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+
EASTER VII - C -19
JOHN 17. 20-26
Sometimes we read and hear a
passage from scripture and cannot help but wonder is this relevant? What does
it have to do with me? Today’s gospel reading could not be more relevant. Jesus
is talking about you, me, and all those who are His followers throughout the world.
The words of Jesus in today’s
passage are from His “high priestly” prayer that comes at the end of the part
of John’s gospel containing Jesus’ farewell discourse to his disciples. These
are the final words of Jesus meant to be remembered by the disciples when He is
no longer physically present among them.
Although the prayer is
addressed to the Father, it is obviously meant to be heard by the disciples. An
essential aspect of relationships is thinking, hoping, dreaming, wishing, and
praying for and about the future. This portion of Jesus’ prayer we hear today
turns its attention to the future.
His prayer reflects love for
his own. His concern now is for the future life and ministry of those gathered
around him. His desire is for the continuation of the relationship. Through the
ongoing work and words of the disciples, people will come to know and put their
faith in Jesus as the One sent by the Father.
This prayer is especially
appropriate for us to hear today. As they were for the disciples, these words
are also meant for us to remember. The 7th Sunday of Easter finds us
waiting between the feasts of the Ascension and Pentecost. It is a time to
wonder about the future.
There is life and mission
ahead for us as church but only if we are untied in that mission, something
Jesus also prays for, “that they all may be one.’ That is, untied in one faith
and worship. This unity is not just to be a formal arrangement. It is not just
an outward thing.
It is based on, and must
mirror, nothing less than the unity between the Father and the Son. “As you
Father are in me, and I am in you, may they also be in us, so that the world
may believe that you have sent me.” This can only mean that we ourselves are to
be united, as were Jesus’ first disciples in announcing the good news and
spreading it around the world.
Those who heard them passed
it on, and on, and on. The church is never more than one generation away from
extinction; all it would take is for a single generation not to hand the word
on. But that has never happened. People have always told other people about
Jesus and the love of God sometimes at the peril of their lives.
Today’s reading from Acts is
just one example. Paul and Silas get themselves thrown into prison in Macedonia
for exercising a dark spirit from a young slave girl. Her owners bring Paul and
Silas before the judges accusing them of “disturbing the city and advocating
customs that are not lawful for Romans to adopt or observe.” However, the real
reason being that they had lost their means of making money off the girl.
Paul and Silas are beaten and
thrown into prison. However, they do not despair but sign hymns and pray. The
other prisoners listen. God comes to their rescue. The doors of the jail are
flung wide open. They could easily escape, but God has a purpose for their
being there. The jailor fearing that all have escaped and will cost him his
life is surprised to find that they are all still there.
He is moved to ask, “What
must I do to be saved?” They answered, “Believe on the Lord Jesus, and you will
be saved, you and your household.” Paul and Silas tell him and his household of
the love of God and of God’s son, Jesus, and all were baptized. Jesus’ prayer
reminds us of God’s love, of Jesus’ hope and desire for our future that through
us, the world may see and come to know that love.
That is the desire and confidence Jesus had
for the future of his first followers. It is the same held out for our future.
The result of this will be that the world may see and know that this kind of
community, united across all traditional barriers of race, custom, gender or
class, can only come from the action of the creator God.
This goes hand in hand with Jesus’ earlier
words, “this is how all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have
love for one another.” Unity is vital for our being able to carry out the
mission of the church.
Sadly, we all know that Jesus’ prayer for us
has not yet been fully realized. However, he is still praying for us at the
right hand of the Father.
The whole prayer comes down
to just one word - love. It is about the love of the Father surrounding the
Son, and this same love surrounding all of Jesus’ people, making Him present to
them and through them to the world.
It is our yearning to be
united and connected to God that gathers us together here before His altar to
celebrate the Eucharist. In this sacrament, we are united with God through
Christ. In the Eucharistic prayer, we pray that we might be made one body with
him, that he may dwell in us and we in him as we receive the Body and Blood of
Christ.
These words echo the prayer
of Jesus in John’s gospel. It is here that we come to experience the presence
of God.
It is here that we come to
remember Christ’ death, resurrection and ascension. It is here that we come to
be filled with the indwelling love of God in Christ. It is here that we are
feed and strengthened to be sent with that love into the world to face the
future of our mission and ministry.
At the Ascension Jesus
vanished out of their sight, but the love of Christ did not disappear. It is
among us and with us each time we come together to celebrate the Holy
Eucharist. Jesus has left us more than a legacy or example: it is an ongoing
relationship, a continuing connectedness, a way of nurturing and sustaining.
In the Eucharist we are
assured that Jesus dwells in us and that if we dwell in him, others will come
to know and have faith in God’s love. Then the hopes, dreams, and final prayer
of the Lord who loves us and dwells in us will be fulfilled.
“Righteous Father…I made your
name known to them… so that the love with which you have loved me may be in
them, and I in them.” AMEN+
