Rector's Rambling: Easter MMXIII

 Fresco of Christ risen from the tomb
 by Piero Della Francesca

Christ is Risen!

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.” (I Peter 3:18)

Jesus lives, and because of that fact our lives can be characterized by a lively hope:

Hope that our sins are forgiven.
Hope that we will live forever in heaven.
Hope that we are never alone.
Hope that Christ will strengthen us as needed.
Hope that we can overcome the world, the flesh, and the devil.
Hope that we will always have a place to belong-the Church.

This month is a month of hope for me. I am surrounded by signs of new life. The seed propagator and greenhouse are both full of young plants, and the first of the spring cold frames is filled with broccoli, cabbage, chard, radishes, and lettuce. My new puppy is born, and the equipment needed to train him to be a first rate bird dog is ordered and shipped. Last week I watched films of New York Yankees great world series games (a sure sign that yet another season of baseball is just around the corner!)

And best of all, George is born, and he along with his sisters Margaret and Helen, is growing and learning to love Jesus.

As winter fades into spring, and as Lent flows into Eastertide, I pray that your life and outlook might be characterized by hope and joy. Imagine what it might look like in your life:

If you fully understood that your sins are put away and overcome.
If you saw the good instead of the bad around you.
If you looked forward to the opportunities of each new day.
If you expected Jesus to surprise you every morning with some good thing.
If you truly saw death as the door to heaven and eternity.
May God bless us all with hope, and with a spirit of hopefulness as we experience yet again the feast of the Resurrection of the living Lord, Jesus Christ. In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. AMEN!

A Pastoral Warning for Easter

To my fellow Christians at St. John’s Lancaster, given in obedience to the admonition to watchmen in Ezekiel 33:1-7.

In April, the Transfiguration Spirituality Center in Glendale, Ohio is hosting a retreat entitled “Christianity, Here and Now! A Weekend with Marcus Borg.” While the event is not sponsored by our Diocese, it is being widely advertised because it is being held at the Convent of the Transfiguration, an Episcopal House, and because the presenter is the Canon Theologian of the Episcopal Cathedral in Portland, Oregon. In the Name of Christ and for the sake of your souls, I urge you not to attend this event. The speaker clearly denies the physical nature of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. He does so in a very seductive way which claims to affirm that Jesus is Lord and that he is resurrected, but he separates the event from the physical return to life of Jesus on that first Easter and re-defines the meaning of the historic Christian doctrine. I quote from the presenter’s website:
The Resurrection of Jesus: “Physical/Bodily” or “Spiritual/Mystical”? at http://www.marcusjborg.com/2011/05/16/the-resurrection-of-jesus/

“Because of the common meaning of “physical/bodily” in modern English, I do not think the resurrection of Jesus means this. Physical/ bodily means fleshly, molecular, protoplasmic, corpuscular existence. But the risen Jesus is not in this sense a physical/bodily reality.”

St. Paul on the other hand says in I Corinthians 15:12-22:

The Resurrection of the Dead, NIV
“12 But if it is preached that Christ has been raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? 13 If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. 14 And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith. 15 More than that, we are then found to be false witnesses about God, for we have testified about God that he raised Christ from the dead. But he did not raise him if in fact the dead are not raised. 16 For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised either. 17 And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. 18 Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost. 19 If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied. 20 But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. 21 For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. 22 For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive.”

The message of the Church is simple and available to all people. “If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.” Romans 10:9. Good Christian people, I bid you flee those who would deny this clear teaching of the Christian Church. Do not support the spreading of their false doctrine by buying their books or by paying to attend their seminars. There are many better ways to explore our faith and to draw closer to our God.

In the Name of God. AMEN.
Bill+
Rector, St. John's
　

　

　

　

Serious thoughts on Lenten Disciplines

Pieta, by Michelangelo
"So God loved the world..." John 3:16
"Despised and rejected of men..." Isaiah 53:3

The onset of Lent should, I realize, summon me to a deeper introspection and more mature examination of my own shortcomings.  But there is new life all around me, and I find it hard to concentrate on those things to which our Holy Mother the Church calls me.  Sitting in front of me in the seed propagator are 72 tomato seedlings, 72 peppers, and 30 eggplant starts.  The green house is nearly full of early spring crops, and this afternoon, I moved cabbage, broccoli, lettuce, and chard from the greenhouse into the large double cold frame on the south side of the ornamental garden.  The hens are laying every day now, and Ashley is teaching my grand daughters to care for baby chicks in the same way that I taught her so many years ago.  My new pup is growing and will be coming home soon, and the greatest gift of all, grandson George Ambrose, rests safe and secure with his family on their sheep farm just a few miles away.  The daffodils and crocus have sprouted, and blooms should come early this year.  Yes, there is new life all around, and it is hard to think seriously about sin and the various shortcomings that sometimes plague me.

But the ever present reality of sin in our world is always there, in spite of my other preoccupations.  Just thirty years after the landmark court case Roe-v-Wade allowed legal abortion to become widespread in the US, Alberto Giubilini and Francesca Minerva have published an article in the Journal of Medical Ethics (February 23, 2012) entitled "After Birth Abortion: Why Should the Baby Live?"*  It is just another illustration of how far western culture has drifted from her traditional moorings in the Bible and Traditions of the Christians and the Jews.  As more and more courts and legislatures (and churches) in the US, Canada, France, and the UK equate marriage and civil partnership, the sacramental understanding of marriage as  a creative reflection of the very character of God (explained so elegantly in traditional editions of the Book of Common Prayer and in Roman Catholic moral theology) is relegated to the dustbin of antiquarianism by ever increasing portions of our society.  The persistent and deadly assaults on Christian communities in South Asia and North Africa, and the deafening silence of the western press and churches regarding the same, is well documented, and provides further illustration that as Hal Lindsey once wrote, "Satan is alive and well on planet Earth."

Yes, even when I am surrounded by beauty and hope, I am called by God to consider the reality of how we humans so often "miss the mark" of God's blessed plan for our lives.  And that is perhaps why in Lent I must overcome the blessed distractions which surround me and choose to contend with the reality of evil in our world.  To delude myself by denying what is all around me for the sake of my own happiness is both selfish and anti-Christ.  God calls me, he calls all Christians, to squarely and honestly see the inequities and shortcomings of ourselves and of our world, and to cry out in prayer and in our actions for that deliverance of which he is the one true source. 

Might we all in this holy season of Lent consciously choose to look beyond our distractions, however wonderful and holy they may be, and see a world suffering for want of knowing our Saviour Jesus Christ.  Might we acknowledge our own participation in the culture which allows and sometimes encourages that suffering and evil which is the result of our rebellion against God.  And might we with humility commit ourselves to implement, by the blood of the everlasting covenant, and in the power of the Holy Spirit, the ushering in of the kingdom of God through obedience to the Scriptures as understood in that Holy and Received Tradition which is the Orthodox Faith of Christ's One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church.  AMEN.


*see Touchstone (January-February 2013) "Nursery Crimes" by Burnell F. Eckardt, Jr for a thoughtful discussion of the article in Journal.

My New Dog!

 

Today I traveled the three hours to Columbia Station to meet Jim Karlovec and his dogs at Flushing Star Gundogs http://www.flushingstar.com/.  After spending some time with them, I put a deposit on a two week old black English Field Bred Cocker Spaniel.  If he lives up to his bloodline, and after seeing his parents and the other dogs Jim has there is no reason to think he will not, I should have a great hunting partner for the next nine or ten years.  That should just about see me through my days in the field.  I will bring the pup home sometime between St. Patrick's Day and Easter, and he will go back to Flushing Star at the end of July for basic gun dog training.  If he looks anything like his parents, he should look a lot like the dogs pictured here. 

 

English Cockers and Springers are from the same stock, and until the mid twentieth century, they were often born in the same litters, with dogs and bitches under 25 pounds designated as cockers and larger dogs called springers.  Today's Cockers generally weigh in at between 26 and 35 pounds.

They are very biddable and are versatile, retrieving on land and in water and able to flush and retrieve rabbits and waterfowl in addition to upland birds.

We are looking forward to the arrival of this newest member of our family.  I daresay even the terriers will learn to like him!

Sermon: The Last Sunday After Epiphany C

Metaxas book, available from all major outlets.

Preached at St. John's Lancaster, 10 February, 2013
Quinquagesima: The last Sunday After Epiphany C

Exodus 34:29-35
Psalm 99
II Corinthians 3:12-4:2
Luke 9:28-43

All of this talk about Moses’ face requiring a veil seems so strange to us moderns. Why would the Patriarch Moses enter into God’s presence bare-faced, but don a veil when he talked to his fellow Children of Israel? It seems like a strange custom to us, but to the Fathers of the early Church it was no mystery at all. As Moses bore the law of God to the people of God, it’s splendor shone forth like light into the darkness. And yet because of their sin and hardness of heart, those who waited for Moses at the foot of the Mountain could not even stand to see this glory of the law which was already fading in anticipation of the coming of the light of Christ into the world. Ambrosiaster, in his fourth century Commentary on Paul’s Epistles (ACCS VII 222) writes that “Their minds were hardened through unbelief, and this will not change until they convert and believe in Christ.” Chrysostom, the Bishop of Antioch and Constantinople, writing in that same century agreed. “The veil is not there because of Moses, but because of their gross and carnal minds.” (homilies oh the Epistles of Paul to the Corinthians 7:3 in ACCS VII 223). He went on to say, “But when we turn to the Lord, the veil is naturally taken away” (ACCS 224).

It is no coincidence that Peter, James, and John, in today’s Gospel, were allowed to see the glory of God on the Mount of Transfiguration immediately after Peter’s momentous confession “Thou are the Christ, the Son of the Living God!” As the Fathers of the Church pointed out so clearly, it is belief in the Christ which allows the estranged sons and daughters of God to behold his glory, and to be restored to relationship with him. No one says it better than Theodoret of Cyr, writing in the fifth century: “The same is true for you as well. When you believe in Christ, the veil of your unbelief will be taken away.” (Commentary on the Second Epistle to the Corinthians 305, cited in ACCS 224).

All of this brings us to the topic of preparing for Lent. Since my return from Charleston, I’ve been reading Eric Metaxas’ excellent biography of Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Metaxas quotes liberally from the letters the German theologian sent home while he was in New York as a student.  Those letters call us rather confrontationally to examine what our faith is all about, and to return to that “Belief in Jesus Christ” which was urged upon us by the likes of Ambrosiaster, Chrysostom, and Theodoret some sixteen hundred years ago. Bonhoeffer said, “In New York they preach about virtually everything; only one thing is not addressed, or is addressed so rarely that I have as yet been unable to hear it, namely, the gospel of Jesus Christ, the cross, sin and forgiveness, death and life.” After attending a lecture by the famed American preacher Harry Emerson Fosdick, where a sermon on the forgiveness of sins and the cross had been marginalized and labeled “traditional,” the great German continued, “ this is quite characteristic of most of the churches I saw. So what stands in the place of the Christian message? An ethical and social idealism borne by a faith in progress that- who knows how- claims the right to call itself “Christian.” And in the place of the church as the congregation of believers in Christ there stands the church as a social corporation. Anyone who has seen the weekly program of one of the large New York churches, with their daily, indeed almost hourly events, teas, lectures, concerts, charity events, opportunities for sports, games, bowling, dancing for every age group, anyone who has heard how they try to persuade a new resident to join the church, insisting that you’ll get into society quite differently by doing so, anyone who has become acquainted with the embarrassing nervousness with which the pastor lobbies for membership- that person can well assess the character of such a church. All these things, of course, take place with varying degrees of tactfulness, taste, and seriousness; some churches are basically “charitable” churches; others have primarily a social identity. One cannot avoid the impression, however, that in both cases they have forgotten what the real point is.” (Eric Metaxas, Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy, pp106-7)

Ouch! As you prepare to observe an Holy Lent, how do you stack up against those churches described by this great Martyr of the 20^th Century, who died at the hands of the Nazi’s? Are your reasons for “doing church” or “practicing religion” like those he observed, or are they more akin to what he found when he visited and taught at Harlem’s Abyssinian Baptist Church, where The Reverend Adam Clayton Powell was the pastor, and where Bonheoffer “would finally hear the gospel preached and see its power manifested.” (Metaxas 107) “Powell combined the fire of a revivalist preacher with great intellect and social vision. He was active in combating racism and minced no words about the saving power of Jesus Christ. He didn’t fall for the Hobson’s choice of one of the other; he believed that without both, one had neither, but with both, one had everything and more. When the two were combined, and only then, God came into the equation. Then and only then was life poured out. For the first time Bonhoeffer saw the gospel preached and lived out in obedience to God’s commands.” (Metaxas 108)

As we prepare to enter Lent, where are we as individuals and as a church? Are we, are you, doing many good things, like those parishes of which the twentieth century’s most famous martyr wrote? Or have you believed in and come to terms with the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the cross, sin and forgiveness, death and life? Have you bound together inextricably the fire of the Holy Spirit with great intellect and social vision? I would submit to you on this day that it is that combination of doctrine and experience and practice to which God calls us as individuals and as a church.  Yearn for and find such faith in the days to come. In the Name of the Father, and of the son, and of the Holy Spirit. AMEN.

Welcome Baby George! updated with picture

George Ambrose Canter

Son-in-law Matthew called just a few minutes ago to share the good news that daughter Ashley gave birth to Baby George.  Mother and baby are doing fine and I cannot wait to meet this my newest grandchild.  May he serve as Christ's faithful soldier and liegeman all his days, and may he, along with his sisters and parents, live forever in heaven after his work here is done.  To God be the glory, great things he hath done!

Sermon for Epiphany IV C

Preached at St. John’s Lancaster 3 Feb 2013

Jeremiah 1:4-10
Psalm 71
I Corinthians 13
Luke 4:21-30

Words really do matter. As today’s lessons underline, they have the power to enrage those who hear them, and they have the potential to transform lives. Sometimes they are from God. And sometimes they are not. Sometimes they are grounded in faith, hope, and love. Sometimes they are motivated by fear, disrespect, and stupidity. Today, I would like for all of us to consider the words we have used in the past week, and honestly ask ourselves whether there is evidence that our words were from God or of our own purpose and invention. My reason for examining such a personal topic is to lead us all to affirmation in those areas where we are thinking and acting like Jesus, and to lead us to repentance in those areas where we are not. For you see, If we have truly given our lives over to Christ, and accepted him as Saviour and Lord, he transforms us from what we were into what he calls us to be. In the power of the Holy Ghost, we are made able to change our ways and more perfectly reflect his glory. I hope these few observations will help us all, and that includes me, to examine our own hearts and offer ourselves a more perfect sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God.

Are the things you say true? From the ten commandments to the tragic story of Ananias and Saphira, truth telling is enjoined in the scriptures. It is not always popular, as today’s Gospel lesson points out. And sometimes people refuse to accept it from unexpected sources, as the Old Testament lesson illustrates. But it is the default setting for all Christian conversation. Now I imagine most of us here are not liars, but probably many, if not most of us, have been known to finagle the truth a bit from time to time. Perhaps we withhold a few details to make ourselves look a little better, or to give ourselves an advantage in business or some social relationship. Perhaps we on occasion remain silent in a way that hurts another person or fails to give them the information they need to make a good decision. According to the Catechism found in the back of our Prayer Book, if my silence brings ill to another person, it is just as bad as an out and out lie. And that brings us back to the initial thing we must consider about the words we speak. They should always be true. That is not to say that I must say everything I know to anyone who asks me. There may be a good reason for saying “no comment,” or “I’d rather not discuss it.” But a lie, a half truth, or silence which allows evil to come to another is always wrong.

And what about the motive behind our words. Faith, hope, and love ought always to motivate our statements as followers of Jesus Christ. Our failure in this area is often betrayed by our tone, our body language, our choice of vocabulary, and our rhetorical style. If I am pushy, or accusatory, or threatening, or condescending, or disrespectful, or if I practice those sophistic tricks like mischaracterization of an opponent, character assassination, illogical and non-sequential development of an idea, name calling, or changing the subject to one similar but different, I have probably left faith, hope, and love completely out of my conversation. When is the last time you raised your tone, or repeated yourself endlessly as if your hearer was stupid, or threatened a person, or implied ill motives in someone for which you had no hard evidence? I would submit that when we as followers of Christ discuss or argue in such a way, we have walked away from the high ground modeled and commanded by our Lord.

And while we are on the topic of motives, we should ask ourselves if our words are necessary and helpful. Some things may be true, but to bring them up again only hurts some poor person for whom Christ died. I don’t mean that we shouldn’t report a crime to the police because we don’t want to hurt the criminal with our factual report. But I do mean that there is nothing to be gained by bringing up past adulteries, or betrayals, or bad decisions which have been forgiven by God and with which the people directly involved have come to terms. The name for such conversation is gossip, and it is hateful to God because it ignores his grace and destroys the lives of the people he loves.

And no good talk about language and words would be complete without a short discussion of humor in our lives. Some of the funniest things I have ever heard are absolutely reprehensible. They are reprehensible because they trade on the misery or misfortune of someone for whom Christ died. They are reprehensible because they perpetuate social myths and unwarranted stereotypes which divide us and set us against each other. They are reprehensible because they hurt the feelings of people who already feel like outsiders. Now I should add a note of explanation here. We live in an era where a lot of people have skin that is way too thin for their own good or for the good of society. They are adept at getting offended on behalf of other people for more reasons than I can count. But the fact that some folks need to toughen up a bit does not give the Christian license or excuse to have their laughs at the expense of someone else’s misfortune, or appearance, or situation. I imagine all of us have laughed at something in the last week or two that we knew we shouldn’t be laughing about. By so doing, we have driven a wedge between people and probably felt better about ourselves because we imagined we had someone to look down on. We all know that is wrong, and a grave disappointment to God, our heavenly Father.

We started this discussion by saying that our words should always be true. And as we end it, I think we should probably return to a positive injunction. When God spoke to the young Jeremiah in our first lesson, he told him that the words he spoke would be from the Lord. We have every reason to believe that God will give us this same gift. In fact, we have a distinct advantage over Jeremiah and the people of his era when it comes to the Word of the Lord. You see, he listened intently to the voice of the Spirit and sought to discern which voices were false and which was truly the voice of God. Surely, there were wise friends and mentors around him, and he did have some of the books of the Old Testament. But God has given the Bible in its entirety to you and me. As we prayerfully read and meditate on its precepts, the Holy Spirit gives us wisdom not only about how to apply the Word of God in our own conversation, but about how to consider our own word choice so that our conversation will be more like God would have it to be. Regular and prayerful Bible reading will be used of God to change our outlooks, and the opinions we have about ourselves and others, and the words we choose to use. As we truly live into the Bible, we will be less likely to use it as a source of proof texts to argue our points, and more likely to apply its clear injunctions and modeled attitudes to every situation and every relationship we encounter.

A couple of quick closing hints are in order while we are talking about words. Twitter, Face book, e-mail, texting, and the like have transformed the way we interact with each other, in some ways for the good, and then well, sometimes not. Never, under any circumstances send any composition instantly until you have thought about it and considered its full implications- like a chess master would consider a tournament move. Once you click on send, you must live with the consequences, and your comments belong to the world in whatever form anyone chooses to edit and forward them.

If you are mad or feeling attacked, it is ok to walk away from the discussion and simply say that you need some time before you respond. You don’t owe anyone an immediate response under high pressure. It only leads to misunderstanding, broken relationships, and tragedy.

Well, I think that is enough for today. I hope that everyone here will join me during our prayer of confession in naming silently at least one way in which you have used words in the past few days to hurt or control another person, or to attack or belittle someone made in God’s image, or to otherwise speak in a manner that you know was not pleasing to God. I give it you on the good authority of Scripture that he will hear our prayers and forgive us our sins, through Jesus Christ our Lord. AMEN.