The Aroma of Holiness

Rector’s Rambling: June 2013

With Tristan’s departure for summer studies in Luxembourg, our dog count at Briarwood has risen to four. Imagine two completely undisciplined terriers, a beagle who wants to dash off at every hint of rabbit scent, and one relatively well behaved spaniel, with me, on the way to the barn for chores. Things can get a bit complicated, especially if a chicken gets out of the pasture or we jump a rabbit or a gate gets left open when we are moving the horse between pastures. Perhaps we should change the name of Briarwood to “Mayhem,” or perhaps “Malfunction Junction.” But I still take the time to enjoy the beauty all around me. Tonight, my gaggle and I walked around the south end of the house on the way back from the barn and greenhouse. The combined scent of honeysuckle and lilac was overpowering, and it got me to thinking, “I wonder what holiness smells like?”

Nelson’s New Illustrated Bible Dictionary defines “Holy” as “moral and ethical wholeness or perfection; freedom from moral evil. Holiness is one of the essential elements of God’s nature required of His people. Holiness may also be rendered “sanctification” or “godliness.” The Hebrew word for “holy” denotes that which is “sanctified” or “set apart” for divine service…While “holy” is sometimes used in a ceremonial sense, the main use is to describe God’s righteous nature or the ethical righteousness demanded of His followers. Originating in God’s nature, holiness is a unique quality of His character…”

The Dictionary continues, “Jesus was the personification of holiness.” And again, “The theme of sanctification, or growing into God’s likeness and being consecrated for his use, is prominent throughout the Bible. Like Jesus, the apostles taught that sanctification, or true holiness, expressed itself in patient and loving service while awaiting the Lord’s return.” Paul’s prayer in I Thessalonians 3:12-13 concludes the article and provides the ultimate definition of how holiness looks, or smells, in the life of the believer. “And may the Lord make you increase in love and abound in love…so that He may establish your hearts blameless in holiness before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all His saints.”

As summer begins, how are you doing at holiness? Do people see the character of God in you? Is your life spent in patient and loving service as you await the coming of Jesus? Do you believe in the second coming of Jesus? Do you have a sense of being “set apart” to do God’s work in this world? Does love dominate your motives and your actions and attitudes? Are you closer to moral and ethical wholeness as defined by the Bible than you were say ten months ago? Are you able to honestly say that evil does not have a controlling grip on your life? Are you growing to be more like Jesus every day?

Most of us know the answers to these questions in our own lives. And we are all better off if we worry about how we answer those questions and don’t worry about how we think other people ought to answer them about their own lives. Judgment of others is merely a distraction that the devil sends into our lives to keep us from making the kinds of changes we need to make to be more like Jesus. If we honestly ask the right questions, if we search the scriptures and pray to have God’s Spirit and motives, He will guide us, and people will see his character revealed in us, and be drawn into fellowship with Him. And in years to come, those people who knew us best will say that we truly possessed the aroma of God’s holiness.

Holiness Unto the Lord- Rector's Rambling Lent 2013

Rector’s Rambling- February 2012

On Saturday, just two days ago, I put the first seeds of the year into the propagator, which is currently located in my study. I did everything precisely as I have always done, with one exception. Instead of watering with tap water, I used “Root Stimulator: Accelerated Root Growth for Clones and Seedlings,” manufactured by Hydro Gardens and Lights in Columbus, Ohio. When I got home after youth group tonight, I was astounded to find cabbage and broccoli plants already sprouted! Two days from seed to sprout is a record in my experience, and it got me to thinking. When Jesus does a work in my heart, are the results so spectacular or as quick? When the Holy Ghost convicts me of some action or attitude and by God’s grace I sense the need to change my ways, am I put to shame by one of the humblest members of God’s creation, a lowly cabbage seed? I am afraid that sometimes, not always, but more often than I can justify, the answer is yes.

Such thoughts are perhaps good preparation for the holy season of Lent. Until we recognize our own shortcomings, it is doubtful that we will ever truly respond to God’s offer of transformation in our lives. Ultimately, Lent is about transformation- transformation from what we are into what God would have us to be. Wise men taught me in seminary that Christian holiness has two important aspects. The first is positional holiness. Because I am among the baptized and have been marked as Christ’s own forever, I am set apart, or holy, and dedicated to his work. But when properly understood and rightly experienced, this positional holiness must be accompanied by moral holiness. That is, my life must be more like the life of Jesus than it was before I received his grace. If I was a liar, I must stop lying. If a thief, I must stop stealing. If a bigot, I must walk away from my prejudices. If my sexuality was out of control, it must be disciplined and brought within the parameters of what God’s Word allows. The list goes on and on, but the point is clear. When God does his work in us, we are named as his own and dedicated to his purposes, and we are also expected to exhibit change from what we were to what he would have us to be. Our lives, touched by grace, must begin to look more like the life of our Lord, or in all likelihood, our religion is a sham and a hypocritical lie.

When the prophets said that God would take out of his people their hearts of stone and replace them with living hearts of flesh, they said that the day was coming when we would follow the expectations of Scripture not because we had to, but because we wanted to. They never said it would be easy, or that we would always get it right, but they did say that we would be known as a people set apart for God. Like my cabbage and broccoli seeds, we would be transformed from what our own decisions had made us into the people, and into the community of faith, that God created us to be. As we enter this sacred season of preparation for Easter, let us look honestly at our own lives and motives, and commit all of our shortcomings to God’s transformation. The Bible tells us that our God is a miracle worker, and that those actions and attitudes which we seem to be so unable to change can be transformed in an instant by him who raised the dead and caused the blind to see. Might we together take advantage of those Lenten programs and disciplines which will help us to persevere in this life of transformation and holiness, and might we be there for each other in our times of temptation, weakness, and need.

Lenten Programs:

Feb 13^th at noon and 7pm: Ash Wednesday Imposition of Ashes

Feb 17, 24, Mar 10, &17 at 5: Lenten suppers and speakers

Mar 3 at 4: Choral Evensong and simple supper.

All Sundays at 8 & 10:30 and Wednesdays at noon: Holy Communion

Confession: By appointment, call 215-3900

Mar 24 Palm Sunday

Mar 28 at 7: Maundy Thursday

Mar 29 at noon: Good Friday liturgy and Stations of the Cross

Mar 31: EASTER! THE SUNDAY OF THE RESURRECTION!

Fools For Christ

Sermon for Lent IIIB Preached at St. John’s 11 March 2012

Exodus 20:1-17

Psalm 19

I Corinthians 1:18-25

John2: 13-22

It made perfect sense- selling sacrificial animals in the Temple courts. People came from all over the world to sacrifice, and they could not be expected to bring their animals with them. And was it really so bad if the people providing the service made an honest living? After all, the Scriptures say that “the laborer is worthy of his hire.” The problem was that people got so caught up in the day to day administration of the program that it seems they forgot what the program of sacrifice was all about. The people on the spot demonstrated this lack of understanding when they failed to understand what Jesus was saying about his upcoming resurrection as he discussed the “allegory of the temple’s destruction and rebuilding.” This preacher from Galilee just didn’t make sense.

In the same way, the commandments of God from the first lesson don’t make a lot of sense in a modern and cosmopolitan world. Surely we all want to respect God and our neighbors, but can you really believe this Moses. He says that you have to do it his way, and that if you don’t, God will judge you, your children, your grand-children, and your great-grand-children. Is it really so bad if someone swears by using God’s Name? And I only get off two days a week. What is the big thing about giving one of them exclusively to God? I suppose the rest of the rules make some sense, about honoring parents and murder and stealing and the like. But all of this puritanical pre-occupation with sex and absolute honesty is not very realistic at all. And how can I ever make a living for my family unless I am willing to drive my competition into the ground and increase my own market share? Moses just isn’t willing to understand that it is dog eat dog out there in the business world today.

As usual, Paul was right. In our second lesson for today, he points out that “The message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing.” And goes on to say “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.” “Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?” We are so enamored with ourselves. At least we are until things really fall apart. We trust in our own schemes and live our lives according to our own choices. We create false gods who will justify our own thoughts, actions, and desires, and do what makes sense to us at the time. And then comes the horrible time of divorce, violation of our safety and self-worth, death of a loved one, loss of a career, or our mobility, or our health, or our financial security. We realize that all of our imaginations were just that. And we cry out to God. And in his mercy and love he comes to us. When everything else lets us down ‘the message of the cross is to us who are being saved the power of God.’

It makes no sense whatsoever that God the Father would send his only begotten Son, the second person of the blessed Trinity, to bear the punishment I deserve and give me another chance. It makes no sense that The Blessed Holy Spirit, the third person of that same Trinity, would come to comfort and strengthen me in my hour of trial. In fact, it makes no sense that God would care about me at all. There are millions upon millions of people who have lived throughout history. There seem to be a nearly infinite number of star systems. History seems to roll on and on and I do so little to impact or control it. And yet God himself knows my name and has called me to be among that number of people who are being saved.

Today I stand before you as a Staryets, a fool for Christ, to encourage you to accept this radical and irrational message that by this bizarre and unbelievable methodology, God has chosen to show his love for you. He reveals to you and to me a model of how we might so live that we will find peace and consolation in this world, and life everlasting in the world to come. It is too simple to be real. Believe today that Jesus of Nazareth is the Christ, the Son of the living God. Tell him that you are sorry for the bad things you have done, and that you will do your best with his help to amend your ways. I assure you today that he will keep his promise to you and to us all, and we shall be known as the people of God.

In just a few moments, we will stand and say together “I Believe.” We will confess that Jesus is the Christ. Then, after we bring our needs and concerns to God in the prayers of the people, we will repent and ask for his forgiveness for our sins. Then he will forgive us and invite us all to come to his holy table, which is an extension of his heavenly banquet table. Those of us who have been baptized he invites to receive the Holy Communion of the body and blood of Jesus. Those who have not been baptized he invites to come for a blessing and to begin preparation for baptism. In this act of faith, he will pour upon us the assurance of his love and strength for the challenges of this coming week. I urge you to join me as a Staryets, a fool for Christ. Set aside your own wisdom and embrace that true wisdom of God today. “For God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God’s weakness is stronger than human strength.” In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. AMEN.

St John's Rector's Rambling: Lent 2010

Rector’s Rambling March 2010

A good snow storm is a great time for dreaming. Surrounded by the warm glow of finished pine and hickory, I sit at the study end of the chapel with a size 16 Mustad fine wire hook in the vise, trying to decide whether to reach for the hare’s mask, the turkey bots, or the back feathers of a ring necked pheasant. I don’t know that it will make much difference to the fish I hope to catch this spring, but right now, here in the grips of winter, it seems an interesting, if unimportant question. I daresay that most of the things we think about fall into the same category as my dilemma over which dressing to use for the body of a trout fly. They are interests of the moment which may have some utility, but hardly classify as significant in the grand scheme of things. And yet how often do we imagine them to be of supreme importance? How often have we all been so attached to our own ideas or opinions on any given question that our defense of them has led to interrupted friendships, regularized bickering, or generalized dissatisfaction with life? Lent calls me to think about such things, because it is a time when I am called by our Holy Mother the Church to examine my own motives and to confess my own sins. It is a time for honesty with God and with myself. It is a time for transformation from what I have been into what God calls me to be.
At its best, a parish is like a family. We live together well much of the time, but our necessary vocations demand so much of our time that we fail to know each other as well as we should. We make assumptions about each other, and about each other’s motives on a regular basis. We do care for each other after a fashion, but often take one another for granted. Our interests and concerns develop and wander with predictable irregularity. As a result, we often neglect those opportunities afforded us to know one another more completely, to understand one another, and to truly appreciate the pressures and issues that so often dominate our lives. We are committed to each other and to this place, but often we are strangers- strangers who assume so very much about each other without adequate data- strangers who attempt to protect ourselves from each other by erecting walls of control or by blaming others for our own attitudes and negative responses. Since we fail to take the time to know each other, we miss out on the opportunity God gives us to bear one another’s burdens, and to create a place where any one of us can feel safe and secure in the worst of times. Every parish, and every family, struggles with these issues to a greater or lesser degree because we are so very, very human.
As we continue through this holy season, we have a wonderful opportunity to address those patterns of human behaviour which are outlined above. Our Evangelism and Renewal Committee has worked very hard to afford us all several opportunities to eat and fellowship together, to worship together, and to consider the implications of that worship as it relates to us being the family of God. I hope you will be sure to attend the Lenten programs if you are in town. Be sure to sit at table with someone you don’t know, and even better, if there is someone that you don’t particularly like, strike up a conversation with them about something that is important to them, their children, their work, or their hobbies. We have been blessed with a wonderful parish family here at St. John’s, but like every family, there is always work to be done as we learn to love and respect each other to the glory of God, and to the edification of our souls.
At the beginning of this ramble, I wrote that days like this are good for dreaming, and so I think I’ll tie three flies instead of one, but I promise before God that I will never let these gentle reveries of rushing water and flashing fish obscure my true calling to love those around me more perfectly. I hope you will join me in this determination.

Pax Vobiscum,
Bill+