Catechism Sermon I: Authority
Preached at St. John’s Lancaster 24 October 2010
The Bishop is coming! The Bishop is coming! On the Sunday after thanksgiving, Bishop Breidenthal will be amongst us to minister in Word and Sacrament. We will gather here for a single service at 9 AM. After hearing God’s Word proclaimed, and responding by renewing our baptismal vows and receiving the sacrament of the Body and Blood of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, we will adjourn to the undercroft for a wonderful party with the parish silver, finger foods, and laughter all around. But what makes it such a special day? The Right Rev’d Thomas Breidenthal stands in direct line of succession to the apostles themselves, and he is for us a direct link to Christians throughout the world and across the centuries. He literally stands in the place of Christ, and we are called by the fathers of the church to honour him as we would honour his Lord, the Saviour of us all. As you might guess, I have some differences of belief and interpretation with the Bishop, but then, he also has some with me. In fact, I daresay there are no two of us here today who agree on everything. Life is a bit more complicated than that. In spite of our differences, we who name the Name of Christ, we who eat the flesh and drink the blood of God, are called to come together each week to lay aside our differences and affirm with the people of God through the ages that Jesus Christ, the second person of the Holy and blessed Trinity, came and died for our sins that we might be reconciled to God the Father; and that he, by the power of love, took up his life again on the third day and ascended into heaven that we might live henceforth in the power of the Spirit, sharing with every person in the world the good news that God has broken into history to give us purpose, and belonging, and union with God in this world and in the next. In contrast to such a great truth, to such a powerful message, our disagreements, as profound and important as they may be, pale in comparison.
In preparation for Bishop Breidenthal’s visit, I thought it worthwhile to review with the entire parish a sort of catechism, or instruction of the faithful. Today, and over the next three weeks, I hope that we will be able to review the essentials of our faith as Christians, and the unique witness we bear as Anglican Christians, known since the American revolution as Episcopalians. Our discussions will fall into four categories:
1. What is our Authority for the things we believe and do?
2. How does the Holy and Blessed Trinity model the nature of the community in which we live and bear witness?
3. What does the incarnation of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ say about the relationships we should have with him and with each other?
4. How do our peculiar traditions, and the Tradition we have received from the apostles, help us to sense God in our midst, and share him more effectively with others?
And so what exactly is our authority for the things we do? In short, our authority is the love of God manifested usward in Christ Jesus our Lord. When I wandered in darkness and sin, leaning unto my own understanding, and doing what I thought was best for me and mine, Jesus looked upon my pitiful blindness, on my selfishness, and on my insecurity, and he said to the Father, “I will go and pay the price for all his errors and confusion, that he might be reconciled to you and have a new start.” He loved me even when I was rebelling against him, so much that he laid down his life for me. Such loving sacrifice gives him the right, the authority, to come and speak truth to me. Such love places a fair claim on my life, and compels me to respond to his invitation and be restored to a healed relationship with the Father. Such love calls me to respond in kind, and to accept gratefully, if imperfectly, the gifts of the Holy Spirit, which enable me to become a conduit of love, his love, to all people, everywhere.
I, we, have been transformed by the love of God into what we were made to be. God is love, and we who are made in his image are called to reflect his love in all that we do. By his grace, he has given us the Bible, a collection of books written by human authors under divine inspiration which shows us the character of God, which is love. Because this collection of books is the God-breathed record of his self-revelation in Jesus, it is the place where we see the true nature of love. It is here, through the examples of patriarchs, prophets, and apostles, and ultimately through the example of Jesus himself that we see the sacrificial nature of love. “Greater love hath no man than this, than that he lay down his life for his friends.” It is here that we learn the degree to which love extends to every part of our lives, for we are to “love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength, and our neighbors as ourselves.” It is here that we learn the true nature of love when we realize that we ought to “do unto others as we would have others do unto us.” It is here that we see this law of love for God and man made practical in the tables of the ten commandments and in the working out of the laws of Israel in everyday life. As God’s love is the authority in our lives, and for all we do as a church, so is the Bible that body of belief which is given us by a loving God to help us in the understanding and application of that love to which we are called.
In his first letter to the Church at Corinth, Saint Paul sings the glories of Charity, or that Godly love which the ancient Greeks called agape. “Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunted not itself, is not puffed up, Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil; Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth; beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. Charity never faileth….” Indeed, he goes on to say, “And now abideth faith, hope, and charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.” This is the love of God made manifest to us in Jesus Christ, and implanted in our hearts by the infilling of the Holy Spirit. A life characterized by such piety, such humility, such love, is all the authority any man or woman of God needs to reach out to a world in need.
We Anglican Christians have been blessed by God in so many ways to experience this love of God. Christianity first came among us in the middle years of the first century, carried by Jewish traders and Samaritan soldiers of Rome. It was cross fertilized in the second, third, and fourth centuries by the words and examples of Greek and French missionaries, and organized in the fifth and sixth centuries by Irish abbots and Roman bishops. By the time of Whitby in the seventh century, we had seen that the love of God is truly for all people, and that no single organization, or denomination, or national group has a monopoly on the experience or proclamation of God’s love. The man or woman who is transformed into the image of Jesus, and who lives humbly in the power of his love, bears the authority of God himself to reach out and share that same love in every situation. This is our authority, and this is our mission. It is who we are and who we are called to be.
And so in the words of St. Paul, the question remains, “Is the evidence of God’s love manifest in your life?” When your neighbors look at you, do they see Jesus? When they look at you, do they see someone who is long-suffering and kind? Do they see someone who is not motivated by envy, someone who is not always seeking to be the center of attention or characterized by prideful arrogance? Is your behaviour above question and reproach? Are you desirous of seeing good come to other people instead of always insisting on your own way? Are you able to walk away from a fight or argument, and to think well of others even when perhaps they do not deserve it? Does iniquity bring you sorrow, or do you enjoy a good laugh at the expense of someone else from time to time? Are you truly happy when you see the triumph of the good, and can you be happy for others when good things happen to them, even if you are left out? Are you willing to bear the difficulties and vicissitudes of life with your faith in God unshaken, and even in the darkest of times does your hope in God’s love burn brightly? Are you able to trust God and be patient when things don’t go your way? These are the true evidences of God’s love in your life and in mine. Where such evidences of piety and godliness exist, no other authority is necessary, for people will see in us the love of God, and they will know that God has come among us to offer us deliverance from the mess that we have made of our lives and in our world.
On this day, as we prepare for the visit of the Vicar of Jesus Christ, our Reverend Father in God, Thomas, let us beseech our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ to fill us with His grace, and perfect us in his love, that every man and woman and boy and girl might know the truth of the Good News of God through us. This is all the authority we need, and it is the authority offered to us by God. In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. AMEN.
Sunday, October 24, 2010
Friday, October 8, 2010
Thoughts on the Babylonian Captivity of the Church
Sermon Proper 23C The Sunday closest to October 12
Jeremiah 29:1,4-7
II Timothy 2:8-15
Preached at St. John’s
The city of Jerusalem is mesmerizing. To walk in the footsteps of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ is an experience which can transform one’s life. To look upon the walls of Suleiman the Magnificent and walk the path to temple mount is merely a short imagining to the citadel of David. The promises of God are everywhere. On the rock covered by the great dome of Islam Abraham lifted the knife to slay his son, his only son, and experienced the deliverance of God. Here David danced before the Lord, ensuring the disdain of those who thought too much of what others might say, but exhibiting that purity of heart which brought him the sobriquet “a man after God’s own heart.” Solomon the wise, in obedience to the call of God, erected the first temple in this place. To the call of the shophar and the solemn intonation of priestly chant, the faithful repaired to the worship of the one true God for generations. It was commonly believed that God would never let his holy city be defiled by the tramp of foreign armies, although he had never said so himself. But it was not the tramp of foreign armies which first defiled the holy city. Rather it was the disobedience of his own people which destroyed that city which had heard the songs of God’s praise and welcomed the entry of the great kings appointed by the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
I have always yearned for Jerusalem. My favorite hymns are of the city. “And there’s another country,” “Jerusalem, my happy home, when shall I come to thee..,” “And we shall build Jerusalem, in England’s green and pleasant land.” Among my favorite psalms are the songs of degrees, which for centuries have been sung by the people of God as they approached the city of David, the city of God. “I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help.” “Behold, how good and pleasant a thing it is for brethren to dwell together in unity.” You see, Jerusalem is for the people of God a metaphor of that heavenly city which is to come, which is to come down from God out of heaven as a bride adorned for her husband. Rebecca and I have long sought to make our own domicile a vision, a pale reflection of the city of Jerusalem, a place of harmony and beauty and godliness. We have never been completely successful, but it is our dream and our goal, that visitors to our home might gain a sense of that which is to come.
Imagine how the children of Judah must have raised their lament when their city was destroyed by the Babylonians, and they were dragged into those seventy years of captivity in a strange and foreign land. “By the waters of Babylon we sat down and wept. How can we sing the Lord’s song in a strange land.” It must have seemed to the faithful that the world itself had come to an end. And the prophet Jeremiah wrote to them a letter which was to fill their nights with hope and their days with holy labour. “Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat what they produce. Take wives and have sons and daughters; take wives for your sons, and give your daughters in marriage, that they may bear sons and daughters; multiply there, and do not decrease. But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare.”
Have you ever received news which seemed to indicate the demise of that which you held most dear in all the world? From time to time, some bit of information has such an effect on me. Perhaps it is an offshoot of my personality and experience, or perhaps it has some basis in reality. When it strikes, it cuts me to the core, and instills in me a brooding sense of doom that can take some days to pass. In those times, I look to the experience of the children of Judah and Israel after the first temple was destroyed and the people carried away. For seventy years they lived in a hope not realized that God would deliver them and restore the city of Jerusalem, and when finally the Persian king allowed their return, it was as if all the world was against them. The rebuilding project languished for a full generation. Fathers and Mothers died, and their children grew up with the promises of restoration unfulfilled. But they persevered, and built homes, and planted gardens, and reared families in that place of spiritual desolation where God had placed them. And in the end, their prayers were answered. The temple was rebuilt and the wall was reconstructed. The people returned to accomplish the mission that had been assigned to them some 900 years earlier, namely to be the bearers of Christ to the nations. You see, in the end, God’s will is always accomplished; not on our time table or in the way we might imagine, but his triumph is inevitable, and we are called to soldier on with hope through the hard times, living in and praying for those societies and times and institutions where he has placed us, and not leaning to our own understanding or our own ways.
On Friday, as I was perusing the church press, I was stricken by a spirit of what could have easily become hopelessness, or even despair. And then I sat down and read the propers for this day. I saw the admonition of Jeremiah to the people of God, and I heeded the wisdom of St. Paul writing from prison, “The saying is sure: If we have died with him, we will also live with him; if we endure, we will also reign with him; if we deny him, he will also deny us; if we are faithless, he remains faithful- for he cannot deny himself. Remind them of this, and warn them before God that they are to avoid wrangling over words, which does no good but only ruins those who are listening. Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved by him, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly explaining the word of truth.”
Many things will happen in this world, and all of us will find some of them not to be to our liking. But if we are faithful and true, and go about serving God with obedience, and with love, and with faith in the Incarnate Christ and the Holy and Blessed Trinity, refusing to be caught up in arguments and bantering over words, God himself will vindicate us, and we will be by his grace ushered into that heavenly city, the new Jerusalem. Be faithful my friends, and let no earthly events lead you to despair. Our God, the God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob, is faithful, and he has named us as his own. AMEN.
Jeremiah 29:1,4-7
II Timothy 2:8-15
Preached at St. John’s
The city of Jerusalem is mesmerizing. To walk in the footsteps of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ is an experience which can transform one’s life. To look upon the walls of Suleiman the Magnificent and walk the path to temple mount is merely a short imagining to the citadel of David. The promises of God are everywhere. On the rock covered by the great dome of Islam Abraham lifted the knife to slay his son, his only son, and experienced the deliverance of God. Here David danced before the Lord, ensuring the disdain of those who thought too much of what others might say, but exhibiting that purity of heart which brought him the sobriquet “a man after God’s own heart.” Solomon the wise, in obedience to the call of God, erected the first temple in this place. To the call of the shophar and the solemn intonation of priestly chant, the faithful repaired to the worship of the one true God for generations. It was commonly believed that God would never let his holy city be defiled by the tramp of foreign armies, although he had never said so himself. But it was not the tramp of foreign armies which first defiled the holy city. Rather it was the disobedience of his own people which destroyed that city which had heard the songs of God’s praise and welcomed the entry of the great kings appointed by the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
I have always yearned for Jerusalem. My favorite hymns are of the city. “And there’s another country,” “Jerusalem, my happy home, when shall I come to thee..,” “And we shall build Jerusalem, in England’s green and pleasant land.” Among my favorite psalms are the songs of degrees, which for centuries have been sung by the people of God as they approached the city of David, the city of God. “I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help.” “Behold, how good and pleasant a thing it is for brethren to dwell together in unity.” You see, Jerusalem is for the people of God a metaphor of that heavenly city which is to come, which is to come down from God out of heaven as a bride adorned for her husband. Rebecca and I have long sought to make our own domicile a vision, a pale reflection of the city of Jerusalem, a place of harmony and beauty and godliness. We have never been completely successful, but it is our dream and our goal, that visitors to our home might gain a sense of that which is to come.
Imagine how the children of Judah must have raised their lament when their city was destroyed by the Babylonians, and they were dragged into those seventy years of captivity in a strange and foreign land. “By the waters of Babylon we sat down and wept. How can we sing the Lord’s song in a strange land.” It must have seemed to the faithful that the world itself had come to an end. And the prophet Jeremiah wrote to them a letter which was to fill their nights with hope and their days with holy labour. “Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat what they produce. Take wives and have sons and daughters; take wives for your sons, and give your daughters in marriage, that they may bear sons and daughters; multiply there, and do not decrease. But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare.”
Have you ever received news which seemed to indicate the demise of that which you held most dear in all the world? From time to time, some bit of information has such an effect on me. Perhaps it is an offshoot of my personality and experience, or perhaps it has some basis in reality. When it strikes, it cuts me to the core, and instills in me a brooding sense of doom that can take some days to pass. In those times, I look to the experience of the children of Judah and Israel after the first temple was destroyed and the people carried away. For seventy years they lived in a hope not realized that God would deliver them and restore the city of Jerusalem, and when finally the Persian king allowed their return, it was as if all the world was against them. The rebuilding project languished for a full generation. Fathers and Mothers died, and their children grew up with the promises of restoration unfulfilled. But they persevered, and built homes, and planted gardens, and reared families in that place of spiritual desolation where God had placed them. And in the end, their prayers were answered. The temple was rebuilt and the wall was reconstructed. The people returned to accomplish the mission that had been assigned to them some 900 years earlier, namely to be the bearers of Christ to the nations. You see, in the end, God’s will is always accomplished; not on our time table or in the way we might imagine, but his triumph is inevitable, and we are called to soldier on with hope through the hard times, living in and praying for those societies and times and institutions where he has placed us, and not leaning to our own understanding or our own ways.
On Friday, as I was perusing the church press, I was stricken by a spirit of what could have easily become hopelessness, or even despair. And then I sat down and read the propers for this day. I saw the admonition of Jeremiah to the people of God, and I heeded the wisdom of St. Paul writing from prison, “The saying is sure: If we have died with him, we will also live with him; if we endure, we will also reign with him; if we deny him, he will also deny us; if we are faithless, he remains faithful- for he cannot deny himself. Remind them of this, and warn them before God that they are to avoid wrangling over words, which does no good but only ruins those who are listening. Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved by him, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly explaining the word of truth.”
Many things will happen in this world, and all of us will find some of them not to be to our liking. But if we are faithful and true, and go about serving God with obedience, and with love, and with faith in the Incarnate Christ and the Holy and Blessed Trinity, refusing to be caught up in arguments and bantering over words, God himself will vindicate us, and we will be by his grace ushered into that heavenly city, the new Jerusalem. Be faithful my friends, and let no earthly events lead you to despair. Our God, the God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob, is faithful, and he has named us as his own. AMEN.
Saturday, October 2, 2010
Faith in the midst of Darkness
Proper 22C The Sunday closest to October 5
Haabakkuk1:1-4;2:1-4
Psalm 37:1-10
II Timothy 1:1-14
Luke 17:5-10
Preached at St. John’s Lancaster
Today’s lessons attest to the fact that the world can be a pretty rough place. It does not take a prophet or a philosopher King to recognize the fact that the evil seem to prosper all around us, and that for significant periods of time they seem to call the shots and accomplish their selfish and evil ways with impunity. Sometimes, as Saint Paul points out to His Grace, Bishop Timothy, good people find themselves in the most untenable of situations. And all of us, in the midst of life’s vicissitudes, have cried out with the disciples, “Oh Lord, increase our faith!” In general, or in philosophical terms, we can all see the reality of the human experience, and we sagely acknowledge that which is self evident. But what are we to do when these realities of a fallen world become so real to us that we ache within our hearts. What happens when we cry out for deliverance from cancer, or justice over some contractual situation which we agreed to when we were younger, or more foolish, or when our financial situation was so much more stable and hopeful? We cry out for God’s hope and deliverance, and like Habakkuk say, “how long, O Lord…will you not listen?” What happens when we see decisions taken by others, decisions which threaten all we love and have worked for, and we feel powerless to do anything? With that prophet, we cry, “Violence!, O Lord, will you not save us?” And who of us has not been in some difficult situation, when we have felt so awfully alone, and we knew that if we could just talk to the one that we loved, God would give us strength through that encounter? Echoing the words of St. Paul, we cry out in the darkness of the night, “I remember you constantly in my prayers night and day, remembering your tears, I long to see you that I might be filled with joy.” And yet our loved one for whom we yearn is still so very, very far away, across an ocean, or in another state, or on the other side of the grave. And we are so terribly and unalterably alone.
In such circumstances and at such times, we, with the disciples, cry out to Jesus, “Increase our faith!” And now as then, He seems to give us the same answer that he gave them, and it seems so insufficient. “If you had faith the size of a mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, be uprooted and planted in the sea, and it would obey you.” How many of us have asked with all the faith we could muster for some such miracle, only a hundred times more immediate or personal, only to see our situations remain absolutely the same, or worse. To pray , believing, and then to realize that cancer or diabetes still racks the body of the one we love; to lose a child; to find no escape from migraine headaches; to see a loved child walking along a path which will certainly lead to death and destruction in this world and the next; to see a parent or a spouse fade away to a mere shadow, both physically and mentally, of what they were in their prime; to see a marriage fail in spite of all our best efforts…the grief, and the anger, and the pain can be crippling in such a situation.
There are often those well intentioned friends, who like Job’s comforters, attempt to help us in such times. One will say that we simply lack faith, because Jesus always keeps his promises, and if the tree is not planted in the midst of the sea, the problem must be with us, and we need to be more holy in our actions and conversation if we wish to receive God‘s blessing. There is another who says that we must boldly claim the healing of God, and a third who wants to enroll us in a self-help program which will help us to see the possibilities in our lives and “just praise the Lord in everything.” They are all well intentioned, for the most part, but they are about as much help in the midst of our adversity as was Job’s wife, who counseled her suffering husband to “curse God and die.”
And so what are we to do in such times? Today’s propers give us an answer, but I’m afraid it is an answer which the practitioners of instant blessing, prosperity, and quick results will not like. The Prophet Haabakkuk is succinct when he responds to his own troubles by saying, “I will stand at my watch post, and station myself on the rampart; I will keep watch to see what he will say to me, and what he will answer concerning my complaint.” Paul is equally direct and realistic: “…God did not give us a spirit of cowardice, but rather a spirit of power and of love and of self-discipline…I know the one in whom I have put my trust,and I am sure that he is able to guard until that day what I have entrusted to him. Hold to the standard of sound teaching that you have heard from me, in the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. Guard the good treasure entrusted to you, with the help of the Holy Spirit living in us.” Such language invariably takes me back to the old words of the signing at baptism, words which were our common Anglican heritage for centuries before our own American church unilaterally modified the baptismal rite which had been used throughout the communion and the church for so long. As the Minister made a Cross upon the Child’s forehead, he said “We receive this Child into the congregation of Christ’s flock; and do sign him (or her) with the sign of the Cross, in token that hereafter he shall not be ashamed to confess the faith of Christ crucified, and manfully to fight under his banner, against sin, the world, and the devil; and to continue Christ’s faithful soldier and servant unto his life’s end. Amen.”
The answer to the reality of evil in our world, and to suffering in our lives, is you see an answer which does not promise immediate deliverance in every instance, nor is it an answer which releases us from the call to embrace true faith, which is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. We are not called to expect that God will overturn the laws of nature, his own laws, at every turn, although from time to time it has suited him to do so. We are not called to live in some sort of denial of reality which exudes false happiness and is characterized by bad theology and a pasted on smile. We are called with Habakkuk, and Paul, and Timothy, and the Twelve, and with saints through the ages to do our duty, “and when we have done all that we were ordered to do, to say, We are worthless slaves; we have done only what we ought to have done.” They understood that it was not about them, but rather about God, and his plan for us all. The whole duty of man, according to the old catechism, is to glorify God and enjoy him forever. That is best done by patient endurance and faithful obedience, all growing from a heart filled with love for God and man.
True faith is a gift of God. It is best known in the long times, and often in the dark times, as we learn to stand the post that we are assigned by God to his glory and to the extension of his kingdom throughout the world, that every knee should bow, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord! In the midst of the darkest time, our most discouraging time, we would do well to look to the east in anticipation of the return of Christ, the true king. He will come to vindicate his people, and to make all things right. “He abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel. For this gospel, we, like Paul, are appointed heralds.” Such an appointment will of necessity bring hardship and suffering, because our enemy the devil lurks in this world, seeking whom he may devour. But we must never be ashamed, for we know whom we have believed!
So let us, with Habakkuk, that good soldier and true watchman, stand our post in all sorts of weather, and in the difficult as well as the wonderful times. Like him, might we anticipate the fulfillment of that vision of the end, which does not lie. “If it seems to tarry, wait for it; it will surely come, it will not delay. Look at the proud! Their spirit is not right in them, but the righteous live by their faith.” Might we live by faith, and thereby inherit all the blessings promised in Christ Jesus, our Lord and our Saviour, our brother and our friend. AMEN.
Haabakkuk1:1-4;2:1-4
Psalm 37:1-10
II Timothy 1:1-14
Luke 17:5-10
Preached at St. John’s Lancaster
Today’s lessons attest to the fact that the world can be a pretty rough place. It does not take a prophet or a philosopher King to recognize the fact that the evil seem to prosper all around us, and that for significant periods of time they seem to call the shots and accomplish their selfish and evil ways with impunity. Sometimes, as Saint Paul points out to His Grace, Bishop Timothy, good people find themselves in the most untenable of situations. And all of us, in the midst of life’s vicissitudes, have cried out with the disciples, “Oh Lord, increase our faith!” In general, or in philosophical terms, we can all see the reality of the human experience, and we sagely acknowledge that which is self evident. But what are we to do when these realities of a fallen world become so real to us that we ache within our hearts. What happens when we cry out for deliverance from cancer, or justice over some contractual situation which we agreed to when we were younger, or more foolish, or when our financial situation was so much more stable and hopeful? We cry out for God’s hope and deliverance, and like Habakkuk say, “how long, O Lord…will you not listen?” What happens when we see decisions taken by others, decisions which threaten all we love and have worked for, and we feel powerless to do anything? With that prophet, we cry, “Violence!, O Lord, will you not save us?” And who of us has not been in some difficult situation, when we have felt so awfully alone, and we knew that if we could just talk to the one that we loved, God would give us strength through that encounter? Echoing the words of St. Paul, we cry out in the darkness of the night, “I remember you constantly in my prayers night and day, remembering your tears, I long to see you that I might be filled with joy.” And yet our loved one for whom we yearn is still so very, very far away, across an ocean, or in another state, or on the other side of the grave. And we are so terribly and unalterably alone.
In such circumstances and at such times, we, with the disciples, cry out to Jesus, “Increase our faith!” And now as then, He seems to give us the same answer that he gave them, and it seems so insufficient. “If you had faith the size of a mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, be uprooted and planted in the sea, and it would obey you.” How many of us have asked with all the faith we could muster for some such miracle, only a hundred times more immediate or personal, only to see our situations remain absolutely the same, or worse. To pray , believing, and then to realize that cancer or diabetes still racks the body of the one we love; to lose a child; to find no escape from migraine headaches; to see a loved child walking along a path which will certainly lead to death and destruction in this world and the next; to see a parent or a spouse fade away to a mere shadow, both physically and mentally, of what they were in their prime; to see a marriage fail in spite of all our best efforts…the grief, and the anger, and the pain can be crippling in such a situation.
There are often those well intentioned friends, who like Job’s comforters, attempt to help us in such times. One will say that we simply lack faith, because Jesus always keeps his promises, and if the tree is not planted in the midst of the sea, the problem must be with us, and we need to be more holy in our actions and conversation if we wish to receive God‘s blessing. There is another who says that we must boldly claim the healing of God, and a third who wants to enroll us in a self-help program which will help us to see the possibilities in our lives and “just praise the Lord in everything.” They are all well intentioned, for the most part, but they are about as much help in the midst of our adversity as was Job’s wife, who counseled her suffering husband to “curse God and die.”
And so what are we to do in such times? Today’s propers give us an answer, but I’m afraid it is an answer which the practitioners of instant blessing, prosperity, and quick results will not like. The Prophet Haabakkuk is succinct when he responds to his own troubles by saying, “I will stand at my watch post, and station myself on the rampart; I will keep watch to see what he will say to me, and what he will answer concerning my complaint.” Paul is equally direct and realistic: “…God did not give us a spirit of cowardice, but rather a spirit of power and of love and of self-discipline…I know the one in whom I have put my trust,and I am sure that he is able to guard until that day what I have entrusted to him. Hold to the standard of sound teaching that you have heard from me, in the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. Guard the good treasure entrusted to you, with the help of the Holy Spirit living in us.” Such language invariably takes me back to the old words of the signing at baptism, words which were our common Anglican heritage for centuries before our own American church unilaterally modified the baptismal rite which had been used throughout the communion and the church for so long. As the Minister made a Cross upon the Child’s forehead, he said “We receive this Child into the congregation of Christ’s flock; and do sign him (or her) with the sign of the Cross, in token that hereafter he shall not be ashamed to confess the faith of Christ crucified, and manfully to fight under his banner, against sin, the world, and the devil; and to continue Christ’s faithful soldier and servant unto his life’s end. Amen.”
The answer to the reality of evil in our world, and to suffering in our lives, is you see an answer which does not promise immediate deliverance in every instance, nor is it an answer which releases us from the call to embrace true faith, which is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. We are not called to expect that God will overturn the laws of nature, his own laws, at every turn, although from time to time it has suited him to do so. We are not called to live in some sort of denial of reality which exudes false happiness and is characterized by bad theology and a pasted on smile. We are called with Habakkuk, and Paul, and Timothy, and the Twelve, and with saints through the ages to do our duty, “and when we have done all that we were ordered to do, to say, We are worthless slaves; we have done only what we ought to have done.” They understood that it was not about them, but rather about God, and his plan for us all. The whole duty of man, according to the old catechism, is to glorify God and enjoy him forever. That is best done by patient endurance and faithful obedience, all growing from a heart filled with love for God and man.
True faith is a gift of God. It is best known in the long times, and often in the dark times, as we learn to stand the post that we are assigned by God to his glory and to the extension of his kingdom throughout the world, that every knee should bow, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord! In the midst of the darkest time, our most discouraging time, we would do well to look to the east in anticipation of the return of Christ, the true king. He will come to vindicate his people, and to make all things right. “He abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel. For this gospel, we, like Paul, are appointed heralds.” Such an appointment will of necessity bring hardship and suffering, because our enemy the devil lurks in this world, seeking whom he may devour. But we must never be ashamed, for we know whom we have believed!
So let us, with Habakkuk, that good soldier and true watchman, stand our post in all sorts of weather, and in the difficult as well as the wonderful times. Like him, might we anticipate the fulfillment of that vision of the end, which does not lie. “If it seems to tarry, wait for it; it will surely come, it will not delay. Look at the proud! Their spirit is not right in them, but the righteous live by their faith.” Might we live by faith, and thereby inherit all the blessings promised in Christ Jesus, our Lord and our Saviour, our brother and our friend. AMEN.
Saturday, September 25, 2010
Ember Day Thoughts on Stewardship
Rectors Rambling October 2010 II
After the refreshment of an early morning rain, the heaviness of the September heat is already beginning to assert itself. The terriers, after their early morning constitutional, are draped rather unceremoniously across the master bed, and the rooster is announcing his dominance of the day. There is a hint of fog in the front pasture, and Tristan’s deployment flag hangs listlessly. I pray that his day is as uneventful as this morning seems to be.
Yesterday at the mid-week communion, we heard the lessons for the autumnal ember days, those days set aside by our holy mother the church for all of God’s people to pray for “the increase of the ministry.” The old phrase has nothing to do with my girth or the size of my bank account. Rather it has to do with the setting apart of persons to serve God in Christian ministry. While all ministry is included in the concept, there has historically been an emphasis on the vocations of priest, deacon, monk, nun, and friar. I hope with all my heart that at this turn of the seasons, we might all pray that God would do his work in the hearts of many that they might hear and follow God’s call in their lives. I would also encourage all of us who have influence in the lives of the young to help them consider God’s call in their lives. Our society does so much to prepare our children and grandchildren for the future. We make sure that they study math and English and history. We teach them about healthy choices and encourage them to play sports that they might learn about the challenges and hardships of life. But we do a very poor job of calling them to consider God’s claim on their lives. We ask them what they would like to do after graduation, and all of our pre-admissions college testing is designed to help them determine where they might be successful, but we so seldom lead them to ask what God would have them to do. Let us fulfill our responsibilities on these ember days to be God’s agents for the increase of the ministry… And His Holy Name will be glorified in this place.
Fall also marks the beginning of our stewardship process at St. John’s. The vestry has already discussed how we might proceed, and the budget committee will be meeting in the days to come. I hope everyone who loves St. John’s will consider how God would have you to give of your time, talents, and money as we begin this period of discernment. I would offer a short list of suggestions as you consider your pledge this year.
1. We need volunteers in the area of worship such as lectors, ushers, choristers, altar guild members, and acolytes.
2. We need volunteers in outreach, especially in nursing home ministry, prayer ministry on Monday night and on Thursdays at Pickering House, parish health, and pastoral care.
3. Pray and ask God what he would have you to do. Remember that it is very easy to get too many irons in the fire. When he calls you to engage in one ministry, he may be calling you to disengage in another.
4. Pray and ask God what he would have you to give financially. The answer he gives you will probably surprise you by its size. Step out in faith and make adjustments to your discretionary spending patterns in order to fully fund the figure that seems right to you as you pray. God will be glorified by your obedience, and the work of the Kingdom will be accomplished.
5. Never forget that we are called to follow Jesus in the way of the cross. If stewardship seems easy, we are probably not giving enough in some category.
6. Finally, consider giving of yourself by attending Christian worship every week in the year to come. Jesus gave us very few direct admonitions, but he says that we should receive the sacrament when we meet together, and the Scriptures tell us to “forsake not the assembling of ourselves.” In the long run, the Kingdom of God will go forth with or without our time, talents, and money. We would be the poorer in such a world, but God’s kingdom would continue to exist and function. The real basis of our life together is to follow him in obedience, and a significant part of that obedience is to meet together each week to hear the Word and receive the Sacrament.
As a sultry September rolls into October, let us give thanks for small things in our lives, for dogs and gentle rains, and blued metal on fine walnut, for bamboo fly rods, and the abundance of the world. May God bless us all, and guide us as we pledge ourselves, and all that we love, to his service.
Sincerely,
Bill+
After the refreshment of an early morning rain, the heaviness of the September heat is already beginning to assert itself. The terriers, after their early morning constitutional, are draped rather unceremoniously across the master bed, and the rooster is announcing his dominance of the day. There is a hint of fog in the front pasture, and Tristan’s deployment flag hangs listlessly. I pray that his day is as uneventful as this morning seems to be.
Yesterday at the mid-week communion, we heard the lessons for the autumnal ember days, those days set aside by our holy mother the church for all of God’s people to pray for “the increase of the ministry.” The old phrase has nothing to do with my girth or the size of my bank account. Rather it has to do with the setting apart of persons to serve God in Christian ministry. While all ministry is included in the concept, there has historically been an emphasis on the vocations of priest, deacon, monk, nun, and friar. I hope with all my heart that at this turn of the seasons, we might all pray that God would do his work in the hearts of many that they might hear and follow God’s call in their lives. I would also encourage all of us who have influence in the lives of the young to help them consider God’s call in their lives. Our society does so much to prepare our children and grandchildren for the future. We make sure that they study math and English and history. We teach them about healthy choices and encourage them to play sports that they might learn about the challenges and hardships of life. But we do a very poor job of calling them to consider God’s claim on their lives. We ask them what they would like to do after graduation, and all of our pre-admissions college testing is designed to help them determine where they might be successful, but we so seldom lead them to ask what God would have them to do. Let us fulfill our responsibilities on these ember days to be God’s agents for the increase of the ministry… And His Holy Name will be glorified in this place.
Fall also marks the beginning of our stewardship process at St. John’s. The vestry has already discussed how we might proceed, and the budget committee will be meeting in the days to come. I hope everyone who loves St. John’s will consider how God would have you to give of your time, talents, and money as we begin this period of discernment. I would offer a short list of suggestions as you consider your pledge this year.
1. We need volunteers in the area of worship such as lectors, ushers, choristers, altar guild members, and acolytes.
2. We need volunteers in outreach, especially in nursing home ministry, prayer ministry on Monday night and on Thursdays at Pickering House, parish health, and pastoral care.
3. Pray and ask God what he would have you to do. Remember that it is very easy to get too many irons in the fire. When he calls you to engage in one ministry, he may be calling you to disengage in another.
4. Pray and ask God what he would have you to give financially. The answer he gives you will probably surprise you by its size. Step out in faith and make adjustments to your discretionary spending patterns in order to fully fund the figure that seems right to you as you pray. God will be glorified by your obedience, and the work of the Kingdom will be accomplished.
5. Never forget that we are called to follow Jesus in the way of the cross. If stewardship seems easy, we are probably not giving enough in some category.
6. Finally, consider giving of yourself by attending Christian worship every week in the year to come. Jesus gave us very few direct admonitions, but he says that we should receive the sacrament when we meet together, and the Scriptures tell us to “forsake not the assembling of ourselves.” In the long run, the Kingdom of God will go forth with or without our time, talents, and money. We would be the poorer in such a world, but God’s kingdom would continue to exist and function. The real basis of our life together is to follow him in obedience, and a significant part of that obedience is to meet together each week to hear the Word and receive the Sacrament.
As a sultry September rolls into October, let us give thanks for small things in our lives, for dogs and gentle rains, and blued metal on fine walnut, for bamboo fly rods, and the abundance of the world. May God bless us all, and guide us as we pledge ourselves, and all that we love, to his service.
Sincerely,
Bill+
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