. (Acts 9:1-22)
There are so many different areas I could delve into with this passage, but I believe the role of Ananias in the story is so incredible, and so challenging to wrestle with. It says in the passage that Ananias received a vision, a dream, a message from God that he was to seek out this man, Saul. This is one of those places in Scripture where I wish we had more than just the written text. I wish we could hear the tone in which Ananias answered God. I wish we could have had his body language. I also wish we had those thoughts that were running through his head that were obviously never recorded.
If you want a modern image of this, imagine receiving a revelation from God tonight that said that you needed to go to a particular home across town and Osama bin Laden would be waiting for you to give him instructions on increasing the spread of Christianity back in Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan. If anyone had a right to have a Jonah moment and see how far in the other direction I could go, hoping and praying the God wouldn’t find me that would be the one. And yet, Ananias fulfills the title that is attributed to him – disciple. He is willing to follow the directions of the Lord, his Master, even if it required him to do one of the most unthinkable tasks. He is prepared to meet the man who he knows has already had Christians imprisoned and executed, and is armed with paperwork to haul more off to jail as he speaks.
Ananias is an example of what true discipleship truly looks like. He is the embodiment of someone who doesn’t count the personal cost of what it means to follow Jesus, and simply submits fully to His will. There are other times in Scripture where others answer in a similar fashion when God calls. The call of Isaiah should immediately come to mind when the Lord asks “Whom shall I send? Who will go from us?” and the prophet proclaims, “Here am I, Send me.” When the Lord called out to Samuel three times and he went running into Eli’s room, finally, he receives instructions to answer quite humbly and simply, “Speak for your servant is listening.” In those two instances, God is calling out to those He has chosen to be his instrument for the in-breaking of His Kingdom. I hope you caught the intentional use of the word instrument there because that is the same word used to describe Saul to Ananias. God says that Saul is to be an elected or chosen instrument.
One of the most remarkable things about the Christian faith is that God chooses us – fallen, sinful creatures to be his tools in spreading His message. In the medical industry, doctors and nurses refer to the tools of their trade as instruments, say in an operating room. I’ve never been in an OR before, but the visual images I have of the implements for a surgical procedure laid out neatly for the work they are about to do quite amazing. The attention to detail, the precision and care with which they are handled. They look nothing like the tools in my toolbox at home. Rather, the surgeon would be at an absolute loss in the practice of medicine without his instruments. I don’t want to push this analogy too far of course, because God would not be at a loss without us, His instruments, for God is perfect in His own right as a Trinity in Unity. However, he does intend for us to be readily available when called upon for service or work. He intends for us to be clean and sanitized, free from the infection of sin and stain so that we might not pass on those germs to others. He intends for us to perform as we were intended. We are made in His image, we have His spirit and breath within us. Therefore, when God uses us for His work, those who see us, should immediately see him.
We come this morning to receive the life-giving Body and Blood of Christ so that we might be His living instruments in this world. When we make our Confession of Sin, and receive Christ’s absolution, we are being cleaned and sterilized from the sin that attacks us on every front, every day of our lives. When we participate in the liturgy we are performing the fundamental nature of our existence – we were created to worship God. The only way that we can perform as God’s instruments as intended is to adopt the call to, “Worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness.” Finally, we must be ever attentive to God’s call in order that we might be ready when we are pressed into service.
Ananias was just this type of person. He answered when God called to him. He did as the Lord commanded, laid hands on Saul, and baptized him. He ultimately faded into the background so that God might be seen, heard, obeyed, and followed. We really know nothing else about this vessel Ananias. He did one thing, and one thing only, he showed Saul, Jesus. If our tombstone had one sentence on it that read, “He showed others Jesus,” then the sentence that would resound in our ears at the Resurrection would be, “Well done, thou good and faithful servant, enter into your reward.” Amen.
Sunday, January 18, 2009
Sermon for Epiphany II
Preached at All Saints' - January 18, 2009
"This Life's dim Windows of the Soul Distorts the Heavens from Pole to Pole
And leads you to Believe a Lie When you see with, not thro' the Eye."
In 1757, poet, painter, and printmaker William Blake was born in London. Most people know William Blake as the author of the poem The Tyger, but the quote I just read is contained in a work known as The Everlasting Gospel. The poem is a wonderful example of Blake’s Romantic Period poetry, and displays a spectacular command of the Christian faith expressed in verse. I believe these lines are also quite appropriate as we examine the words of St. Paul to the church in Corinth that we heard this morning.
Our Epistle lesson picks up part way through the sixth chapter, and deals with a number of quite relevant topics. Paul is trying to convey a message to his audience; he is attempting to dispel a false sense of entitlement that the church has begun to portray. They have fostered the notion that just because they have Christ, they have inherited a license to do anything they want. Obviously some have begun to think that now that we are no longer under the curse of law, everything is now lawful. Paul is quick to point out that just because things appear to be lawful they are not necessarily profitable. Paul wants the church, and us as well, to recognize that all things created good can lead to evil.
Take a look at society today. We need only look at television, magazines, the Internet to see what is happening to our young people and how images dictate what is beautiful, what is attractive, what we should look like. If we go back to the line in the poem, we are tricked into believing a lie because we are seeing with the eye and not through it. We should see with our conscience, and not simply with the images burned into the back of our eyes. As Ravi Zacharias puts it, “instead of seeing through the eye and with the conscience, we are seeing with the eye completely devoid of a conscience.” In this the information age, we are constantly bombarded with images, and rather than learning to process ideas, thoughts, problems using our imagination and conscience, we immediately scroll through a list of pre-programmed data and therefore making a decision by what we see, and not by what we should know to be right.
What once would have been considered sinful and aberrant starts to look intriguing and appealing. Then those things that were once intriguing become normative, and we have become incapable of determining what is good and what is garbage. I just read a news article last week where Larry Flynt, founder of Hustler magazine, is suing his two nephews in court for the use of the Flynt name in the pornography market because he said the two were slandering his name by making “sub-standard and inferior” porn. I do not want to know exactly what his criteria for judging such smut is exactly, but I hope you see what happens when society gradually moves in this direction. We believe the lie when we see with and not through the eye.
Paul also addresses the issue of sexual immorality that has become a besetting sin for members of this faith community. Apparently the Corinthian church began adopting some of the pagan practices of their Greek neighbors, and lived with the false sense of security that since they had Christ they need not worry about how they lived their lives. One of the most significant reasons that Paul is quick to correct the Corinthian church regarding sexual sins was because of the spiritual nature of those sins, as well as, the notion that they were a direct affront to Christ himself. In much of Jesus’ ministry, He uses metaphors and imagery such as bride, bridegroom, and consummation to speak of the Church. He does not do so carelessly, but he is very particular in using this language because it so clearly conveys the sacramental nature of His relationship to His followers. Sexual immorality is an affront to everything that Jesus bore witness to in His earthly ministry.
Jesus throughout everything that he endured on our behalf remained stedfast in his calling to be the one and only faithful bridegroom to us, His followers the Church. He has given us a glorious example of what that spotless example looks like. The only way for His sacrifice to be fully efficacious for the sins of the whole world is for Him to be a lamb without blemish. That type of language in the Old Testament sacrificial priesthood system was not random or without meaning. When the Levitical priests offered sacrifices on behalf of the people, they were to be choice, without stain or spot, perfect specimens for God’s altar. The only problem is that animal sacrifices were not fully effective in purging sin forever. Jesus actually had to become sin so that we would know sin no more. The image of a blameless sacrifice was etched in the hearts, minds, and souls of the people of Israel, and now Jesus has come in the flesh to be that blameless sacrifice once and for all.
Paul concludes this section when he declares, “know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.” This morning’s collect expresses the theme of bringing glory to God as we prayed that we might be “illumined by thy Word and Sacraments [and] shine with the radiance of Christ’s Glory, that He may be known, worshipped, and obeyed to the end of the earth.” The great theme of Epiphany is light and revelation, but its counter theme is one of witness, and brings me to my final point.
Our calling as Christians is to know Christ and make him known to others. The first part of that statement is knowing him. We must know him intimately, as he knows us. The Bible often uses the term ‘to know’ in a sexual connotation referring to husband and wife. We must know Jesus that personally, that deeply, that intimately. The only way to do so is through the light of his Word and Sacraments. We must delve deeply into Holy Scripture and allow God’s word to speak to us. We must partake of the Sacraments as we prepare to receive Christ’s Body and Blood in the Eucharist. We must commit ourselves to fervent prayer in all things, and as St. Paul says we are to pray without ceasing (I Thes. 5:17). Only then can we begin to make Christ known to others.
There’s one thing about making Christ known to others that is most remarkable. We don’t necessarily set out and say in our minds, “Hey, I think I’m going to go and make Christ known to someone new today.” Rather, we must do what our Lord Jesus said in the Offertory sentence, “Let your light so shine before men that they will see your good works and glorify your Father which is in Heaven” (Matt. 5:16). God is the one doing the work here on the other person. Our job is to do our part and let God do His. I’ve always been intrigued when I hear someone say that “they led someone to Christ today.” That person might have been the catalyst that God used to reveal Himself to someone new, but it was the Almighty who prepared the heart to receive the Message.
As we have traveled from Advent to Christmas and now into Epiphany we hear again the message of revelation, and how we are called to witness that revealed light to the world. Blake also pens these wonderful words in The Everlasting Gospel “God’s high king and God’s high priest [s]hall plant their glories in your breast” (Lines 33-34). God wishes to illuminate each one of us with his glorious radiance so that we might bear witness to the one true Light which has come into the world, to save us from ourselves, so that we might live forever with him in glory everlasting. To Him be ascribed all might, majesty, power, and dominion this day and for ever. Amen.
Preached at All Saints' - January 18, 2009
"This Life's dim Windows of the Soul Distorts the Heavens from Pole to Pole
And leads you to Believe a Lie When you see with, not thro' the Eye."
In 1757, poet, painter, and printmaker William Blake was born in London. Most people know William Blake as the author of the poem The Tyger, but the quote I just read is contained in a work known as The Everlasting Gospel. The poem is a wonderful example of Blake’s Romantic Period poetry, and displays a spectacular command of the Christian faith expressed in verse. I believe these lines are also quite appropriate as we examine the words of St. Paul to the church in Corinth that we heard this morning.
Our Epistle lesson picks up part way through the sixth chapter, and deals with a number of quite relevant topics. Paul is trying to convey a message to his audience; he is attempting to dispel a false sense of entitlement that the church has begun to portray. They have fostered the notion that just because they have Christ, they have inherited a license to do anything they want. Obviously some have begun to think that now that we are no longer under the curse of law, everything is now lawful. Paul is quick to point out that just because things appear to be lawful they are not necessarily profitable. Paul wants the church, and us as well, to recognize that all things created good can lead to evil.
Take a look at society today. We need only look at television, magazines, the Internet to see what is happening to our young people and how images dictate what is beautiful, what is attractive, what we should look like. If we go back to the line in the poem, we are tricked into believing a lie because we are seeing with the eye and not through it. We should see with our conscience, and not simply with the images burned into the back of our eyes. As Ravi Zacharias puts it, “instead of seeing through the eye and with the conscience, we are seeing with the eye completely devoid of a conscience.” In this the information age, we are constantly bombarded with images, and rather than learning to process ideas, thoughts, problems using our imagination and conscience, we immediately scroll through a list of pre-programmed data and therefore making a decision by what we see, and not by what we should know to be right.
What once would have been considered sinful and aberrant starts to look intriguing and appealing. Then those things that were once intriguing become normative, and we have become incapable of determining what is good and what is garbage. I just read a news article last week where Larry Flynt, founder of Hustler magazine, is suing his two nephews in court for the use of the Flynt name in the pornography market because he said the two were slandering his name by making “sub-standard and inferior” porn. I do not want to know exactly what his criteria for judging such smut is exactly, but I hope you see what happens when society gradually moves in this direction. We believe the lie when we see with and not through the eye.
Paul also addresses the issue of sexual immorality that has become a besetting sin for members of this faith community. Apparently the Corinthian church began adopting some of the pagan practices of their Greek neighbors, and lived with the false sense of security that since they had Christ they need not worry about how they lived their lives. One of the most significant reasons that Paul is quick to correct the Corinthian church regarding sexual sins was because of the spiritual nature of those sins, as well as, the notion that they were a direct affront to Christ himself. In much of Jesus’ ministry, He uses metaphors and imagery such as bride, bridegroom, and consummation to speak of the Church. He does not do so carelessly, but he is very particular in using this language because it so clearly conveys the sacramental nature of His relationship to His followers. Sexual immorality is an affront to everything that Jesus bore witness to in His earthly ministry.
Jesus throughout everything that he endured on our behalf remained stedfast in his calling to be the one and only faithful bridegroom to us, His followers the Church. He has given us a glorious example of what that spotless example looks like. The only way for His sacrifice to be fully efficacious for the sins of the whole world is for Him to be a lamb without blemish. That type of language in the Old Testament sacrificial priesthood system was not random or without meaning. When the Levitical priests offered sacrifices on behalf of the people, they were to be choice, without stain or spot, perfect specimens for God’s altar. The only problem is that animal sacrifices were not fully effective in purging sin forever. Jesus actually had to become sin so that we would know sin no more. The image of a blameless sacrifice was etched in the hearts, minds, and souls of the people of Israel, and now Jesus has come in the flesh to be that blameless sacrifice once and for all.
Paul concludes this section when he declares, “know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.” This morning’s collect expresses the theme of bringing glory to God as we prayed that we might be “illumined by thy Word and Sacraments [and] shine with the radiance of Christ’s Glory, that He may be known, worshipped, and obeyed to the end of the earth.” The great theme of Epiphany is light and revelation, but its counter theme is one of witness, and brings me to my final point.
Our calling as Christians is to know Christ and make him known to others. The first part of that statement is knowing him. We must know him intimately, as he knows us. The Bible often uses the term ‘to know’ in a sexual connotation referring to husband and wife. We must know Jesus that personally, that deeply, that intimately. The only way to do so is through the light of his Word and Sacraments. We must delve deeply into Holy Scripture and allow God’s word to speak to us. We must partake of the Sacraments as we prepare to receive Christ’s Body and Blood in the Eucharist. We must commit ourselves to fervent prayer in all things, and as St. Paul says we are to pray without ceasing (I Thes. 5:17). Only then can we begin to make Christ known to others.
There’s one thing about making Christ known to others that is most remarkable. We don’t necessarily set out and say in our minds, “Hey, I think I’m going to go and make Christ known to someone new today.” Rather, we must do what our Lord Jesus said in the Offertory sentence, “Let your light so shine before men that they will see your good works and glorify your Father which is in Heaven” (Matt. 5:16). God is the one doing the work here on the other person. Our job is to do our part and let God do His. I’ve always been intrigued when I hear someone say that “they led someone to Christ today.” That person might have been the catalyst that God used to reveal Himself to someone new, but it was the Almighty who prepared the heart to receive the Message.
As we have traveled from Advent to Christmas and now into Epiphany we hear again the message of revelation, and how we are called to witness that revealed light to the world. Blake also pens these wonderful words in The Everlasting Gospel “God’s high king and God’s high priest [s]hall plant their glories in your breast” (Lines 33-34). God wishes to illuminate each one of us with his glorious radiance so that we might bear witness to the one true Light which has come into the world, to save us from ourselves, so that we might live forever with him in glory everlasting. To Him be ascribed all might, majesty, power, and dominion this day and for ever. Amen.
Monday, January 12, 2009
Sermon Preached at St. John's - Moultrie
Epiphany I - January 11, 2009
There is an interesting dimension to this mornings Gospel lesson from Mark that I have always found intriguing. I believe that one of the reasons I find it so intriguing is because it is found only in Mark. Mark’s Gospel is of course the shortest of the 4 Gospels and most Biblical scholars believe that it was the first written. Many believe that Matthew and Luke had copies of Mark’s Gospel in hand as they wrote their particular accounts of Jesus’ life, and that is why you almost always have a parallel passage from Mark when looking at an event in either Matthew or Luke. Mark contains what many Biblical commentators and scholars have called the “Messianic Secret.” Throughout the book one finds many instances where Jesus performs a miracle, or seems to be on the verge of revealing himself, and he slips away, the scene changes, or he admonishes someone not to tell people who he is, or what he had done. He constantly chides the demons he casts out to be silent, for they knew exactly who he was. Mark’s account is fast moving and the scenes are always shifting from one to another. However, in this morning’s account of Jesus’ baptism, we find a peculiarity unique to Mark alone.
All of the Gospels contain some account of John the Baptist, and Jesus’ subsequent baptism in the Jordan River. One cannot think of Jesus’ earthly ministry without first recalling his baptism by his cousin. All four provide a picture of God’s spirit descending upon Him in the form of a dove – one of the ancient symbols for the Holy Spirit. The Gospel writers also give record of a voice calling out from heaven. We are not sure who exactly heard this voice, whether it was just Jesus and John, or was it the crowds that were also gathered. In either case that voice proclaims the same statement that Jesus is a beloved son who has brought great pleasure to His Father.
In most instances, the particular nuance we find in Mark’s account usually goes unnoticed. Many English translations do not even convey what I believe Mark is trying to stress when he speaks about what happens to the heavens as Jesus comes up out of the water, as the spirit is descending upon him, and as God begins to speak.
As much as I dislike the NRSV translation of the Bible, here is one instance where they actually got it right and bring out the nuance. In both the RSV and King James, one would not notice any difference at all because all three say simply that the heavens were opened. However, Mark uses a different verb than Matthew and Luke when he speaks about what happens during this event. Mark uses the Greek work skidzo which literally means “to divide by force, split, divide, separate, tear apart, tear off” (BDAG, 981). This is the same word in Greek from which we derive the word schizophrenia. A combination of skidzo and fronasis – a tear or rending in one’s frame of mind. Literally speaking, Jesus has come to earth, and the very fabric which separates heaven and earth has now been rent in two, the future will never be the same. What makes this nuance even more significant is the other place within the Gospels when we find the word skidzo.
Mark uses this word at Jesus’ death when he took his last breath and gave up his spirit. He says that the veil of the temple was torn in two from the top to the bottom when Jesus died. Therefore, the same word used to speak of heaven at Jesus’ baptism is used again at his death. One could make the assertion that the rending of the heavens at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry was repeated by the rending of the gates of Hell at the culmination of His ministry.
This is of course significant when we speak of the link between the theology of baptism and the atonement. Jesus’ death marked the end of the repeated sacrificial system as the people knew it, therefore the curtain between the Holy of Holies and the people no longer needed to be veiled. There was no longer a barrier between God and Man. The God Man – Jesus performed the never-to-be-repeated, fully efficacious sacrifice to atone for the sins of the world. When we receive the waters of baptism in the name of the Holy and Blessed Trinity, we speak in terms of regeneration, being born again as Jesus told Nicodemus. We speak of the washing away the stain of Original Sin, and rebirth and new life in Jesus Christ. We speak of being a new creation and being baptized into Jesus’ death. This is a tearing and rending of our old self, and putting on the new.
Mark links baptism and death together with this one word. The heavens were rent apart at Jesus’ baptism when God declares that this is His beloved Son, who shunned not the Virgin’s womb, who for a time was made a little lower than the angels. He was made a little lower than the angels and was crowned with honor and glory because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for every one (cf. Hebrews 2.8,9). The space between heaven and earth come crashing together as they touched one another. Heaven does not actually envelop or absorb earth, but rather they intersect with one another, and that intersection occurs through the person of Jesus Christ.
The intersection of heaven and earth occurs again each week when we receive Christ’s precious body and blood in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. Through the invocation of the Holy Spirit in the species of bread and wine, Jesus is again truly present. And, when we approach this altar in faith, having examined our conscience and come with an humble, lowly, obedient, and penitent heart, we receive him anew as our source of life. In just a few minutes, Christ bids us anew to draw near with faith, take this Holy Sacrament to our comfort, and take part of heaven and earth touching each other. Every hindrance to God has been rent apart and torn open, so that we might have full access to God the Father, through His Son Jesus Christ our Lord, by the never ending power of His Holy Spirit. To Him be ascribed all might, majesty, power, and dominion, both now, and evermore.
Amen.
Epiphany I - January 11, 2009
There is an interesting dimension to this mornings Gospel lesson from Mark that I have always found intriguing. I believe that one of the reasons I find it so intriguing is because it is found only in Mark. Mark’s Gospel is of course the shortest of the 4 Gospels and most Biblical scholars believe that it was the first written. Many believe that Matthew and Luke had copies of Mark’s Gospel in hand as they wrote their particular accounts of Jesus’ life, and that is why you almost always have a parallel passage from Mark when looking at an event in either Matthew or Luke. Mark contains what many Biblical commentators and scholars have called the “Messianic Secret.” Throughout the book one finds many instances where Jesus performs a miracle, or seems to be on the verge of revealing himself, and he slips away, the scene changes, or he admonishes someone not to tell people who he is, or what he had done. He constantly chides the demons he casts out to be silent, for they knew exactly who he was. Mark’s account is fast moving and the scenes are always shifting from one to another. However, in this morning’s account of Jesus’ baptism, we find a peculiarity unique to Mark alone.
All of the Gospels contain some account of John the Baptist, and Jesus’ subsequent baptism in the Jordan River. One cannot think of Jesus’ earthly ministry without first recalling his baptism by his cousin. All four provide a picture of God’s spirit descending upon Him in the form of a dove – one of the ancient symbols for the Holy Spirit. The Gospel writers also give record of a voice calling out from heaven. We are not sure who exactly heard this voice, whether it was just Jesus and John, or was it the crowds that were also gathered. In either case that voice proclaims the same statement that Jesus is a beloved son who has brought great pleasure to His Father.
In most instances, the particular nuance we find in Mark’s account usually goes unnoticed. Many English translations do not even convey what I believe Mark is trying to stress when he speaks about what happens to the heavens as Jesus comes up out of the water, as the spirit is descending upon him, and as God begins to speak.
As much as I dislike the NRSV translation of the Bible, here is one instance where they actually got it right and bring out the nuance. In both the RSV and King James, one would not notice any difference at all because all three say simply that the heavens were opened. However, Mark uses a different verb than Matthew and Luke when he speaks about what happens during this event. Mark uses the Greek work skidzo which literally means “to divide by force, split, divide, separate, tear apart, tear off” (BDAG, 981). This is the same word in Greek from which we derive the word schizophrenia. A combination of skidzo and fronasis – a tear or rending in one’s frame of mind. Literally speaking, Jesus has come to earth, and the very fabric which separates heaven and earth has now been rent in two, the future will never be the same. What makes this nuance even more significant is the other place within the Gospels when we find the word skidzo.
Mark uses this word at Jesus’ death when he took his last breath and gave up his spirit. He says that the veil of the temple was torn in two from the top to the bottom when Jesus died. Therefore, the same word used to speak of heaven at Jesus’ baptism is used again at his death. One could make the assertion that the rending of the heavens at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry was repeated by the rending of the gates of Hell at the culmination of His ministry.
This is of course significant when we speak of the link between the theology of baptism and the atonement. Jesus’ death marked the end of the repeated sacrificial system as the people knew it, therefore the curtain between the Holy of Holies and the people no longer needed to be veiled. There was no longer a barrier between God and Man. The God Man – Jesus performed the never-to-be-repeated, fully efficacious sacrifice to atone for the sins of the world. When we receive the waters of baptism in the name of the Holy and Blessed Trinity, we speak in terms of regeneration, being born again as Jesus told Nicodemus. We speak of the washing away the stain of Original Sin, and rebirth and new life in Jesus Christ. We speak of being a new creation and being baptized into Jesus’ death. This is a tearing and rending of our old self, and putting on the new.
Mark links baptism and death together with this one word. The heavens were rent apart at Jesus’ baptism when God declares that this is His beloved Son, who shunned not the Virgin’s womb, who for a time was made a little lower than the angels. He was made a little lower than the angels and was crowned with honor and glory because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for every one (cf. Hebrews 2.8,9). The space between heaven and earth come crashing together as they touched one another. Heaven does not actually envelop or absorb earth, but rather they intersect with one another, and that intersection occurs through the person of Jesus Christ.
The intersection of heaven and earth occurs again each week when we receive Christ’s precious body and blood in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. Through the invocation of the Holy Spirit in the species of bread and wine, Jesus is again truly present. And, when we approach this altar in faith, having examined our conscience and come with an humble, lowly, obedient, and penitent heart, we receive him anew as our source of life. In just a few minutes, Christ bids us anew to draw near with faith, take this Holy Sacrament to our comfort, and take part of heaven and earth touching each other. Every hindrance to God has been rent apart and torn open, so that we might have full access to God the Father, through His Son Jesus Christ our Lord, by the never ending power of His Holy Spirit. To Him be ascribed all might, majesty, power, and dominion, both now, and evermore.
Amen.
Saturday, December 27, 2008
Sermon for the Feast of the Holy Innocents
Preached at All Saints' Church - December 28, 2008
You might be wondering if I grabbed the wrong vestments this morning since we are in the midst of the Season of Christmas with its glorious color white, why would one wear red on the First Sunday after Christmas? The three days which follow Christmas contain three wonderful feast days which for the most part go unnoticed. The day following Christmas day is when we commemorate the first martyr of the church, St. Stephen – one of the seven first deacons of the church. As we read in the seventh chapter of the Acts of the Apostles, Stephen delivers one of the greatest sermons ever preached, and his reward for such an effort was his martyrdom. His sermon was an exhortation against the rulers of the temple and against those who put Jesus to death. The concluding verses contain the record of his martyrdom,
Stephen, being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up stedfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God, and said, Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God. Then they cried out with a loud voice, and stopped their ears, and ran upon him with one accord, and cast him out of the city, and stoned him: and the witnesses laid down their clothes at a young man’s feet, whose name was Saul. And they stoned Stephen, calling upon God and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. And he kneeled down, and cried with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. And when he had said this, he fell asleep.
St. Stephen left this world with words of forgiveness on his lips. Just as Jesus proclaimed from the cross, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do,” so too Stephen pleads for the forgiveness for those who are putting him to death. It was Tertullian, one of the Early Church Fathers, “The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church.” On the day after Christmas, we remember one of those very martyrs who gave his blood proclaiming the Good News of Jesus Christ.
December 27th is the date on the Kalendar when we remember St. John the Apostle and Evangelist. John makes up a trio with Paul and Luke who penned most of the material in the New Testament. We will hear again the glorious words of St. John at the end of the service this morning as John’s Prologue is the Final Gospel with which we are sent forth from this service. Of the twelve apostles, John is the only one who did not suffer a martyr’s death and died of old age in Ephesus around 100 A.D.
This morning we come to the third feast day following Christmas. The Feast of the Holy Innocents is perhaps one of the more disturbing records in the Biblical witness, for it of course recounts one of the darkest episodes in the life of King Herod. It also begs the question, where was God in the midst of this terrible affair?
This passage of scripture is layered with multiple meanings, and I wish to shed light on two of them this morning.
First, Matthew is quite clearly painting a picture of Jesus as the new Moses, the new Lawgiver, and of course, the true leader of God’s people from exile into freedom. If we think back to the book of Exodus, a similar situation has befallen the People of Israel. Pharoah is jealous of the Hebrew people and is concerned with their growing number. He gives a decree that all Hebrew boy children are to be executed. He plans to solve his problem by breeding the Israelites out. If there are no more Hebrew boys, there will be no way for the People of Israel to continue as a race of people. The Divine Hand of God was laid upon baby Moses as he is sent down the Nile in a basket and is discovered by the daughter of Pharoah who decides to bring the child into her own home and raise him as her son. The boy Moses grows up in a house of privilege, but this does not taint his thinking nor does he become enamored by his surroundings. After he murders an Egyptian slave master, he is forced to flee Egypt to dwell in the land of Midian. Notice that Moses fled from Egypt in order to save his life, Jesus and his family flee to Egypt in order to live. In time, Moses would of course return to Egypt to confront Pharoah in order that God’s people might be delivered from bondage and slavery, and inherit the Promised Land that God intended for them to possess.
Here we have a common link between the two stories, evil rulers in both cases are so concerned about their status, their kingdoms, their power, and control that they would both go to the most extreme measures to ensure the success of their own selfish aims. Throughout it all, God remains in control even though to us it seems like He is indifferent toward the plight of those innocent children. How cruel could God be that he would allow something like this to happen? Of course, it does appear that way if we try to impose our sense of right and wrong, our sense of what is just and right upon God whose wisdom so far surpasses anything that we can ever imagine.
This brings us to King Herod - one of the cruelest, heartless, ruthless characters in the pages of Scripture. This is the man who “thought nothing of killing members of his own family, including his own beloved wife, when he suspected them of scheming against him, and who gave orders when dying that the leading citizens of Jericho should be slaughtered so that people would be weeping at his [own] funeral.”[1] It is quite amazing when ultimate paranoia takes over the mind, the ends one might go to in order to feed the disease. Herod told the Magi to, “search diligently for the child in order that I might worship him.” Of course there was never any intention of worship in his mind because earlier we heard that when news reached Herod’s ears, “he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him.” When the angel appears to Joseph in a dream he relays similar words as before when he warns him that Herod is planning to, “search diligently for Jesus to destroy him.” One of the most telling parts of the story occurs in this verse and one to follow. The word that the angel uses when he speaks of Jesus being destroyed is not significant because of its infrequency in the New Testament. Quite the contrary, the word or its cognates are used over 90 times. What is significant are some of the connotations that the word invokes, most particularly, that the word speaks metaphorically of devoting or giving over to eternal misery in hell.[2] The angel is conveying to Joseph that Herod is planning on utterly destroying Jesus’ very existence so much so that he might be condemned to eternal misery in the flames of hell. Herod doesn’t just want Jesus dead, he wants the usurper of his throne done away with so that he might never deal with his like ever again. He wants this child punished because of the mere thought of his ascendancy to Herod’s throne, or that someone might condescend to think that he might be able to compete for his kingship.
This is a man possessed with the sin of pride, and it comes out even more loudly when we read of Herod’s reaction to hearing that the Magi had not followed his directions and reported Jesus’ whereabouts. In the text it says that Herod became exceeding wroth when he learned that he had been mocked by the wise men. Mockery and Pride are a volatile combination, and when mixed, usually lead to catastrophic consequences. In our lesson this morning, we clearly see the fatal nature of mixing mockery with pride. Herod is not planning on leaving any chance that the child would survive to claim his throne when he orders not only the boys of Bethlehem killed, but also those in the coast lands surrounding Bethlehem as well.
Isn’t it remarkable that this was the scene that greeted the Messiah of the world? Mary has already heard the words of Simeon in which she is told that Jesus would be responsible for the rise and fall of many in Israel and that a sword would ultimately pierce her soul.[3] Jesus couldn’t have been more than two years old, and he’s already a wanted man with a bounty on his head set by a ruthless king. Yet through it all, the name Emmanuel comes through – God with us. This is how God chose to redeem mankind, and he did so in the most incredible of fashions.
Dr. J. C. Ryle summarizes this episode with these wonderful words:
Observe how the Lord Jesus was “a man of sorrows” even from His infancy. Trouble awaits Him as soon as He enters into the world. His life is in danger from Herod’s hatred. His mother and Joseph are obliged to take Him away by night, and “flee to Egypt.” It was only a type and figure of all His experience upon earth. The waves of humiliation began to beat over Him, even when He was a sucking child.
The Lord Jesus is just the Saviour that the suffering and sorrowful need. He knows well what we mean, when we tell Him in prayer of our troubles. He can sympathize with us, when we cry to Him under cruel persecution. Let us keep nothing back from Him. Let us make Him our bosom friend. Let us pour out our hearts before him. He has had great experience with affliction.[4]
As we commemorate and remember those Holy Innocents who were murdered at the hands of a prideful man, let us remember Dr. Ryle’s words as he concludes his commentary on this passage of Scripture.
Above all, let us daily strive to copy our Saviour’s humility. Pride is the oldest and commonest of sins. Humility is the rarest and most bountiful of graces. For humility let us labor. For humility let us pray. Our knowledge may be scanty. Our faith may be weak. Our strength may be small. But if we are disciples of Him who “dwelt at Nazareth,” let us at any rate be humble.[5]
[1] N. T. Wright, Matthew For Everyone, (SPCK, London, 2004), 14.
[2] http://www.searchgodsword.org/lex/grk/view.cgi?number=622
[3] Cf. Luke 2:34-35
[4] J. C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on the Gospels: Volume 1 – Matthew, Mark, (Baker Book House, Grand Rapids, 2007), 15.
[5] Ibid, 17.
Preached at All Saints' Church - December 28, 2008
You might be wondering if I grabbed the wrong vestments this morning since we are in the midst of the Season of Christmas with its glorious color white, why would one wear red on the First Sunday after Christmas? The three days which follow Christmas contain three wonderful feast days which for the most part go unnoticed. The day following Christmas day is when we commemorate the first martyr of the church, St. Stephen – one of the seven first deacons of the church. As we read in the seventh chapter of the Acts of the Apostles, Stephen delivers one of the greatest sermons ever preached, and his reward for such an effort was his martyrdom. His sermon was an exhortation against the rulers of the temple and against those who put Jesus to death. The concluding verses contain the record of his martyrdom,
Stephen, being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up stedfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God, and said, Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God. Then they cried out with a loud voice, and stopped their ears, and ran upon him with one accord, and cast him out of the city, and stoned him: and the witnesses laid down their clothes at a young man’s feet, whose name was Saul. And they stoned Stephen, calling upon God and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. And he kneeled down, and cried with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. And when he had said this, he fell asleep.
St. Stephen left this world with words of forgiveness on his lips. Just as Jesus proclaimed from the cross, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do,” so too Stephen pleads for the forgiveness for those who are putting him to death. It was Tertullian, one of the Early Church Fathers, “The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church.” On the day after Christmas, we remember one of those very martyrs who gave his blood proclaiming the Good News of Jesus Christ.
December 27th is the date on the Kalendar when we remember St. John the Apostle and Evangelist. John makes up a trio with Paul and Luke who penned most of the material in the New Testament. We will hear again the glorious words of St. John at the end of the service this morning as John’s Prologue is the Final Gospel with which we are sent forth from this service. Of the twelve apostles, John is the only one who did not suffer a martyr’s death and died of old age in Ephesus around 100 A.D.
This morning we come to the third feast day following Christmas. The Feast of the Holy Innocents is perhaps one of the more disturbing records in the Biblical witness, for it of course recounts one of the darkest episodes in the life of King Herod. It also begs the question, where was God in the midst of this terrible affair?
This passage of scripture is layered with multiple meanings, and I wish to shed light on two of them this morning.
First, Matthew is quite clearly painting a picture of Jesus as the new Moses, the new Lawgiver, and of course, the true leader of God’s people from exile into freedom. If we think back to the book of Exodus, a similar situation has befallen the People of Israel. Pharoah is jealous of the Hebrew people and is concerned with their growing number. He gives a decree that all Hebrew boy children are to be executed. He plans to solve his problem by breeding the Israelites out. If there are no more Hebrew boys, there will be no way for the People of Israel to continue as a race of people. The Divine Hand of God was laid upon baby Moses as he is sent down the Nile in a basket and is discovered by the daughter of Pharoah who decides to bring the child into her own home and raise him as her son. The boy Moses grows up in a house of privilege, but this does not taint his thinking nor does he become enamored by his surroundings. After he murders an Egyptian slave master, he is forced to flee Egypt to dwell in the land of Midian. Notice that Moses fled from Egypt in order to save his life, Jesus and his family flee to Egypt in order to live. In time, Moses would of course return to Egypt to confront Pharoah in order that God’s people might be delivered from bondage and slavery, and inherit the Promised Land that God intended for them to possess.
Here we have a common link between the two stories, evil rulers in both cases are so concerned about their status, their kingdoms, their power, and control that they would both go to the most extreme measures to ensure the success of their own selfish aims. Throughout it all, God remains in control even though to us it seems like He is indifferent toward the plight of those innocent children. How cruel could God be that he would allow something like this to happen? Of course, it does appear that way if we try to impose our sense of right and wrong, our sense of what is just and right upon God whose wisdom so far surpasses anything that we can ever imagine.
This brings us to King Herod - one of the cruelest, heartless, ruthless characters in the pages of Scripture. This is the man who “thought nothing of killing members of his own family, including his own beloved wife, when he suspected them of scheming against him, and who gave orders when dying that the leading citizens of Jericho should be slaughtered so that people would be weeping at his [own] funeral.”[1] It is quite amazing when ultimate paranoia takes over the mind, the ends one might go to in order to feed the disease. Herod told the Magi to, “search diligently for the child in order that I might worship him.” Of course there was never any intention of worship in his mind because earlier we heard that when news reached Herod’s ears, “he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him.” When the angel appears to Joseph in a dream he relays similar words as before when he warns him that Herod is planning to, “search diligently for Jesus to destroy him.” One of the most telling parts of the story occurs in this verse and one to follow. The word that the angel uses when he speaks of Jesus being destroyed is not significant because of its infrequency in the New Testament. Quite the contrary, the word or its cognates are used over 90 times. What is significant are some of the connotations that the word invokes, most particularly, that the word speaks metaphorically of devoting or giving over to eternal misery in hell.[2] The angel is conveying to Joseph that Herod is planning on utterly destroying Jesus’ very existence so much so that he might be condemned to eternal misery in the flames of hell. Herod doesn’t just want Jesus dead, he wants the usurper of his throne done away with so that he might never deal with his like ever again. He wants this child punished because of the mere thought of his ascendancy to Herod’s throne, or that someone might condescend to think that he might be able to compete for his kingship.
This is a man possessed with the sin of pride, and it comes out even more loudly when we read of Herod’s reaction to hearing that the Magi had not followed his directions and reported Jesus’ whereabouts. In the text it says that Herod became exceeding wroth when he learned that he had been mocked by the wise men. Mockery and Pride are a volatile combination, and when mixed, usually lead to catastrophic consequences. In our lesson this morning, we clearly see the fatal nature of mixing mockery with pride. Herod is not planning on leaving any chance that the child would survive to claim his throne when he orders not only the boys of Bethlehem killed, but also those in the coast lands surrounding Bethlehem as well.
Isn’t it remarkable that this was the scene that greeted the Messiah of the world? Mary has already heard the words of Simeon in which she is told that Jesus would be responsible for the rise and fall of many in Israel and that a sword would ultimately pierce her soul.[3] Jesus couldn’t have been more than two years old, and he’s already a wanted man with a bounty on his head set by a ruthless king. Yet through it all, the name Emmanuel comes through – God with us. This is how God chose to redeem mankind, and he did so in the most incredible of fashions.
Dr. J. C. Ryle summarizes this episode with these wonderful words:
Observe how the Lord Jesus was “a man of sorrows” even from His infancy. Trouble awaits Him as soon as He enters into the world. His life is in danger from Herod’s hatred. His mother and Joseph are obliged to take Him away by night, and “flee to Egypt.” It was only a type and figure of all His experience upon earth. The waves of humiliation began to beat over Him, even when He was a sucking child.
The Lord Jesus is just the Saviour that the suffering and sorrowful need. He knows well what we mean, when we tell Him in prayer of our troubles. He can sympathize with us, when we cry to Him under cruel persecution. Let us keep nothing back from Him. Let us make Him our bosom friend. Let us pour out our hearts before him. He has had great experience with affliction.[4]
As we commemorate and remember those Holy Innocents who were murdered at the hands of a prideful man, let us remember Dr. Ryle’s words as he concludes his commentary on this passage of Scripture.
Above all, let us daily strive to copy our Saviour’s humility. Pride is the oldest and commonest of sins. Humility is the rarest and most bountiful of graces. For humility let us labor. For humility let us pray. Our knowledge may be scanty. Our faith may be weak. Our strength may be small. But if we are disciples of Him who “dwelt at Nazareth,” let us at any rate be humble.[5]
[1] N. T. Wright, Matthew For Everyone, (SPCK, London, 2004), 14.
[2] http://www.searchgodsword.org/lex/grk/view.cgi?number=622
[3] Cf. Luke 2:34-35
[4] J. C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on the Gospels: Volume 1 – Matthew, Mark, (Baker Book House, Grand Rapids, 2007), 15.
[5] Ibid, 17.
Thursday, December 25, 2008
Sermon for Christmas Eve - 2008
Preached at All Saints' Church - Thomasville, GA
I am not sure if anyone else here this evening as ever pondered this thought before, but I have often wondered why the ancient church ordered Scripture the way they did. I have been curious why Matthew’s Gospel is always first, with Luke third and Mark sandwiched in between. Then John’s Gospel follows and seemingly interrupts the flow of Luke and Acts. Scholars have offered many ideas as to why the order is as we have it today, but more specifically, I’ve often pondered the thought of John’s Gospel being first book in the New Testament. Why you might ask? Is it because John’s Gospel paints such a glorious picture of Jesus, who knows clearly who He is, where He has come from, what His role is, and where He is ultimately going? Or is it because of the rich symbolism that runs throughout the Gospel that provides such rich meanings behind the words. Or is it because the Prologue – the first 18 verses of John’s Gospel are some of the most remarkable in all of Scripture? Actually, the one reason I would give for having John first is the fact that both Genesis, and John start at the same place – In the beginning, God.
The creation story as recorded in Genesis, and the creation story as re-told through the lens of John’s Gospel begin with the source of all life and light. On the first day of creation, God as He moves and hovers over the chaos and darkness of the great void, he literally speaks a Word, and darkness is overshadowed by Light. The prophet Isaiah foreshadowed the coming of the Messiah when he wrote, “The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light: they dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined.” In creation everything was in great darkness, and in an instant, the Creator caused a new light to shine. Today, as in the ancient world, whenever one deals with issues of evil, chaos, confusion, turmoil we often hear the term darkness used to describe that experience. Many of you perhaps have experienced a sense of spiritual embattlement that many call a dark night of the soul. Perhaps some have come here this evening and this is the first Christmas without a spouse, or parent, or child, or long-time friend. If you are like me and have opened your IRA or 401k statement, there doesn’t appear to be much light there either, but a great deal of darkness. Instead of light, it seems like darkness is creeping in from every direction.
The words I proclaim tonight are not going to immediately make any of those thoughts vanish, but I do believe with all my heart that these words, this evening, this Incarnation might be a catalyst for healing and wholeness. Henry van Dyke in the hymn Joyful, joyful, we adore Thee speaks of God “driving the dark of doubt away” and “filling us with the light of day.” That is the message of the Incarnation and of Christmas. Jesus came so that we might be filled with the light the He shares with the world.
Christianity is unique in a number of ways, but none more important than how God interacts with the world He has created. One of the central tenets of our faith, and our celebration this evening commemorates the event that is perhaps one of the hardest for many to embrace and believe – the fact that God became a part of the Creation that He made. Dr. Peter Kreeft said that, “the eternal God has stepped into the world of time He created” (You Can Understand the Bible, p. 199). That is simply one of the most remarkable things about the faith that we proclaim and believe. We do not believe in a remote, detached, distant, uncaring, unfeeling God who is so many light years away from where we are, who we are, or what we struggle with. If that were the case, then there is ultimately no reason to have much faith in the first place because there would be no certainty that God would hear our pleas and cries for help, or worse, if He really even cared. Joy to the world would be such a foreign concept if we found ourselves in a hopeless situation as that.
No, we celebrate the glorious nature of a God who would personify Emmanuel – God with us. The great hymn of Advent O Come, O Come, Emmanuel is fulfilled tonight! As was proclaimed in Isaiah and then repeated by St. Matthew, a virgin shall conceive a son and shall call his name Emmanuel. That is a most remarkable assertion. We have received the greatest blessing in knowing that the very God who created everything became a living member of that very creation.
In the person of Jesus Christ, God faced the same temptations as we do. He shared the same emotions that we do. He experienced the same disappointments, failures, and shortcomings from those He loved just as we do. He faced loss, death, and abandonment. And through all of those things, he did not allow the darkness to overshadow the light that he came to bear. He did not place that light under a bucket or cover it up, but rather he let the light devour the darkness. In one person, we receive hope. The difference is we are not trusting in just a person; we are trusting in God who became Man. God who bore all of our weakness upon himself came in the most vulnerable of forms. He came as a baby. He came to us in the most unassuming of fashions in order that we might assume that same manner of life.
If we are going to bear the name of Christian, it means that we have to first bear the name of Christ. St. Paul in both his Epistle to the Romans and to the Galatians uses that same terminology – we are called to put on Christ. That is a very risky proposition. It means that we must know the very person we are called to be like. Putting on Christ means that as we celebrate Christ’s coming and birth we must also embrace His death. Even in the midst of life we confront the images of death and darkness that come at us from all sides. There is the temptation to cave into these forces of darkness and abandon the light that is within us. There is the reality of internalizing the events that happen to us and live in our own world in which we can only describe as lost. Jesus said, “For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10).
We are those very lost sheep who are lost and have gone astray. We are the ones who seek to do things our own way, and feel like we have the world conquered. We are the ones who are in desperate need of a Saviour, and He comes to us again in a spirit of humility, and He bids us to follow him in that same fashion. Only with a humble heart can we fully comprehend the profound nature that our Redeemer “was made lower than the angels, crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for every one” (Heb. 2:9).Jesus’ very destiny was set from the moment he was conceived by the Holy Ghost. He most likely spent His first night on earth in a cave outside Bethlehem, and slept in a wooden feeding trough that served as a bed. He spent His last day on earth hanging on the hard wood of the cross, outside Jerusalem, and then laid to rest in a cave owned by a rich man.
Through Jesus’ Incarnation, death, and resurrection comes the sure and certain hope that Emmanuel has in fact come to give life, and he gives us that life in order that we might enjoy it abundantly. Jesus told the crowds one day, “But blessed are your eyes, for they see: and your ears, for they hear. For verily I say unto you, That many prophets and righteous men have desired to see those things which ye see, and have not seen them; and to hear those things which ye hear, and have not heard them” (Matt. 13:16-17).
In Jesus, we have the one and only gift we could ever hope to receive this Christmas. For if we have Him, we have received the life that was the light of men. We have received a gift that lasts for all eternity. And since our Lord Jesus said it is more blessed to give than to receive, our calling as Christians is to give that gift away. We must share what we have freely received. We must let the light so shine within us so that all might see what we do in love, and give glory, honor, praise, and worship to our Incarnate Lord and Saviour.
Preached at All Saints' Church - Thomasville, GA
I am not sure if anyone else here this evening as ever pondered this thought before, but I have often wondered why the ancient church ordered Scripture the way they did. I have been curious why Matthew’s Gospel is always first, with Luke third and Mark sandwiched in between. Then John’s Gospel follows and seemingly interrupts the flow of Luke and Acts. Scholars have offered many ideas as to why the order is as we have it today, but more specifically, I’ve often pondered the thought of John’s Gospel being first book in the New Testament. Why you might ask? Is it because John’s Gospel paints such a glorious picture of Jesus, who knows clearly who He is, where He has come from, what His role is, and where He is ultimately going? Or is it because of the rich symbolism that runs throughout the Gospel that provides such rich meanings behind the words. Or is it because the Prologue – the first 18 verses of John’s Gospel are some of the most remarkable in all of Scripture? Actually, the one reason I would give for having John first is the fact that both Genesis, and John start at the same place – In the beginning, God.
The creation story as recorded in Genesis, and the creation story as re-told through the lens of John’s Gospel begin with the source of all life and light. On the first day of creation, God as He moves and hovers over the chaos and darkness of the great void, he literally speaks a Word, and darkness is overshadowed by Light. The prophet Isaiah foreshadowed the coming of the Messiah when he wrote, “The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light: they dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined.” In creation everything was in great darkness, and in an instant, the Creator caused a new light to shine. Today, as in the ancient world, whenever one deals with issues of evil, chaos, confusion, turmoil we often hear the term darkness used to describe that experience. Many of you perhaps have experienced a sense of spiritual embattlement that many call a dark night of the soul. Perhaps some have come here this evening and this is the first Christmas without a spouse, or parent, or child, or long-time friend. If you are like me and have opened your IRA or 401k statement, there doesn’t appear to be much light there either, but a great deal of darkness. Instead of light, it seems like darkness is creeping in from every direction.
The words I proclaim tonight are not going to immediately make any of those thoughts vanish, but I do believe with all my heart that these words, this evening, this Incarnation might be a catalyst for healing and wholeness. Henry van Dyke in the hymn Joyful, joyful, we adore Thee speaks of God “driving the dark of doubt away” and “filling us with the light of day.” That is the message of the Incarnation and of Christmas. Jesus came so that we might be filled with the light the He shares with the world.
Christianity is unique in a number of ways, but none more important than how God interacts with the world He has created. One of the central tenets of our faith, and our celebration this evening commemorates the event that is perhaps one of the hardest for many to embrace and believe – the fact that God became a part of the Creation that He made. Dr. Peter Kreeft said that, “the eternal God has stepped into the world of time He created” (You Can Understand the Bible, p. 199). That is simply one of the most remarkable things about the faith that we proclaim and believe. We do not believe in a remote, detached, distant, uncaring, unfeeling God who is so many light years away from where we are, who we are, or what we struggle with. If that were the case, then there is ultimately no reason to have much faith in the first place because there would be no certainty that God would hear our pleas and cries for help, or worse, if He really even cared. Joy to the world would be such a foreign concept if we found ourselves in a hopeless situation as that.
No, we celebrate the glorious nature of a God who would personify Emmanuel – God with us. The great hymn of Advent O Come, O Come, Emmanuel is fulfilled tonight! As was proclaimed in Isaiah and then repeated by St. Matthew, a virgin shall conceive a son and shall call his name Emmanuel. That is a most remarkable assertion. We have received the greatest blessing in knowing that the very God who created everything became a living member of that very creation.
In the person of Jesus Christ, God faced the same temptations as we do. He shared the same emotions that we do. He experienced the same disappointments, failures, and shortcomings from those He loved just as we do. He faced loss, death, and abandonment. And through all of those things, he did not allow the darkness to overshadow the light that he came to bear. He did not place that light under a bucket or cover it up, but rather he let the light devour the darkness. In one person, we receive hope. The difference is we are not trusting in just a person; we are trusting in God who became Man. God who bore all of our weakness upon himself came in the most vulnerable of forms. He came as a baby. He came to us in the most unassuming of fashions in order that we might assume that same manner of life.
If we are going to bear the name of Christian, it means that we have to first bear the name of Christ. St. Paul in both his Epistle to the Romans and to the Galatians uses that same terminology – we are called to put on Christ. That is a very risky proposition. It means that we must know the very person we are called to be like. Putting on Christ means that as we celebrate Christ’s coming and birth we must also embrace His death. Even in the midst of life we confront the images of death and darkness that come at us from all sides. There is the temptation to cave into these forces of darkness and abandon the light that is within us. There is the reality of internalizing the events that happen to us and live in our own world in which we can only describe as lost. Jesus said, “For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10).
We are those very lost sheep who are lost and have gone astray. We are the ones who seek to do things our own way, and feel like we have the world conquered. We are the ones who are in desperate need of a Saviour, and He comes to us again in a spirit of humility, and He bids us to follow him in that same fashion. Only with a humble heart can we fully comprehend the profound nature that our Redeemer “was made lower than the angels, crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for every one” (Heb. 2:9).Jesus’ very destiny was set from the moment he was conceived by the Holy Ghost. He most likely spent His first night on earth in a cave outside Bethlehem, and slept in a wooden feeding trough that served as a bed. He spent His last day on earth hanging on the hard wood of the cross, outside Jerusalem, and then laid to rest in a cave owned by a rich man.
Through Jesus’ Incarnation, death, and resurrection comes the sure and certain hope that Emmanuel has in fact come to give life, and he gives us that life in order that we might enjoy it abundantly. Jesus told the crowds one day, “But blessed are your eyes, for they see: and your ears, for they hear. For verily I say unto you, That many prophets and righteous men have desired to see those things which ye see, and have not seen them; and to hear those things which ye hear, and have not heard them” (Matt. 13:16-17).
In Jesus, we have the one and only gift we could ever hope to receive this Christmas. For if we have Him, we have received the life that was the light of men. We have received a gift that lasts for all eternity. And since our Lord Jesus said it is more blessed to give than to receive, our calling as Christians is to give that gift away. We must share what we have freely received. We must let the light so shine within us so that all might see what we do in love, and give glory, honor, praise, and worship to our Incarnate Lord and Saviour.
Friday, May 30, 2008
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
Collect for the Fifth Sunday after Easter, commonly called Rogation Sunday (BCP, p. 175)
O LORD, from whom all good things do come; Grant to us thy humble servants, that by thy holy inspiration we may think those things that are good, and by thy merciful guiding may perform the same; through our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
I almost hate to admit this, but growing up a cradle Episcopalian, I never remember Rogation Sunday or the Rogation Days at all in my upbringing or catechesis. According to the Catholic Encyclopedia (newadvent.org) there were two sets of Rogation Days (major and minor). The major being April 25 which actually preceded the Feast Day of St. Mark on the Kalendar, and the minor days being the three days preceding Ascension Day. These days were set apart for fasting and prayer to help "appease God's anger at man's transgressions, to ask protection in calamities, and to obtain a good and bountiful harvest" (www.newadvent.org/cathen/13110b.htm).
The word rogation comes from the Latin rogare which means "to ask" (www.fisheaters.com/customseastertide3.html). It is interesting to note what we are asking God for in our Collect. We ask God to change our thoughts. We do not ask Him to change our actions, or our wills, but rather, that He change our thoughts. We acknowledge that everything good proceeds from the hand of God, and that we might recognize that and with God's help, order our thoughts to align with His. Why target our thoughts? Because our actions will stem directly from our thoughts.
Change my thoughts, O LORD. Help me to think on those good things which point directly to your goodness. Let those who see the actions which stem from those thoughts lead others to your love and mercy. "Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven." St. Matt. v.16.
O LORD, from whom all good things do come; Grant to us thy humble servants, that by thy holy inspiration we may think those things that are good, and by thy merciful guiding may perform the same; through our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
I almost hate to admit this, but growing up a cradle Episcopalian, I never remember Rogation Sunday or the Rogation Days at all in my upbringing or catechesis. According to the Catholic Encyclopedia (newadvent.org) there were two sets of Rogation Days (major and minor). The major being April 25 which actually preceded the Feast Day of St. Mark on the Kalendar, and the minor days being the three days preceding Ascension Day. These days were set apart for fasting and prayer to help "appease God's anger at man's transgressions, to ask protection in calamities, and to obtain a good and bountiful harvest" (www.newadvent.org/cathen/13110b.htm).
The word rogation comes from the Latin rogare which means "to ask" (www.fisheaters.com/customseastertide3.html). It is interesting to note what we are asking God for in our Collect. We ask God to change our thoughts. We do not ask Him to change our actions, or our wills, but rather, that He change our thoughts. We acknowledge that everything good proceeds from the hand of God, and that we might recognize that and with God's help, order our thoughts to align with His. Why target our thoughts? Because our actions will stem directly from our thoughts.
Change my thoughts, O LORD. Help me to think on those good things which point directly to your goodness. Let those who see the actions which stem from those thoughts lead others to your love and mercy. "Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven." St. Matt. v.16.
Thursday, February 21, 2008
Great Fun!!
Our All Saints' EYC group just had a great trip to Highlands, NC. It was a great time for us to get away from Thomasville for a couple of days and enjoy the President's Day Holiday. Our weekend was intended to be mostly a fun trip, but we did culminate our time together with a celebration of our Lord's Supper on Sunday morning. The setting was remarkable with an altar set in front of a large window which overlooked the valley with the fog beginning to roll in. My hope is that those who were able to worship together experienced the beauty of God's creation as we were joined together around his Holy Table to share the Sacrament of Christ's Body and Blood.
Our All Saints' EYC group just had a great trip to Highlands, NC. It was a great time for us to get away from Thomasville for a couple of days and enjoy the President's Day Holiday. Our weekend was intended to be mostly a fun trip, but we did culminate our time together with a celebration of our Lord's Supper on Sunday morning. The setting was remarkable with an altar set in front of a large window which overlooked the valley with the fog beginning to roll in. My hope is that those who were able to worship together experienced the beauty of God's creation as we were joined together around his Holy Table to share the Sacrament of Christ's Body and Blood.
Monday, December 17, 2007
A new day has dawned...
On December 12, 2007, the Rt. Rev. Henry I. Louttit laid hands upon my head, invoked the Holy Ghost, and I was forever changed. In a powerful and magnificent service, my time of preparation and training came to fruition as I was ordained a priest in Christ's One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church. I will serve my first cure as Curate at All Saints' Church in Thomasville, GA. We are a 1928 Book of Common Prayer parish, with the Bishop's permission and blessing, and we celebrate the opportunity to worship using the traditional rites within our Anglican heritage.
Advent III was a tremendous day for me as well as I approached the Holy Table for the first time as a priest to celebrate the Sacred Mysteries. It was a wonderful occasion, and one that I will never forget. I await with eagerness the celebration of the Incarnation in a new light as a clergyman.
On December 12, 2007, the Rt. Rev. Henry I. Louttit laid hands upon my head, invoked the Holy Ghost, and I was forever changed. In a powerful and magnificent service, my time of preparation and training came to fruition as I was ordained a priest in Christ's One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church. I will serve my first cure as Curate at All Saints' Church in Thomasville, GA. We are a 1928 Book of Common Prayer parish, with the Bishop's permission and blessing, and we celebrate the opportunity to worship using the traditional rites within our Anglican heritage.
Advent III was a tremendous day for me as well as I approached the Holy Table for the first time as a priest to celebrate the Sacred Mysteries. It was a wonderful occasion, and one that I will never forget. I await with eagerness the celebration of the Incarnation in a new light as a clergyman.
Thursday, July 20, 2006
All good things must come to an end!
In just one short week, Robyn, William and I will be leaving the great state of South Carolina, and the Holy City of Charleston to head back to Sewanee. Before doing so, we will make a pass through Thomasville, Georgia, where we will be meeting with many of the parishioners of All Saints' Parish. Robyn and I had a great meeting with The Rev. Rick Buechner at the end of June, and he would like us to come visit Thomasville before heading back to Sewanee. So next Thursday, we will have both cars loaded up, and head south to Georgia. After spending 4 days in Thomasville, it's off to the Holy Mountain for one more year of seminary. I know that God has great things in store for us.
The experience at St. Philip's has been wonderful. We have benefited from a great staff and clergy. I have seen a great deal that will help me in my future ministry, and I wish that words could adequately express my gratitude for this opportunity. I can't thank David+ enough for thinking of me last fall when he put the bug in my ear to come to Charleston for the summer.
I was excited to have the opportunity to preach once while I was here. I also had the opportunity to facilitate an adult education offering utilizing Nicky Gumbel's book A Life Worth Living. This book is a follow-up to the Alpha program, and I highly recommend it as a Christian Ed. program in other parishes.
I pray that my last year at seminary is rich and rewarding. I know that as I take bold stands for the orthodox faith, that God will be standing beside me, giving me the words to say. It is going to be a year of challenges and opportunities, but I know that the rewards will be unimaginable.
In just one short week, Robyn, William and I will be leaving the great state of South Carolina, and the Holy City of Charleston to head back to Sewanee. Before doing so, we will make a pass through Thomasville, Georgia, where we will be meeting with many of the parishioners of All Saints' Parish. Robyn and I had a great meeting with The Rev. Rick Buechner at the end of June, and he would like us to come visit Thomasville before heading back to Sewanee. So next Thursday, we will have both cars loaded up, and head south to Georgia. After spending 4 days in Thomasville, it's off to the Holy Mountain for one more year of seminary. I know that God has great things in store for us.
The experience at St. Philip's has been wonderful. We have benefited from a great staff and clergy. I have seen a great deal that will help me in my future ministry, and I wish that words could adequately express my gratitude for this opportunity. I can't thank David+ enough for thinking of me last fall when he put the bug in my ear to come to Charleston for the summer.
I was excited to have the opportunity to preach once while I was here. I also had the opportunity to facilitate an adult education offering utilizing Nicky Gumbel's book A Life Worth Living. This book is a follow-up to the Alpha program, and I highly recommend it as a Christian Ed. program in other parishes.
I pray that my last year at seminary is rich and rewarding. I know that as I take bold stands for the orthodox faith, that God will be standing beside me, giving me the words to say. It is going to be a year of challenges and opportunities, but I know that the rewards will be unimaginable.
Wednesday, June 14, 2006
News from the Low Country
It is a joy and privilege for me to serve on staff at St. Philip's Church in Charleston. I am working with wonderful men and women of this parish, and trying to make the most of this learning experience. We are enjoying nice accommodations for the months of June and July from two different parishioners who have graciously opened their homes to Robyn, William and me. We are thankful that God has blessed us with two families who were willing to take in strangers for a month each.
The worship is glorious and Spirit-filled. I look forward to hearing the Gospel preached from the other priests on staff, and make my contribution on July 9. My first week teaching Sunday school was well received as we began to explore Paul's letter to the Philippians using Nicky Gumbel's book, A Life Worth Living. I look forward to seeing where our discussion leads us.
Robyn and William have been exploring Charleston and making sure to hit the beach on a real regular basis. They are settling into a routine, and are enjoying their time here as well.
Thank God the sand gnats have decided to subside a bit, and have not greeted us yet. We know all about them from our Brunswick days, and would just as soon never see them again! More to follow...
It is a joy and privilege for me to serve on staff at St. Philip's Church in Charleston. I am working with wonderful men and women of this parish, and trying to make the most of this learning experience. We are enjoying nice accommodations for the months of June and July from two different parishioners who have graciously opened their homes to Robyn, William and me. We are thankful that God has blessed us with two families who were willing to take in strangers for a month each.
The worship is glorious and Spirit-filled. I look forward to hearing the Gospel preached from the other priests on staff, and make my contribution on July 9. My first week teaching Sunday school was well received as we began to explore Paul's letter to the Philippians using Nicky Gumbel's book, A Life Worth Living. I look forward to seeing where our discussion leads us.
Robyn and William have been exploring Charleston and making sure to hit the beach on a real regular basis. They are settling into a routine, and are enjoying their time here as well.
Thank God the sand gnats have decided to subside a bit, and have not greeted us yet. We know all about them from our Brunswick days, and would just as soon never see them again! More to follow...
Collect for Trinity Sunday (BCP, p. 186)
Almighty and everlasting God, who hast given unto us thy servants grace, by the confession of a true faith, to acknowledge the glory of the eternal Trinity, and in the power of the Divine Majesty to worship the Unity; We beseech thee that thou wouldest keep us stedfast in this faith, and evermore defend us from all adversities, who livest and reignest, one God, world without end. Amen.
Our true faith as Christians is found in the recognition that we must believe in the redeeming work done by Jesus Christ on the cross. Taking that one step further though, we must also believe that the same person who became Man, took sin upon Himself, died so that we will never die, rose from the dead, and ascended to the right hand of the Father, is in fact God. Not some 'other.' Not something less than God, but rather, Jesus is God. The Spirit of God who dwells with us today is in the same manner God as the first and second persons are.
No words can adequately explain something that our human vocabulary is incapable of mastering. We can only do what Archbishop Cranmer asks in the first part of the petition - for true faith through grace. He does not ask God to give us a blueprint for the Trinity in terms that we can understand. He left the Trinity a mystery, and so should we. He left it in a way that only faith can do it justice.
I pray for that faith every day, and I believe in the Unity of the Trinity - leaving the full comprehension for the day when I can see and understand face-to-face!
Almighty and everlasting God, who hast given unto us thy servants grace, by the confession of a true faith, to acknowledge the glory of the eternal Trinity, and in the power of the Divine Majesty to worship the Unity; We beseech thee that thou wouldest keep us stedfast in this faith, and evermore defend us from all adversities, who livest and reignest, one God, world without end. Amen.
Our true faith as Christians is found in the recognition that we must believe in the redeeming work done by Jesus Christ on the cross. Taking that one step further though, we must also believe that the same person who became Man, took sin upon Himself, died so that we will never die, rose from the dead, and ascended to the right hand of the Father, is in fact God. Not some 'other.' Not something less than God, but rather, Jesus is God. The Spirit of God who dwells with us today is in the same manner God as the first and second persons are.
No words can adequately explain something that our human vocabulary is incapable of mastering. We can only do what Archbishop Cranmer asks in the first part of the petition - for true faith through grace. He does not ask God to give us a blueprint for the Trinity in terms that we can understand. He left the Trinity a mystery, and so should we. He left it in a way that only faith can do it justice.
I pray for that faith every day, and I believe in the Unity of the Trinity - leaving the full comprehension for the day when I can see and understand face-to-face!
Saturday, May 20, 2006
I know I am due for a new post, but I've been wrapping up end-of-semester papers and getting ready to go to Charleston, SC for the summer working as an intern at St. Philip's Church. What a wonderful place to spend the summer with the family, work in a solidly orthodox parish, in a great diocese, and ride through the storm of General Convention 2006.
I pray that the Holy Spirit moves throughout Columbus, and that our church will recognize and repent of its wayward teaching and actions. I can do no more than hold the delegates up in prayer and let the Lord work in their hearts and minds. That is what we are all called to do.
More updates to come as the summer progresses!
I pray that the Holy Spirit moves throughout Columbus, and that our church will recognize and repent of its wayward teaching and actions. I can do no more than hold the delegates up in prayer and let the Lord work in their hearts and minds. That is what we are all called to do.
More updates to come as the summer progresses!
Friday, April 21, 2006
Collect for the Day of the Resurrection (BCP, p. 163)
Almighty God, who through thine only-begotten Son Jesus Christ hast overcome death, and opened unto us the gate of everlasting life; We humbly beseech thee that, as by thy special grace preventing us thou dost put into our minds good desires, so by thy continual help we may bring the same to good effect; through the same Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Ghost ever, one God, world without end. Amen.
Alleluia! Christ is Risen!
The Lord is Risen indeed! Alleluia!
I think it is most interesting that the collect for Easter Sunday asks God to put into our minds good desires. Why would Cranmer talk about something that seems so simple in principle, but is so hard to accomplish in practice? Perhaps it is because it is just as much a part of the resurrection story as anything else, and it is a part of our response to the empty tomb. We still recognize that we are incapable on our own to do these good desires, but through God's help we might strive to make this a reality.
The special grace that is God's gift to us was bought on the hard wood of the cross. The good desires that we are to strive for should represent our sense of thanksgiving for the grace that God bestows upon each and every one of us. Of course, I am not speaking of good works and desires as something that buys or earns us anything. For there is nothing that we can do in this life to earn or warrant God's grace. It is purely out of thanksgiving and joy that we strive for those good desires on this side of eternity.
May our thanks and praise be offered to our Risen Lord and Saviour, who paid the price for our everlasting freedom.
Alleluia! Alleluia! Christ Jesus our Lord is risen from the dead!
May we offer him our undying praise and thanksgiving! Alleluia! Alleluia!
Almighty God, who through thine only-begotten Son Jesus Christ hast overcome death, and opened unto us the gate of everlasting life; We humbly beseech thee that, as by thy special grace preventing us thou dost put into our minds good desires, so by thy continual help we may bring the same to good effect; through the same Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Ghost ever, one God, world without end. Amen.
Alleluia! Christ is Risen!
The Lord is Risen indeed! Alleluia!
I think it is most interesting that the collect for Easter Sunday asks God to put into our minds good desires. Why would Cranmer talk about something that seems so simple in principle, but is so hard to accomplish in practice? Perhaps it is because it is just as much a part of the resurrection story as anything else, and it is a part of our response to the empty tomb. We still recognize that we are incapable on our own to do these good desires, but through God's help we might strive to make this a reality.
The special grace that is God's gift to us was bought on the hard wood of the cross. The good desires that we are to strive for should represent our sense of thanksgiving for the grace that God bestows upon each and every one of us. Of course, I am not speaking of good works and desires as something that buys or earns us anything. For there is nothing that we can do in this life to earn or warrant God's grace. It is purely out of thanksgiving and joy that we strive for those good desires on this side of eternity.
May our thanks and praise be offered to our Risen Lord and Saviour, who paid the price for our everlasting freedom.
Alleluia! Alleluia! Christ Jesus our Lord is risen from the dead!
May we offer him our undying praise and thanksgiving! Alleluia! Alleluia!
Friday, April 14, 2006
Collects for Good Friday (BCP, p. 156 &157)
Almighty God, we beseech thee graciously to behold this thy family, for which our Lord Jesus Christ was contented to be betrayed, and given up into the hands of wicked men, and to suffer death upon the cross; who now liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Ghost ever, one God, world without end. Amen.
Almighty and everlasting God, by whose Spirit the whole body of the Church is governed and sanctified; Receive our supplications and prayers, which we offer before thee for all estates of men in thy holy Church, that every member of the same, in his vocation and ministry, may truly and godly serve thee; through our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen.
O Merciful God, who hast made all men, and hatest nothing that thou hast made, nor desirest the death of a sinner, but rather that he should be converted and live; Have mercy upon all who know thee not as thou art revealed in the Gospel of thy Son. Take from them all ignorance, hardness of heart, and contempt of thy Word; and so fetch them home, blessed Lord, to thy fold, that they may be made one flock under one shepherd, Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, world without end. Amen.
On this most holy day, there is very little that needs to be said after praying the three collects appointed for today. May we all reflect upon our journey as Christians as we remember the Way of the Cross that Jesus walked on our behalf. Thanks be to Almighty God for that gracious gift that we can neither repay, nor truly comprehend. We can only offer our praise and thanksgiving for the joys that are found by being sheep of his fold.
Almighty God, we beseech thee graciously to behold this thy family, for which our Lord Jesus Christ was contented to be betrayed, and given up into the hands of wicked men, and to suffer death upon the cross; who now liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Ghost ever, one God, world without end. Amen.
Almighty and everlasting God, by whose Spirit the whole body of the Church is governed and sanctified; Receive our supplications and prayers, which we offer before thee for all estates of men in thy holy Church, that every member of the same, in his vocation and ministry, may truly and godly serve thee; through our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen.
O Merciful God, who hast made all men, and hatest nothing that thou hast made, nor desirest the death of a sinner, but rather that he should be converted and live; Have mercy upon all who know thee not as thou art revealed in the Gospel of thy Son. Take from them all ignorance, hardness of heart, and contempt of thy Word; and so fetch them home, blessed Lord, to thy fold, that they may be made one flock under one shepherd, Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, world without end. Amen.
On this most holy day, there is very little that needs to be said after praying the three collects appointed for today. May we all reflect upon our journey as Christians as we remember the Way of the Cross that Jesus walked on our behalf. Thanks be to Almighty God for that gracious gift that we can neither repay, nor truly comprehend. We can only offer our praise and thanksgiving for the joys that are found by being sheep of his fold.
Monday, April 10, 2006
Collect for the Sunday next before Easter, Commonly Called Palm Sunday (BCP, p. 134)
Almighty and everlasting God, who, of thy tender love towards mankind, hast sent thy Son, our Saviour Jesus Christ, to take upon him our flesh, and to suffer death upon the cross, that all mankind should follow the example of his great humility; Mercifully grant, that we may both follow the example of his patience, and also be made partakers of his resurrection; through the same Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Jesus took on our flesh. When he took that flesh upon himself, he subjected himself to the same trials, tribulations, temptations, and struggles that we endure. He did so in perfection, the way that we were intended to live before the fall. He did so even to his death, in great humility, on trumped up charges all in the name of love.
We are commanded to adopt that same humility as we live out our own lives. In so doing, we might obtain that glory, that Jesus bought and paid for with his life, death, and resurrection. Thanks be to God for that so costly a gift. May this Holy Week allow us to reflect upon the same.
Almighty and everlasting God, who, of thy tender love towards mankind, hast sent thy Son, our Saviour Jesus Christ, to take upon him our flesh, and to suffer death upon the cross, that all mankind should follow the example of his great humility; Mercifully grant, that we may both follow the example of his patience, and also be made partakers of his resurrection; through the same Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Jesus took on our flesh. When he took that flesh upon himself, he subjected himself to the same trials, tribulations, temptations, and struggles that we endure. He did so in perfection, the way that we were intended to live before the fall. He did so even to his death, in great humility, on trumped up charges all in the name of love.
We are commanded to adopt that same humility as we live out our own lives. In so doing, we might obtain that glory, that Jesus bought and paid for with his life, death, and resurrection. Thanks be to God for that so costly a gift. May this Holy Week allow us to reflect upon the same.
Thursday, April 06, 2006
Collect for the Fifth Sunday in Lent, Commonly Called Passion Sunday (BCP, p. 132)
We beseech thee, Almighty God, mercifully to look upon thy people; that by thy great goodness they may be governed and preserved evermore, both in body and soul; through Jesus Christ our Lord, to whom, with thee and the Holy Ghost, be all glory and honour, world without end. Amen.
As we pray this collect on Passion Sunday and approach the final week in Lent, prior to entering Holy Week, we seek two petitions. We ask that God govern us, and then preserve us in both body and soul. There is a calling into submission to the Creator of all things. There is a price to pay if we allow God to govern our lives. It means that we must pick up our crosses daily and follow Him. That is what allowing God to govern our lives looks like.
In doing so, we are preserved for all eternity, in body now here on earth, and in soul in union with Him. Living within these two entities we can rejoice in the mercy of Almighty God.
We beseech thee, Almighty God, mercifully to look upon thy people; that by thy great goodness they may be governed and preserved evermore, both in body and soul; through Jesus Christ our Lord, to whom, with thee and the Holy Ghost, be all glory and honour, world without end. Amen.
As we pray this collect on Passion Sunday and approach the final week in Lent, prior to entering Holy Week, we seek two petitions. We ask that God govern us, and then preserve us in both body and soul. There is a calling into submission to the Creator of all things. There is a price to pay if we allow God to govern our lives. It means that we must pick up our crosses daily and follow Him. That is what allowing God to govern our lives looks like.
In doing so, we are preserved for all eternity, in body now here on earth, and in soul in union with Him. Living within these two entities we can rejoice in the mercy of Almighty God.
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