Thursday, January 31, 2008

Christ the Healer

A sermon delivered to All Saints Anglican Church on January 13, 2008 at the Convent Chapel of St. Mary's Hosptial , Huntington, WV, based on
Acts 10:34-38

Imagine for a moment that you are a member of a large church and that an epidemic of illness in your town. You have attended 40 funerals in as many days, and virtually everyone you know is sick unto death – adults, little kids, teens – everybody.

Your faith in God has been severely tested and you feel as though you’re just about ready to give up on faith altogether.

In anguish of heart, you pray for God to show you some sign or message that will help you make sense out of all the suffering. Suddenly, in a moment of clarity, Acts 10:38 comes to mind with great clarity: …”how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power he went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him…”

In this moment of clarity, God reveals to you the nature of Satan as the Defiler and Christ as the Healer. Your tears are wiped away and you feel strengthened and encouraged to tell the world about your revelation, firm in the knowledge that the message of Acts 10:38 is relevant for today because Jesus is just the same today as he was back in the time of Acts.

If you were successful in imagining this scenario, you can imagine what it was like for John Alexander Dowie, who experienced just such a thing in 1874 in a suburb of Sydney Australia, during a catastrophic epidemic of illness. Immediately after having had this moment of clarity, Dowie received an urgent summons to pray for a young girl that was dying. He relates the experience this way:

“With just a feeling as a shepherd has who hears that his sheep are being torn from the fold by a cruel wolf, I rushed from my house, ran hatless down the street, and entered the room of the dying [girl]. There she lay groaning, grinding her clenched teeth in the agony of the conflict with the destroyer, the white froth, mingled with her blood, oozing from her pain-distorted mouth. I looked at her and then my anger burned. “Oh,” I thought, “for some sharp sword of heavenly temper keen to slay this cruel foe who is strangling that lovely maiden like an invisible serpent, tightening his deadly coils for a final victory.”

From our vantage point in 2008, it would be easy to look back and say that the later invention of sulpha drugs and antibiotics would certainly have been such a sharp sword, and that in our day, we have largely eradicated such suffering. But that would be overconfident , for all we have to do is think of the health problems that challenge us today and realize that while we have made huge strides in eliminating some diseases, such as smallpox – there are still a host of diseases that are vexing to medical science and that the fundamental issues relating to sickness and faith remain the same.

Picking up our story again, Dowie tells how “the doctor, a good Christian man, was quietly walking up and down the room quietly sharing the mother’s grief. Presently, he stood at my side and said, “Sir, are not God’s ways mysterious?”

“Instantly, “recalls Dowie, “the sword was flashed in my hand – the Spirit’s sword, the Word of God. “God’s way!” I said, pointing to the scene of conflict, “how dare you, Dr. K-, call that God’s way of bringing His children home from earth to Heaven? No, sir, that is the devil’s work, and it is time we called on Him Who came to ‘destroy the work of the devil’ to slay that deadly foul destroyer, and to save the child. Can you pray, Doctor, can you pray the prayer of faith that saves the sick?” At once, offended at my words, my friend was changed and saying, “You are too much excited sir, ‘tis best to say ‘God’s will be done,’ [and] he left the room.

Excited! The word was quite inadequate for I was almost frenzied with Divinely imparted anger and hatred of that foul destroyer, Disease, which was doing Satan’s will. “It is not so,” I exclaimed, ‘no will of God sends such cruelty, and I shall never say “God’s will be done’ to Satan’s works, which God’s own Son came to destroy, and this is one of them.” Oh, how the Word of God was burning in my heart: “Jesus of Nazareth went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with Him.” And was not God with me? And was not Jesus there and all His promises true? I felt that it was even so, and turning to the mother I inquired, “Why did you send for me?” To which she answered, “Do pray, oh pray for her that God may raise her up.” So we prayed. What did I say? It may be that I cannot recall the words without mistake…I cried:

“Our Father, help! And Holy Spirit teach me how to pray. Plead Thou for us, oh, Jesus, Savior, Healer, Friend, our Advocate with God the Father. Hear and heal, Eternal One! From all disease and death deliver this sweet child of Thine. I rest upon the Word. We claim the promise now. The Word is true, “I am the Lord that healeth thee.’ Then heal her now. The Word is true, “I am the Lord, I change not.’ Unchanging God, then prove Thyself the healer now. The Word is true, ‘These signs shall follow them that believe in My Name, they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.’ And I believe, and I lay hands in Jesus’ Name on her, and claim this promise now. The word is true, ‘The prayer of faith shall save the sick.’ Trusting in Thee alone, I cry, oh, save her now, for Jesus’ sake, Amen!”

Instantly, reports Dowie, the child relaxed into a deep sleep and the fever broke. She survived and became the breakthrough case that stopped the epidemic in Dowie’s congregation; not another person in his church died after this.

Our Jaded View
Today, our view of healing evangelists is jaded by our experience of high profile ethical and financial lapses by these same individuals. TV distorts our picture of the healing ministry, and our inherent Western rationalism fights against belief in divine healing. We dismiss the possibility of spiritual healing as mere enthusiasm, wish fulfillment or possibly some sort of trickery.

Compassion and the Theological Basis of Healing Ministry

Yet notice in our story, that the basis for Dowie’s healing prayer is deep, gut wrenching anguish over the suffering of his people and the realization that it is not God that inflicts disease upon us but that illness is a tragic result of Sin having entered the world through the defilement of Satan’s temptation of Adam and Eve.

The theological basis for the prayer of faith is that the world as we see it now is not the world that God originally created. Everything in our world changed dramatically when Sin defiled the first couple. Think of it as the introduction of the first genetic mutation if you will - Mutation that radically altered everything within us and around us.

It is against this background that we look to our Savior Christ as our Healer sent by God to deliver us from the ravages of Sin and sickness. From our texts today, let us consider together some of the rationale and basis for God healing us in Christ.

First, from Isaiah 42: 5, we see God as our Creator:
“Thus says God, the Lord, who created the heavens and stretched them out, who spread out the earth and what comes from it, who gives breath to the people on it and spirit to those who walk in it…” The Lord is the One who gives us life to begin with; He is our architect and manufacturer. His original design is not for us to live in misery, but to walk with Him in harmony.

As Creator, he calls His people into a righteous Covenant with Him.
“I am the Lord; I have called you in righteousness; I will take you by the hand and keep you; I will give you as a covenant for the people…”

Over and over again, we see God making covenants – with Abraham first, and then subsequently reiterating this covenant with Jacob and Moses and Joshua – and finally through Jesus. God wants to be our God and he wants us to walk with him as His beloved people.

This covenant is to be the basis for blessing the whole world:
“I will give you as a covenant for the people, a light for the nations, to open the eyes that are blind, to bring out prisoners from the dungeon, from the prison those who sit in darkness.” (vv. 6,7). Immediately we can hear the words of the song of Simeon: ‘Lord, now lettest Thou Thy servant depart in peace, for these eyes of mine have seen the Savior whom you have prepared for all the world to see, a light to enlighten the nations, and the glory of your people, Israel.”…

The covenant with Israel is to be the basis for the healing of the world, and this healing is to be mediated by God’s chosen servant, Messiah: “Behold, my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen, in whom my soul delights; I have put my Spirit upon him; he will bring forth justice to the nations.”…

Healing here is couched as an issue of justice: God’s chosen servant will come to set things right in the world. (v. 1). He will not rest in his mission until he establishes justice in all the earth (v. 4). Isaiah declares that this is a new thing God is doing in the earth (v.9). ‘before they spring forth I tell you of them”, he says.

Again, Isaiah is speaking of Christ and his God-anointed ministry to us. Jumping ahead to Matthew’s narrative of Christ’s baptism then, we can easily connect the dots and see that this is the new thing Isaiah is talking about.

John’s immersion of Jesus was not for the taking away of sin, but to recognize that Jesus is the Chosen Servant prophecied by Isaiah, and to anoint Jesus for his work. Jesus tells John that he goes down into the water in order to fulfill all righteousness. He is being commissioned into His ministry.

When Jesus comes up out of the water, the Sprit of God descends upon him, and the voice of God affirms, “This is my beloved son, with whom I am will pleased.” In other words, This is the guy Isaiah was talking about. Listen up! This is it!

Again, there is the Old Testament affirmation from Psalm 2: Thou art my Son, Today have I begotten Thee. (V. 7). God ‘births his Son into his ministry, acknowledging and commissioning Him for the Work of Healing the World.

In his sermon #100 on the mystery of the Lord’s Baptism, St. Maximus of Turin expounds thusly:

“The Gospel tells us that the Lord came to the Jordan to be baptized and to be consecrated by heavenly signs. This day too, we may rightly call his birthday, for while on Christmas he was physically born among people, today he is reborn in sacramental mystery. “This is my Son in whom I am well pleased; listen to him.” His mother offered him to the wise men to adore; his Father offers him to all the world.”

Christ’s baptism also paves the way for us to follow him into our own Baptism. ‘Christ is baptized first so that Christians may follow his example with confidence’, says Maximus. Not only that, but the very water of baptism is ‘sanctified and purified by him. …For when the water spread over him, all water is cleansed for our baptism, and the source is purified so that it may be a fountain of grace for coming peoples.” (Quoted in Benedictine Daily Prayer, pg 105).

Christ’s healing ministry begins when he is baptized and his first ‘patient’ is the water itself! Jesus purifies the water, so that the water of our baptism may heal us of our sin sickness!

Jesus our Prototype
Now just as Jesus is our divine prototype in Baptism, so too is He in His anointing by the Holy Spirit. Just as The Holy Spirit comes upon Jesus, so too he comes upon us in our salvation and Baptism. This is the reason why people are anointed after being baptized. They are ‘Chrismated” or sealed in the Spirit, to indicate that the Holy Spirit now lives in them and rests upon them.

Returning to Acts 10:38: “ how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth… with the Holy Spirit and with power…

God empowered Jesus by anointing Him with the Holy Spirit so that he could go about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the Devil. This was to bring about justice in the world by releasing people from the curse and stain of Sin, from the defilement of Satan, and to bring about a progressive restoration of all that was lost in the Fall. As we sing in “Joy to the World,” “ He comes to make His blessings known, far as the curse is found, far as the curse is found, far as, far as, the Curse is found. Jesus came to destroy the works of Satan the Defiler.

Now keep in mind that this reading from Acts is part of the Sermon that Peter delivered after the Gentile Cornelius and all his family got saved. This sermon announces the spreading of the Gospel to all Gentile peoples. A little later in the text we learn that the Holy Spirit falls upon Cornelius, his family and all who heard the word proclaimed. They are given the gift of the Holy Spirit, they begin to speak in tongues and then they are baptized in water, just as Jesus was. Same water, same Holy Spirit. Same Jesus. Same God the Father. It’s all the same today, just as it was back then.

This then, is the basis for our contemporary practice of the healing ministry. We follow Jesus in baptism, we get the gift of the Holy Spirit, and we become his witnesses, being commissioned to spread the Gospel to all people, to open the eyes of the blind, to heal the sick and to bring justice to the earth by the systematic destruction of Satan’s defilements.

In the next few weeks and months, we are going to learn much more about this ministry of healing, but I really want you to receive from this message that we as Christians are not wild-eyed fanatics, or greasy charlatans when we pray for the healing of the sick. No, we are God’s children, following the ministry of His Son, who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the Devil.

After you take communion, come for healing prayer as well. It’s God’s gift to you, just like Salvation, just like the Body and Blood of Jesus. We don’t disparage the healing art of medicine one little bit by saying all this, but Jesus came to set the captives free. Healing is the “Children’s bread. It’s yours by birthright, so come and get it!...Amen?

AMEN.

How the Wise seek Him


A Sermon delivered to All Saints Anglican Church at the Chapel of St. Mary's Hospital, Huntington WV. Based on Matthew 2: 1-12
Epiphany Sunday 2008


Today we celebrate the visit of the magi to Jesus. These men are almost entirely mysterious to us today. They make their first appearance after the birth of Christ, pay him a quick visit and then disappear from the narrative as quickly as they showed up. They are of course exotic, and they make for wonderfully colorful figures in the crèche’s and nativity scenes that are so ubiquitous this time of year. But they are also figures who represent to us something very important about the nature of faith and it’s interaction with knowledge. Namely, that human wisdom can be used by God to discover His plans, but it takes an active faith to meet the God we learn about.

Let’s look at some of the ways the Wise men were indeed wise, and how they used their wisdom to find the Lord:

Now we know that the Magi came from the east. They were apparently students of the stars; astrologers and philosophers in the best sense. Probably schooled in the mystery religions, they knew that when a new star arose, that it was a portent, a sign of something that God was doing. They were wise in the cosmic ways of God – they knew he works through heavenly signs.

But they were wise in another way: they knew that it would not be sufficient to merely see the star and realize that God was up to something. No, they understood that once they discerned something, they had to act on it. They had to take the information they had discerned and combine it with faithful action – they had to go worship this newborn king.

Now notice that these magi were not about diplomatic networking with local kings. If that was their goal, they could have stopped at Herod’s house, hobnobbed with him, given him some rich gifts and then be on their way with no trouble. Instead, they stopped at Herod’s place just long enough to ask him where they could find the newborn King of the Jews – again, so that they might worship him. Their simple request created consternation with Herod and with the whole of Jerusalem as well! Not exactly something diplomatic to do!

I believe that God intended this visit to shake up Herod and Jerusalem and to give them a prophetic notice that it was time to do as the wise men were doing – to bring their prideful self-will into faithful obedience, and to follow the Magi in worshipping Jesus the King. Curiously, Herod does show a certain perverse kind of faith. He seems to trust the prophetic Word enough to inquire where the Christ was to be born. He also seems to implicitly recognize that the wise men had discerned something that was potentially BIG. But instead of combining his knowledge with faithful action, he schemes and lies in order to gain information so that he can protect his own skin and kingdom!

If the Magi are paradigms of Good Men, Herod is the epitome of the bad, faithless man. Even without knowing much about the man himself, we sense from the text that he is up to no good. He’s a snake in the grass. But the wise men are wise enough not to call him out on his intentions. Rather, they nod and go their way, intent on seeking Jesus – perhaps even believing that Herod was sincere in his desire to worship the child.

And God graciously leads them. Many modern day astronomers have undertaken to explain the nature of the new star that led the Magi. Once, when I was about 13, I remember going to our high school library one evening in Advent with my parents and listening to a lecture about something called a ‘heliacal rise”. I don’t have a clue about this now, but I remember thinking that this guy is trying very hard to explain something that is inherently mysterious.

As I read this text, it almost seems as if the miracle of the star may have been a sort of Command Performance – a special star that God caused to appear to the wise men in order to lead them to Jesus- whether or not anyone else saw it.

Again, however, let’s point out that if others did see this star, they did not combine their knowledge with faithful action as the Magi did or they too would have shown up from many points on the compass, rejoicing as the Magi did, at the appearance of the star and following it to Jesus.

In verse 11 of our text, we see the climax of their search. The wise men came into the house where Jesus was with Mary, and they fell down and worshiped him. They gave him the symbolic gifts fit for a king - gifts that also foreshadowed the burial and entombment of this king – and they worshipped him. In others words, they gave him the praise and ascribed to him the worth He was due. In modern parlance, they ‘came to Jesus” , they responded to the altar call, they laid their all on the altar and they Got SAVED! Their knowledge had led them to take faithful action and they were rewarded by finding the King they sought. And because this King was not to reign on earth, but to have a heavenly kingdom, the wise men then departed to go home.

And here is where we see that the Magi were not only wise in all the ways we have discussed so far, but they were also smart enough to recognize a warning from God that came to them in a dream. Having been warned they obeyed the warning and went home by another way. Imagine how the story might have ended had they discounted the dream and gone back to Herod! Their obedience saved them and Jesus as well.

So out of this exotic and colorful story let’s derive some lessons for ourselves today:
1) Look for what God is doing in your world today.
At our Vestry retreat yesterday, Rev. Ron Crum stressed this point by urging us to find out what is our present reality. Not WWJD – What would Jesus do? But WIJD – What is Jesus Doing? For us as All Saints Anglican Church, Jesus has clearly led us to band together and stand for the Historical Faith Once Delivered. He is clearly encouraging us in our worship by gifting us with the use of this beautiful Chapel - that we didn’t have to build or maintain! It’s been done and is being done for us! We are free to enjoy the beauty of our surroundings which affirms one of our core values as a worshipping body - the Beauty of Liturgical Sacramental Worship. God is helping us to worship Him in spirit and in truth.

2) Use your intellect to discern God’s purposes. As Anglicans, we value the right use of reason and preserving the orthodox faith we have received – that which we call the Tradition with a Capitol T. We can use our minds to help us pursue what seems to be good to us and to the Holy Spirit (ACTS 15). Jim Akers presented to us some of his research about CANA and the Anglican Mission in the Americas. We learned some new things that might affect our decision-making, and it was very helpful.
3) Combine belief with faithful action. Go and seek Jesus, and worship Him. I commend you all for doing just that as you have left places that may not have been worshipping Christ, in order to follow an “uncertain star” (ASAC) that leads to faithful worship of our God. Our next faithful action as a body will be to apply to actually apply to either CANA and or AMiA.
4) Beware of Herod! Watch out for those who feign belief in order to destroy you and your faith. (Enough Said!)
5) Worship God with the Best you can muster. Bring him your precious gifts of God Frankincense and Myrhh, fit for a King. Ascribe to the Lord the Honor due His name. If the wise men thought it was important enough for them, it’s important enough for us too! I wear a signet ring with the letters DOM, a traditional Benedictine slogan. The letters stand for Deo Optimo Maximo – To God the Highest and the Best. This is the attitude with which I wish to serve God. I hope you do too.
6) Pay attention to warnings. God may be trying to get your attention! Over and over again in the first chapters of the Gospels, we read of angels coming to deliver messages to Mary, to Joseph, to the Shepherds, and to the wise men. Some times these messages come through open visions, and sometimes and more ominously they come through dreams. God loves you enough to warn you when you’re about to get into trouble. Pay attention and Herod won’t kill you; pay attention to your dreams – God may be leading you to something wonderful!

I’d like to close by reiterating the collect for the day as our closing prayer: O God, by the leading of a star you manifested your only Son to the peoples of the earth: Lead us, who know you now by faith, to your presence, where we may see your glory face to face; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

Dear Mom


This letter was read to All Saints Anglican Church on December 23, 2007.
It purports to be written by a Greek believer living in Palestine around the year AD 60 or so...

Dear Mom,

I hope you don’t mind me being so familiar. There are so many now who love you and call you “Mother”, that it only seems natural for me to do the same…

I was talking with Matthew the other day - and we were reminiscing about the Gospel he wrote about Yeshua: how he walked among us, died on the cross and rose from the grave to save us from our sins. It still amazes me to think that he grew up in our midst and we never had a clue that he would go on to become Messiah.

But then I thought that you must surely have known all along and that it must have been terribly difficult for you to keep that knowledge to yourself – especially when people were accusing you of being unfaithful to Joseph, your betrothed. I understand from Matthew that Joseph considered divorcing you early on, but thought better of it when he realized what would happen to you as a single mother. In fact, someone even told me that you came very close to being stoned by your own townspeople one time…It makes me shudder to think about it.

If it hadn’t been for Gabriel coming to tell Joseph that your son had been conceived of the Holy Spirit and that he would become the Savior of his people…who knows where we would be now! I sure would have liked to see Joseph’s face when the angel told him that the child’s name would be Yeshua, the one foretold by the prophet Isaiah!

I also keep going back to what it must have been like for you when Gabriel told you that you would bear this child. They say that you just accepted it. “Be it done to me according to your word”, I think is what you said. Amazing! Weren’t you scared? Didn’t you want to run away? You, just a teen-age girl, and here you were going to have a child that would be the Savior! I think I would have asked the angel to find someone else.

You must have been quite a courageous young woman! In fact, I KNOW you were, because I read the words of the song you sang when you went to visit Elizabeth. I got them from that Gentile physician, Luke, who came to listen to you tell your story that one time. He has written up his Gospel too, including some things that Matthew left out.
Your “Magnificat” reminds me a lot of the song Hannah sang when she gave birth to Samuel. Were you thinking about that when you sang to Elizabeth? I bet you were…

It seems like you thought that Yeshua would be king when he grew up – that he would bring down Herod and Caesar and reign over all. That was pretty subversive stuff! Did you ever talk to anyone else about these thoughts? And if you did, did you look over your shoulder to see if there was a Roman soldier around? You could have gone to prison for treason!

At any rate, I was just writing to tell you how much I love you and appreciate what you did for us all. I know I don’t say it enough, that I take you for granted some times. But we’re coming up on the day we celebrate Yeshua’s birth (isn’t it great that people can remember Him instead of getting wild and crazy at the Saturnalia?!) and I thought I should put down in words what I feel about you – that I should be one of the generations to rise up and call you Blessed, just like you said in your song. For you truly were blessed to carry our Lord in your body and to be the very first Christian – even though I know it was very painful for you to have to watch him suffer at the hands of the Jews and the Romans. (I guess Simeon was right when he said that a sword would pierce your soul.)

I know too that it must have been confusing to have heard such wonderful prophecies about Yeshua being the cause of the fall and rise of many in Israel and that he would be a King like David before him – only to see His ministry taken up with the poor, the outcast, and even the enemies of our people. I don’t blame you and your other children for thinking he was crazy and trying to stop Him from embarrassing the family at Capernaum. “Jesus’ as the Greeks call him was certainly a surprise to us all!

But what a blessing it must have been to be among the firs to see him risen from the Dead – and to be there with the others in the upper room when the Holy Spirit came down! They say it sounded like a mighty rushing wind and that tongues of fire appeared above each one there! Did you speak in another language that day? And if so, did you know what language it was? But I digress…

This letter dear mother, is to honor you and to give you thanks for your faithfulness to our God. Because of you, all of us have begun to live through your son Jesus and we are truly grateful. We want you to know that we’ll be thinking about you during all the festivities coming up in the next few days and that your memory is very precious to us.

Please think about us too - and when you see your Son, could you put in a good word for us? Thanks.
With all my love, I am
Your son,

Andreas

Waiting

A sermon delivered to All Saints Anglican Church on 3rd Advent, 2007
Hampton Inn, Barboursville, WV


Last week, Father Mark reminded us that 400 years elapsed between the Prophet Malachi and John the Baptist. The OT prophets spoke words of encouragement to the nation of Israel but the nation had to wait until the ‘fullness of time’ came and Jesus came to fulfill those prophecies.

I imagine they struggled with waiting. I know I do. Waiting is difficult.
We want things quickly. We hate to wait. It’s a little like this ketchup bottle – the ketchup came out too slowly in the old glass bottles, so we invented a squeeze bottle so we could forcefully squeeze out the thick sauce. Then that wasn’t good enough. We invented the upside down bottle where we could have the ketchup come out right away! We hate to wait so much that we would rather endure water board torture than to sit still and wait.

I think I’ve said this before, but if I wanted to really torture you, I’d say, “I’m going out for a while, wait for me until I return.”…After about 90 minutes you’d all start getting restless, and want to leave. Waiting is hard for human beings, especially when things aren’t going the way we expected them to go.

Even John the Baptist, the “greatest man ever born of woman” had doubts. When John observed Jesus in action John wasn’t sure this is exactly what he had in mind. His life was on the line and he wanted to know if he was sticking his neck out for the right person. So when John sent his followers to Jesus, asking for reassurance, Jesus directed John back to the prophet Isaiah by saying,

“Go and tell John what you hear and see: 5 the blind receive their sight and the lame walk, lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to them. 6 And blessed is the one who is not offended by me.”

Being an Old Testament prophet himself, John should have recognized that Jesus was quoting Isaiah (35:5,6):

5 Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened,and the ears of the deaf unstopped;6 then shall the lame man leap like a deer,and the tongue of the mute sing for joy.For waters break forth in the wilderness,and streams in the desert;

Jesus had also used similar words to announce his ministry.

The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me,because the Lord has anointed meto bring good news to the poor; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,to proclaim liberty to the captives,and the opening of the prison to those who are bound; 2 to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor,and the day of vengeance of our God;to comfort all who mourn…Isaiah 61:1-2.

John should have understood that Jesus was announcing that the time of waiting had come to an end. The people of Israel were now to recognize that their promised King had come to them and that He was ushering in His Kingdom.

The only problem was that Jesus didn’t look anything like a King or act like one. Because he didn’t ride in on a white horse and dramatically defeat the Roman oppressor, most people didn’t accept Him as King.
True, they found his miracles interesting – especially the part about getting free bread, but all the Suffering Servant stuff just didn’t really get it. Jesus didn’t look or act the part of a conquering King because he was inaugurating a different kind of Kingdom – one that could only be recognized by the lowly and humble of heart.

WE face the SAME Challenge.

As Christians, we face the same challenge as the Jews faced. Jesus promised that He would return to us, but it has been 2,000 years and he still hasn’t come back. The apostle James urged the believers even back in the first century to be patient:
James 5:7-10:
7 Be patient, therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient about it, until it receives the early and the late rains. 8 You also, be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand.
We need to have a keen sense that the Lord is returning and may return any day. The prayer “Marana Tha” expresses this: “Come quickly Lord Jesus”. But by the same token we must realize that Jesus has tarried now for some 2, 000 years. When the Lord says quickly, he means us to understand that “one day is as a thousand years”… On His calendar, it’s only been a couple of days since He left!

So we must be patient. But what to do while we are waiting?

Occupy until I Come (Luke 19:13)
We are to ‘occupy’ – to engage in our Father’s business:
To bring the Good News to the poor – to evangelize.
To open the eyes of the blind, both spiritually and physically.
Bind up the brokenhearted – to minister to those who grieve and are hurting from various life circumstances.

As Henri Nouwen puts it, we are to:
“Be alert, be alert, so that you will be able to recognize your Lord in your husband, your wife, your parents, your children, your friends, your teachers, but also in all that you read in the daily papers. The Lord is coming, always coming. Be alert to recognize him at any moment of your life. Life is Advent; life is recognizing the coming of the Lord” (H. Nouwen, Gracias! A Latin American Journal).

Our waiting is not simple passive inactivity, but an active anticipation, a participation in bringing the Kingdom of God to our world right now.
We pray, we reach out to heal wounds and to bring people to the saving knowledge of Christ all in obedience to his will. We do this gladly and hopefully, but at the same time we know that our efforts can only be partial until Jesus returns and sets up His righteous rule here on earth.

An Illustration from the Great Anglican Confusion

Anglicans have had to wait for many years – some would say as many as forty years- while the liberal experiment within The Episcopal Church worked itself out. Certainly when Gene Robinson was consecrated bishop in 2003, we saw the experiment reach its apex and have had to wait patiently for the Anglican world to realign so as to reflect the reality that there are now two Anglican communions in the world. Things seem to have moved as slowly as thick ketchup in a glass bottle for the last four years. But now it appears that events are rapidly coming to a climax in which all our waiting will find fruition.

Our own Archbishop Mark had been trying for several years to make a connection with the the ACN and Common Cause. The main holdup seemed to be what to do with the Bishops. Mark finally came to the conclusion that the only way to find acceptance with CANA was to renounce his Bishop’s staff and apply to CANA as a priest serving his own parish.

This past week, he called me and told me that this had finally happened. He has formally been accepted into the Nigerian church as a priest and is relating to David Anderson (Atlanta) as his bishop. He is urging us to make application to CANA as individual parishes and clergy, and it seems now that the way is primed for us to also be accepted into this new expression of orthodox Anglicanism.

We have had to wait patiently and to suffer uncertainty. But now I believe that we must recognize the time of our visitation. Just as Israel was challenged to accept the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ in their time, I believe that the Lord is coming to us in the guise of CANA.
Our time of waiting and longing for godly, courageous, orthodox leadership is coming to an end. We are about to step over the threshold into a new reality – the reality of being a full fledged member of an exciting ‘Latter Day” movement of God’s Spirit on the Earth.

This does not mean that we our way will be easy or without controversy. In fact, I am confident that we are heading into a time when our membership in CANA will be attacked by those who think they represent the ‘real’ expression of Anglicanism in America. If you haven’t already lost friends over being part of All Saints Anglican Church, I’m sure you will in the future.

But you are also about to be amazed by the new friends God brings our way. And the new thing He will do will surpass exceedingly all that we could have thought or imagined.

Friends, let us welcome the changes that will occur within the next 8-12 weeks. It is Jesus Coming to us here and now.

Let us also recognize that Jesus will come to us again bodily – in the clouds with great Glory in order to set up His kingdom here on earth.
Until he comes again personally, let us resolve to spend ourselves and suffer as need be for His kingdom. I am confident that we will be rewarded richly both here and in the hereafter.
Marana Tha! AMEN

Welcoming Jesus, Our Neighbor

A Sermon Delivered to All Saints Anglican Church, First Advent Sunday 2007 at the Hampton, Inn, Barboursville, WV


Epigraph:
The Advent journey is an invitation to climb the mountain of the Lord. The journey consists of a slow, gradual ascending up the mountain path. As with all uphill climbing, there are certain dangers along the way, but also the joyful expectation of one day reaching the mountaintop that is the house of the Lord.
Br. Victor Antoine D’Avila-Latourrette

Isaiah 2:1-5 The Mountain of the Lord
2:1 The word that Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem.
2 It shall come to pass in the latter daysthat the mountain of the house of the Lordshall be established as the highest of the mountains,and shall be lifted up above the hills;and all the nations shall flow to it,3 and many peoples shall come, and say:“Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord,to the house of the God of Jacob,that he may teach us his waysand that we may walk in his paths.”For out of Zion shall go the law,
and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.4 He shall judge between the nations,and shall decide disputes for many peoples;and they shall beat their swords into plowshares,and their spears into pruning hooks;nation shall not lift up sword against nation,neither shall they learn war anymore.
5 O house of Jacob,come, let us walkin the light of the Lord.

About Advent (From introduction of Advent and Christmas : Wisdom from Henri JM Nowen:

“The four weeks of Advent are often thought of as symbolizing the four different ways that Christ comes into the world: 1) at his birth as a helpless infant in Bethlehem; 2) at his arrival in the hearts of believers; 3) at his death; and 4) at his arrival on Judgment Day.”

“Because Christmas falls on a different day of the week each year, the fourth week of Advent is never really finished; it is abruptly, joyously, and solemnly abrogated by the annual coming again of Christ at Christmas. Christ’s Second Coming will also one day abruptly interrupt our sojourn here on earth.”


Today we want to focus on how Christ comes to the World in the form of our neighbors.

Courses in Neighboring?

Author Robert Lupton tells of being invited to speak at the ‘urban emphasis’ week at a well-known Christian College. He posed the question to a group of upperclassmen, “What is the number-one mandate for the followers of Christ?”

Evangelize! was one student’s immediate response, citing the Great Commission from Matthew 28. When he pushed the students harder to think about what Jesus actually said was the most important mandate, one of the students tentatively answered, “Thou shalt love the Lord they God with all thine heart, mind, soul and strength and they neighbor as thyself?”

Agreeing with the student, Lupton went on to ask the question, “Given that Scripture declares this to be our number-one mandate, then what courses do you have here on neighboring?...Who teaches neighboring 101?” From Compassion, Justice and the Christian Life, pp 15, 16.

It’s a startling thought: our number one mandate from Christ is to love God, and then love our neighbors as ourselves. Our lesson from Romans reinforces this message. “Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. For the commandments, “You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet,” and any other commandment, are summed up in this word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law. (Rom. 13:8-10).

Too often, says Lupton, we have viewed our primary task as ‘saving souls’. The problem is that people are not disembodied souls, they are a complete package of body, soul and spirit. “When we skip over the Great Commandment on the way to fulfilling the Great Commission, we do great harm to the authenticity of the faith,’ says Lupton (pg. 16). A …Church that skips over these basics on the way to ‘deeper’ theological pursuits can hardly be considered biblically faithful”, he asserts. (Also noting that he hasn’t been invited back to speak at the school in question…)

Tie-in with Advent

Christ comes into the world as a little baby. He comes as a stranger: a neighbor who could find no room in the inn and no one to welcome him and his family. Our challenge is to find room in our hearts for Jesus, our neighbor, in addition to Jesus our Savior and Lord. Christ comes to us in the form of our neighbors, just as Benedict asserts in his rule “Every visitor shall be welcomed as if they were Christ.”

We should love our neighbor as ourselves. Love is the concrete proof of the existence of the Unseen Real. It is an argument for the existence of God that catches people off-guard. As David Frederick is fond of saying, “There is no defense against love.”

Christ comes into the world in flesh, Incarnates God’s love to us. We are to incarnate God’s love to the world. Even the World acknowledges that we should care about hour neighbors in a special way during this season. The Charleston Gazette and other papers run features about helping the neediest families at Christmas. But as the Church caring about our neighbors is to be our constant emphasis; something we do year-round.

Love and the Second Coming

One of the themes of Advent is the coming of the Kingdom of God into our world, and looking for the return of Christ.
37 For as were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man… 42 Therefore, stay awake, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming… 44 Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect. (Mt. 24:37-44).
And: “Besides this you know the time, that the hour has come for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed. 12 The night is far gone; the day is at hand.” Rom. 13: 11-12.
While we do indeed look for the bodily return of our Lord, loving one’s neighbor brings the Kingdom into this world, it Realizes the unseen kingdom, brings into the Now the “Eschaton” or “last things”. Therefore, by loving your neighbors, you are helping God’s will to be done on earth as it is in heaven.

The Neighboring initiative

The Lord desires to use us as his hands and feet in this project of loving our neighbors.

Over the course of the last several months it has become increasingly clear that we need to start pull together a separate board for Hope House in order to broaden our reach and help us to accomplish our goals. But it is also apparent to me that having the house affords us an opportunity to reach out in other ways to the poor and needy. This would include opportunities to collaborate with various organizations in our anti-drug message, to invest in the neighborhood around Hope House through the development of such things as food co-ops, real-estate development, job assistance, etc.

Therefore, a group of us from the vestry are now in the process of researching the formation of a separate 501C3 organization to allow us to do some of these things. In thinking about the structure of such an organization, it seems to me that we need an umbrella corporation that would give us the freedom to do several things eventually and that Hope House is just the first project among many eventual project.

I have been very impressed with Lupton’s idea of ‘neighboring’.
In his book, he cites a number of examples where the wider community often opposes the plans of a church because ultimately the plan is not good for the neighborhood. For example, a church wants to buy and raze a whole block of houses to make room for a parking lot. The parking lot in turn is full of cars from people who don’t live in the neighborhood and who aren’t invested in it. Efforts by the church do not contribute to the integrity of the neighborhood, either because projects run people off or because the local neighbors are not engaged.

We faced this ourselves with Hope House because some of our neighbors were concerned that we would come into the area, try to get money and assets for our church and then take off, leaving the area worse than when we found it. The church, especially in Huntington, WV faces much cynicism thanks to some charlatans who have taken advantage of people before we ever arrived.

Therefore, I have proposed that we consider starting a faith-based organization called “The Neighboring Initiative.”

The Neighboring Initiative would seek to be a vehicle for community development on a community scale. Its guiding principle would be “Is it good for the neighborhood? Is it good for my neighbors? And by this, we in turn imply that what is good for neighborhoods is for people to be empowered or challenged to do for things themselves, not simply to have ministry inflicted upon them.

Some potential slogans for such a group might be:

“Challenging neighbors to love one another as themselves.”

“Empowering neighbors to work together to preserve their communities.”

“Reaching out to our neighbors for the Love of Christ.”

Fulfilling the Great Commission one relationship at a time

Hope house is an attempt to reach out and love our neighbors through ministering to specific needs – comforting those who mourn (Is 61: 1-2) and warning the young to avoid the danger and foolishness of drug use. But during Advent we also have some other ways of reaching out to our neighbors.

Other ways to love our neighbors

Currently, we meet in Barboursville. Our neighbor is the Veteran’s Home. Last year we took up a collection of items for the Vets, and I would propose that we do something similar this year, collecting lap blankets, throws, personal care items, etc for those who actually live at the Center. We could take these things up to the Center after Church on the 16th of December.

Another personal prayer project would be to join thousands of other people in praying for peace and safety in our neighborhoods, our cities and our country. Many have joined an effort called One Minute for Peace. The idea is to stop what you are doing each evening at 9pm and pray for one minute for the peace and well-being of our country.
I would strongly suggest we do this. Having participated for many months with Mission Tri-State pastors in praying for the Mayor of Huntington and for safety in the Tri-State area, I am convinced that prayer does indeed change things.

Finally, I’d like to close with a prayer from my good friend Audley Kilburn. Almost every time we pray at Hope House Audley prays this or something very close. Listen closely and see if you can catch the spirit of the prayer. You might also hear the faint rustle of angel wings as they join in with praise to our God.

Audley’s Prayer: let there be love joy and peace all throughout these neighborhoods. Take away the drugs and the violence O Lord, take away the love of money and turn the hearts of the people to you Lord. In Christes (sic) sure and holy name, Amen.