CEC Breaking News!
…Father Riley will lead in Holy Eucharist
August 4, 2019. Please invite others to
come and see.
7 PENTECOST, PROPER XII - C -
19 LUKE
11. 1-13
When I read this passage from
Luke where Jesus’ disciples are asking him to teach them to pray like John
Baptist is teaching his disciples to pray, it makes me wonder what their
prayers looked like before. On the other hand, did they even pray before?
Who taught you to pray? Did
they teach you what to pray? My mother taught me as a child - “now I lay me
down to sleep….” You know that one. Perhaps you learned it yourself as a child
and have even taught it to your own children. What does it teach us about God?
What is God like? How can we
know God? We cannot fully know and understand God in this life, but if we pay
attention to what scripture tells us about God, we come a little closer to
knowing who He is and what He is like.
Jesus responds to his
disciples with what we have come to know as the “Lord’s Prayer.” It contains
the basics of prayer. Without going into it in detail, perhaps the occasion for
another sermon, Jesus’ emphasis is on asking, but in his example to his
disciples, the order of the petition forces us to subordinate our personal
wants to the honor of God and to His purposes.
Jesus is teaching us how to pray not what to
pray for and he follows it with a parable that enforces the idea that we should
be persistent in our praying.
Hospitality was taken very
seriously in Jesus’ day. The parable he gives has a logical ending. His
audience would not have expected anything less.
Even though it was in the
middle of the night when the neighbor knocked on his friend’s door, the out
come was a fore gone conclusion. His persistence in knocking brought his
neighbor to his feet. Although he may have been reluctant in responding, he did
so and met his friend’s need. What does it tell us about God?
The point of the parable is
not that God is like a man who does not want to be bothered and answers prayers
only because he is tired of listening.
Rather it is the typical
rabbinic argument from the lesser to the greater. If the reluctant man responds
to requests, how much more will God, who is anxious to meet our needs.
In the Old Testament lesson,
Abraham persists in his asking of God on behalf of the innocents abiding in Sodom and Gomorrah.
We might even say Abraham was pushing the envelope in his asking 6 times of
God. What does this tell us about God? Is He like the reluctant neighbor in
Jesus’ example that gives in to the friend’s request just to shut him up?
Or does our first lesson tell
us something about the true nature of God? That God hears our prayers. That God
is judge. God is patient and his response is merciful. Likewise, Jesus’
response to his disciple’s request tells us something of who God is as well.
God is the one who is to be
praised above all else. The one who always hears our prayers, forgives our
sins, and provides us with our daily needs. God is our Father, sustainer,
friend, one whom we can ask, and the giver of all good gifts.
Jesus does not tell us that
we shall get what we want when we ask, or that when we seek we will find
exactly what we are looking for. Moreover, that when we knock at the door that
what awaits us on the other side will be altogether to our taste. What he is
telling us is that when we approach God in prayer we should be persistent in
our asking, seeking, and knocking.
We all know how difficult
prayer can be difficult at times. Times, for example, when we are
grief-stricken. Our hearts are broken. We are in pain and we do not understand
why things happen the way they do.
Prayer can be difficult when
our minds are filled with too many things to make room for God to work in giving
us and answer. Prayer becomes difficult when we are too easily distracted by
what is going on around us and in our lives. Distractions cause us to lose
spiritual focus.
That is exactly what the
collect for today prays that we will not do, so that we may pass through things
temporal, and not lose the things eternal. St. Paul
warns the newly made Christians at Colossae
of essentially the same thing as he encourages them to remain steadfast in the
faith.
“See to it that no one takes
you captive through philosophy and empty deceit, according to human conditions….and
not according to Christ.” How difficult it is to be a Christian in today’s
world and in our own society. Prayer is one way we stay connected to God and
maintain our spiritual focus.
In our prayer, what counts is
persistence - our not giving up on God for He will answer. Jesus is encouraging
a kind of Holy boldness, if you will, like that of Abraham and the persistent
neighbor. He is telling us that we should display a sharp knocking on the door,
and insistent asking, and a search that refuses to give up.
This is what Christ tells us
that our prayer should be like. Is that what your prayer life is like? One
would hope that our prayer life has matured as we continue the journey to God.
I came to realize later in
life the lesson about God that my mother taught me in learning that child-hood
prayer; that whether in our sleeping or our waking our lives are in God’s
hands. Everyday is a gift. I confess my prayers today contain more
thanksgivings than when I first learned to pray.
The “Lord’s Prayer.” then, is
not just a loosely connected string of petitions. It is a prayer for people who
are following Jesus on the kingdom journey and in doing so, are gaining a
greater awareness and understanding of who their God truly is and what He is
like.
Staying connected to God
through prayer, and being persistent in our praying, not only gives us a
greater understanding of what it is that we can expect from God, the giver of
all good gifts, moreover, what it is that God expects from us in our
relationship to Him who has made us alive in Christ Jesus, by setting aside our
sins and nailing them to the cross.
AMEN+
6 PENTECOST, PROPER XI - C -
19 LUKE
10. 38-42
Have you ever attended a
party or some other social event where you tried to make conversation in a
crowed room with someone you were acquainted with but because of all of the
distractions you were unable to do so?
You were focused on them
looking them squarely in the face as you spoke but could tell that they were
just “not there.” Their eyes did not meet yours rather they were looking past
you searching the crowed room for someone else in whose presence they had
rather be.
Suddenly and abruptly, they
departed from your presence as if you were never there. It has happened to all
of us I am sure, as well as our having been the guilty party. How often we are “not
present” to another person.
We do not hear them, and in
some cases, we do not really see them. They are present to us but we are not
present to them. Our thoughts are elsewhere. Our attention is not on them. We
are distracted by whatever it is that has hold of our thoughts at that moment.
We don’t really hear what they are saying.
Jesus is on his way to Jerusalem and the cross.
As he does so, he leaves behind him towns, villages, households and individuals
who have glimpsed a new vision of God’s kingdom, and for whom life will never
be the same.
In today’s passage from Luke, he enters a
certain village accompanied by his disciples. Here he is welcomed into the home
of a woman named Martha and her sister Mary. Hospitality was taken very
seriously in Jesus’ day. Every effort was made to receive and entertain both
strangers and guests with liberality and kindness.
It would appear from this
brief story from Luke that Martha was going all out to ensure that Jesus and
his friends would be well fed with more than the usual fare. She was focused
all of her energies on what she was doing to prepare the meal and set the
table.
She went hurriedly about her
business going in and out of the kitchen making sure that everything was just
so when she realized that Mary was sitting at the feet of Jesus listening to
him while she did all of the work.
Her focus suddenly shifted
from her work to her sister’s attention to Jesus. “Lord, do you not care that
my sister has left me to do all the work by myself? Tell her to help me.”
To sit at someone’s feet
meant, quite simply, to be a student. Mary was learning about God’s kingdom
from the lips of God in Christ himself. She was listening and learning,
focusing on the teaching of Jesus and putting it all together in her own mind.
Mary was present to Jesus. Martha was not.
Jesus was being served by Mary in a way that
Martha’s meal and preparation could not. Christ was being fed by Mary’s
attentiveness and nourished by her being totally present to him in a way that
mere physical food could not do. Is this what Jesus meant when he said to his
disciples at the well in Samaria
that he had food of which they did not know?
Martha got worked up over the
details and was distracted from what was really important - the presence of
Jesus - and missed the opportunity to be present to him. How often we miss the
opportunity to be present to Jesus. We allow ourselves to be distracted by the
every day comings and goings of our lives. Our attention is not on God, but on
earthly things.
We come to church, for example, with perfectly
good intentions of offering ourselves to God in worship, song and praise.
However, our thoughts drift off and our mind becomes focused on other things,
most likely during the homily. Or perhaps we think about what we are planning
to fix for dinner after the service and who all will be present.
We simply lose spiritual
focus and forget why we are here. We may have been distracted when we walked in
this morning by the thoughts and cares that were on our minds when we left
home. We tried to focus on our worship but our minds were elsewhere.
We failed in our
attentiveness. We were not “all there” for God. The same holds true for our
prayers. How often we lose focus while praying. When our thoughts are on
something other than God, it is hard to pray.
And because of that, we say
that we pray but never hear God speak. Listening is an art. One has to block
out everything else in order to hear what one wishes to hear. In this case,
God. Mary sat at the feet of Jesus listening to his words.
Her focus was not on offering hospitality to
him, per se, but in the offering of herself. She was in the presence of Jesus
and she made herself present to him. Her reward in listening to his words was a
glimpse of the vision of God’s kingdom Jesus was presenting and with it the hope
of glory St. Paul
speaks of in today’s Epistle. Because she listened to Him, her life would never
be the same again.
Abraham showed hospitality to
the strangers that happened his way. He focused on meeting their every need and
for his attentiveness he was rewarded with the promise of a son. God always
rewards our attentiveness to him. He is always present to us whether we realize
it or not, waiting to speak if we will only listen.
Martha was not only
distracted from the presence of Jesus by her attention to detail but by the
attention Mary was giving to Jesus. Her focus was misplaced. She was in essence
concerned with self, consumed by the details, and missed the opportunity to sit
at the feet of Jesus.
When we are full of self and
our own self-interests there is no room for God; no room for God to work in our
lives, and not even a sense of his presence. Mary chose the better part that
day and in so doing has given all of us an example to follow.
We need to sit at the feet of
Jesus and listen to what he is saying. For he will feed us with the “real
presence” of His being if we will make ourselves present to Him with our whole
hearts, mind, and spirit. It is in the gift of His presence and our
attentiveness to His words that we come to know the “hospitality of God,” that
is, God’s love, grace, mercy and forgiveness that is given to all who seek Him.
And through the guidance and
teaching of the Holy Spirit, we learn to respond to one another with that same “hospitality.” For once, we have experienced it our lives
are never the same again. AMEN+
5 PENTECOST, PROPER X - C -
19 LUKE 10: 25- 37
The lawyer’s question in
today’s gospel, is one that many would ask if in the presence of Jesus.
However, it is one that the church should be able to answer for those who dare
to ask. “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” The Church, as the depository
of truth, has been entrusted with the right answer.
Obviously, this lawyer had
been sitting at the feet of Jesus as any disciple would along with all those
who were merely curios about who this Jesus was and what he was all about.
Jesus in his usual manner answers the lawyer’s question with a question.
Christ asks him what does the
law say, in other words how do you interpret it? The lawyer responds by quoting
Deuteronomy word for word giving the right answer. In the Old Testament (Lev.
18.5), keeping the law was essential to eternal life. Knowing the answer and
doing it, however, are two different things. Jesus told him to “do it.”
However, that does not appear
to satisfy him. He has yet another question. Who is my neighbor? He is looking
for a definitive answer. Jesus gives it to him in the form of a parable we know
so well as that of the “Good Samaritan,” a parable that only appears in Luke.
Who is my neighbor? Ask ten
people today and you will most likely get a variety of answers.
I watched a disturbing video
recently where a police officer was being dragged by a suspect’s vehicle.
Traffic swerved around the moving vehicle with the officer precariously hanging
on and continued on their way without stopping to assist him. Eventually the
officer freed himself from the fleeing vehicle and fell onto the roadway.
Traffic continued to avoid
him. Finally, a car did stop behind the injured officer who lay motionless in
the roadway. The man who stopped called 911 and directed traffic around the
downed officer until help arrived.
He put into action what Jesus
was telling the lawyer to do. He was, we would say, a modern day “good
Samaritan.” Makes you wonder who the others were that did not stop and better
yet, why they did not stop.
The Jews of Jesus’ day were
well versed in the commandments of God, especially the first one. They knew
that their duty and obligation was to God above all else and that their
neighbor came second. Their interpretation, for the most part, of “neighbor”
was a fellow Jew.
They would not dream of
touching a corpse for fear of being defiled. Therefore, in Jesus’ example, the
priest and Levite pass by on the other side assuming the man was dead. For
Jesus to use a Samaritan as an example of what to do was not only shocking but
also unthinkable to his Jewish audience.
A Samaritan represented
racial impurity and religious heresy to an Orthodox Jew. One can only imagine
the reaction on the face of the inquisitive lawyer, himself a Jew, who got more
than he asked for in Jesus’ response. But did he? Regardless, of his reaction,
he gives the right answer. Jesus tells him to go “and do likewise.” In other
words, be like the Samaritan.
He wanted to know what he had to do to inherit
eternal life and Jesus told him plainly. However, the lawyer’s question and
Jesus’ answer do not quite match up, and that is part of the point.
The lawyer wants to know who
counts as neighbor. For him, God is the God of Israel, and neighbors are
Jewish. For Jesus, Israel’s God is the God of grace for the whole world, and a
neighbor is anyone in need. Now he knew who his neighbor was anyone in need
regardless of race, culture, or religion.
How difficult is that to put
into practice. Are there any more divisions amongst humanity today than in
Jesus’ day? I doubt it. Jesus’ response to the lawyer’s question is just as
relevant today, if not more so, than then. Just look at the world around us,
and even our own society, and sadly the church.
Again, the difficulty arises
in not knowing what to do but in doing it. Left to our own devices our
definition of neighbor would be a narrow one. Without the grace of God moving
us to act we would stay in our comfort zones much like those who avoided
contact with the one in need in today’s parable.
This is not what God in
Christ is calling us to do. We cannot say that we love God and chose to avoid
those in need, especially if they differ from us. The “right answer” for all of
us is to do it. Not out of a sense of legal obligation but for the love of God
in response to His love for us.
One cannot escape the demands of the law by
asking who, but respond to the divine command by seeking how to show love to
those in need. Thus, the question is not “who is my neighbor?” but to whom can
I show myself to be a neighbor thus fulfilling the law.
The basic message is that we
are to love God first and our neighbor as our self. Wouldn’t it be easier if we
had a list of who it is I have been called to love?
If only I could identify
those persons. If only I knew their names, but I don’t. You don’t. Our love for
one another is to be limitless, unconditional, and compassionate. No one is to
be eliminated in advance.
The” who” is open-ended. If
we love like the Samaritan loved, we will be compassionate and generous to each
person upon whom we stumble. Neighborly love knows no limits. Jesus’ answer, in
essence, is an example of God’s wide-reaching grace.
What is at stake here, then
and now, is the question of whether we will use this God-given revelation of
love and grace as a way of boosting our own sense of isolated security and
purity, or whether we will see it as a call and challenge to extend that love
and grace to the whole world.
Jesus not only gave the
answer to the lawyer, but He lived it as an example of how we are to respond to
the divine command. He was the very embodiment of God’s wide-reaching grace and
love in His living and His dying,
He has left us the legacy of
that love to share with all we meet, especially those in need. It is part of
the inheritance of the New Life, which we are called upon to spend now in the
Hope of attaining the fullness of the Promise of the Life to come. AMEN+
CEC Breaking News!
…Father Riley will lead in Holy Eucharist July
14 and 21, 2019. Jane Barnett will lead
us in Morning Prayer on July 28. Please invite
others to come and see.
4 PENTECOST, PROPER 9 - C -
19 LUKE 10. 1-11, 16-20
“The Lord appointed seventy
others and sent them on ahead of him in pairs to every town and place where he
himself intended to go."
When I was a young lad
growing up in Alabama
it was quite common to hear of traveling evangelists that were planning to hold
“revivals” and healing services nearby. The means of announcing their pending
arrivals was a lot less sophisticated than it is today with all the social
media at one’s disposal.
Back in those days,
billboards were sometimes used. However, the most popular means of announcing
the date, time, and place of the meetings were handbills placed in store
windows or handed out to passer bys on the streets and tacked to telephone
polls in the area by the front men, as they were called, who preceded the one
who was to come.
As the day approached, huge
circus like tents would be erected on a vacant lot with sawdust floors. Lots
and lots of metal folding chairs were arranged with a long aisle in the middle.
I remember it well because my grandmother took me to one such event to see and
hear a particular evangelist.
He was quite popular at the
time. Not only was he reported to be an exciting preacher but also one who was
said to posses healing powers. Not to name any names, but he was from Oklahoma.
In today’s gospel passage,
Jesus sends out seventy of his disciples. These were not the twelve we know so
well, but seventy others whose names are not recorded for our benefit. Their
mission was to go ahead of him into the towns and villages he himself intended
to go.
They were to be the “front
men” for Christ. Jesus gave them the same announcement to make that he himself
had made when he began his earthly ministry - the kingdom of God
is near. Christ also gave them the authority to heal the sick in those places
where they were received and the power to exorcise demons in his name.
However, Jesus warns them
that it will not be easy. They will be like sheep in the midst of wolves,
meaning that some will welcome them and others will reject them. Either way,
they are, as did the prophets of old, to tell them that the “kingdom has come
near,” whether they receive it or not.
The Gospel message is not
just a kingdom of the future but one that is near. Near, says the prophet
Isaiah in today’s first lesson who shared his vision of God’s kingdom. The kingdom of God is near, Isaiah prophesied to God’s
people, soon to be restored with peace and healing flowing like a river. Near,
though not yet fully come.
Jesus’ invitation into the
kingdom has been recognized by the signs of peace and healing. These signs the
seventy bring with them too. Their mission is Jesus’ mission. In the towns and
villages they enter, they heal the sick and say, “the kingdom of God
has come near.”
The kingdom of God
is near to you, the seventy told those who received them. To those who rejected
them, the seventy’s message was simply “the kingdom has come near.” There is a
difference. The “you” is missing. Those who receive them have accepted Jesus’
invitation. Those who reject them have missed the opportunity to accept God’s
invitation.
Jesus is on his way to Jerusalem and the cross. The seventy
represent him and the grace and astonishing, healing love of God that flowed
through Jesus. This was the God whose kingdom was drawing near. To reject this
message was to reject Jesus and to reject him was to reject God himself.
As we see, their mission was a success. They
are excited and joyful. They cannot wait to return and give Jesus their “after
action report.” “Lord, in your name even the demons submit to us!” Their names
may not have been recorded in this book, according to Luke, but Jesus tells
them that their names are recorded in God’s.
The fact that their names are
recorded in the Book of Life, is what they should rejoice in, Christ tells
them, and not that the evil spirits submitted to them. There is more than one
lesson in this for all of us today.
As modern day disciples, we
do not always see ourselves in the role of an evangelist, but in essence, we are
by virtue of our baptisms. The font of life is the beginning of our
journey to God where we promised to “follow and obey him as our Lord.”
Secondly, we promised, “to proclaim by word and example the good news of God in
Christ.” We were, in essence commissioned as “front men” for Christ in the vows
and promises we made at our baptisms.
Let us not forget that in baptism we were
buried with Christ and raised to new life in him. A new life that enables us
through the guidance of the Holy Spirit to pray to the Father that his kingdom
will come in its fullest, as it already is in heaven.
This same Spirit, by which we
were sealed in Holy Baptism, strengthens us to live by faith and with the grace
of God to acknowledge the reality of the nearness of God’s kingdom now. Our
names are recorded. They are recorded in the books of this parish, for future
generations to discover.
More importantly, when we were signed with the
cross at baptism and marked as Christ’s own forever, our names were recorded in
God’s Book of Life. We should rejoice in that above all else.
Like the seventy who were
sent out to do the work God in Christ had given them to do, so we too are sent
out into the market place of life to do the work God has given us to do: to
love and serve Him as faithful witnesses of Christ our Lord.
It is not easy. The wolves
are out there yet. It is incumbent upon us, as we continue our journey to God
in this life, with the Hope of the life to come, that we ensure that our names
remain in God’s Book.
We do this by fulfilling our
baptismal vows. This requires a daily renouncing of all that keeps us from the
Love of God and by turning again and again to Jesus Christ and renewing our
acceptance of Him as our Lord and Savior by putting our whole trust in His grace
and love.
Through the leading and
guidance of the Holy Spirit, we strive to commit ourselves to follow in His
most blessed footsteps, footsteps that will take us from the nearness of God’s
kingdom now to the day, by God’s grace, when we enter into the fullness of its
Glory forever. AMEN+
Happy Birthday America!
…Our congregation sponsored Maddie to Camp Hardtner
this Summer. Camp Hardtner
is a great place for young Christians and they love it. May we sponsor many more young Christians to Camp Hardtner
in the future.
… Father Riley will lead in Holy Eucharist July
7, 14, and 21, 2019. Services at 10am as
usual. Please invite others to join us.
CEC News Updates:
...Work continues on repairs, improvements and
painting the church and parish house.
Thank you to all who are funding this construction with your
donations. It is not too late to make a
contribution to our 2019 Capital Campaign.
Donations for the 2019 Capital Campaign thru June 24 are about
$79,856.20. This is a wonderful
expression of your love of our church. The
work will help keep Christ Episcopal active in Tensas
Parish for another 150 years or more!
…For a ‘bird’s eye view of our church
go to the following link and watch the first part of the video (the remainder
of the video is good too):
https://www.facebook.com/LTHPreservation/videos/522828078243974/
The video was taken before our repairs and
painting efforts.
...Jane Barnett will lead us in our Morning
Prayer on June 30 and Father Riley will lead in Holy Eucharist July 7,
2019. Services at 10am as usual. Please
invite others to join us Sundays.
2 PENTECOST, PROPER 7, C -
19
LUKE 8. 26-39
“Jesus and his disciples
arrived at the country of the Gerasenes, which is opposite Galilee.”
And I would venture to say that the disciples were very happy to be on dry
ground. For the verses that precede today’s passage contain the story of Jesus
stilling the wind and the waves that threatened to swamp the boat and drown the
disciples on their way across the sea.
They are amazed of Jesus’
power and authority over the natural elements. But they have not seen anything
yet. As soon as they step out of the boat the local crazy, the man of the
tombs, whom everyone in the neighborhood is afraid of, confronts Jesus. He was
naked and obviously out of his mind shouting at the top of his voice and
falling down at the feet of Jesus.
“What have you to do with me,
Jesus, Son of the Most High God?”
What the disciples and the
locals must have been thinking when the crazy man identified Jesus as the “Son
of the most high God,” one can only imagine. How did he know? At this point in
their relationship to Christ, the disciples were not certain of who Jesus
really was and what he was up to. Yet this poor soul, who lived among the dead,
somehow seems to know.
I have always imagined the scene on the beach.
The disciples, afraid of the man, are standing behind Jesus and near the boat
in the event they need to make a quick get away. The locals are standing at a
safe distance from the demonic and Jesus. They know what the man of the tombs
is capable of. On the other hand, they do not know Jesus or why he is there.
“What is you name,” Jesus
asked the man? He said, “Legion;” for there were many demons that had entered
him. Now here is where the story gets a bit strange and remarkable. The demons
beg Jesus not to send them back to hell but rather into a herd of nearby swine.
Jesus gives them permission
to do so and the herd, now demon possessed, proceeds to hurl themselves over
the nearby cliffs into the sea below and are drowned. Word quickly spread of
what had happened.
Somebody’s herd of swine was
destroyed. The man of the tombs was now clothed in his right mind and sitting
at the feet of Jesus. What’s going on here?
The townspeople were beside
themselves with fear. What would happen next? This is predominantly Gentile
territory. Perhaps these Gerasenes had not heard of Jesus or of the mighty acts
had had already performed in Galilee. Either way, they wanted him gone.
Therefore, in their fear they
ask Jesus to get back in the boat he came in and return to where he came from.
Jesus complies with their request as he did with that of the demons. As the
disciples and Jesus were shoving off the man of the tombs asked that he might
go with them. Jesus said no.
Instead, he gave the man a
mission. “Return to your home, and declare how much God has done for you.” The man quite understandably is somewhat
reluctant to return home not knowing what kind of reception he might receive.
How would he explain what had happened to him?
The demons that once possessed him recognized
Jesus as God’s Son. Now that the man of the tombs is clothed in his right mind,
he too knows who Jesus really is. For he went home and told all who would
listen what God had done for him by telling them what Jesus had done for him.
As strange as the story may
be, it appears in all three of the synoptic gospel, albeit with varying detail.
The point of the story being Jesus’ supreme power over evil spirits. His power
and authority, as the “Son of the most high God,” extends beyond the natural
realm to include the super natural.
For the man, it is not just a
story of healing but of salvation. The salvation God had promised long ago to
his chosen people, Israel, is now spreading out to include the Gentiles. How do
we come to the knowledge that Jesus and the Father are one? What does it take
for us to make the leap of faith?
If the enemy of God knows who
Jesus really is, why is it so difficult for us who claim to be His followers to
do the same? Many still see Jesus as a just man, albeit with extraordinary
powers, yet a man nonetheless.
Is it so hard for us to
conceive of the fact that God at a certain moment in our human history came
down from heaven, humbled his divinity to share in our humanity by becoming one
of us? Obviously, for some it is and always has been. To understand who Jesus is
and what he has to do with you and me, it is necessary for us to put ourselves
in the story.
Just for a moment be one of
the disciples who, at this point in their relationship to Jesus, are still
behind the learning curve. He has stilled the storm at sea and saved you from
drowning. Now he has stilled the soul and mind of this man who once lived among
the dead by exorcising the legion of demons who had possessed him. Who can do
that but God?
See yourself standing, at a
safe distance, as a member of the Gentile crowd who are afraid of what might
come next. What am I to think of this Jesus who, on the one hand has somehow
made the man of the tombs whole again, and on the other has destroyed a herd of
swine?
Who is this Jesus? Moreover,
what does he have to do with me? To answer that question we must compare our
own story with that of the man of the tombs.
He was as good as dead. He even lived among
the dead. He had no life. All were afraid of him. He ranted and raved as though
he were out of his mind. Then he met Jesus. As demented as he was at that
moment, yet he fell at Christ’ feet. Once relieved of his demonic possession,
he willingly sat at Jesus’ feet assuming the role of a disciple.
When I stop and contemplate
the import of this strange and unique little story, it is easy for me to see
something of myself in the disciples who were ready to flee, at the presence of
evil. Or one of the Gentile on-lookers who were afraid of the power this Jesus
seemed to possess and asked him to depart and leave me alone. Fear is one
thing. Godly fear is something else.
But, more importantly, I see myself in the man
of the tombs, who once Jesus came into his life, was transformed and made whole
again. He now had a purpose, a reason for living. He became obedient to God in
Christ.
He carried out the mission
Jesus gave to him. He proclaimed that this Jesus was God, for only God could
have done what Jesus did by rescuing him from a life of sin and darkness and
raising him to the new life of light and peace.
We don’t always think about
what God has done for us, and continues to do for us - do we? How he has
rescued each of us from a life of sin and death, and raised us to new life in
Him who died and rose again. It is a life we are powerless to live, however,
were it not for the Love of God, who in His infinite mercy continues to shower
us with His grace to live it and to own it.
We don’t always think about
it, but we should. For the story of the man of the tombs is our story, a story
of salvation; a story we should be most willing to tell, as he did, giving
thanks to God for all that he has done for us by telling any and all how much
Jesus Christ has done for us. AMEN+
..Work continues on repairs, improvements and
painting the church and parish house.
Thank you to all who are funding this construction with your
donations. It is not too late to make a
contribution to our 2019 Capital Campaign.
The work will help keep Christ Episcopal active in Tensas
Parish for another 150 years or more!
..BIG EVENT! . . . Ordination of Garrett
Boyte: 11:00 am, Saturday, June 22,
2019, St. Mark’s Cathedral, 908 Rutherford Pl., Shreveport, LA 71104
..Father Riley will lead us in Holy Eucharist
June 23 and Jane Barnett will lead us in Morning Prayer on June 30. 10am services as usual.
“Jesus said to his disciples,
‘I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. When the
Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all truth…he will declare to you
the things that are to come."
Last week the Church
celebrated the 1,976th anniversary of the coming of the Holy Spirit
at Pentecost. On that day the Holy Spirit descended upon the disciples in
dramatic fashion empowering them with a variety of gifts needed to carry out
the mission and ministry Jesus had entrusted to them.
Today, however, our gospel reading
takes us backwards to the upper room where Jesus is delivering his final
discourse. Here he promises that the Spirit will come, guide his disciples into
all truth, and reveal to them the things that are to come.
Jesus’ disciples are about to
be plunged into a short, sharp and intensely powerful period that will be like
a moment of birth. Jesus will be taken away. His death and resurrection are the
necessary events that will lead to his ‘going to the Father’ and his ‘sending
of the Spirit.’
These are extraordinary
events, the like of which the world has never seen before. The disciples can
hardly prepare properly for them; but Jesus wants to warn them anyway. They are
not merely strange, shocking and unique. They are visible signs that God’s new
world is really coming to birth.
Although they did not
understand them then, they would. The Spirit, as Jesus promised, would guide
them, nudging their minds and imagination into ways of knowing, and things to
know, that Jesus has already said to them.
The effect the Holy Spirit
has in us is represented in the words of today’s gospel. These words of Jesus
contain a general truth; they teach us the will of the giver, and the nature
and condition of the gift.
For sense our finite human
minds cannot grasp the Father and the Son, our faith, which has difficulty in
conceiving the Incarnation, is enlightened by the gift of the Holy Spirit. We
receive the Holy Spirit, then, for the sake of knowledge.
Just as the Spirit is
mystery, so is the doctrine of the Holy Trinity we celebrate today. It is the
central dogma of Christian theology that unites the majority of the world’s
Christians, namely, the Orthodox, Roman Catholics, and Anglicans in the
confession of one faith - the catholic faith.
By the same token, it is a
doctrine that separates us not only from others who profess themselves as
Christians, but also from the world’s other major religions, namely Islam, and
Judaism.
The word trinity refers to
the three persons of God and was first used by Saint Theophilous of Antioch in 180 A.D.
Although the term is not found in scripture, the concept of one God existing in
three persons and one substance is both explicitly and implicitly found in both
the Old and New testaments.
In the Old Testament, for example,
it is implicit in the visit of the three men who suddenly appeared to Abram and
announced that his wife Sara would bear a son in her old age. In the New
Testament it is explicit in Jesus’ command to his disciples that they are to
make disciples of all nations baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of
the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, that is, with a profession of the creator, the
only begotten and the gift.
When we recite the Church’s
Creed, we say we believe in the co-equality and co-eternity of the 3 in one,
Father Son, and Holy Spirit. This doctrine is held to be a mystery in the
strict sense of the word, in that it can neither be known by unaided human
reason apart from revelation, nor cogently demonstrated by reason after it has
been revealed.
Over the years, I was
privileged to have been able to teach and present adults and children to the
Bishop for Confirmation. One of the classes I have striven to teach was on the
Creeds of the Church, both the Apostle’s and the Nicene, which contain the
major doctrines of the Church including that of the Holy Trinity.
The human finite mind,
however, is incapable on its own to grasp or to understand the mystery that is
God. The words of the ancient Creed express our belief as best we can. I cannot
explain it any better. I simply believe that God is creator of heaven and earth
and of all that is seen and unseen.
I believe that He sent his
only Son, Jesus Christ, to redeem us from sin and death and through Christ’
life, death, and resurrection the way to eternal life has been opened to us. I
believe that the third person of the Holy Trinity, the Spirit of God, has been
given to the Church as a gift for those who believe as Jesus promised.
The gift of the Spirit has
been given to us through the sacrament of Holy baptism for the explicit purpose
of guiding us into all truth by revealing the true nature of God, and
empowering us, as Christ’ modern day disciples, to continue the mission and
ministry that He has entrusted to us.
It is a mission and ministry
which have been passed down through the ages from the time of the Apostles. A
mission that is nothing less than that of bringing God to man and man to God.
It is a mission that is impossible to fulfill without our being aided by the
gift of the Holy Spirit.
I do not try to unravel the
mystery of the Holy Trinity. No one can. I simply believe. The gift of faith
bridges the limits of my human intellect and enables me to stand and profess my
belief in the words of the ancient creed.
The Spirit teaches me to know
that what I am saying is true.
Our understanding of God
begins with faith and ends with faith. Faith is a gift of Love that comes from
God. Love is the key to understanding God. It is Divine Love that unites the
community of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit and it is this same love that
Jesus prayed we would have for one another, that unites us in our belief of the
one and eternal glory of God.
This love, the love the
Father has for the Son and the Son has for all who believe in him, as St. Paul reminds us, “Has
been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.”
Thanks be to God. AMEN+
