8/9/09 at St. Mark's and St. James
I received this in an email the other day:
Satan called a worldwide convention of demons. In his opening address he said, "We can't keep Christians from going to church." "We can't keep them from reading their Bibles and knowing the truth." "We can't even keep them from forming an intimate relationship with their Savior." "Once they gain that connection with Jesus, our power over them is broken." "So let them go to their churches; let them have their covered dish dinners, BUT steal their time, so they don't have time to develop a relationship with Jesus Christ.."
"This is what I want you to do," said the devil: "Distract them from gaining hold of their Savior and maintaining that vital connection throughout their day!" "How shall we do this?" his demons shouted. "Keep them busy in the non-essentials of life and invent innumerable schemes to occupy their minds," he answered.. "Tempt them to spend, spend, spend, and borrow, borrow, borrow..." "Persuade the wives to go to work for long hours and the husbands to work 6-7 days each week, 10-12 hours a day, so they can afford their empty lifestyles." "Keep them from spending time with their children." "As their families fragment, soon, their homes will offer no escape from the pressures of life!" "Over-stimulate their minds so that they cannot hear that still, small voice." "Entice them to play the radio, CD player or iPods whenever they drive. To keep the TV, VCR, CDs and their PCs going constantly in their home and see to it that every store and restaurant in the world plays non-biblical music constantly." "This will jam their minds and break that union with Christ." "Fill the coffee tables with magazines and newspapers." "Pound their minds with the news 24 hours a day." "Invade their driving moments with billboards." "Flood their mailboxes with junk mail, mail order catalogs, sweepstakes, and every kind of newsletter and promotional offering free products, services and false hopes.." "Keep skinny, beautiful models in the magazines and on the TV so their husbands will believe that outward beauty is what's important, and they'll become dissatisfied with their wives. " "Keep the wives too tired to love their husbands at night." "Give them headaches too! " "If they don't give their husbands the love they need, they will begin to look elsewhere." "That will fragment their families quickly!" "Give them Santa Claus to distract them from teaching their children the real meaning of Christmas." "Give them an Easter bunny so they won't talk about His resurrection and power over sin and death." "Even in their recreation, let them be excessive." "Have them return from their recreation exhausted." "Keep them too busy to go out in nature and reflect on God's creations. Send them to amusement parks, sporting events, plays, concerts, and movies instead." "Keep them busy, busy, busy!" "And when they meet for spiritual fellowship, involve them in gossip and small talk so that they leave with troubled consciences." "Crowd their lives with so many good causes they have no time to seek power from Jesus." "Soon they will be working in their own strength, sacrificing their health and family for the good of the cause."
"It will work!" "It will work!" It was quite a plan!
The demons went eagerly to their assignments causing Christians everywhere to get busier and more rushed, going here and there. Having little time for their God or their families. Having no time to tell others about the power of Jesus to change lives. I guess the question is, has the devil been successful in his schemes? You be the judge.
We fill our lives with so much clutter, so much noise, that we block out God. We forget that our hunger is for God, and we fill ourselves and our lives up with things that don’t satisfy, things that actually keep us from God. Somewhere else I read that one of the devil’s greatest weapons is distraction. We get distracted by our own worries, hopes and fears. We get distracted by television and radio and talk and news. We check email and blogs and search the Net. We fill up the silence, consuming anything and everything but the bread of life.
Once again I will take issue with the lectionary, wishing our gospel text starting two very important verses earlier, though I believe this was the end of last week’s text. Beginning at John 6:35 here’s what we missed:
35 Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. 36 But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe.
These verses introduce our Gospel reading, and Jesus makes on of his I AM statements. I am the bread of life. Before he was living water, and now he is bread. The essential stuff of life. Bread and water. God’s provision. In the Exodus story of the Old Testament people grumbled and cried out for water and for bread—and received the gifts of water and manna. In the Psalms and the Prophets their hunger was for wisdom, for the sustaining presence of God. And now Jesus is that food, he is that bread. And still they do not believe.
In the next few verses Jesus confidently discusses his work and mission, because he knows that his success is entirely due to the work of the Father. Jesus is the one who is sent by God and God is the one who calls people to Jesus; those who come to Jesus with faith will not be cast out. And even that faith is a gift from God. It’s not so much about Jesus welcoming those who come to him as about taking care of those who the Father has given him. There is always a tension between God’s sovereignty, God who calls and draws individuals—and the responsibility of individuals to respond. The initiative is always God’s. It is God who supplies the bread of life, and anyone who eats of this bread will live forever.
Jesus is misunderstood—they grumbled because don’t know who he is. Sure, they think they know him. Isn’t he the son of Mary and Joseph? Don’t we know his family? They don’t know, they don’t see, that he is so much more than what they see. And Jesus doesn’t really defend himself against their complaints but insists that God is the one who initiates their faith, the Father is the one who enables them to see. He is the bread, he is the one who must be consumed. He said:
“This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. 51 I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats of this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh."
Jesus is the bread who must be eaten; and we make the decision whether to eat—whether to believe—and receive the gift of eternal life. Jesus would give his own life, his own flesh as a sacrifice for the life of the world. He is the sacrificial lamb. Jesus is the bread of life and those who come to him will not hunger, those who believe in him will not thirst.
What is it that we hunger for—what is the bread that we pursue? What is our thirst, our insatiable desires for those things that do not satisfy? How do we try to feed our hunger? Better yet, how can we be fed by God? Remember, even religion, even the church can be poor substitutes for the living God, and will not satisfy our hunger. Being fed by God is simplicity and silence. Being fed by God is spending time with Jesus. It’s about love, about relationship, about Jesus the bread of life. It’s not about being a Christian, but about knowing Jesus and his transformational presence in our lives. God the Father is willing and eager to give us the bread that satisfies, to give us life and peace if we silence the noise around us.
I am the bread of life, the bread that comes down from heaven, the bread of eternal life.
You are what you eat.
Thursday, August 13, 2009
Saturday, July 18, 2009
July 19 Proper 11
I have some friends, a couple, who told me about moving to a new town several years ago and visiting the Episcopal Church there, a church they intended to make their home. They were welcomed at the service and at coffee—and were invited out to lunch with the priest and his wife, and another person, a lay-leader in the church. They settled in at the restaurant and the first thing the priest asked them was whether they were liberal or orthodox. Needless to say, this couple was pretty taken aback by this question; so often our denomination has been characterized by being open to a wide range of thinking, a denomination that has encouraged us to think about our faith and the consequences of our faith for our lives without dictating exactly what that should be, what it should look like. My friends certainly didn’t expect to hear this kind of question. And I would hope that if they showed up here, we wouldn’t ask them this question!
We tend too often to label ourselves and others, don’t we? Liberal or conservative, progressive or orthodox. Reasserters or reappraisers. And those are just some labels being tossed around in church circles these days. Add in our political leanings: again liberal or conservative, democrat or republican. CNN or Fox News.
Even further: introvert or extrovert, male or female, rich or poor, black or white.
And I don’t think any of these are right or wrong.
But we start getting in trouble when we identify ourselves with certain labels, and demonize those who may be on the opposite end of the spectrum. When we think we have all the answers, and those who disagree are discounted, shut out and alienated.
In the 1st century, there were few people further apart than Jews and Gentiles. The circumcised versus the uncircumcised. God’s chosen people against the nations, never mind that the Jews were chosen to be God’s people in order to be a light to all the nations, all the gentiles. In his commentary, William Barclay further explains the alienation and hostility between the two, and especially on the part of the Jews. He wrote:
The Jew had an immense contempt for the Gentile. The Gentiles, said the Jews, were created by God to be fuel for the fires of hell. God, they said, loved only Israel of all the nations that he had made . . . It was not even lawful to render help to a Gentile mother in her hour of sorest need, for that would simply be to bring another Gentile into the world. Until Christ came, the Gentiles were an object of contempt to the Jews. The barrier between them was absolute. If a Jewish boy married a Gentile girl, or if a Jewish girl married a Gentile boy, the funeral of that Jewish boy or girl was carried out. Such contact with a Gentile was the equivalent of death (qtd. Stott, John. The Message of Ephesians. IVP p. 91).
And this is the situation that Paul is speaking into in our Epistle. He first reminds his Gentile audience that before Jesus Christ, the people of Ephesus and Asia Minor, called the uncircumcision, were without Christ—and now they were in Christ. Before they were alienated from Israel, and now they too were God’s people. Before they were strangers to the covenants of promise—and they were now no longer strangers but friends of the promise, included in the covenants. Before they were without hope, no anticipation of relief, and in Christ they have hope. Before they were without God, and now they had been brought into relationship with God. Paul explains that even though they—who are now in Christ—they had been far off, and now they were brought near to God by the blood of Christ. This is sacrificial language—Christ died in order to bring them—and us—into a relationship with God. He died in our place, for our gain. The work of Christ brings us close to God.
How does this happen? Paul explains that Jesus himself is our peace. Christ equals peace, and peace equals Christ. He is peace, makes peace, proclaims peace. We have peace with God and each other, and the peace of Christ breaks down barriers, walls of hostility that divide. “The law as a set of regulations that excludes Gentiles” (Snodgrass, Kyle. The NIV Application Commentary: Ephesians. Zondervan p.133) is abolished. Gentiles are now included and accepted by God in Christ in the same manner as Jews. This destruction of hostility is accomplished by the Incarnation and especially by the death of Jesus—he took the sins and hostilities of Jews and Gentiles and all of us with him when he died, and in himself, in his body Christ creates a new humanity, a new people incorporated into his body. This brings peace and reconciliation. Through Christ’s death and resurrection we are brought into a relationship with God, and we are connected with each other in Christ. “Divided humanity is reconciled in Christ and joined into a unified, worshipping community” (ibid 134-5), a new man, a new race. No more name calling, no more labels, no more walls.
Through Jesus’ death on the cross, we have been reconciled with God and with each other. We are made one body to the end that hostility must cease. But it is God who by his grace always does the reconciling—he takes the initiative at restoring relations.
Jesus came to preach peace to those who were far off and to those who were near—to the Gentiles and to the Jews—and through him we have access to God by the Holy Spirit. It is by the work of the Holy Spirit that we are incorporated into Christ, united with each other, and have access to the very presence of God.
And now the Gentiles are citizens, part of God’s own household, fellow citizens, joined together, being built together as God’s people, the holy ones. Those who were excluded and alienated are now included and incorporated, sharing in the privileges that Israel has enjoyed as God’s chosen people.
The household of God is built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, and Jesus Christ himself is the cornerstone. He makes the whole structure possible. He is strength and security. He is the one on whom AND IN WHOM the whole building exists. In him the building is bound together—he is the cement. In him the building becomes a temple. In him the Gentiles and the Jews are built together to be God’s dwelling. All union with God and with each other is in Christ. The ones who were excluded from the temple now become the temple—God’s temple. Christ and his followers are the new temple, replacing the physical building in Jerusalem. In Christ we are a holy temple because God dwells in us. We are in Christ—he is our home. And together with Christ we are God’s dwelling place—we are his home.
When we consider the walls and labels that divide us, that become barriers to our peace and unity with each other, we must also consider what Paul has said about the wall of separation between the Jew and the Gentile—the wall that has been destroyed by Christ.
In his letter to the Galatians St. Paul explains that in Christ there is no longer Jew or Greek, slave or free, male or female, but all are one—in Christ Jesus. And that’s the key. We are one in Christ Jesus. We are one, united with him, part of his one body, when we are in Christ Jesus. When he is the center, when he is the vine. When we confess that Jesus Christ and his life, death and resurrection are the focus of our life together. When we hold fast to the uniqueness of Jesus as the way to salvation. When we hold forth the Creeds of our church—because they emphasize Christ. Jesus is the main subject and the center point of our creeds. Jesus Christ is the cornerstone. With Jesus as our center, as our foundation, as our cornerstone we are called to live in peace and unity. God in the flesh walked among us, died for us, was raised for us, intercedes for us, in order for us to be reconciled with God and with each other—in Christ. He is our peace. He is our unity. He is our reconciliation.
But when we forget Christ, when we fail to affirm the uniqueness and primacy of Christ, when he is marginalized and discounted, there is no hope of unity and peace.
Jesus is Lord.
Amen.
We tend too often to label ourselves and others, don’t we? Liberal or conservative, progressive or orthodox. Reasserters or reappraisers. And those are just some labels being tossed around in church circles these days. Add in our political leanings: again liberal or conservative, democrat or republican. CNN or Fox News.
Even further: introvert or extrovert, male or female, rich or poor, black or white.
And I don’t think any of these are right or wrong.
But we start getting in trouble when we identify ourselves with certain labels, and demonize those who may be on the opposite end of the spectrum. When we think we have all the answers, and those who disagree are discounted, shut out and alienated.
In the 1st century, there were few people further apart than Jews and Gentiles. The circumcised versus the uncircumcised. God’s chosen people against the nations, never mind that the Jews were chosen to be God’s people in order to be a light to all the nations, all the gentiles. In his commentary, William Barclay further explains the alienation and hostility between the two, and especially on the part of the Jews. He wrote:
The Jew had an immense contempt for the Gentile. The Gentiles, said the Jews, were created by God to be fuel for the fires of hell. God, they said, loved only Israel of all the nations that he had made . . . It was not even lawful to render help to a Gentile mother in her hour of sorest need, for that would simply be to bring another Gentile into the world. Until Christ came, the Gentiles were an object of contempt to the Jews. The barrier between them was absolute. If a Jewish boy married a Gentile girl, or if a Jewish girl married a Gentile boy, the funeral of that Jewish boy or girl was carried out. Such contact with a Gentile was the equivalent of death (qtd. Stott, John. The Message of Ephesians. IVP p. 91).
And this is the situation that Paul is speaking into in our Epistle. He first reminds his Gentile audience that before Jesus Christ, the people of Ephesus and Asia Minor, called the uncircumcision, were without Christ—and now they were in Christ. Before they were alienated from Israel, and now they too were God’s people. Before they were strangers to the covenants of promise—and they were now no longer strangers but friends of the promise, included in the covenants. Before they were without hope, no anticipation of relief, and in Christ they have hope. Before they were without God, and now they had been brought into relationship with God. Paul explains that even though they—who are now in Christ—they had been far off, and now they were brought near to God by the blood of Christ. This is sacrificial language—Christ died in order to bring them—and us—into a relationship with God. He died in our place, for our gain. The work of Christ brings us close to God.
How does this happen? Paul explains that Jesus himself is our peace. Christ equals peace, and peace equals Christ. He is peace, makes peace, proclaims peace. We have peace with God and each other, and the peace of Christ breaks down barriers, walls of hostility that divide. “The law as a set of regulations that excludes Gentiles” (Snodgrass, Kyle. The NIV Application Commentary: Ephesians. Zondervan p.133) is abolished. Gentiles are now included and accepted by God in Christ in the same manner as Jews. This destruction of hostility is accomplished by the Incarnation and especially by the death of Jesus—he took the sins and hostilities of Jews and Gentiles and all of us with him when he died, and in himself, in his body Christ creates a new humanity, a new people incorporated into his body. This brings peace and reconciliation. Through Christ’s death and resurrection we are brought into a relationship with God, and we are connected with each other in Christ. “Divided humanity is reconciled in Christ and joined into a unified, worshipping community” (ibid 134-5), a new man, a new race. No more name calling, no more labels, no more walls.
Through Jesus’ death on the cross, we have been reconciled with God and with each other. We are made one body to the end that hostility must cease. But it is God who by his grace always does the reconciling—he takes the initiative at restoring relations.
Jesus came to preach peace to those who were far off and to those who were near—to the Gentiles and to the Jews—and through him we have access to God by the Holy Spirit. It is by the work of the Holy Spirit that we are incorporated into Christ, united with each other, and have access to the very presence of God.
And now the Gentiles are citizens, part of God’s own household, fellow citizens, joined together, being built together as God’s people, the holy ones. Those who were excluded and alienated are now included and incorporated, sharing in the privileges that Israel has enjoyed as God’s chosen people.
The household of God is built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, and Jesus Christ himself is the cornerstone. He makes the whole structure possible. He is strength and security. He is the one on whom AND IN WHOM the whole building exists. In him the building is bound together—he is the cement. In him the building becomes a temple. In him the Gentiles and the Jews are built together to be God’s dwelling. All union with God and with each other is in Christ. The ones who were excluded from the temple now become the temple—God’s temple. Christ and his followers are the new temple, replacing the physical building in Jerusalem. In Christ we are a holy temple because God dwells in us. We are in Christ—he is our home. And together with Christ we are God’s dwelling place—we are his home.
When we consider the walls and labels that divide us, that become barriers to our peace and unity with each other, we must also consider what Paul has said about the wall of separation between the Jew and the Gentile—the wall that has been destroyed by Christ.
In his letter to the Galatians St. Paul explains that in Christ there is no longer Jew or Greek, slave or free, male or female, but all are one—in Christ Jesus. And that’s the key. We are one in Christ Jesus. We are one, united with him, part of his one body, when we are in Christ Jesus. When he is the center, when he is the vine. When we confess that Jesus Christ and his life, death and resurrection are the focus of our life together. When we hold fast to the uniqueness of Jesus as the way to salvation. When we hold forth the Creeds of our church—because they emphasize Christ. Jesus is the main subject and the center point of our creeds. Jesus Christ is the cornerstone. With Jesus as our center, as our foundation, as our cornerstone we are called to live in peace and unity. God in the flesh walked among us, died for us, was raised for us, intercedes for us, in order for us to be reconciled with God and with each other—in Christ. He is our peace. He is our unity. He is our reconciliation.
But when we forget Christ, when we fail to affirm the uniqueness and primacy of Christ, when he is marginalized and discounted, there is no hope of unity and peace.
Jesus is Lord.
Amen.
July 12 Proper 10
Good morning!! Today I’m going to talk about geography, kind of a strange subject for a sermon. And, no, there’s not going to be a test. And it’s not about mountains and rivers, topography. It’s not about states and capitals. It’s a bit more personal than all that—our personal geography.
When someone asks where you are from, what do you say? For many that’s pretty simple, you state where you grew up perhaps. Or if you are traveling you might give the name of your home city or state. When people ask me where I’m from, it’s a little more difficult. It depends on the conversation, who I’m talking to, and discerning whether they want the long answer or the short answer. The somewhat long answer is that I lived in 8 states before I was 10 years old—my dad was a civil engineer in heavy construction and we went where the jobs were: dams, bridges, pipelines and such. Then we moved to Littleton, Colorado, and I spent the remainder of my childhood there. My young adult years were also spent in Colorado, and in 1993 Larry and I moved to Illinois—his home.
The short answer to the question as to where I’m from would be that I grew up in Colorado and moved to Illinois in ’93.
When someone asks you where you live, present tense, it’s easy to get pretty specific isn’t it? Larry and I live at 12806 Mallard Dr., Whittington, Franklin County IL, USA.
When we think about these questions, we do think in terms of geography, don’t we. Physical locations. But I’d like to challenge you to think differently.
Our Epistle today is the opening sentences of St. Paul’s letter to the Ephesians—one of my favorite books. It’s in the standard style and form of a 1st century letter. When we write formal letters—probably almost a lost art with the advent of email and text messages, we start by greeting the recipient: Dear so and so, And we end with a salutation and our name, right? They did it a bit differently, starting by naming the author of the letter, in this case Paul who further identifies himself as an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God. And then he notes the recipients: To the saints who are in Ephesus and are faithful in Christ Jesus. Did you hear that? To the saints who are in Ephesus, a geographical location are also in Christ Jesus. In Ephesus and in Jesus.
The phrase “in Christ” is dominant throughout the 6 chapters that make up the letter to the Ephesians. “In Christ” or “in Him” or “in whom” appear over 30 times in this letter, and a third of the occurrences are in the first 14 verses, today’s lessons. We are to live both in a specific place, and in Christ. The Christian faith is to be such a union with the Lord that we actually live in him—he is our home. It is in him that we live and move and have our being. “To live in Christ is to be determined by him. He shapes who we are” (Snodgrass, Klyne. The NIV Application Commentary: Ephesians. Zondervan p. 42). This idea will have implications for our salvation and for our lives in our churches and in our world.
Paul’s letter continues with a doxology, blessing and praising God for all he has done for Jews, for Gentiles, for us. The language is effusive and majestic, building and developing, setting the tone for the rest of the letter. There are so many riches and so much deepness in these 14 verses—just 2 sentences in the original Greek, that it’s impossible to mine the depths in a brief sermon. But since I started with geography, with the idea of being in Christ, we’ll look at a few of the benefits that come with being in Christ.
First of all, God blessed us in Christ to be holy. We are incorporated into the mystical body of our Lord Jesus Christ. We are in Christ, in his body and that’s where we reside. If we live in Christ, that defines us and our lives become more and more determined by the character of Christ. He is our environment. When we sin, we forget where we live. We forget our home—we forget who we are and whose we are. When we live in Christ we are empowered by his spirit, and we live progressively more holy and blameless lives. We tend to focus on Christ being in us, inviting God into our hearts, but the idea of living in Christ is much greater. “If we emphasize only that Christ is in us, we define reality, and Christ is about one inch tall. If we realize we are in Christ, he determines reality and encompasses all that we are” (ibid p.63).
We were chosen in Christ, destined and elected. God chose us first. The initiative is God’s, based on grace. We were destined by God for relationship with him, to be his children. This doesn’t remove individual responsibility, but our actions and decision for Christ are a response to his action towards us. The focus is on God and his grace. And our election is always in and through Christ. The question is not whether one is elect, but whether one is in Christ.
In Christ we are redeemed—we are set free from the bondage of sin through the payment of a price—the blood if Christ. Through Jesus’ sacrificial death he paid for our sins once and for all. In Christ we receive forgiveness. We no longer live under the bondage and tyranny of sin, but because we have been forgiven we live under the Lordship of Christ—we live in Christ. And all this is because of the riches of his grace that he lavished on us. In Christ we are inundated with God’s grace, God’s unbelievable and undeserved acceptance of us. The initiative is God’s and it is in and through Christ Jesus. It is grace upon grace, to the praise of his glorious and amazing and abundant grace.
In Christ we have the revelation of God’s will. In Christ, through the gospel, God’s purpose and work are revealed. The hidden is revealed. The mystery is made known. And God will complete his plan of salvation. The whole universe will be reconciled in Christ as Lord of all. The fulfillment of God’s purposes began with Jesus’ life, death and resurrection, and in the fullness of time all things will be united and reconciled in Christ.
In Christ we are marked with the seal of the Holy Spirit. When we become Christians we receive the Spirit as a deposit or guarantee of our life with God—marked as God’s own forever. The Holy Spirit is the payment of a deposit on our lives, a guarantee that our inheritance of life with God will be delivered.
To summarize, “God blessed us, chose us from eternity, graced us, planned for us, sent Christ for us, revealed to us, will sum up all things in Christ in whom we have a part, gave us the Spirit as a guarantee, and will redeem us as his own people” (ibid 66-7). And all of this is in and through Christ.
For Paul, salvation is not about asking Jesus into your heart so you can go to heaven. It’s about faith in Jesus, but a faith that results in being united with Christ, living in Christ. It’s not about believing facts, about reciting formula for salvation, but about being joined to Christ. Once again, it is in him that we live and move and have our being. He is our home.
When we live in Christ, wrong allegiances and tyrannies lose their power. Jesus is our Lord, establishing our very being. It’s been said that being a Christians is about Being, not Doing. It’s about being determined by our life in Christ. Our geography is that we live in Christ, and are part of Christ. We are not simply individuals, but incorporated into Christ Jesus and will more and more act in accord with who he is. All that we do, good and bad, involves Christ and we are transformed into his likeness. In his letter to the Philippians, Paul says that “he who has begun a good work in you will bring it to completion” (1:6).
Where do you live? What is your geography? What does it means for you to live in ______________ and in Christ. What’s the significance for ________ that you live in Christ? What’s the significance for Jesus Christ that you live in _________? We need to reconcile the place that we live and the Christ in whom we live. How are you called to live in Christ and in ___________? Where do you live?
When someone asks where you are from, what do you say? For many that’s pretty simple, you state where you grew up perhaps. Or if you are traveling you might give the name of your home city or state. When people ask me where I’m from, it’s a little more difficult. It depends on the conversation, who I’m talking to, and discerning whether they want the long answer or the short answer. The somewhat long answer is that I lived in 8 states before I was 10 years old—my dad was a civil engineer in heavy construction and we went where the jobs were: dams, bridges, pipelines and such. Then we moved to Littleton, Colorado, and I spent the remainder of my childhood there. My young adult years were also spent in Colorado, and in 1993 Larry and I moved to Illinois—his home.
The short answer to the question as to where I’m from would be that I grew up in Colorado and moved to Illinois in ’93.
When someone asks you where you live, present tense, it’s easy to get pretty specific isn’t it? Larry and I live at 12806 Mallard Dr., Whittington, Franklin County IL, USA.
When we think about these questions, we do think in terms of geography, don’t we. Physical locations. But I’d like to challenge you to think differently.
Our Epistle today is the opening sentences of St. Paul’s letter to the Ephesians—one of my favorite books. It’s in the standard style and form of a 1st century letter. When we write formal letters—probably almost a lost art with the advent of email and text messages, we start by greeting the recipient: Dear so and so, And we end with a salutation and our name, right? They did it a bit differently, starting by naming the author of the letter, in this case Paul who further identifies himself as an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God. And then he notes the recipients: To the saints who are in Ephesus and are faithful in Christ Jesus. Did you hear that? To the saints who are in Ephesus, a geographical location are also in Christ Jesus. In Ephesus and in Jesus.
The phrase “in Christ” is dominant throughout the 6 chapters that make up the letter to the Ephesians. “In Christ” or “in Him” or “in whom” appear over 30 times in this letter, and a third of the occurrences are in the first 14 verses, today’s lessons. We are to live both in a specific place, and in Christ. The Christian faith is to be such a union with the Lord that we actually live in him—he is our home. It is in him that we live and move and have our being. “To live in Christ is to be determined by him. He shapes who we are” (Snodgrass, Klyne. The NIV Application Commentary: Ephesians. Zondervan p. 42). This idea will have implications for our salvation and for our lives in our churches and in our world.
Paul’s letter continues with a doxology, blessing and praising God for all he has done for Jews, for Gentiles, for us. The language is effusive and majestic, building and developing, setting the tone for the rest of the letter. There are so many riches and so much deepness in these 14 verses—just 2 sentences in the original Greek, that it’s impossible to mine the depths in a brief sermon. But since I started with geography, with the idea of being in Christ, we’ll look at a few of the benefits that come with being in Christ.
First of all, God blessed us in Christ to be holy. We are incorporated into the mystical body of our Lord Jesus Christ. We are in Christ, in his body and that’s where we reside. If we live in Christ, that defines us and our lives become more and more determined by the character of Christ. He is our environment. When we sin, we forget where we live. We forget our home—we forget who we are and whose we are. When we live in Christ we are empowered by his spirit, and we live progressively more holy and blameless lives. We tend to focus on Christ being in us, inviting God into our hearts, but the idea of living in Christ is much greater. “If we emphasize only that Christ is in us, we define reality, and Christ is about one inch tall. If we realize we are in Christ, he determines reality and encompasses all that we are” (ibid p.63).
We were chosen in Christ, destined and elected. God chose us first. The initiative is God’s, based on grace. We were destined by God for relationship with him, to be his children. This doesn’t remove individual responsibility, but our actions and decision for Christ are a response to his action towards us. The focus is on God and his grace. And our election is always in and through Christ. The question is not whether one is elect, but whether one is in Christ.
In Christ we are redeemed—we are set free from the bondage of sin through the payment of a price—the blood if Christ. Through Jesus’ sacrificial death he paid for our sins once and for all. In Christ we receive forgiveness. We no longer live under the bondage and tyranny of sin, but because we have been forgiven we live under the Lordship of Christ—we live in Christ. And all this is because of the riches of his grace that he lavished on us. In Christ we are inundated with God’s grace, God’s unbelievable and undeserved acceptance of us. The initiative is God’s and it is in and through Christ Jesus. It is grace upon grace, to the praise of his glorious and amazing and abundant grace.
In Christ we have the revelation of God’s will. In Christ, through the gospel, God’s purpose and work are revealed. The hidden is revealed. The mystery is made known. And God will complete his plan of salvation. The whole universe will be reconciled in Christ as Lord of all. The fulfillment of God’s purposes began with Jesus’ life, death and resurrection, and in the fullness of time all things will be united and reconciled in Christ.
In Christ we are marked with the seal of the Holy Spirit. When we become Christians we receive the Spirit as a deposit or guarantee of our life with God—marked as God’s own forever. The Holy Spirit is the payment of a deposit on our lives, a guarantee that our inheritance of life with God will be delivered.
To summarize, “God blessed us, chose us from eternity, graced us, planned for us, sent Christ for us, revealed to us, will sum up all things in Christ in whom we have a part, gave us the Spirit as a guarantee, and will redeem us as his own people” (ibid 66-7). And all of this is in and through Christ.
For Paul, salvation is not about asking Jesus into your heart so you can go to heaven. It’s about faith in Jesus, but a faith that results in being united with Christ, living in Christ. It’s not about believing facts, about reciting formula for salvation, but about being joined to Christ. Once again, it is in him that we live and move and have our being. He is our home.
When we live in Christ, wrong allegiances and tyrannies lose their power. Jesus is our Lord, establishing our very being. It’s been said that being a Christians is about Being, not Doing. It’s about being determined by our life in Christ. Our geography is that we live in Christ, and are part of Christ. We are not simply individuals, but incorporated into Christ Jesus and will more and more act in accord with who he is. All that we do, good and bad, involves Christ and we are transformed into his likeness. In his letter to the Philippians, Paul says that “he who has begun a good work in you will bring it to completion” (1:6).
Where do you live? What is your geography? What does it means for you to live in ______________ and in Christ. What’s the significance for ________ that you live in Christ? What’s the significance for Jesus Christ that you live in _________? We need to reconcile the place that we live and the Christ in whom we live. How are you called to live in Christ and in ___________? Where do you live?
Saturday, June 6, 2009
B. Pentecost
(St. Mark's and St. James')
When we get stressed and feel tense, our breathing becomes quick and shallow. One of the easiest ways to de-stress is to slow down and breathe. Inhale slowly, deeply, steadily, paying attention to the breath, feeling your abdomen, rib cage and chest expand. Then exhale slowly, completely.
I feel better already. ;-)
Focusing on our God-given breath is also a very basic way to meditate. We can sit quietly, focusing on our breath that comes from the One in whom we live and move and have our being. Short prayers can be added to the inhale and exhale, like little mantras. Often when I wake up in the middle of the night focusing on breath prayer helps me get back to sleep—otherwise sometimes my mind starts going off in all directions. So I’ll inwardly say “You are my breath,” on the inhale, and “you are my rest” on the exhale.
People who use the Jesus Prayer contemplatively also tie it into the breathing cycle. For me, it’s “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God” on the inhale and “Have mercy on me, a sinner,” on the exhale. Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, Have mercy on me a sinner.
Have you ever heard the phrase “Caesar’s Breath?” It’s kind of a scientific term, a teaching tool. It’s the idea that when Augustus Caesar was murdered by Brutus, he released an enormous number of molecules in his last breath, mostly nitrogen and carbon dioxide. Someone with perhaps a lot of time on his hand calculated that the number of molecules is .05 X 6 X 10 to the 23rd. 10 to the 23rd alone is a ridiculous number, a 10 with 22 zeros following it.
So what happened to all of these molecules? Some would have been absorbed by plants, and some by animals, and some by water, and the rest would float around the earth so that, with every breath we take, we inhale at least one or two molecules that came from Caesar’s last breath.
As we gather here today, you and I are exchanging molecules as we breathe.
Now think of our Gospel. “Jesus breathed on them and said, ‘receive the Holy Spirit.’” Jesus breathed on them. While we may be taking in Caesar’s breath, it’s just as likely that we are inhaling molecules from Jesus’ breath. And by his breath, we share in his life.
Because In the scriptures, breath is life. Think about Genesis chapter 2:
The LORD God formed a man's body from the dust of the ground and breathed into it the breath of life. And the man became a living person (v.7).
God breathed into it the breath of life.
And how about that strange story in Ezekiel—well much of Ezekiel is strange, but the story about the dry bones in the desert.
So I prophesied as I had been commanded; and as I prophesied, suddenly there was a noise, a rattling, and the bones came together, bone to its bone. I looked, and there were sinews on them, and flesh had come upon them, and skin had covered them; but there was no breath in them. Then he said to me, "Prophesy to the breath, prophesy, mortal, and say to the breath: Thus says the Lord GOD: Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live." I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived . . . (37:7-10).
Breath is life. And Jesus breathes on the disciples and they receive his life in the form of the Holy Spirit. Christ’s breath, the breath he breathed on the disciples that day, is still circulating, still with us. And it is certainly greater, more powerful, more life-giving by far than Caesar’s breath. It was the very breath of God incarnate.
So just how does this event compare with the coming of the Holy Spirit in the 2nd chapter of Acts, our first lesson today? After all, our Gospel reading takes place on the night of the Resurrection, when the disciples are locked up in fear and Jesus comes among them. It’s the story of when Thomas wasn’t there, and a week later Thomas saw Jesus, his scars, his side, his hands, his feet, and said, “My lord and my God.” Surely it was the Spirit who enabled him to say that, even though he hadn’t been present that first night. But with Christ’s breath, the power of the Spirit was unleashed, perhaps like the act of conception, and the Birth, the ultimate gift, was given 50 days later, after Jesus had ascended to the Father.
In both cases, in the quiet breath of Jesus, and the powerful theophany of the Spirit in Acts, his disciples were entrusted with a mission. They are sent to do God’s work in the world, to be Christ in the world.
And as we have received the Holy Spirit at our baptisms, we too are sent to do God’s work in the world, to be Christ in the world. We have received the power of the Holy Spirit. The same power that transformed fearful, doubting, ordinary men into fearless, confident, extraordinary apostles and missionaries is available to us. The power to transform the world. The life-giving Spirit, the very breath of God is our breath.
Discipleship is not just about believing in Jesus, though that of course must be part of it. It’s also about the indwelling of Jesus the Son, through the Holy Spirit. By the power of the Holy Spirit, Jesus lives in us, and we in him. “To receive Christ is to obtain the Sprit; to be filled by the Holy Spirit is to experience the living presence of Jesus Christ within. Christian transformation is Christ at work within us, bringing about his glory in our Spirit-led renewal” (Burge, Gary M. The NIV Application Commentary: John, Zondervan, p. 575).
In the book of Acts the giving of the Spirit seems to be about power and the outward manifestations of he Spirit’s presence, but in the Gospel that’s not the main point. In John the emphasis is on relationships, and especially the relationship Jesus wants to have with his disciples, both then and now. This relationship has its foundations in the work of the Holy Spirit. “Christian discipleship is a union with Jesus Christ that empowers and transforms, that is mystical, that exceeds our rational abilities to understand and quantify. To make it less is to miss the work that Jesus tried to accomplish with his followers on the first Easter” (ibid, 576).
One of my favorite personal prayers, especially when settling down to pray, will probably have new meaning now, remembering that with my breath I am breathing in elements of Jesus’ breath. It goes like this: “Lord, you are closer to me than my own breath. May each breath that I take deepen my awareness of your presence.”
The Holy Spirit is Christ’s presence within us, empowering us, and especially enabling us to have a relationship with both the Father and the Son.
I also love some of our hymns that focus on the work of the Spirit, and especially this one:
1. Breathe on me, Breath of God,
fill me with life anew,
that I may love what thou dost love,
and do what thou wouldst do.
2. Breathe on me, Breath of God,
until my heart is pure,
until with thee I will one will,
to do and to endure.
3. Breathe on me, Breath of God,
till I am wholly thine,
till all this earthly part of me
glows with thy fire divine.
When we get stressed and feel tense, our breathing becomes quick and shallow. One of the easiest ways to de-stress is to slow down and breathe. Inhale slowly, deeply, steadily, paying attention to the breath, feeling your abdomen, rib cage and chest expand. Then exhale slowly, completely.
I feel better already. ;-)
Focusing on our God-given breath is also a very basic way to meditate. We can sit quietly, focusing on our breath that comes from the One in whom we live and move and have our being. Short prayers can be added to the inhale and exhale, like little mantras. Often when I wake up in the middle of the night focusing on breath prayer helps me get back to sleep—otherwise sometimes my mind starts going off in all directions. So I’ll inwardly say “You are my breath,” on the inhale, and “you are my rest” on the exhale.
People who use the Jesus Prayer contemplatively also tie it into the breathing cycle. For me, it’s “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God” on the inhale and “Have mercy on me, a sinner,” on the exhale. Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, Have mercy on me a sinner.
Have you ever heard the phrase “Caesar’s Breath?” It’s kind of a scientific term, a teaching tool. It’s the idea that when Augustus Caesar was murdered by Brutus, he released an enormous number of molecules in his last breath, mostly nitrogen and carbon dioxide. Someone with perhaps a lot of time on his hand calculated that the number of molecules is .05 X 6 X 10 to the 23rd. 10 to the 23rd alone is a ridiculous number, a 10 with 22 zeros following it.
So what happened to all of these molecules? Some would have been absorbed by plants, and some by animals, and some by water, and the rest would float around the earth so that, with every breath we take, we inhale at least one or two molecules that came from Caesar’s last breath.
As we gather here today, you and I are exchanging molecules as we breathe.
Now think of our Gospel. “Jesus breathed on them and said, ‘receive the Holy Spirit.’” Jesus breathed on them. While we may be taking in Caesar’s breath, it’s just as likely that we are inhaling molecules from Jesus’ breath. And by his breath, we share in his life.
Because In the scriptures, breath is life. Think about Genesis chapter 2:
The LORD God formed a man's body from the dust of the ground and breathed into it the breath of life. And the man became a living person (v.7).
God breathed into it the breath of life.
And how about that strange story in Ezekiel—well much of Ezekiel is strange, but the story about the dry bones in the desert.
So I prophesied as I had been commanded; and as I prophesied, suddenly there was a noise, a rattling, and the bones came together, bone to its bone. I looked, and there were sinews on them, and flesh had come upon them, and skin had covered them; but there was no breath in them. Then he said to me, "Prophesy to the breath, prophesy, mortal, and say to the breath: Thus says the Lord GOD: Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live." I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived . . . (37:7-10).
Breath is life. And Jesus breathes on the disciples and they receive his life in the form of the Holy Spirit. Christ’s breath, the breath he breathed on the disciples that day, is still circulating, still with us. And it is certainly greater, more powerful, more life-giving by far than Caesar’s breath. It was the very breath of God incarnate.
So just how does this event compare with the coming of the Holy Spirit in the 2nd chapter of Acts, our first lesson today? After all, our Gospel reading takes place on the night of the Resurrection, when the disciples are locked up in fear and Jesus comes among them. It’s the story of when Thomas wasn’t there, and a week later Thomas saw Jesus, his scars, his side, his hands, his feet, and said, “My lord and my God.” Surely it was the Spirit who enabled him to say that, even though he hadn’t been present that first night. But with Christ’s breath, the power of the Spirit was unleashed, perhaps like the act of conception, and the Birth, the ultimate gift, was given 50 days later, after Jesus had ascended to the Father.
In both cases, in the quiet breath of Jesus, and the powerful theophany of the Spirit in Acts, his disciples were entrusted with a mission. They are sent to do God’s work in the world, to be Christ in the world.
And as we have received the Holy Spirit at our baptisms, we too are sent to do God’s work in the world, to be Christ in the world. We have received the power of the Holy Spirit. The same power that transformed fearful, doubting, ordinary men into fearless, confident, extraordinary apostles and missionaries is available to us. The power to transform the world. The life-giving Spirit, the very breath of God is our breath.
Discipleship is not just about believing in Jesus, though that of course must be part of it. It’s also about the indwelling of Jesus the Son, through the Holy Spirit. By the power of the Holy Spirit, Jesus lives in us, and we in him. “To receive Christ is to obtain the Sprit; to be filled by the Holy Spirit is to experience the living presence of Jesus Christ within. Christian transformation is Christ at work within us, bringing about his glory in our Spirit-led renewal” (Burge, Gary M. The NIV Application Commentary: John, Zondervan, p. 575).
In the book of Acts the giving of the Spirit seems to be about power and the outward manifestations of he Spirit’s presence, but in the Gospel that’s not the main point. In John the emphasis is on relationships, and especially the relationship Jesus wants to have with his disciples, both then and now. This relationship has its foundations in the work of the Holy Spirit. “Christian discipleship is a union with Jesus Christ that empowers and transforms, that is mystical, that exceeds our rational abilities to understand and quantify. To make it less is to miss the work that Jesus tried to accomplish with his followers on the first Easter” (ibid, 576).
One of my favorite personal prayers, especially when settling down to pray, will probably have new meaning now, remembering that with my breath I am breathing in elements of Jesus’ breath. It goes like this: “Lord, you are closer to me than my own breath. May each breath that I take deepen my awareness of your presence.”
The Holy Spirit is Christ’s presence within us, empowering us, and especially enabling us to have a relationship with both the Father and the Son.
I also love some of our hymns that focus on the work of the Spirit, and especially this one:
1. Breathe on me, Breath of God,
fill me with life anew,
that I may love what thou dost love,
and do what thou wouldst do.
2. Breathe on me, Breath of God,
until my heart is pure,
until with thee I will one will,
to do and to endure.
3. Breathe on me, Breath of God,
till I am wholly thine,
till all this earthly part of me
glows with thy fire divine.
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
7 Easter (Sunday after Ascension)
(St. Stephen's)
I don’t know if it’s just me, but it seems like the older I get, the faster time goes. Anybody else feel the same way? It certainly seems like this year is simply flying!! It’s hard to believe that it’s Memorial Weekend—though it is a bit early, isn’t it? And can you believe that it’s been 6 weeks since Easter!! And that in another week it will be June? And schools will be out for the lazy hazy days of summer . . . and I’m sure for many of us the summer will fly by also.
So today I’d like to slow things down, turn back the calendar, go back in time to last Thursday. The Feast of the Ascension. This is one of the most forgotten, most overlooked major feast day in the Episcopal Calendar. Along with Christmas and Easter, major feast days include Epiphany, Pentecost, and All Saints Day. And of course Ascension Day. With apologies to those of you who celebrated Ascension last Wednesday with Fr. Swan and Fr. Tim, I’d like to take a closer look at the Ascension. After all, today is both the 7th Sunday after Easter—and the Sunday After Ascension Day.
The Ascension is the only Major feast that is never, ever celebrated on a Sunday—because it’s always 40 days after Easter, 10 days before Pentecost. It’s always on a Thursday. And while most of us can draw on special memories associated with many of the other feast days, maybe even besides Christmas and Easter, most of us probably don’t have great memories or experiences related to the Ascension of our Lord.
So I’ll share mine with you. Ascension Day is the day in 2003 that my father died. He hadn’t been sick really, and he was only 67, planning on a nice retirement. He and my step mom had just sold their house in California and were building one in Colorado for their retirement—lower cost of living. But on the day before Ascension Day, early in the morning, my step mom called me at work—I worked in the purchasing office of a big factory in Centralia. She said my dad had had emergency surgery the day before due to a ruptured colon. Asked her if I needed to come, and she said, “I can’t tell you that.” She was on her way to the hospital, and I asked her to call me when she got an update on his condition. She said, “I hope he knows me.” Well, he didn’t. He was basically comatose, the peritonitis had spread too far. And I caught the next plane I could manage out of St. Louis. She told Dad I was coming—and to this day I believe he waited for me. I later found out that his doctor tried to call me to tell me that Dad wouldn’t last that long. And if Dad’s heart failed they wouldn’t resuscitate him. As it was, he was on a respirator. But I got to California, rented a car, and drove to Santa Rosa. I got to his room about midnight, and at first it seemed his pulse improved when I got there . . . like I said, I know he waited for me. But within a couple hours his heart beat became more irregular, and finally fluttered it’s last. Like a butterfly fluttering off. Doris, my stepmom, got there a little bit later, and we spent some final time with Dad before going to their home.
By the time we got there I had been up for over 24 hours, and of course needed to sleep a little in order to face what was ahead. When I got up, Doris had read the Forward Day by Day devotional—and pointed out that it was Ascension Day. And that seemed so right, so comforting. Dad’s spirit had also ascended—and I know without a shadow of a doubt that I will see him again. I miss him so much . . . but I know we will have more days together in the future than we did in the past. And I always link the anniversary of my dad’s death more with Ascension than with the actual date—May 29th.
So, for me, the promise of the resurrection is one of the main promises of the Ascension. In fact, the early church linked the Resurrection and Ascension of Jesus so closely together that it seems that they should be hyphenated. “The resurrection-and-ascension.” When it comes to Jesus, you can’t have one without the other. The Nicene Creed states, “On the third day he rose again in accordance with the Scriptures. He ascended into heaven, and is seated at the right hand of the Father.” And the Apostles Creed is similar: “On the third day he rose again. He ascended into heaven, and is seated at the right hand of the Father.” In our creeds, all that separate the resurrection and the ascension is a dot, a period. No forty days, no resurrection appearances, just a dot.
Paul talks about the resurrection-ascension in many places. In Romans chapter 6 he says 4 Therefore we have been buried with him by baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.
5 For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.
And in 1 Corinthians 15: 20 But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruit of those who have died. 21 For since death came through a human being, the resurrection of the dead has also come through a human being; 22 for as all die in Adam, so all will be made alive in Christ. 23 But each in his own order: Christ the first fruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ.
The resurrection of Jesus is the guarantee, the down payment, the deposit on our future resurrections. We will be united with Christ and with our loved ones who have died “in Christ,” and with all the saints and angels and archangels!!
There are a couple other promises that come with the Ascension of our Lord. After his ascension he was and is now seated at the right hand of the Father to reign and to rule over all the earth—we don’t see it clearly now but we will, we will. He is King of kings, Lord of lords, and he reigns over all creation. Our Psalm this morning spoke to this: The Lord Most High is to be feared, he is the great King over all the earth . . . God has gone up with a shout, sing praises to God, sing praises. For God is King of all the earth, he reigns over the nations and sits upon his holy throne. All the rulers of the earth belong to God, and he is highly exalted.
And Jesus is at the Right Hand of the Father, the place of power and prominence, interceding on our behalf. Romans 8:34 says “… It is Christ Jesus, who died, yes, who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who indeed intercedes for us.” There’s nothing and no one who can separate us from the love of Christ, the one who died, who was raised, who is at the right had of God, who intercedes for us!
Finally, this look back at the Ascension contains a look ahead to next week. To the promise of Pentecost. The promise of the Holy Spirit. In John’s gospel, Jesus promises to send the Holy Spirit, the Advocate.
15:6 "When the Advocate comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who comes from the Father, he will testify on my behalf.
16:7 Nevertheless I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you.
And one of the lessons from Ascension is from Acts chapter 1:
3 After his suffering he presented himself alive to them by many convincing proofs, appearing to them during forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God. 4 While staying with them, he ordered them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait there for the promise of the Father. "This," he said, "is what you have heard from me; 5 for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now." 6 So when they had come together, they asked him, "Lord, is this the time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel?" 7 He replied, "It is not for you to know the times or periods that the Father has set by his own authority. 8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth." 9 When he had said this, as they were watching, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight.
The ascension of our Lord.
The Resurrection-and-Ascension of our Jesus includes at least three promises. Three that we’ve looked at today. The promise of our future resurrection. The promise of Christ’s reign and rule at God’s right hand where he intercedes on our behalf. The promise of the Holy Spirit. Check back next week and I expect that Fr. Tim will tell you more about this third promise, the promise of the power of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
I don’t know if it’s just me, but it seems like the older I get, the faster time goes. Anybody else feel the same way? It certainly seems like this year is simply flying!! It’s hard to believe that it’s Memorial Weekend—though it is a bit early, isn’t it? And can you believe that it’s been 6 weeks since Easter!! And that in another week it will be June? And schools will be out for the lazy hazy days of summer . . . and I’m sure for many of us the summer will fly by also.
So today I’d like to slow things down, turn back the calendar, go back in time to last Thursday. The Feast of the Ascension. This is one of the most forgotten, most overlooked major feast day in the Episcopal Calendar. Along with Christmas and Easter, major feast days include Epiphany, Pentecost, and All Saints Day. And of course Ascension Day. With apologies to those of you who celebrated Ascension last Wednesday with Fr. Swan and Fr. Tim, I’d like to take a closer look at the Ascension. After all, today is both the 7th Sunday after Easter—and the Sunday After Ascension Day.
The Ascension is the only Major feast that is never, ever celebrated on a Sunday—because it’s always 40 days after Easter, 10 days before Pentecost. It’s always on a Thursday. And while most of us can draw on special memories associated with many of the other feast days, maybe even besides Christmas and Easter, most of us probably don’t have great memories or experiences related to the Ascension of our Lord.
So I’ll share mine with you. Ascension Day is the day in 2003 that my father died. He hadn’t been sick really, and he was only 67, planning on a nice retirement. He and my step mom had just sold their house in California and were building one in Colorado for their retirement—lower cost of living. But on the day before Ascension Day, early in the morning, my step mom called me at work—I worked in the purchasing office of a big factory in Centralia. She said my dad had had emergency surgery the day before due to a ruptured colon. Asked her if I needed to come, and she said, “I can’t tell you that.” She was on her way to the hospital, and I asked her to call me when she got an update on his condition. She said, “I hope he knows me.” Well, he didn’t. He was basically comatose, the peritonitis had spread too far. And I caught the next plane I could manage out of St. Louis. She told Dad I was coming—and to this day I believe he waited for me. I later found out that his doctor tried to call me to tell me that Dad wouldn’t last that long. And if Dad’s heart failed they wouldn’t resuscitate him. As it was, he was on a respirator. But I got to California, rented a car, and drove to Santa Rosa. I got to his room about midnight, and at first it seemed his pulse improved when I got there . . . like I said, I know he waited for me. But within a couple hours his heart beat became more irregular, and finally fluttered it’s last. Like a butterfly fluttering off. Doris, my stepmom, got there a little bit later, and we spent some final time with Dad before going to their home.
By the time we got there I had been up for over 24 hours, and of course needed to sleep a little in order to face what was ahead. When I got up, Doris had read the Forward Day by Day devotional—and pointed out that it was Ascension Day. And that seemed so right, so comforting. Dad’s spirit had also ascended—and I know without a shadow of a doubt that I will see him again. I miss him so much . . . but I know we will have more days together in the future than we did in the past. And I always link the anniversary of my dad’s death more with Ascension than with the actual date—May 29th.
So, for me, the promise of the resurrection is one of the main promises of the Ascension. In fact, the early church linked the Resurrection and Ascension of Jesus so closely together that it seems that they should be hyphenated. “The resurrection-and-ascension.” When it comes to Jesus, you can’t have one without the other. The Nicene Creed states, “On the third day he rose again in accordance with the Scriptures. He ascended into heaven, and is seated at the right hand of the Father.” And the Apostles Creed is similar: “On the third day he rose again. He ascended into heaven, and is seated at the right hand of the Father.” In our creeds, all that separate the resurrection and the ascension is a dot, a period. No forty days, no resurrection appearances, just a dot.
Paul talks about the resurrection-ascension in many places. In Romans chapter 6 he says 4 Therefore we have been buried with him by baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.
5 For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.
And in 1 Corinthians 15: 20 But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruit of those who have died. 21 For since death came through a human being, the resurrection of the dead has also come through a human being; 22 for as all die in Adam, so all will be made alive in Christ. 23 But each in his own order: Christ the first fruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ.
The resurrection of Jesus is the guarantee, the down payment, the deposit on our future resurrections. We will be united with Christ and with our loved ones who have died “in Christ,” and with all the saints and angels and archangels!!
There are a couple other promises that come with the Ascension of our Lord. After his ascension he was and is now seated at the right hand of the Father to reign and to rule over all the earth—we don’t see it clearly now but we will, we will. He is King of kings, Lord of lords, and he reigns over all creation. Our Psalm this morning spoke to this: The Lord Most High is to be feared, he is the great King over all the earth . . . God has gone up with a shout, sing praises to God, sing praises. For God is King of all the earth, he reigns over the nations and sits upon his holy throne. All the rulers of the earth belong to God, and he is highly exalted.
And Jesus is at the Right Hand of the Father, the place of power and prominence, interceding on our behalf. Romans 8:34 says “… It is Christ Jesus, who died, yes, who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who indeed intercedes for us.” There’s nothing and no one who can separate us from the love of Christ, the one who died, who was raised, who is at the right had of God, who intercedes for us!
Finally, this look back at the Ascension contains a look ahead to next week. To the promise of Pentecost. The promise of the Holy Spirit. In John’s gospel, Jesus promises to send the Holy Spirit, the Advocate.
15:6 "When the Advocate comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who comes from the Father, he will testify on my behalf.
16:7 Nevertheless I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you.
And one of the lessons from Ascension is from Acts chapter 1:
3 After his suffering he presented himself alive to them by many convincing proofs, appearing to them during forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God. 4 While staying with them, he ordered them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait there for the promise of the Father. "This," he said, "is what you have heard from me; 5 for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now." 6 So when they had come together, they asked him, "Lord, is this the time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel?" 7 He replied, "It is not for you to know the times or periods that the Father has set by his own authority. 8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth." 9 When he had said this, as they were watching, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight.
The ascension of our Lord.
The Resurrection-and-Ascension of our Jesus includes at least three promises. Three that we’ve looked at today. The promise of our future resurrection. The promise of Christ’s reign and rule at God’s right hand where he intercedes on our behalf. The promise of the Holy Spirit. Check back next week and I expect that Fr. Tim will tell you more about this third promise, the promise of the power of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Saturday, May 9, 2009
May 3, 2009: Year B, 4 Easter
The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want. One of my favorite bits of Hebrew trivia has to do with the 23rd Psalm, the last verse. We read it this morning: “Surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the day of my life.” But the word translated as “follow” actually means “to pursue, to chase.” Surely goodness and mercy shall pursue us all the days of our lives. The hound of heaven—or perhaps the Sheepdog of heaven--is chasing us down with his love and goodness and mercy, and there is nowhere we can go that he doesn’t come bounding after us, willing to lay down his life for us.
Now, when we say with the psalmist that the Lord is our Shepherd, we are declaring who we are, and whose we are. We are saying whose voice we will listen to.
In our Gospel, Jesus said that “his sheep listen to his voice.”
During the Palestinian uprising in the late 1980’s the Israeli army decided to punish a village near Bethlehem for not paying its taxes (which, the village claimed, simply financed their occupation). The officer in command rounded up all of the village animals and placed them in a large barbed wire pen. Later in the week he was approached by a woman who begged him to release her flock, arguing that since her husband was dead, the animals were her only source of livelihood. He pointed to the pen containing hundreds of animals and humorously quipped that it was impossible because he could not find her animals. She asked that if she could in fact separate them herself, would he be wiling to let her take them? He agreed. A soldier opened the gate and the woman’s son produced a small reed flute. He played a simple tune again and again—and soon sheep heads began popping up across the pen. The boy continued his music and walked home, followed by his flock of twenty-five sheep. ( Burge, Gary. The NIV Application Commentary: John, p. 302).
Middle eastern shepherds are still well known for knowing their sheep. And the motifs of sheep and shepherds are prominent in both the Old and New Testaments. In the Old Testament, God is the shepherd of Israel, tending his flock, gathering the lambs in his arm. Both Moses and David were shepherds, along with other righteous prophets and kings. But there were false shepherds, too, both kings and religious leaders. And the culture of Jesus’ day was very much familiar with shepherds and sheep. “In the desert at night sheep were often herded into walled enclosures. . . Such enclosures (still used today by Palestinian shepherds in the Judean desert) had waist-high stone walls topped with thorny branches. Such a pen was entirely for safety so that the sheep would not become prey to wild animals. One small doorway (or opening) in the wall served as the only entrance and exit. The shepherd would either close this area with dry thorn bushes or would himself serve as sentry in the opening (ibid, 289).” And as we heard in the opening story, sheep will recognize their shepherd, either by his voice through word and song, or by his melody. Shepherds are therefore able to lead their own sheep.
False shepherds might threaten the sheep. But the sheep who know the voice of the shepherd will not be led astray. They don’t recognize the voice of the false shepherd, and will instead flee from him. Jesus has the authority to call his sheep because he is God’s shepherd. He is the rightful leader, the true shepherd who goes through the gate, and he has the authority to lead the sheep.
Elsewhere, Jesus says he is the Gate, the watchman, “the sentry, the one through whom access to the sheep can be found. . . He stands in the gate, and any who enter without his permission are not to be trusted (ibid, 290).” This suggests that there are good leaders, leaders who follow him, leaders whom he knows. But there are also bad leaders, illegitimate shepherds, who are thieves and robbers. Perhaps these were false messiahs, of whom there were many in the 1st century, but more likely Jesus is considering the Pharisees.
Since Jesus is the gate, the sheep must enter through him. This is like the verse in John 14, where Jesus says, “I am the way, the truth, and the life, and no one comes to the father but by me.” I am the way. I am the gate. The sheep who know him find food, water, safe pasture. These sheep flourish under the care and protection of their shepherd and have life in abundance.
One of the questions this brings up to us today has to do with Christians and their leaders—not just religious leaders but also the multitude of voices that capture our attention. These voices may sound good, but there are false shepherds. We need to be discerning regarding the voices to which we listen, and the test is whether what they say and do is in agreement with the work and witness of Jesus Christ, because only Jesus is the gate.
I read about a survey where teenagers were asked who they turn to in times of tension, confusion or crisis. Their fathers ranked about 25th on the list and mothers came in at number 11. I know when I had a huge crisis at age 16, I spoke to dozens of friends and even my church youth group leader before I told my parents. In the survey I was talking about, music and personal friends were at the top of the list. These are the voices are teenagers listening to: Friends and Music.
We adults respond to false voices too. What about the prevalence of psychics and new age healers? Or take a look at the bestselling books every week. One of the current top sellers is by Dan Brown: Angels and Demons, which is due out as a movie in the next month or so. Capitalizing on his success with The Da Vinci Code—an entertaining and fast paced mystery that was also theologically heretical, and produced an almost cultic following. One commentator, Gary Burge says, “When people are in crisis, when they are surrounded by the dangers of the desert, they will turn to any shepherd offering a way out (ibid, 303).”
We listen to the voices on our favorite news networks, those that support our politics. We listen to the voices of hope, and the voices of gloom and despair. But our gospel message challenges us to be discerning of the voices we listen to. Who do we follow? What voices do we listen to? Where do we go for comfort, for shelter? We are challenged to measure these voices, these leaders, against the true leadership of Jesus Christ. Jesus is the true shepherd, the one who is the model for other voices. The test of any leader’s credentials is his or her faithfulness to the leadership of Jesus. When we hear a new voice, we need to ask ourselves whether this voices is consistent with that voice of Jesus revealed to us in the scriptures. We need to test these voices against the historic revelation we have of Jesus Christ.
I am the good shepherd, and My sheep will listen to my voice. Amen.
St. James’ McLeansboro 2009
Now, when we say with the psalmist that the Lord is our Shepherd, we are declaring who we are, and whose we are. We are saying whose voice we will listen to.
In our Gospel, Jesus said that “his sheep listen to his voice.”
During the Palestinian uprising in the late 1980’s the Israeli army decided to punish a village near Bethlehem for not paying its taxes (which, the village claimed, simply financed their occupation). The officer in command rounded up all of the village animals and placed them in a large barbed wire pen. Later in the week he was approached by a woman who begged him to release her flock, arguing that since her husband was dead, the animals were her only source of livelihood. He pointed to the pen containing hundreds of animals and humorously quipped that it was impossible because he could not find her animals. She asked that if she could in fact separate them herself, would he be wiling to let her take them? He agreed. A soldier opened the gate and the woman’s son produced a small reed flute. He played a simple tune again and again—and soon sheep heads began popping up across the pen. The boy continued his music and walked home, followed by his flock of twenty-five sheep. ( Burge, Gary. The NIV Application Commentary: John, p. 302).
Middle eastern shepherds are still well known for knowing their sheep. And the motifs of sheep and shepherds are prominent in both the Old and New Testaments. In the Old Testament, God is the shepherd of Israel, tending his flock, gathering the lambs in his arm. Both Moses and David were shepherds, along with other righteous prophets and kings. But there were false shepherds, too, both kings and religious leaders. And the culture of Jesus’ day was very much familiar with shepherds and sheep. “In the desert at night sheep were often herded into walled enclosures. . . Such enclosures (still used today by Palestinian shepherds in the Judean desert) had waist-high stone walls topped with thorny branches. Such a pen was entirely for safety so that the sheep would not become prey to wild animals. One small doorway (or opening) in the wall served as the only entrance and exit. The shepherd would either close this area with dry thorn bushes or would himself serve as sentry in the opening (ibid, 289).” And as we heard in the opening story, sheep will recognize their shepherd, either by his voice through word and song, or by his melody. Shepherds are therefore able to lead their own sheep.
False shepherds might threaten the sheep. But the sheep who know the voice of the shepherd will not be led astray. They don’t recognize the voice of the false shepherd, and will instead flee from him. Jesus has the authority to call his sheep because he is God’s shepherd. He is the rightful leader, the true shepherd who goes through the gate, and he has the authority to lead the sheep.
Elsewhere, Jesus says he is the Gate, the watchman, “the sentry, the one through whom access to the sheep can be found. . . He stands in the gate, and any who enter without his permission are not to be trusted (ibid, 290).” This suggests that there are good leaders, leaders who follow him, leaders whom he knows. But there are also bad leaders, illegitimate shepherds, who are thieves and robbers. Perhaps these were false messiahs, of whom there were many in the 1st century, but more likely Jesus is considering the Pharisees.
Since Jesus is the gate, the sheep must enter through him. This is like the verse in John 14, where Jesus says, “I am the way, the truth, and the life, and no one comes to the father but by me.” I am the way. I am the gate. The sheep who know him find food, water, safe pasture. These sheep flourish under the care and protection of their shepherd and have life in abundance.
One of the questions this brings up to us today has to do with Christians and their leaders—not just religious leaders but also the multitude of voices that capture our attention. These voices may sound good, but there are false shepherds. We need to be discerning regarding the voices to which we listen, and the test is whether what they say and do is in agreement with the work and witness of Jesus Christ, because only Jesus is the gate.
I read about a survey where teenagers were asked who they turn to in times of tension, confusion or crisis. Their fathers ranked about 25th on the list and mothers came in at number 11. I know when I had a huge crisis at age 16, I spoke to dozens of friends and even my church youth group leader before I told my parents. In the survey I was talking about, music and personal friends were at the top of the list. These are the voices are teenagers listening to: Friends and Music.
We adults respond to false voices too. What about the prevalence of psychics and new age healers? Or take a look at the bestselling books every week. One of the current top sellers is by Dan Brown: Angels and Demons, which is due out as a movie in the next month or so. Capitalizing on his success with The Da Vinci Code—an entertaining and fast paced mystery that was also theologically heretical, and produced an almost cultic following. One commentator, Gary Burge says, “When people are in crisis, when they are surrounded by the dangers of the desert, they will turn to any shepherd offering a way out (ibid, 303).”
We listen to the voices on our favorite news networks, those that support our politics. We listen to the voices of hope, and the voices of gloom and despair. But our gospel message challenges us to be discerning of the voices we listen to. Who do we follow? What voices do we listen to? Where do we go for comfort, for shelter? We are challenged to measure these voices, these leaders, against the true leadership of Jesus Christ. Jesus is the true shepherd, the one who is the model for other voices. The test of any leader’s credentials is his or her faithfulness to the leadership of Jesus. When we hear a new voice, we need to ask ourselves whether this voices is consistent with that voice of Jesus revealed to us in the scriptures. We need to test these voices against the historic revelation we have of Jesus Christ.
I am the good shepherd, and My sheep will listen to my voice. Amen.
St. James’ McLeansboro 2009
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
3 Easter B
St. James Marion
As a whole, we Americans struggle with our faith. We wrestle with it, trying to make sense of how our faith impacts our understanding of ourselves and the world around us. George Barna, the founder of a research group dedicated to studying the role of faith and culture along with actual beliefs and behavior, recently said
“Most Americans, even those who say they are Christian, have doubts about the intrusion of the supernatural into the natural world. Hollywood has made evil accessible and tame, making Satan and demons less worrisome than the Bible suggests they really are. It’s hard for achievement-driven, self-reliant, independent people to believe that their lives can be impacted by unseen forces. At the same time, through sheer force of repetition, many Americans intellectually accept some ideas – such as the fact that you either side with God or Satan, there’s no in-between – that do not get translated into practice.”
Barna also noted that Christians tend to be open to co-existence with other faiths. “Most people understand that America’s religious life is diverse,” . . . . “A majority of Christians are generally open to maintaining relationships with people of other faiths, and most are not predisposed to judging people of different faiths, such as Mormons or Wiccans. But that open-mindedness is sometimes due to their limited knowledge about the principles of their own faith and ignorance about other faiths as it is to a purposeful acceptance of other faiths.”
(http://www.barna.org/barna-update/article/12-faithspirituality/260-most-american-christians-do-not-believe-that-satan-or-the-holy-spirit-exis_
In surveying self-described Christians last year, The Barna Group found that 78% of these Christians believed in a God who is the “all-powerful, all-knowing Creator of the universe who rules the world today.” The remainder of these Christians, nearly a quarter of those surveyed, had other understandings of God, ideas inconsistent with the Bible (ibid).
When asked about the divinity and perfection of Jesus Christ, nearly 40% didn’t agree with this, believing that Jesus sinned during his life on earth. This is also inconsistent with historical and biblical teaching (ibid).
And this brings me to what is called the “Scandal of Particularity.” The scandal of particularity is basically the scandal of Jesus, the “difficulty of regarding one single individual man as being the savior of all men” (http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/scandal_of_particularity). It’s the problem of the uniqueness, divinity, and perfection of Jesus. The scandal is over the cornerstone that Peter talks about in our Acts lesson, the cornerstone that is a stumbling block for the Jews and foolishness to the Greeks according to Paul (1 Cor 1:23)—and to much of our world. Jesus who is the cornerstone, foundation, and centerpiece of our faith, Jesus who declares that he himself is the way, the truth and the life. Jesus who says he is the only way to the Father.
In a world that is increasingly secular, increasingly pluralistic and syncretistic, we Christians are accused of being narrow minded and politically incorrect when we insist that Jesus is the Savior, the only savior, for us and for the whole world.
In one of the commentaries, I read this week, published a dozen years ago, there was “remarkable true story about Harvard Divinity School.” Now I would think that a divinity school, a seminary, is supposed to teach Christian religion and theology. For example, the degree I received a year ago is a Masters of Divinity. Anyway, the story is a about a woman student at Harvard Divinity School who found that one of her professors was an agnostic, and subsequently
She inquired about the range of theological diversity on the seminary campus. “Anything goes,” came the reply. [The woman] pursued the point. “You mean no belief or absence of belief would keep one from being hired to teach theology?” “Only one,” came the clarification,” the refusal to endorse women’s ordination.” (Burge, Gary. The NIV Application Commentary: Letters of John, Zondervan. P. 60.)
Harvard Divinity School may have a different answer today. Another Christian group may have another answer: perhaps it’s the inerrancy of Scripture, or even certain beliefs about the 2nd coming.
But I think Peter and Luke and John the evangelist would disagree, that what is central to Christian faith is, well, Christ.
And that’s what I see when I considered today’s lessons.
In Acts, any time that Peter speaks, he speaks of Jesus. Today he is defending his actions before the spiritual leaders of the day regarding the physical healing of a man who had been lame since birth. Peter firmly declares that this was not of his own doing, but that the man was in good health by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, Jesus whom they had crucified, Jesus who is the stone that was rejected and has become the cornerstone. And Peter declares that “there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among mortals by which we must be saved.” The scandal of particularity. There is salvation in no one else but Jesus.
Luke tells us of one of the resurrection appearances of Jesus, and emphasizes his physicality. While the disciples were afraid, and thought that they were seeing a ghost, Jesus brings peace, and invites them to look at his hands and feet. He invites them to touch him and see, “for a ghost does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.” Jesus in a physical but transformed body who ate fish. Ghosts and spiritual beings don’t eat fish. They don’t eat, period. Jesus explained to them from the Scriptures that the Messiah had to suffer, and rise from the dead on the third day. In the name of Jesus, repentance and forgiveness of sins are to be proclaimed to all nations. And the disciples were witnesses—eyewitnesses—of Jesus’ life and death and resurrection. The scandal of particularity. Jesus was and is the Messiah, the Christ, the Promised One.
In his opening comments to a troubled church, John lays the foundation of his theology, and the foundation of the church. The Greek grammar is fairly complex, and a more literal reading might be:
“What was from the beginning: what we have heard; what we have seen with our eyes, what we beheld and our hands touched—concerning the word of life—and the life appeared and we have seen and testify, and announce to you the eternal life which was with the Father and was revealed to us; what we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you.”
John’s thought and discourse finds its center in the reality of Jesus’ personhood. Jesus, the Word, who was from the beginning, entered time and space and took up residence on earth. Jesus was a man they had heard and seen and beheld and touched. As John graphically announced in his gospel that “we have seen his glory” (John 1:14). This is the scandal of particularity; the scandal of the incarnation, God became a man. Jesus Christ entered time and space, and is a definitive revelation. This is, perhaps, the lowest common denominator for Christians. Jesus who actually lived and died and was resurrected.
And we can still see, touch, and hear Jesus today. Not in the flesh, of course, but in our Christian experience. It’s not just agreeing to a set of doctrines, but there’s a sense where discipleship is personal. Through our baptisms, through the power of the Holy Spirit, Jesus lives in us and makes himself known, and we have fellowship with the Father and the Son as well as with other Christians. The foundation of healthy Christian community and fellowship are true experiences of Jesus. “The authenticity of our faith is . . . linked to the vitality of Jesus’ life within us. If Jesus is a doctrine, our testimony will be hollow. If Jesus is a person, our testimony will be potent” (Ibid, 62).
The scandal of particularity is the scandal of Jesus Christ, Jesus who is not just words, but is the Word, living in us, so that we might proclaim that there salvation in no one else, and there is no other name by which we must be saved. Amen.
As a whole, we Americans struggle with our faith. We wrestle with it, trying to make sense of how our faith impacts our understanding of ourselves and the world around us. George Barna, the founder of a research group dedicated to studying the role of faith and culture along with actual beliefs and behavior, recently said
“Most Americans, even those who say they are Christian, have doubts about the intrusion of the supernatural into the natural world. Hollywood has made evil accessible and tame, making Satan and demons less worrisome than the Bible suggests they really are. It’s hard for achievement-driven, self-reliant, independent people to believe that their lives can be impacted by unseen forces. At the same time, through sheer force of repetition, many Americans intellectually accept some ideas – such as the fact that you either side with God or Satan, there’s no in-between – that do not get translated into practice.”
Barna also noted that Christians tend to be open to co-existence with other faiths. “Most people understand that America’s religious life is diverse,” . . . . “A majority of Christians are generally open to maintaining relationships with people of other faiths, and most are not predisposed to judging people of different faiths, such as Mormons or Wiccans. But that open-mindedness is sometimes due to their limited knowledge about the principles of their own faith and ignorance about other faiths as it is to a purposeful acceptance of other faiths.”
(http://www.barna.org/barna-update/article/12-faithspirituality/260-most-american-christians-do-not-believe-that-satan-or-the-holy-spirit-exis_
In surveying self-described Christians last year, The Barna Group found that 78% of these Christians believed in a God who is the “all-powerful, all-knowing Creator of the universe who rules the world today.” The remainder of these Christians, nearly a quarter of those surveyed, had other understandings of God, ideas inconsistent with the Bible (ibid).
When asked about the divinity and perfection of Jesus Christ, nearly 40% didn’t agree with this, believing that Jesus sinned during his life on earth. This is also inconsistent with historical and biblical teaching (ibid).
And this brings me to what is called the “Scandal of Particularity.” The scandal of particularity is basically the scandal of Jesus, the “difficulty of regarding one single individual man as being the savior of all men” (http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/scandal_of_particularity). It’s the problem of the uniqueness, divinity, and perfection of Jesus. The scandal is over the cornerstone that Peter talks about in our Acts lesson, the cornerstone that is a stumbling block for the Jews and foolishness to the Greeks according to Paul (1 Cor 1:23)—and to much of our world. Jesus who is the cornerstone, foundation, and centerpiece of our faith, Jesus who declares that he himself is the way, the truth and the life. Jesus who says he is the only way to the Father.
In a world that is increasingly secular, increasingly pluralistic and syncretistic, we Christians are accused of being narrow minded and politically incorrect when we insist that Jesus is the Savior, the only savior, for us and for the whole world.
In one of the commentaries, I read this week, published a dozen years ago, there was “remarkable true story about Harvard Divinity School.” Now I would think that a divinity school, a seminary, is supposed to teach Christian religion and theology. For example, the degree I received a year ago is a Masters of Divinity. Anyway, the story is a about a woman student at Harvard Divinity School who found that one of her professors was an agnostic, and subsequently
She inquired about the range of theological diversity on the seminary campus. “Anything goes,” came the reply. [The woman] pursued the point. “You mean no belief or absence of belief would keep one from being hired to teach theology?” “Only one,” came the clarification,” the refusal to endorse women’s ordination.” (Burge, Gary. The NIV Application Commentary: Letters of John, Zondervan. P. 60.)
Harvard Divinity School may have a different answer today. Another Christian group may have another answer: perhaps it’s the inerrancy of Scripture, or even certain beliefs about the 2nd coming.
But I think Peter and Luke and John the evangelist would disagree, that what is central to Christian faith is, well, Christ.
And that’s what I see when I considered today’s lessons.
In Acts, any time that Peter speaks, he speaks of Jesus. Today he is defending his actions before the spiritual leaders of the day regarding the physical healing of a man who had been lame since birth. Peter firmly declares that this was not of his own doing, but that the man was in good health by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, Jesus whom they had crucified, Jesus who is the stone that was rejected and has become the cornerstone. And Peter declares that “there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among mortals by which we must be saved.” The scandal of particularity. There is salvation in no one else but Jesus.
Luke tells us of one of the resurrection appearances of Jesus, and emphasizes his physicality. While the disciples were afraid, and thought that they were seeing a ghost, Jesus brings peace, and invites them to look at his hands and feet. He invites them to touch him and see, “for a ghost does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.” Jesus in a physical but transformed body who ate fish. Ghosts and spiritual beings don’t eat fish. They don’t eat, period. Jesus explained to them from the Scriptures that the Messiah had to suffer, and rise from the dead on the third day. In the name of Jesus, repentance and forgiveness of sins are to be proclaimed to all nations. And the disciples were witnesses—eyewitnesses—of Jesus’ life and death and resurrection. The scandal of particularity. Jesus was and is the Messiah, the Christ, the Promised One.
In his opening comments to a troubled church, John lays the foundation of his theology, and the foundation of the church. The Greek grammar is fairly complex, and a more literal reading might be:
“What was from the beginning: what we have heard; what we have seen with our eyes, what we beheld and our hands touched—concerning the word of life—and the life appeared and we have seen and testify, and announce to you the eternal life which was with the Father and was revealed to us; what we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you.”
John’s thought and discourse finds its center in the reality of Jesus’ personhood. Jesus, the Word, who was from the beginning, entered time and space and took up residence on earth. Jesus was a man they had heard and seen and beheld and touched. As John graphically announced in his gospel that “we have seen his glory” (John 1:14). This is the scandal of particularity; the scandal of the incarnation, God became a man. Jesus Christ entered time and space, and is a definitive revelation. This is, perhaps, the lowest common denominator for Christians. Jesus who actually lived and died and was resurrected.
And we can still see, touch, and hear Jesus today. Not in the flesh, of course, but in our Christian experience. It’s not just agreeing to a set of doctrines, but there’s a sense where discipleship is personal. Through our baptisms, through the power of the Holy Spirit, Jesus lives in us and makes himself known, and we have fellowship with the Father and the Son as well as with other Christians. The foundation of healthy Christian community and fellowship are true experiences of Jesus. “The authenticity of our faith is . . . linked to the vitality of Jesus’ life within us. If Jesus is a doctrine, our testimony will be hollow. If Jesus is a person, our testimony will be potent” (Ibid, 62).
The scandal of particularity is the scandal of Jesus Christ, Jesus who is not just words, but is the Word, living in us, so that we might proclaim that there salvation in no one else, and there is no other name by which we must be saved. Amen.
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