Participation—Thoughts on a Trinity Sunday with reference to Genesis 1, 2 Cor 13 and Matthew 28

Another something I might have said had I been the preacher this morning…

Jesus is the Grace-giver according to “The Grace” we say to close many of our meetings and which comes from the last verse on 2 Corinthians—this morning’s Epistle: 

2 Corinthians 13:14 (ESV): The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you (us) all. 

Notice the Trinitarian formula: Father, Son and Holy Spirit—which is why this is one of the readings on Trinity Sunday. I’m going to leave the Holy Trinity to brainier folk than I. I believe it but I don’t quite understand it—one of those wonderful mysteries which contain more truth than I can quite get my tiny mind around or articulate. Today, I’d just like you to notice, in addition to the aforementioned Jesus, the Grace-giver, that God the Father is the lover and the Holy Spirit is the fellowship provider—or the communion-giver, depending on your Bible translation—with whom, in the love of the Father and the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ we get to participate according to what St Paul wrote in Philippians chapter 2, viz.…

Philippians 2:1–2 (ESV): So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit…

Participation here is the same Greek word translated as fellowship or communion in the 2 Corinthians reading. This kind of participation with the Spirit is to be desired and carried out so that—jumping ahead a few verses…

Philippians 2:10–12 (ESV): at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. 

Which is a good thing and is what the Father had in mind from the beginning when he got the whole thing going by setting his Spirit to hovering over the face of the waters in Genesis chapter 1, verse 2—part of the Old Testament lesson for today and the second verse in the whole Bible. The Holy Spirit has been the hovering, sweeping wind of love, grace, truth and resurrection, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, ever since. 

Jesus saying “Behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age” in the last verse of Matthew’s gospel—our gospel lesson this morning—is just a continuation and intensification of that participation as the Holy Spirit brings orderly beauty, form and shape out of our present chaos. God’s creation continues to unfold in the new creations (2Cor5.17) we become in Jesus. The Holy Spirit fills our empty voids with the fullness of Jesus. The Holy Spirit illuminates our dark places with the light of Jesus so every tongue confesses that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. 

And whenever we get stuck in the dark and formless voids of grief or addiction or disobedience or prayerlessness or broken relationships or sin—the Holy Spirit is The One who blows in to hover over our hearts, souls, minds and bodies bringing truth, order, light, resurrection life, power, ability and relief. This is the Holy Spirit with whom we have fellowship, communion and with whom we participate as he guides, comforts and moves us along. He will give Holy and Godly form to your formlessness. He will fill your emptiness with all the goodness and love of God. He will fill your dark corners with the light of the world—your Lord, Saviour, Spirit-breather and Master, Jesus.

Pentecost Breath. Wouldn’t It Be Wonderful?! Didn’t have to preach this Pentecost but if I had I would probably have said something like this—with reference to Acts 2.1-21, Numbers 11.24-30, 1 Cor 12.3b-13 and John 20.19-23

Jesus. Risen. John’s gospel. Jesus breathed the Holy Spirit on the disciples he loved and sent them on his way (John20.21-22). Pentecost breath is what Jesus breathed on them.

Acts 2. Pentecost. They were all together in one place then. Not us. Not this time. So how important is being in one place—being together—for the Holy Spirit to come? Not so much, as it turns out. 

Numbers. Chapter 11. The alternative first reading for today. The LORD took some of the Spirit that was on Moses and put it on seventy elders who were distributed around the tent of meeting (vv24-25). But there were two other men, Eldad and Medad, who were back in the camp and the Spirit rested on them, too. They prophesied in the camp (v26). Joshua tried to get Moses to stop them, but Moses said No! “Would that all the LORD’s people were prophets, that the LORD would put his Spirit on them!” (vv28-29) 

I wouldest that, too, wherever you are. We can’t be in or around our tent of meeting this year, we’re all back in our camps like Eldad and Medad, but the Spirit of the LORD can rest on us anyway and we can prophesy—and speak in other tongues, too—if the LORD wills it. 

Back to Acts 2. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if the LORD set off some Pentecost amazement in our homes, too. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if people thought we, too, were all drunk at 9 o’clock in the morning because the LORD is pouring his Spirit out on us. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if our sons and daughters started prophesying, our young men seeing visions, our old men dreaming dreams while the LORD shows accompanying wonders and signs (Acts2.17-21, Mk16.20). The LORD has done it before. He can do it now. 

1 Corinthians 12. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if the Holy Spirit’s presence and power working through us would cause us to proclaim that Jesus is LORD in word and deed with a new and sparkling conviction and clarity (v3)—you and me, young and old, female and male—by unmistakeable manifestations of the Spirit given to each of us by the Father for the common good (v7). Wouldn’t it be wonderful if—in addition to the Pentecost speaking in tongues and prophesying—the Father would also activate us to receive and use words of wisdom and knowledge, exercise the gift faith, perform miracles, distinguish between spirits, and interpret tongues—just as Jesus and the disciples did. 

Wouldn’t it be wonderful if the Holy Spirit filled us and set us free to prophesy over one another with all the love of 1 Corinthians, chapter 13—building each other up, encouraging one another, consoling and comforting one another (1Cor14.3)—and thereby building up the church so when we get to go from being together in a whole bunch of places to being together in one place again we’ll hardly recognize one another because we will all have been changed and become radiant with the light of a new knowledge and experience of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ! (2Cor4.6)

It’s Pentecost and these are gifts worthy of earnest desire (1Cor12.30, 14.1). God can do it, you know. He’s done it before and he can do it again. Wouldn’t it be wonderful?!

All for Jesus. 

Gene+

My Witnesses: a Short Homily for the Seventh Sunday of Easter with reference to Acts 1.6-14, 1 Peter 4.12-14, 5.6-11 and John 17.1-11

I didn’t have to preach this morning. But if I had, I would have said something like this…

Jesus said, in Acts 1, 

It is not for you know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses…to the end of earth. (vv7-8)

This to a group of emotionally drained, confused, frightened women and men who really didn’t know what was going on. Yet, “You will receive power,” he said, “and you will be my witnesses.” Anyway. With what you DO know. 

Are we called to know and understand things to be Christians? No. We are called to believe. “This is the work of God,” said Jesus, “that you believe in him whom he has sent” (John6.29). God, the Father, doesn’t wait on our understanding before He calls us to act. I believe it was St Augustine who wrote, “Believe, and understanding will follow.” 

Believe what? Here’s a list of things in which to believe just from today’s readings for a start. Believe that: 

1. We will receive/have received the power we need.
2. The Holy Spirit will/has come upon us.
3. We are/will be, indeed, his witnesses (Acts1.8). 
4. The Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you and me (1Pet4.14).
5. We are invited to cast all our anxieties on God. 
6. God cares for us (1Pet5.7) 
7. The God of all grace will confirm, strengthen and establish us (1Pet5.10).
8. Jesus, Himself, is praying for us (John17.9)

We may not know much about times and seasons, but believing that all these things are true, we have all we need to know (and more) to be the witnesses Jesus calls us to be. And not only that. We also have the Jesus’ permission NOT to know the things that are beyond us and not to (cast all your anxieties on me) worry about it. All we have to do is trust in his power working in us which can do infinitely more than we could ask or imagine. 

So. How shall we proceed? The disciples, like us, may not have known much, but what they did know was how to start, with prayer. “With one accord,” St Luke writes in our reading from Acts, “constantly devoting themselves” (Acts1.14) to it. Pray. The Offices—morning, evening and night—off the cuff—using your own words or written down—silently and out loud—with lists or as they come to you—at all times (Lk18.1) and without ceasing. (1Thes5.17). 

Then be the witness Jesus calls you to be. What does a witness do? A witness gives evidence and proof of, confirms, proves, corroborates, substantiates, bears out, shows , demonstrates, indicates, reveals and vouches for the truth of his or her experience, of what she or he has seen, heard and experienced.  A witness in court swears to tell the truth and nothing but the truth. Jesus said I am the truth (John14.6). St Paul wrote that “the truth is in Jesus” (Eph4.21). Jesus is “truth personified” wrote Randy Alcorn. This is the Jesus who calls you and me to testify to that truth, so

whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. (Col3.17)

Everything. Washing the dishes. Relationships. Walking the dog. Cooking. Eating. Working. Worshipping. Playing. Enjoying. Disagreeing. Spending our time and our money. In all of these day-to-day activities, in everything, the truth we are all to radiate and proclaim is, quite simply and only…

Jesus. 

Seeing in Jesus 3D

With reference to Genesis 12.1-4a; Romans 4.1-4, 13-17 and John 3.1-17—the Second Sunday in Lent, Year A

Jesus shows us how the world really is. To believe what he says about life and the world is true is like putting on a pair of 3D glasses. Without believing in the truth of Jesus we can still see what’s going on around us but the colours don’t quite register, what we see is misaligned and out of focus. When we look at our lives and the world around us through the 3D lenses of faith in Jesus, everything falls into place layer by layer and in proper perspective. Things start to pop so we can see what is near and what is far, what is up front and important and what is just background.

Consider Nicodemus in John 3 this morning. Look at verse 4: “How can a grown man be born again? He certainly cannot enter his mother’s womb and be born a second time!" How can any of this be, thinks Nicodemus without his faith-in-Jesus-3D glasses on? It doesn’t register. It doesn’t line up with what I see. Nicodemus can’t yet see what Jesus is describing, which is the way things really are, and the only way anyone can see and enter the kingdom of God (John 3.3, 5) So Jesus says, in effect, “Put your 3D specs on, Nicodemus! Believe! I’m telling the truth. I’m telling you about things of the Spirit and of heaven, eternal life and God’s love (John 3.12) which, without the way of seeing I provide, don’t always line up with the way things appear in the world.” We get to see the heavenly in the earthly.

Jesus says believe (Ro 4.3, 17; John 3.12, 15, 16), put the glasses of faith (Ro 4.5, 13, 14, 16) on, and you’ll see things the way they really are.

So what would be some faith-in-Jesus-3D insights this morning? It's worth a look, because I think you'll agree there are words here for us in this transition time—you must do your discerning and search for a new incumbent with your faith-in-Jesus-3D specs firmly in place so you can see the way clearly.

Let’s start with our Genesis reading: sometimes God calls us to leave our familiar surroundings, even leave home, and go somewhere new, just like he did Abram. Notice why. To be blessed (Gen 12.2) and to be a blessing (Gen 12.2-3).

Here are some faith-in-Jesus-3D insights from Romans: the things that we do; our “works,” obedience and rule following and how well we do all of that is not as important as the faith and the belief in Jesus that prompts them. It is the believing and the faith that is reckoned as righteousness, not the working or the adhering to the law. To believe is the work (John 6.29)

Look at verse 17: God brings things we think are dead to life. God brings into being what did not exist.

And now some faith-in-Jesus-3D insights from John. Look at verse 3: No-one can see the kingdom of God without being born again (or from above). Being so born requires those glasses.

Verse 5: no-one can get in without being born of water and the Spirit. Think baptism in water and the Holy Spirit.

Verse 8: it’s all rather mysterious, the glasses help.

Verses 15 & 16: believing in Jesus is the only way not to die and to have eternal life because the “so much” with which God loves the world is Jesus.

Praised be Christ Jesus!

Rolling Stones: a Short Sermon on Easter Morning with reference to Mark 16:4 and Tyson Stabler's Baptism

Mark 16:4 (NIV84) But when they looked up, they saw that the stone, which was very large, had been rolled away.

Resurrection morning. The day that everything changed. The day that turned the bleakness of defeat and despair into victory and hope. And it all centred on that empty cave; cold and dark, a borrowed tomb (Joseph of Arimithea had had it made for himself),  carved out of rock.

Sometime between when Joseph rolled the stone against the door of that tomb and when the Marys arrived to find it rolled away; probably during the night immediately before the women arrived with their spices because if the stone had been rolled away earlier someone would have noticed, Almighty God focussed a beam of divine life-restoring energy into that dark space and performed the defining miracle of our faith. It happened unseen, without human help, in the Father’s sovereign timing and will. And here we all are two thousand years later. Here you are. Good on you for making the effort to come here this morning to recognize and celebrate what Jesus did for us—to acknowledge our salvation and that we will share his resurrection.

Mark 16:4 (NIV84) But when they looked up, they saw that the stone, which was very large, had been rolled away.

The stone was large. Too large for the women to move, they thought. They were worried about who would remove it for them. They wanted to get in to where they thought Jesus was to serve him even in his death.

There are such stones in our lives. They also need to be rolled away so we come out from the darkness of sin and death into the light of the Risen Christ. Like the women, we need help with that. The stones are heavy. There is work involved.

Here are some stone rollers:

• Liturgy, literally, the work of the people. Worship; repetitive, faithful, worship is a powerful stone roller. It brings us of our sin-tombs into the light. 
• Devotional Bible reading and study, not so much for what you can get out of it, but for what it can get into you. God’s word written rolls stones. 
• Daily prayer. I want to remind you of rich treasure we Anglicans have in our prayer books for that. Morning, evening, mid-day and night, family prayer is all in there. Great stone rollers. 
• Serving others in Jesus’ name. Helping others to get out from behind the stones which entomb them in loneliness, sickness, poverty and distress is another effective stone roller. 
• Baptism. By bringing Tyson to be baptized, Colin and Donna Lee are rolling the stone back from the tomb that would otherwise imprison him forever if it were not for Jesus, his Resurrection and his church. To keep that stone rolled away, this Easter morning, Donna-Lee and Colin will commit themselves to showing Tyson how to look for Jesus of Nazareth and where to find him (Mk 16:6)—here in his church. They’re promising to do the work of bringing him to church and nurturing Tyson here in the presence of the Risen Lord Jesus, to pray and witness—set an example—so Tyson (and Rylan, baptized ? Years ago) will grow to be like Jesus. They will renounce the devil and everything opposed to Jesus, turn to him, accept him as Lord and Saviour, put their whole trust in his grace and love and promise to obey him as Lord. 

This is really important work. Don’t lose focus. Don't allow yourselves be distracted by other things because if you do, not only are your children more likely to lose theirs, but the stone will almost certainly roll back. Don’t let that happen! Jesus is risen from the dead! He is alive! Making sure that we, and our children if we have them, share in his resurrection is the most important thing in the world!

A Good Friday Meditation with Reference to John 19:16b-17 for A Celebration of the Passion

So they took Jesus; and carrying the cross by himself… (John 19:16-17 NRSV) 

By himself. That's what it all come down to for Jesus. After all the travelling and teaching and enjoying (and being frustrated) by his companions, all the parties with the tax-collectors and sinners, and all the criticism, fear and wondering. He had to go through this alone. It's the same for each one of us ultimately. We will each meet our maker alone. And depending on things like the amount of sleep we're getting, our state of health, our emotional state; we will experience what might be called foreshadowing of what Jesus must have felt then. That sense of being alone in the universe.

But we have a choice about how we deal with that. It can be a bleak, barren, despairing, hopeless dark space inside us. Or, it can be something else. Some wise person has written about turning that lonely space inside us from a barren, wilderness to a "garden of solitude." How?

First, by being totally honest with God and acknowledging that we have an empty and lonely place inside and it hurts.

Then we fill that place with the things of God. What does that mean? It means some effort. We have to actively seek God. Where? In Jesus. In the Bible. In Christian companions. In church. In nature. In foolish acts of extravagantly generous foot-washing-like service to others. In eating the bread. In drinking from the cup and, above all, in loving one another as he loved us by walking through the crowd to that place of execution all by himself and then dying for us.

One more thing. A note about loving one another. Other people most need our love when they are feeling by themselves, alone in the universe. How can we serve them best? Baroness Caroline Cox, "Faith on the Frontline," in New Wine magazine:

…we have to remember that at the end of Christ's earthly life, all his mother could do was to stand at the foot of the cross and be with him in love and grief. Perhaps it is part of every church's calling to be prepared to attend whatever ‘Calvaries' our Lord may call us to attend, and to be present in love, grief and profound respect. 

To be with them in love. To be present. Then they are no longer by themselves.

Living LORDward: a Summertime One-Pager Sermon with reference to Romans 14: 1-12 and Mt 18: 23-35

In a few weeks I still intend, LORD willing, to focus for a while on the work and gifts of the Holy Spirit. But first, on this Ministry Fair and children’s ministry start-up Sunday I want to talk about positioning ourselves for that, to think about which way we’re facing. Am I living to the LORD, as Paul puts it in the reading from Romans? Am I living LORDward and what does that look like?

Romans 14:7–8 (NIV84)
7 For none of us lives to himself alone and none of us dies to himself alone. 8 If we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord.

Friedrich Nietzsche wrote, "The essential thing ‘in heaven and earth’ is…that there should be a long obedience in the same direction; there thereby results, and has always resulted in the long run, something which has made life worth living." From this idea came the title for Eugene H. Peterson’s work, A Long Obedience in the Same Direction: Discipleship in an Instant Society on the Psalms of Ascent, Psalms 120-134 (I’m quoting from a review of the book by Chartley McMaster Bondurant).

What direction is that? To the LORD. I must live to the LORD. In other words my life must look LORDward. My life must look as if it is to the LORD I’m going. My life must be lived in His direction. Yours, too.

How can I live a life LORDward? To fear, be in reverent awe of, and trust in the LORD as we heard in Ex 14:31 and know what I owe.

Matthew 18:23–25 (NIV84)
23 “Therefore, the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. 24 As he began the settlement, a man who owed him ten thousand talents was brought to him. 25 Since he was not able to pay, the master ordered that he and his wife and his children and all that he had be sold to repay the debt.

The king is the LORD. I am the servant (slave). Ten thousand talents is somewhere between twelve million and a billion dollars in today’s money. More than I, too, could ever pay back. What to do?

Matthew 18:26 (NIV84)
26 “The servant fell on his knees before him. ‘Be patient with me,’ he begged, ‘and I will pay back everything.’

I fall on my knees LORDward. I can’t even say, “Have patience with me,” because I know I simply cannot pay Him back for what he’s done for me. Ever. So I kneel in reverent awe, believe that Jesus is His son who died for me and my sins on the cross and confess my sins—humbly, acknowledging the immensity of my soul’s debt, my moral bankruptness and absolute lack of ability to put anything right without His help. I do this unconditionally knowing that if I don’t I am living, and will die, not to the LORD, but away from Him. Forever.

And then, wonder of wonders, the LORD promises to do what the king did for the slave:

Matthew 18:27 (NIV84)
27 The servant’s master took pity on him, canceled the debt and let him go.

Pitied, in a good way, debt canceled (forgiven) and let go (released). For what?
To restart or begin my long obedience in the same direction, fearing and trusting in the LORD, living LORDwardly and forgiving from the heart.

There may well be something to help you with your long obedience in the LORDward direction in one of the Ministry Fair opportunities.

Stir Up Sunday: Labour Weekend One-Pager Sermon

Labour Day weekend. The last weekend fling before summer winds down as another year rolls by. An annual event in our cultural calendar. Our Old Testament reading tells us about how the LORD starts an annual event in the Hebrew calendar. Look at

Ex 12: 1The Lord said to Moses and Aaron in Egypt, 2 “This month is to be for you the first month, the first month of your year.

And

Ex 12:14 This is a day you are to commemorate; for the generations to come you shall celebrate it as a festival to the Lord—a lasting ordinance.

The ESV renders it as “a memorial day.” A day to remember what the LORD had done. Year after year. A day to bring the community of Israel back to their roots. And it was to be the first month of their year.
We no longer have to do the lamb and the blood. Jesus is our passover lamb. His blood shed on the cross is now what causes the angel of death to pass over us. We remember and celebrate that Sunday by Sunday and especially at Easter.
Moses was being particular about time—a specific month, to be the beginning of months year after year. Paul is also concerned about time and its passing in our Romans passage:

Romans 13 (NIV84) 11 And do this, understanding the present time. The hour has come for you to wake up from your slumber, our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed. 12 The night is nearly over; the day is almost here. So let us put aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light. 13 Let us behave decently, as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and debauchery, not in dissension and jealousy. 14 Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the sinful nature.

But here’s what all this makes me think: summer is almost over, the fall is upon us. Although it’s not on the liturgical calendar, Labour Day weekend marks the beginning of a first month for us, too—of “the ministry” or program year. Our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed. Stir up Sunday. I think the Lord is calling each St Barnabas household to choose not a lamb but something to sacrifice by way of ministry, of doing something for Jesus, not to save ourselves but in gratitude for the salvation that Jesus has already bought for us on the cross. I might be being asked to choose something more. You might be being asked to choose something different, or to continue doing something to which the LORD has already called you. And to use it all up like the lamb and do it for love. The important thing is to ask him and give him the chance to speak to you.
It’s the first month of our year. It’s time to wake from my delicious summer slumber to put Jesus on again. To wrap myself in him. Make sure the shoes and accessories of my life match him rather than the desires of my sinful nature. You, too.

Five Alive: a Short Sermon On the Occasion of Five Baptisms

I’m using a new Daily Devotional Guide.

The prayers I pray each day are entitled, “Prayers for Winter.”

One of the petitions in the Prayers for Winter is "For those who do not believe, and those who have fallen away, that a saving faith may be kindled in their hearts." All kinds of people have faith in all kinds of things, but not all faith saves. There is a winter faith which may well seem to be clear, serene, even beautiful, but which is cold and dormant. And there is faith which leads to warmth, spring, growth and resurrection; saving faith. To be baptized in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit is the public expression of that kind of faith; saving faith. Olivia is here today to be baptized because a saving faith has been kindled in her heart. Travis, Madison, Jackson and Avery are here today because their parents hope that a saving faith will be kindled in their hearts, too.

The sub-title of my “Prayers for Winter” section is “prayers in the light of the ministry of salvation.”

We share that ministry, you and I. We gather week by week to worship the Living God and as we do that we are, or ought to be, empowered to work at the ministry of salvation. To get folks saved.

Baptism is, among other things, a key part of that ministry of salvation. People believe, are baptized and are saved. If there was any doubt as to whether Olivia was saved, and I don’t think there was, she is a believer, today that doubt is gone.

On top of that she and Jody, Carmen and Mike, Tyer and Tara, are embarking on a ministry of salvation for their kids. Today they are taking a major step in that process. They are publicly committing themselves to it. They are here because they intend to do everything in their power to ensure Travis, Madison, Jackson and Avery are saved. It is vitally important that this ball never gets dropped. Here are some practical ways to keep going:

• Keep believing—we have to work at that, feed it.


• Let your kids see prayer happening in your home—more than just the occasional, “O God!” in an emergency


• Resist evil and tell them why


• Be a witness, an example, of the Good News for them


• Treat others, and especially your spouse, well and with respect—your children will tend to treat theirs the way they have seen you in action

You get reminded and encouraged to persevere in all of that by coming to church. That’s why I am so boring on the subject. The ministry of salvation gets fuelled and done here and no where else. It is not a solitary endeavour. It is a messy community one, done in the midst of God’s family, the body of Christ, the church. It means choosing to get up out of that nice warm bed and get the kids up every Sunday morning and bringing them here. That’s the job to which you’re committing yourselves this morning…the ministry of salvation for the benefit of your kids.

Today the Spirit of God will hover over the water in that font. God will say “Let there be light,” in these five souls. Sins will be forgiven. The Holy Spirit will be released into five lives.

And we all get to share in a real, live, winter-time ministry of salvation.

An Epiphany Manifest-O

Today we celebrate Jesus being “made manifest” to the Gentiles. In other words, Jesus was shown very clearly to be who He was to the Magi. They were the first non-Jews to be so shown.

I am a follower of Jesus because many people made Him evident to me by showing me what He is like and by demonstrating His goodness. My job is to do the same for the benefit of others. I am to do my best to make Jesus manifest in my life so He will be revealed to others.

How else is Jesus being made manifest these days? Here are some ways which bless me especially.

He is manifest in our worship Sunday after Sunday at St Barnabas. He appears in our music, in the Scriptures read out loud, in my dear brothers and sisters gathered and, most of all, in the bread and wine of the Eucharist.

He is manifest in my wife and children.

He is manifest in brother and sister clergy.

He is manifest in Anglican Essentials Canada (http://www.anglicanessentials.org/).

He is manifest in New Wine (http://www.new-wine.org/).

He is manifest in our diocesan Cursillo (http://www.cursillo.ab.ca/) movement and in Teens Encounter Christ (http://www.tec.ab.ca/).

Each of those experiences, relationships and organizations have helped to make Jesus clearer to me.

2 comments:

KJB said...

Could you expand upon the "He is manifest in my wife and children" part?

Sat Jan 07, 12:16:00 PM MST 

Gene said...

I believe Jesus reveals himself to me in the blessings I receive from my wife and children. He loves me through them.

Wed Jan 11, 04:02:00 PM MST 

What's in a Name? A Sermon Soliloquy on the Occasion of the Feast of the Naming of Jesus

Well, Lord. I guess I’m like one of Aaron’s sons today. Like him and his sons, my job is to bless the sons and daughters of—what would be the equivalent of Israel for us today?—the Church; right; the new Israel, the Body of Christ. I am to say this to them:

The Lord bless you and keep you;
The Lord make His face shine on you,
And be gracious to you;
The Lord lift up His countenance on you,
And give you peace.

Really! Full and generously. For 2006 and beyond.

There. I’ve said it. Again, really. I’ve said it and things like it before.

And so I shall invoke Your mighty, life-giving name on them. They are Yours. I say your name over them almost every Sunday. They are Christians.

Well, I hope they are. I can’t force them, can I? I’ve tried to make it clear how. I’m probably a bit soft though. So where was I when you handed out the aggressive genes anyway? Same place I was when you gave my Dad and my brothers and Keith Knodel the mechanical ones, I suppose. I missed out on the hockey ones, too. Sigh!

I think they know. All of them have decided to bear THE NAME. Jesus. Bless them in that, Lord. It can slip off pretty easily. If any of them are not sure, give them a good, obvious nudge to find someone to help them do what they need to do to become one.

“When the time had fully come” wrote Paul. Or, “when the fullness of the time came,” God sent His Son. If time was full then, it must be even fuller now. 2006.

Here we are celebrating something that happened over 2,000 years ago in a building which is almost 100 years old using language that is 450 years old. Is that really what you had in mind?

I guess the fullness of the time always comes down to right now; immediately. What do want us to do with this 2000+ years old fullness of time and counting with this language…not just Shakespearean, but the whole Biblical, Christian way of speaking…in this beautiful old building which is set up for the way worship was done 94 years ago in all the "immediatelys" and "right-nows" of the year ’06? Here’s some stuff in the readings that might work.

Like Aaron, and because the Bible says we’re a royal priesthood in Jesus, we can still invoke, or call upon, YOUR NAME over our lives and the lives of others in all immediatelys and right-nows using any language. (But not as a swear-word or even as “O My God,” right?)

We can still release the Spirit of Jesus Paul says You have sent into our hearts from any cages we’ve stuffed Him in so we can be more of a blessing to everyone around us in those immediatelys and right-nows.

We can receive our inheritance by refusing to allow ourselves to live in slavery to anything—addictions, past hurts, sin—and by deciding to live free as Your heirs. And the women get the same inheritance, right? We messed that up down here for a while. So many of them have been put down and badly treated. Sonship is not about gender. It’s about rights of inheritance. We all get to inherit the best stuff.

Remembering our job is not to be spectacular but to be honest and true. Real. Like the shepherds, we can go out of our ways to tell people about our immediate and right-now experiences of angels and of Jesus—as humble and unspectacular as we might feel they are—trusting the Spirit of Jesus You sent will give what we tell whatever is needed to make a difference in peoples’ lives. And we can help people to identify their own experiences of such things.

Like Mary, we can treasure the things of Jesus in our hearts, pondering them.

What do you think? New Year’s resolution material?

Thank You, Lord. Thank You for Jesus and for the faithfulness of his parents who took their boy to church. Thank You for this little band of sisters and brothers You have brought together in the fullness of the time. 2006. May we bear THE NAME faithfully this year.