Sermon for Christ the King Sunday
Preached At St John’s Lancaster
For weeks, with just a few exceptions, the vestments and hangings in our church have been green. And now, with one week remaining before the season of Advent, they are white. Today is the Sunday set aside by our holy mother the Church as Christ the King Sunday. It is the day we pause to consider the nature of the station and dignity of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
We all know about kings. They live in palaces and wear spectacular uniforms to review their splendidly dressed palace guards. They are great tourist attractions. Their weddings are often televised. And lushly photographed books and magazines about their homes and gardens are almost always bestsellers. And one other thing, they don’t have near as much power as they used to.
Our history informs our opinion of kings as well. They are generally remembered as very fallible and somewhat out of touch Scottish or German powerbrokers that care more about enriching themselves and their friends than about fulfilling the responsibilities they claim in relation to us and our families out here in the colonies. At the end of the day, we are pretty sure that we are better off without them, unless of course they are circumscribed by parliaments or local chieftains who agree with us.
The end result is that we often see Jesus not as the imperial ruler the Scriptures claim him to be, but as a sort of buddy who doubles as our president. We like him and he likes us, and we respect him a lot, but when it comes to such things as commands and edicts, most of them are discussable, and a good number of them are negotiable. I imagine that is why so many of us who name the name of Christ today ignore so many of his precepts. So many who really do try to follow Christ fail to have respect for human life and seek to justify the use of abortion as an unfortunate but acceptable form of birth control if a child does not fit into their plans. Others who serve him so faithfully in so many other ways are willing in their anger to bomb civilian populations back into the Stone Age, and attempt to justify their attitudes and actions in the name of our own security. Still others who are devout in so many ways are willing to overlook the physical and emotional needs of their neighbors, neighbors in need, and neighbors created in the image of God himself, on grounds of practicality, or availability of resources, or their own opinions about who deserves to be helped and who does not deserve to be helped.
If we go on to add all of the other places where an individual Christian might cut corners and justify their departure from the clear teachings of Scripture: sex, wealth, truthfulness, and respect for
God and other people, to mention just a few; it becomes painfully obvious to most thoughtful people that all of us fail at some time and on some issue with which we struggle. Most of us who name Christ as our King fail to treat him as such at least on occasion. Like men and women of every age and in every place, we fail to appreciate the true meaning of Kingship as it relates to our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
What are we to do? On this feast day of Christ the King, I would offer a few common sense, and biblical suggestions:
1. Remember that Christ the King is sovereign, and that means that by right, he calls the shots. He has spoken to us in the words of the Scriptures, and where their teaching is clear, we are bound to follow those teachings.
2. Remember that we all foul up from time to time. We miss the mark, and that is the definition of Sin. Even the most religious of us, the most Christian of us if you will, need to go to the King, tell him we are sorry for our failures, and ask his forgiveness. Always remember that a sincere apology, which means that we really are sorry and that it is our intent not to do the wrong thing again, will be accepted by the King, and we will be forgiven.
3. We need to work hard to change our attitude about kingship, and to submit in all things to the revealed will of our Sovereign. For that is the meaning of Sovereignty.
In conclusion, let us put aside the idea that we can live a victorious Christian life if we do not accept the plan for living laid out for us by him who loved us enough to step down from his throne and die for our sins that we might be reconciled to God and have abundant life forever. Even if we do not agree with or understand completely why he gives us some clear command in the Bible, let us strive to live in obedience to those commands in the knowledge that one day he will say to us, “Well done, thou good and faithful servant.”
My brothers and sisters, on this feast day of Christ the King, I would propose a toast to be offered at our next meal, wherever that may be: “To Christ, the True King. Long live the King.” In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. AMEN.
Saturday, November 20, 2010
Sunday, November 14, 2010
BIG T & little t Tradition
Catechetical Sermon Four: Holy Tradition and our traditions
Preached at St. John’s Lancaster, 14 November 2010
Rebecca and I have always kept small aggressive dogs who are wonderfully loving. Their skin is generally black, and their coats are coarse and thick, but they don’t shed. They have small, upright ears and alert eyes. They spell immediate death to any rodent on which they manage to fixate. They will sit under a tree for hours or dig two to three times their body length in search of prey. They are not for everyone, and many people who acquire these breeds of dogs without doing their research before their purchase end up giving them away. All of you who have been around dogs know that I am talking about terriers. The definition, like the experience of owning them, is unmistakable and absolutely predictable. Tradition, and traditions are like that. They often aggravate us, they almost always comfort us, they are often a mystery to others, and they define who we are.
When we employ the word tradition, we are actually talking about two different things. Big “T” Tradition,, which is often called Holy Tradition, is that way of doing things which we have received from the Apostles, and which St. Paul admonished us to hold fast. It involves the way we organize our Church structures into Dioceses with Bishops in Apostolic Succession, represented by Priests and assisted by Deacons. It is evident in our insistence on the use of the same elements that Jesus used in the Holy Communion, and in our insistence that the words of Scripture be employed in the Eucharistic Prayer. It defines why we insist on saying the Apostles’ Creed at Baptisms and the Nicene Creed at Communion. It informs our understanding of the intricacies of our understanding of the Holy and Blessed Trinity and of the Union of the Divine and Human Natures in the Person of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. It involves our insistence that believers do their very best to live lives of obedience to the clear teachings of Holy Scripture. Little “t” traditions are very different from big “T” Traditions. They involve those theological comfort items that give us a sense of having been in church, and in the presence of God. They include things like the use of organ and English choral music, the lighting of candles, when we cross ourselves, and how we bow. Liturgical colour schemes and the installation of pews in our Naves also fall into the “little t” category.
It goes without saying that Holy Tradition constitutes a body of practice which we dare not change on our own or without sincere and prayerful consideration. In fact, it would be consistent with the ancient teachings of the church to say that any attempt to change the Holy Traditions of our Holy Mother the Church without the full consultation and consent of our Anglican and Ecumenical Brothers and Sisters, including as the Romans, the Orthodox, the Copts, the Syriac, and the Protestant Churches, any such action would be arrogant and prideful, and would represent a willful walking apart from that consensus which defines us as the Body of Christ.
But that is enough of the heavy theology. Let’s talk about some of those fun things which define us, and which help us to express more fully our commitment to Christ. Keep in mind that these things we will talk about are not required, but they are loved by many faithful men and women, because they have often defined who we are as this people of God called Episcopalians, or Anglicans.
1. The sign of the Cross. The sign of the Cross is a reminder of the signing with the cross that we experienced at our Baptism. Here are some of the times that people have come to consider it appropriate to sign themselves
At the conclusion of your devotions after entering the church
At mention of the Resurrection of the Body in the Creed
At the absolution in Prayers or Communion
In the Communion prayer when we acknowledge ourselves as being in Christ
Before receiving the elements in Communion
At the beginning of the canticles in Morning or Evening Prayer
Whenever you hear an ambulance or pass a funeral
In short, whenever life’s events call you to remember the grace of God in your life.
2. To genuflect or to Bow. Either is acceptable and appropriate at any time you cross the line of the cross in a procession or while moving about the church. It is simply a matter of giving Royal Honours to God. On the continent, subjects generally knelt before King or Emperor, and therefore the catholic custom is to genuflect, and that is perfectly acceptable. In the British Isles, it was customary to greet one’s sovereign with a low Stuart bow. Hence many in our Communion execute a solemn bow.
3. Facing East in the Creed. We face east during the Creed because we believe that Jesus will return to Jerusalem, and therefore we face east in anticipation of this event. While facing east, it is customary to bow when the article about Jesus begins, again as a sign that we are indeed His liege men and women.
4. Covering or uncovering in Church. It was the custom of the apostolic church, and is still the custom in most Christian places, that men have their heads uncovered during prayer and women have theirs covered. Saint Paul talks about this custom, and until very recently, it was the norm even here at St. John’s. But again, it is a devout custom, not a requirement.
5. Entering the church in silence. Customarily, Anglicans and Episcopalians, and most other liturgical Christians, assume an attitude of prayer when entering the church and refrain from talking to each other until after the service. This custom is designed to show our respect to God and to give us time to prepare our hearts to worship Him in an undivided manner.
6. To kneel or to stand. Both customs are presented by the prayer book rubrics, or instructions. The medieval western custom was to kneel for confession and prayer, sit for instruction, and stand for praise. An early eastern custom (and remember that the Churches of Britannia and Hibernia originally gave obeisance to the Patriarch of Jerusalem, not to that of Rome) called for Christians to stand whenever they addressed God. The choice is yours.
Is your brain full and your head spinning yet? I’ll assume that it just might be. So let me summarize a couple of general principles that might help you to put these “little t” traditions into perspective.
1. Lots of people have found that sharing these traditions helps them to feel like a part of something much larger than themselves, to feel God’s presence more immediately in their worship experience, and to identify with a particular Christian worshipping tradition.
2. If you find them helpful in those or other ways, then do them.
3. If you don’t find them helpful, then don’t do them.
4. Follow your heart, and God will bless you.
But now, let us consider our traditions and Tradition in a more serious light. Do the things we do help people to see that we are indeed Christians? ( Like the characteristics and physical features of a terrier mark it out as one.) And more importantly, are the fruits of the Spirit, especially Love, so evident in my life that my witness is seen as being consistent with the customs I practice. If that is not the case, I will be seen as a hypocrite, and my recognition as a follower of Christ may well do more harm than good. So, go forth to keep seriously and devoutly those Holy Traditions we have received from the Apostles. Participate in those “little t” traditions which give you a sense of belonging and feeling closer to God. And in all things, as the song says, let them “know we are Christians by our Love.” In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. AMEN.
Preached at St. John’s Lancaster, 14 November 2010
Rebecca and I have always kept small aggressive dogs who are wonderfully loving. Their skin is generally black, and their coats are coarse and thick, but they don’t shed. They have small, upright ears and alert eyes. They spell immediate death to any rodent on which they manage to fixate. They will sit under a tree for hours or dig two to three times their body length in search of prey. They are not for everyone, and many people who acquire these breeds of dogs without doing their research before their purchase end up giving them away. All of you who have been around dogs know that I am talking about terriers. The definition, like the experience of owning them, is unmistakable and absolutely predictable. Tradition, and traditions are like that. They often aggravate us, they almost always comfort us, they are often a mystery to others, and they define who we are.
When we employ the word tradition, we are actually talking about two different things. Big “T” Tradition,, which is often called Holy Tradition, is that way of doing things which we have received from the Apostles, and which St. Paul admonished us to hold fast. It involves the way we organize our Church structures into Dioceses with Bishops in Apostolic Succession, represented by Priests and assisted by Deacons. It is evident in our insistence on the use of the same elements that Jesus used in the Holy Communion, and in our insistence that the words of Scripture be employed in the Eucharistic Prayer. It defines why we insist on saying the Apostles’ Creed at Baptisms and the Nicene Creed at Communion. It informs our understanding of the intricacies of our understanding of the Holy and Blessed Trinity and of the Union of the Divine and Human Natures in the Person of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. It involves our insistence that believers do their very best to live lives of obedience to the clear teachings of Holy Scripture. Little “t” traditions are very different from big “T” Traditions. They involve those theological comfort items that give us a sense of having been in church, and in the presence of God. They include things like the use of organ and English choral music, the lighting of candles, when we cross ourselves, and how we bow. Liturgical colour schemes and the installation of pews in our Naves also fall into the “little t” category.
It goes without saying that Holy Tradition constitutes a body of practice which we dare not change on our own or without sincere and prayerful consideration. In fact, it would be consistent with the ancient teachings of the church to say that any attempt to change the Holy Traditions of our Holy Mother the Church without the full consultation and consent of our Anglican and Ecumenical Brothers and Sisters, including as the Romans, the Orthodox, the Copts, the Syriac, and the Protestant Churches, any such action would be arrogant and prideful, and would represent a willful walking apart from that consensus which defines us as the Body of Christ.
But that is enough of the heavy theology. Let’s talk about some of those fun things which define us, and which help us to express more fully our commitment to Christ. Keep in mind that these things we will talk about are not required, but they are loved by many faithful men and women, because they have often defined who we are as this people of God called Episcopalians, or Anglicans.
1. The sign of the Cross. The sign of the Cross is a reminder of the signing with the cross that we experienced at our Baptism. Here are some of the times that people have come to consider it appropriate to sign themselves
At the conclusion of your devotions after entering the church
At mention of the Resurrection of the Body in the Creed
At the absolution in Prayers or Communion
In the Communion prayer when we acknowledge ourselves as being in Christ
Before receiving the elements in Communion
At the beginning of the canticles in Morning or Evening Prayer
Whenever you hear an ambulance or pass a funeral
In short, whenever life’s events call you to remember the grace of God in your life.
2. To genuflect or to Bow. Either is acceptable and appropriate at any time you cross the line of the cross in a procession or while moving about the church. It is simply a matter of giving Royal Honours to God. On the continent, subjects generally knelt before King or Emperor, and therefore the catholic custom is to genuflect, and that is perfectly acceptable. In the British Isles, it was customary to greet one’s sovereign with a low Stuart bow. Hence many in our Communion execute a solemn bow.
3. Facing East in the Creed. We face east during the Creed because we believe that Jesus will return to Jerusalem, and therefore we face east in anticipation of this event. While facing east, it is customary to bow when the article about Jesus begins, again as a sign that we are indeed His liege men and women.
4. Covering or uncovering in Church. It was the custom of the apostolic church, and is still the custom in most Christian places, that men have their heads uncovered during prayer and women have theirs covered. Saint Paul talks about this custom, and until very recently, it was the norm even here at St. John’s. But again, it is a devout custom, not a requirement.
5. Entering the church in silence. Customarily, Anglicans and Episcopalians, and most other liturgical Christians, assume an attitude of prayer when entering the church and refrain from talking to each other until after the service. This custom is designed to show our respect to God and to give us time to prepare our hearts to worship Him in an undivided manner.
6. To kneel or to stand. Both customs are presented by the prayer book rubrics, or instructions. The medieval western custom was to kneel for confession and prayer, sit for instruction, and stand for praise. An early eastern custom (and remember that the Churches of Britannia and Hibernia originally gave obeisance to the Patriarch of Jerusalem, not to that of Rome) called for Christians to stand whenever they addressed God. The choice is yours.
Is your brain full and your head spinning yet? I’ll assume that it just might be. So let me summarize a couple of general principles that might help you to put these “little t” traditions into perspective.
1. Lots of people have found that sharing these traditions helps them to feel like a part of something much larger than themselves, to feel God’s presence more immediately in their worship experience, and to identify with a particular Christian worshipping tradition.
2. If you find them helpful in those or other ways, then do them.
3. If you don’t find them helpful, then don’t do them.
4. Follow your heart, and God will bless you.
But now, let us consider our traditions and Tradition in a more serious light. Do the things we do help people to see that we are indeed Christians? ( Like the characteristics and physical features of a terrier mark it out as one.) And more importantly, are the fruits of the Spirit, especially Love, so evident in my life that my witness is seen as being consistent with the customs I practice. If that is not the case, I will be seen as a hypocrite, and my recognition as a follower of Christ may well do more harm than good. So, go forth to keep seriously and devoutly those Holy Traditions we have received from the Apostles. Participate in those “little t” traditions which give you a sense of belonging and feeling closer to God. And in all things, as the song says, let them “know we are Christians by our Love.” In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. AMEN.
Thursday, November 11, 2010
Holy Relationships with God and Each Other
Catechetical Sermon Three- Relationship and Incarnation
Preached at St. John’s November 7th, AD MMX
What exactly do you look for in a relationship? I remember a few years back when one of our acolytes, who will remain nameless and is now graduated and off to start her life as an adult, asked one of our older lay readers, who will also remain nameless, a very straightforward question while we were all standing at the altar during the service. She innocently said, “Are you hot?” He replied, “No, but I was thirty years ago.” And the question remains, what do you look for in a relationship? Our answers may differ in a few specifics, and they may mature a bit with time, but I daresay that our hopes and dreams, and our aspirations probably have a lot in common. All of us want to be loved. We want to matter to someone. We want someone who will respect us, and would never knowingly embarrass us or hurt us. We want to be safe and secure, and not have to worry that our special friend will ever leave us for someone who is more interesting or better looking. We want someone who will be interested in what we are interested in, and who will laugh with us and care about what we care about. There are a few other things, but that is the heart of the matter.
Our first catechetical lecture , you may remember, spoke about the authority that love brings to us all. Last week, we talked about how the Holy and Blessed Trinity models for us the nature of true Christian Community. This week, I would like for us to examine how the Incarnation of Jesus the Christ shows us the true nature of two kinds of relationships, the one we can have with God, and the ones we ought to have with each other.
Christians believe that Jesus of Nazareth, a life and blood man who was born of Mary of Nazareth, was and is the incarnate Son of the ever-living God, the fulfillment of all the Old Testament prophesies, and the God given sacrifice for the sin of the world. Christians believe that He is fully God, because he was conceived by the Holy Ghost, and fully man, because he was born of the Blessed Virgin Mary, His mother. Christians believe that the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, and the first few verses of the Acts of the Apostles, give a reliable and historical account of his activities here on earth. Christians also believe that the Old and New Testaments of the Holy Bible give us insights into who He was, and into the nature of His mission. We also believe that these Bible truths are summarized in the Apostle’s, Nicene, and Athanasian Creeds, all of which are found in The Book of Common Prayer. In short, the Incarnation means that Jesus is who the Bible says he is and that He did what the Bible said he did. That is a very clear summary of what Christians believe about the Incarnation. But what does it mean for you and for me? I think it might be helpful today to examine that question under two headings. First, What does the Incarnation say about what kind of relationship God offers each and every one of us? Second, What sort of relationship does Jesus model for us as we attempt to live with each other?
Before we move to the examination of these two lessons offered us by God, we ought to consider a question that may have already arisen in some of your minds. “How can I really believe that all of this is true?” People asked the same question in the first century of the Christian era. Paul was blunt when he said that there were hundreds of eye witnesses to what we might call the “Christ Event.” He went on to say that many of them were still living. And then he said, “If you don’t believe me, go and ask them.” In essence, St. Paul was employing the same criteria in his “Truth Model” that the Bishops and Fathers of the Church employed as they worked to determine the canon of Scripture, that is, as they prayerfully sought to determine which books would be accepted as Scripture and which would not. First, they said, the book must beyond any doubt have been written by an eyewitness or his amanuinsis, or personal secretary. Second, it must be of consistent belief with the books of the Old Testament, for God is one, and unchanging. Third, to be accepted, the Holy Spirit must have borne witness to the truth of the scroll by causing it to be used throughout the churches of the world. I fear this may be a grave disappointment to devotees of the history channel or A&E, but there simply was no conspiracy, and there was no power play. Godly people employed the rules of good scholarship to check and double check the historical truth of the documents involved. They came up with a list of twenty seven books which we call the New Testament.
Now, back to the question at hand. What kind of relationship does God offer each and every one of us? All of us can relate to those stories which abound in the Bible of people who made a hash of their lives. They squandered opportunities and made bad decisions, sometimes out of ignorance, and sometimes out of pure willful cussedness. And they paid dearly for those decisions. We call all of that the sinful nature of mankind. But God made us in His image, with a rational mind, and the capacity to love and be loved, and the ability to sense His presence among us, and to know right from wrong. When He looked at us, He said, “That is good!” And even after we had made such a hash of things, He determined to come up with a way which would preserve our dignity by acknowledging our personal responsibility, and at the same time would shower us with His eternal, completely unmerited, and never-ending love. This plan was put into effect when Jesus came to live and die and be raised again as one of us! “So God loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoso believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” Note that He did not say, whoso liveth up to the standard, or whosoever is worthy, or whosoever is without sin. We were dead in trespasses and sin, estranged from God, alone and relying on our own wits and resources, and realizing a bit more every day that our resources were not sufficient to meet our needs. And God said, “I will send my Son, who will serve the sentence for every felony and misdemeanor and selfish word and evil thought any of them have ever had. I know they will struggle, but I love them so much that I will waive all of the qualifications. My son will cover for them all, if only they will keep faith with me by believing that I love them enough to have sent Him to do this thing.” “Such love, such wonderous love, such love, such wonderous love, That God should love a sinner such as I, How wonderful is love like this?” “And can it be, that I should gain, an interest in my Saviour’s love? Died He for me, who caused His pain? For me , who Him, to death pursued? Amazing love, how can it be, that Thou my God, shoulds’t die for me.” Imagine being loved by someone so much that they would put away all of those ugly things that you have said or done or thought throughout the entire course of your life, imagine that they would accept you as you are, and give you the opportunity to live beyond the guilt and shame and to grow into conformity with God’s revealed way of peace and harmony and contentment and joy. It is the relationship God offers to us all if only we will believe in Jesus, that He has come among us and done those things which the Bible records. And so with that man so many centuries ago, we cry out, “Lord, I believe! Help Thou my unbelief.”
And what of our second question. “ What sort of relationship does Jesus model for us as we attempt to live with each other? He loved us so much that he was willing to go up to Jerusalem, even though He knew that He would be denied and rejected by those He came to save, by those He loved so much. Can you continue to love a child who has spurned and embarrassed you? Can you continue to pray faithfully for a friend or a former spouse who has betrayed you and walked away with mean-spirited impunity? Can you love another person so much that you willingly put your own plans and dreams on hold for their well being? Can you do unto others as you would have them do unto you, even when you know that they probably will not? Can you respond to another in kindness and gentleness, and make them feel safe and secure? Can you love another person enough to honestly and openly discuss with them those shortcomings that everyone sees but they themselves, and can you do it with such sensitivity and love that they never doubt how much you care for them? Can you listen and really care, and be as interested in the events and thoughts of another as you are in your own? Are you willing to lay down your life for anyone? And can you give another person a second, or third or seventh, or seventy times seventh chance? This is the way of Jesus, and it is dangerous and counter-intuitive. By our lack of guile and our humility, we are called to overcome all the ways of sin, the flesh, and the devil. We are called to walk in the way of Jesus. It ought to be said of us, as it was of Nathaniel, “Behold, an Israelite in whom there is no guile.”
Today, might we join our hearts in prayer that we might respond to God’s love by believing in our hearts and minds that which He has accomplished in our midst by sending Jesus to live and die among us, and to overcome death and become our Saviour. And might we seek every hour of every day to love one another even as Christ loved us, and gave himself for us. Let us stand as we confess our belief in the words of the Nicene Creed, found on page 327 of the Book of Common Prayer.
Preached at St. John’s November 7th, AD MMX
What exactly do you look for in a relationship? I remember a few years back when one of our acolytes, who will remain nameless and is now graduated and off to start her life as an adult, asked one of our older lay readers, who will also remain nameless, a very straightforward question while we were all standing at the altar during the service. She innocently said, “Are you hot?” He replied, “No, but I was thirty years ago.” And the question remains, what do you look for in a relationship? Our answers may differ in a few specifics, and they may mature a bit with time, but I daresay that our hopes and dreams, and our aspirations probably have a lot in common. All of us want to be loved. We want to matter to someone. We want someone who will respect us, and would never knowingly embarrass us or hurt us. We want to be safe and secure, and not have to worry that our special friend will ever leave us for someone who is more interesting or better looking. We want someone who will be interested in what we are interested in, and who will laugh with us and care about what we care about. There are a few other things, but that is the heart of the matter.
Our first catechetical lecture , you may remember, spoke about the authority that love brings to us all. Last week, we talked about how the Holy and Blessed Trinity models for us the nature of true Christian Community. This week, I would like for us to examine how the Incarnation of Jesus the Christ shows us the true nature of two kinds of relationships, the one we can have with God, and the ones we ought to have with each other.
Christians believe that Jesus of Nazareth, a life and blood man who was born of Mary of Nazareth, was and is the incarnate Son of the ever-living God, the fulfillment of all the Old Testament prophesies, and the God given sacrifice for the sin of the world. Christians believe that He is fully God, because he was conceived by the Holy Ghost, and fully man, because he was born of the Blessed Virgin Mary, His mother. Christians believe that the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, and the first few verses of the Acts of the Apostles, give a reliable and historical account of his activities here on earth. Christians also believe that the Old and New Testaments of the Holy Bible give us insights into who He was, and into the nature of His mission. We also believe that these Bible truths are summarized in the Apostle’s, Nicene, and Athanasian Creeds, all of which are found in The Book of Common Prayer. In short, the Incarnation means that Jesus is who the Bible says he is and that He did what the Bible said he did. That is a very clear summary of what Christians believe about the Incarnation. But what does it mean for you and for me? I think it might be helpful today to examine that question under two headings. First, What does the Incarnation say about what kind of relationship God offers each and every one of us? Second, What sort of relationship does Jesus model for us as we attempt to live with each other?
Before we move to the examination of these two lessons offered us by God, we ought to consider a question that may have already arisen in some of your minds. “How can I really believe that all of this is true?” People asked the same question in the first century of the Christian era. Paul was blunt when he said that there were hundreds of eye witnesses to what we might call the “Christ Event.” He went on to say that many of them were still living. And then he said, “If you don’t believe me, go and ask them.” In essence, St. Paul was employing the same criteria in his “Truth Model” that the Bishops and Fathers of the Church employed as they worked to determine the canon of Scripture, that is, as they prayerfully sought to determine which books would be accepted as Scripture and which would not. First, they said, the book must beyond any doubt have been written by an eyewitness or his amanuinsis, or personal secretary. Second, it must be of consistent belief with the books of the Old Testament, for God is one, and unchanging. Third, to be accepted, the Holy Spirit must have borne witness to the truth of the scroll by causing it to be used throughout the churches of the world. I fear this may be a grave disappointment to devotees of the history channel or A&E, but there simply was no conspiracy, and there was no power play. Godly people employed the rules of good scholarship to check and double check the historical truth of the documents involved. They came up with a list of twenty seven books which we call the New Testament.
Now, back to the question at hand. What kind of relationship does God offer each and every one of us? All of us can relate to those stories which abound in the Bible of people who made a hash of their lives. They squandered opportunities and made bad decisions, sometimes out of ignorance, and sometimes out of pure willful cussedness. And they paid dearly for those decisions. We call all of that the sinful nature of mankind. But God made us in His image, with a rational mind, and the capacity to love and be loved, and the ability to sense His presence among us, and to know right from wrong. When He looked at us, He said, “That is good!” And even after we had made such a hash of things, He determined to come up with a way which would preserve our dignity by acknowledging our personal responsibility, and at the same time would shower us with His eternal, completely unmerited, and never-ending love. This plan was put into effect when Jesus came to live and die and be raised again as one of us! “So God loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoso believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” Note that He did not say, whoso liveth up to the standard, or whosoever is worthy, or whosoever is without sin. We were dead in trespasses and sin, estranged from God, alone and relying on our own wits and resources, and realizing a bit more every day that our resources were not sufficient to meet our needs. And God said, “I will send my Son, who will serve the sentence for every felony and misdemeanor and selfish word and evil thought any of them have ever had. I know they will struggle, but I love them so much that I will waive all of the qualifications. My son will cover for them all, if only they will keep faith with me by believing that I love them enough to have sent Him to do this thing.” “Such love, such wonderous love, such love, such wonderous love, That God should love a sinner such as I, How wonderful is love like this?” “And can it be, that I should gain, an interest in my Saviour’s love? Died He for me, who caused His pain? For me , who Him, to death pursued? Amazing love, how can it be, that Thou my God, shoulds’t die for me.” Imagine being loved by someone so much that they would put away all of those ugly things that you have said or done or thought throughout the entire course of your life, imagine that they would accept you as you are, and give you the opportunity to live beyond the guilt and shame and to grow into conformity with God’s revealed way of peace and harmony and contentment and joy. It is the relationship God offers to us all if only we will believe in Jesus, that He has come among us and done those things which the Bible records. And so with that man so many centuries ago, we cry out, “Lord, I believe! Help Thou my unbelief.”
And what of our second question. “ What sort of relationship does Jesus model for us as we attempt to live with each other? He loved us so much that he was willing to go up to Jerusalem, even though He knew that He would be denied and rejected by those He came to save, by those He loved so much. Can you continue to love a child who has spurned and embarrassed you? Can you continue to pray faithfully for a friend or a former spouse who has betrayed you and walked away with mean-spirited impunity? Can you love another person so much that you willingly put your own plans and dreams on hold for their well being? Can you do unto others as you would have them do unto you, even when you know that they probably will not? Can you respond to another in kindness and gentleness, and make them feel safe and secure? Can you love another person enough to honestly and openly discuss with them those shortcomings that everyone sees but they themselves, and can you do it with such sensitivity and love that they never doubt how much you care for them? Can you listen and really care, and be as interested in the events and thoughts of another as you are in your own? Are you willing to lay down your life for anyone? And can you give another person a second, or third or seventh, or seventy times seventh chance? This is the way of Jesus, and it is dangerous and counter-intuitive. By our lack of guile and our humility, we are called to overcome all the ways of sin, the flesh, and the devil. We are called to walk in the way of Jesus. It ought to be said of us, as it was of Nathaniel, “Behold, an Israelite in whom there is no guile.”
Today, might we join our hearts in prayer that we might respond to God’s love by believing in our hearts and minds that which He has accomplished in our midst by sending Jesus to live and die among us, and to overcome death and become our Saviour. And might we seek every hour of every day to love one another even as Christ loved us, and gave himself for us. Let us stand as we confess our belief in the words of the Nicene Creed, found on page 327 of the Book of Common Prayer.
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