Rector’s Rambling- December 2011
Printed below in its entirety is my sermon from Christ the King Sunday. It admonishes us as a Church to participate in Scripture Union’s Essential One Hundred Bible reading plan between now and Easter. I hope you will consider prayerfully participating in this godly discipline. It will renew our lives and our parish. If you would like a set of the “E-100” materials, they are available at the Church office or from the ushers at our Sunday services.
Faithfully,
Bill+
With the celebration of Christ the King Sunday and the start of Advent, a new Christian Year is upon us. The cycle is simple, and yet instructive. We consider the significance of it all as Advent begins and we realize our own failures in light of the judgment that will one day come upon us . We hope for deliverance as we consider the prophesies of one who will come to save us from our sins, and from ourselves. On Christmas, the King of Glory deigns to come among us as one of us. Him who is the eternal agent of creation becomes a baby, born of a virgin in fulfillment of prophecy and grows to sinless manhood. In Him, the good news of God’s mercy and redemption goes forth to all nations at Epiphany. “So God loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whoso believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” In Lent, we consider the real significance of it all as we consider his goodness, his love, his grace; and contrast it with our own sinfulness. And then comes the agony of Holy Week when we more fully understand and mourn the impact of our choices upon him who is the best and the truest of all. We receive his body and blood on Maundy Thursday in that most poignant and confusing of services, and mourn on what it seems so strange to call “Good Friday.” And then comes Easter, that glorious day when Our Saviour overcomes death and the grave and our sins to give us new life and the hope of heaven. Our outlook is changed forever and we are known as the children of God by grace through faith. And then we wait with the disciples in Jerusalem for the coming of the promise, fulfilled at Pentecost when the Blessed Holy Ghost gathers us together, purifies us anew, fills us with grace and anoints us with power that we might go forth to do the work of God in this world. And all the nations will be drawn to him, just as the Bible says: “Every knee shall bow, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord!”
The Christian Year enshrines the historic events of the life of Jesus of Nazareth, our Christ and our King. The Bible bears witness to the truth of these events, and the Creeds of the Church condense the sublime truths we proclaim in our worship. And yet there are so many in our world, and even in the Church who do not accept the reality of these things we celebrate. A few years back, Bishop Frey caused a great stir in the church press when someone asked him what made Trinity Episcopal School for Ministry so special. He said “We don’t cross our fingers when we say the creed.” A few weeks back, Fr. Bill McCleery and I had the honour of sitting under Dr. Luke Timothy Johnson, the great New Testament Scholar. I asked him what was non-negotiable for us Christians. His reply was direct and simple: “Creed and the Canon of Scripture.” We as Christians are bound to believe, if we are to honestly call ourselves Christians. We may have our doubts. We will never fully appreciate the truths in the Creed and the Canon of Scripture this side of Heaven. There is much we will never fully understand. But as Christians we are called to acknowledge the truth that Jesus Christ, the second person of the Holy and Blessed Trinity came among us, lived as one of us, and after his cruel murder was resurrected and transformed into the first fruits of glory to show us what we shall be as we believe in and follow him. Flee those who would deny the historical nature of these truths as you would flee the plague or the destruction of war. Embrace the faith of our Holy Mother the Church, the faith of patriarchs, prophets, apostles, and martyrs. Face your honest doubts and cling to him who is the author and finisher of our faith, the Jesus of history.
I believe that many of the problems and weaknesses of the churches in America today stem directly from ignorance of the Scriptures. While some of this ignorance is willful, much more of it is simply because so many Christians have never taken the time to read the Bible. As a people, we are far too likely to take our views of the reality of Christ from a program on the History channel or the Easter issues of Time or Newsweek. Many priests and professors, and even some bishops, spend more time explaining why details of the Bible could not be authentic to Jesus than they do teaching and living the precepts of our Lord. Some have gone so far as to decry or deny the veracity of Creed and Canon of Scripture while still drawing a paycheck from the Church. I must agree with Bishop Fitz-Simmons Allison when he names such duplicity a most dishonorable act. But there are many faithful and deep thinking Christians in professional Christian service and among the laity who have in faith committed themselves to simply following the Jesus of history, the Jesus of the Bible, with intellectual honesty and persevering confidence in him who saved us.
On this Christ the King Sunday, when we acknowledge the glory of our heavenly King, I would like to issue a challenge to all of us at St. John’s. The Scripture Union, which had its start as a missionary society of the Church of England, our mother church, has prepared a program which leads readers through what they deem the one hundred most significant passages in the Bible. The ushers handed everyone a tally sheet and Bible marker when you came in today. Between now and Easter, I would ask all of us to read these one hundred passages from the Bible. It has been said that “knowledge is power.” We as Christians might well amend that statement to read “Knowledge of God’s Word will transform and empower our lives.” Let us read a passage a day between now and Easter. Ask God to illuminate the passage as you read. Commit yourself to apply it’s teachings to your everyday life. Believe that these passages are reliable eyewitness accounts of the acts of God in the world. Call me if you have questions. I believe that if we commit ourselves to reading the Bible, the Holy Spirit will do a work among us that will transform us to the glory of God the Father into the image of Jesus, our one true King! In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. AMEN.
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