Jesus Has Changed Everything—a Sermon Preached by Judy Packwood on the Sunday After Easter 2019 in St James Anglican Cathedral, Peace River, Alberta

When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.”

But Thomas (who was called the Twin), one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord.” But he said to them, “Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe.” 

A week later his disciples were again in the house, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were shut, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt but believe.”Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!” Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.” 

Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book. But these are written so that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name. (JOHN 20:19-31)

Through the written word, and the spoken word,

may we know your Living Word Jesus Christ our Savour. Amen

Jesus has changed everything. 

Jesus changes everything. Jesus will change everything. The events of two thousand years ago have changed everything, including you and me.  Maybe God loves us?

Christians everywhere, followers of this Jesus who has changed everything, have spent weeks, or was it years? It seems like was a very long time -  plodding through Lent, daily being reminded of how sinful we are, how we make rotten choices and how easily we are diverted to thoughts, words and deeds that grieve our heavenly Father. After the necessary  and helpful somber pilgrimage through Lent, we arrived at Good Friday, where it all got worse, The unthinkable, in human terms, happened. Jesus, the Son of God, the Christ, was crucified, killed.  Good Friday? How can that be? And yet - it is.  Because Jesus died. Because he was killed. And in his dying, changed everything.  

Three days later, on Easter Day, all that misery was replaced with the  celebration of the awesome power of our loving God. Jesus is no longer dead, he is risen, he is alive, God lifted him from death to life. He is no longer in the tomb, without breath, without light, without life. Death, the enemy, the devil, Satan, has been defeated, Is defeated.  And things changed for him too.  The only power he has now is the power we give him when we succumb to his charms, his deceits, his temptations. 

Jesus changed everything for the disciples. 

Isn’t  this a wonderful story in today’s Gospel reading!  Thomas is the one disciple I would really like to meet. He was missing when Jesus first appeared to the other disciples, and so had to hear about the miracle from his companions.  

I wonder what the other disciples said to Thomas beyond the words recorded in this chapter of John.  Did they make themselves out to be super special because they had seen the Lord and Thomas hadn't? I like to think they commiserated with Thomas because he wasn’t there to see Jesus with them.  

They told him we have seen the Lord. 

What? Really? I don’t believe it. I need proof. I need to see the holes made by the nails, and not just see them, but put my fingers in the holes, touch them. I will not believe unless that happens.

What would be our reaction if someone came into this place and said “I have seen the Lord’?  Would we think him, or her, to be crazy, an attention-seeking delusionist? An interrupter of all that is Anglican, all that is decent and in order? Or would we praise our God for his kindness and goodness and for the great gift he has given the person who says he has seen the Lord. What an amazing thing to experience. Would we be jealous? Would we believe?

Thomas was not there with his fellow disciples when Jesus  came into that room. Jesus knew he wouldn’t be, and still chose that time to appear to the disciples. And when he comes to them again, a week later, when Thomas ispresent, Jesus does not give Thomas a hard time for not believing that the other disciples had seen the resurrected Jesus. He does not put Thomas down for his doubts. He meets Thomas right where he is and builds on that. Can we do any less for the people, especially the unbelievers that the Lord puts in our lives? 

And it seems to me that it is natural to have doubts sometimes. I do - there are seasons in my life when I question just about everything. The key to this, for me, is not to live in those doubts.  I know I can share my questions, my doubts, with the Lord, in prayer, and trust that He will help me deal with them, however that looks and in his time. Our God, who changed everything by allowing his Son to die so that we can be saved from sin and death, can probably manage to help me with my doubts. 

Julian of Norwich

And so our good Lord answered to all the questions and doubts which I could raise, saying most comfortingly; I may make all things well, and I can make all things well, and I shall make all things well, and I will make all things well; and you will see yourself that every kind of thing will be well . .  And in these words God wishes us to be enclosed in rest and peace.

Why didn’t Jesus wait until all the disciples were there before showing himself to them? Perhaps it was because Jesus knew that 2000 years later, each one of us would need to hear this story - the doubt, the need for proof, Thomas’s declaration “My Lord and my God,” and Jesus’ words to Thomas. “ Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.”  

We have not had the privilege of seeing, in person, the resurrected Jesus.  We are still a blessed people if we believe. Jesus says so. 

Jesus also changes things in our ordinary everyday lives. 

James Ryle said

Healthy things grow

Growing things change

Change challenges us

Challenge forces us to trust God

Trust leads to obedience

Obedience makes us healthy

Healthy things grow . . .

Gene and I do our best, mostly, to follow Jesus. Or rather, to let him lead.  That is harder for me than following. And because of this following thing, we also do our best to listen to God in the power of his Holy Spirit. We have recently experienced a change, a somewhat cataclysmic change — story of move to Regina.  Word came to us as we drove home in June. Good things - house sold in a very down market, free storage space, found a great cottage in Regina. Not so good things - Dealing, through the grace of God, with less than helpful remarks such as ‘gee, I wouldn’t live in Regina if it were the last place on earth’. Just smile and wave, boys!  Anyway, lots and lots of God-given change which has challenged us and delighted us and sometimes has caused us to grieve. And because Jesus is involved, our lives have changed, we continue to be challenged. And we also continue to work on trusting and obeying, mostly,  and our spiritual health improves. 

Jesus changes us - if we will only let him.

Today, as on every Sunday when God’s people gather to worship him and celebrate the Eucharist, we have the opportunity to acknowledge the magnificent event of Easter, the Resurrection of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. 

And as always when we encounter our Lord Jesus with open hearts and minds and hands, we will be changed. As we remember what God in his love and mercy has done for us and as we come to the altar this morning to receive Jesus Christ’s body and blood, to be changed, we, with Thomas, can proclaim “My Lord and my God”.

Amen. Alleluia

Thirteen Principles of Living Stonemasonry— What Could Be the Beginnings of An Homily for the Eleventh/Twelvth Sunday after Trinity/Pentecost—if I had to deliver one—with reference to Is 51:1-6; Ps 138; Rom 12:1-8; Mt 16:13-20

Jesus, 

you are the Christ, the Son of the Living God, just as Peter says. We believe it and declare it in The Name of The Father and The Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen. 

Jesus said Peter was the rock upon which he would build his church (Mt16.18). When I read that Peter’s Living Stones came to mind—not a reading for today, but pertinent because as we come to Jesus, 

you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ (1Pet2.5)

…which also resonates with St Paul’s appeal in the first verse of today’s Romans 12 reading: 

I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. (v2)

So we must also have supporting roles and parts to play along with Peter in Jesus’ great Church building project as we like living stones are being built into that spiritual house (1Peter2:5). But in order to be such living stones, just as Isaiah wrote in today’s reading, we need to be continually looking to The Rock from which we were hewn (Is15.1)—our Spiritual Rock which is Jesus (1Cor10.4). Which means being very clear about who Jesus is and why he is so important in the scheme of things. It’s what Jesus was getting at with his question to the disciples in our gospel. “Who do you say that I am?” (Mt16.15) Here are thirteen principles of Living Stonemasonry:

1. Living stones being built into a spiritual house must go beyond mere flesh and blood to learn The Truth of what The Father in heaven has revealed about exactly who Jesus is so we can worship him well and share that Truth with others. 
2. Living stones being built into a spiritual house say in word and deed, Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God. We say it and show it in how we treat one another and especially how we treat people with whom we disagree and people we believe are wrong. 
3. Living stones being built into a spiritual house present our bodies as living sacrifices, wrote Paul in our Romans reading, holy and acceptable to God which is our spiritual worship (Ro12.1). The trouble with living sacrifices, of course, said Dwight Moody, is that they keep trying to crawl off the altar. Living Stones stay on the altar! How? By not allowing ourselves to be conformed to this world with all its skewed and Godless values.
4. Living Stones are built into a spiritual house through the transformation that comes when our minds are renewed (Ro12.2) by The Holy Spirit through regular and frequent reading and meditating on Scripture, praying and worshipping. 
5. Living Stones are built into a spiritual house through consistent and attentive testing and discerning what is the will of God and what is good and acceptable and perfect (Ro12.2). 
6. Living Stones being built into a spiritual house do not think more highly of themselves than we ought, but with the sober judgement that comes according to the measure of faith God has assigned us (Ro12.3). 
7. Just as one body has many members (Ro12.4), spiritual houses are made out of many stones so Living Stones being built into such houses have to live and grow with, support and be supported by other Living Stones—lots of them. Spiritual houses are built by communities. 
8. Living Stones are built into a spiritual house by discerning our many different functions and giftings in the One Body (Ro12.4-6) which is the Church. 
9. Living Stones are built into a spiritual house as we identify and exercise the God-given Gifts of the Spirit St Paul lists in Romans 12: 
1. prophecy, 
2. service or ministry, 
3. teaching, 
4. exhortation or encouragement, 
5. giving, 
6. leadership
7. Compassion, showing mercy or kindness 

We either know our gift or gifts, or we are actively discerning to what God is calling us. 

10. Living Stones are built into a spiritual house as we do all these things in proportion to our faith, serving one another generously, with enthusiasm and cheerfulness (Ro12.6-8). 
11. Living Stones are built into a spiritual house as The LORD increases our strength of soul and fulfills his purpose for them (Ps138.3&8). 
12. Living Stones are built into a spiritual house as Jesus continues to build The Church he started with Peter—The Spiritual House.
13. Living Stones are built into a spiritual house as they become the promised holy priesthood, offering spiritual and living sacrifices acceptable to God through our Lord and Saviour, (1Pet2.5)

Jesus. 

On the Importance of The Name of Jesus

This is my new template for homily/sermon manuscripts. We used to call this sort of thing a do-nut in my CKY-TV Winnipeg commercial production days. A commercial or “spot” would have a pre-produced brand standard beginning and end and we would fill the middle with whatever was the message and the deals of the day. 

An homily should do the same. Declare the brand, tell them what’s good and new, and remind them of the brand. Our brand is…

JESUS

…what he did and taught, his example, how he opens the Scriptures and how they point to and bear witness about him (Lk24.27, John5.39). What the truth in Jesus (John14.17, Eph4.21) is for us this day and thus and so until we end, as we began, with…

JESUS. 

Too simple? Will anybody notice? Maybe not. Too careless of the Holy Trinity? Perhaps. Yet I feel that we Anglicans don’t use Jesus’ Name enough in our church and mission speak. Glory to God—Father, Son and Holy Spirit—by all means yet say all we say and do all we do in the Name of Jesus and for his sake. There is power in that Name. This is my way of keeping myself and my writing and speaking on track so I may more clearly, nearly and dearly love, worship, enjoy, follow and obey

JESUS. 

Jesus: a Scandalously Particular Welcome: a Short Homily for the Third Sunday after Trinity—with reference to Romans 6.12-23 and Matthew 10.40-42 NRSV

This, sans the skippable optional insert, was today’s homily for Morning Prayer at St Mary the Virgin Anglican Church, Regina, Saskatchewan…

Jesus 

is the first of two words I have for you today—as in Jesus Christ our Lord—The One in whom God’s free gift of eternal life comes to us according to St Paul in today’s reading from Romans (Ro6.23). The only one through whom that gift comes, as it happens. St Peter makes it clear in Acts chapter 4—not one of our readings for today, but to the point—when he wrote

there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men and women by which we must be saved. (Acts4.12)

No other name. No one else, but Jesus only. 

Well that’s not very open and inclusive someone might say—and people do. So, George Carey, three Archbishops of Canterbury ago, once wrote that

This is the scandal of particularity with which we must live. Christians cannot yield this un-negotiable element in their faith. We believe that the God of the universe longs to reveal Himself and He does in many different ways and forms, through religion, through reason, art, and human intelligence, but each and every one of these ways is limited. Only in a personal relationship with Jesus Christ can God be fully known, worshipped, and obeyed. (The Most Reverend George Carey, Archbishop of Canterbury, “Archbishop’s Voice,”The Anglican Digest, Pentecost 1992, p63)

Jesus only.

So—more from Archbishop Carey: 

Let’s not have any truck with bland theology, that Jesus is just one option among many. Dialogue with other faiths is very important, but I can respect another faith and a believer of that faith by saying I believe that Jesus Christ is the only way of salvation. Do with that truth what you may, but my job is to say that to you. 

It’s our job, too, and just as the Archbishop wrote, Jesus, however scandalously particular, must always be the first, the most important, the defining Word on our lips and in the things we do and the places we go. Which leads me to the second word for today.

Optional bit if one wished to make this homily a little longer…

Being too scandalously particular or theologically bland aren’t the only things that can get in the way of us doing our jobs keeping Jesus front and centre. There’s another which thoroughly distorts any believing in, knowing, worshipping, obeying and saying Jesus is the only way of salvation—Sin. Do not let it “exercise dominion” (Ro6.12) over you, writes St Paul in Romans 6, because if you do, your wages will be death (v23)—that’s a pretty scandalously particular statement, too. Instead, “present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from the death to life” (v13) in Jesus. Death or Jesus. Gulp. But it’s the truth. The choices are: 

Jesus:  The Way, The Truth and The Life (John14.6)

Or

Not: where, instead of the utterly trustworthy, eternal life-bound Way, Truth and LIfe that Jesus brings; there are the dead-ends, lies and death that come from allowing sin’s mortal passions (v12), wickedness (v13), impurity, iniquity (v19) and shame (v21) to have their fatal dominion over us. It really is a matter of life and death. Everyone must choose. It really is as scandalously and particularly simple as that.  

So, choose life (Dt30.19-20) and find out how to share the life Jesus brings to the people around you so they can choose it, too. 

I remember Kate Berringer, our daughter, telling Emily and Samantha, her daughters, to “Use your words!” when things were tense. Things have been rather tense for us, too, for these last few months what with covid-19, losses and forced isolation. Sin’s dominion makes it worse, so use your words, too. Here’s a good one that goes along with Jesus, the first one. )

The word appears six times in our Gospel reading. It’s closely associated with Jesus. The word is WELCOME (Mt10.40-41, NRSV). Jesus is God’s Word of welcome into the eternal life we read about in Romans this morning. Just as Archbishop Carey wrote, our job as Anglican Christians is to say, in all our words and deeds, in our relationships and consumption, in the way we live, as winsomely as we can, that we believe Jesus is the only way of salvation— welcome! Come on in. Come with us. Taste and see how good He is (Ps34.8). Welcome to the freedom and relief of a forgiven life—in Jesus (Lk1.77). Welcome to the richest, most satisfying, most challenging, fullest abundant life there is—in Jesus (John10.10). 

As you live your welcoming life—welcoming Jesus into your own life and welcoming others into His—do it with absolute confidence that the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ 

always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere (2Cor2.14). 

Always. Sweet smelling. Welcoming. Even across the social distances visited upon us these days—perhaps especially across those “distances”—spreading the heady, heart-warming, heavenly fragrance of the knowledge of our unique and scandalously particular Lord and Saviour.

Two words which go together for today. Welcome, and

Jesus. 

Practicing Jesus: Thoughts on a Sunday in June Almost As If I Was Going to Preach Them but Not Really—with reference to Isa 40, Ps 19, Php 4 and John 1

Jesus 

is the Word who was with God in the beginning. All things were made through Jesus and without him was not any thing made that was made—including you and me. In Jesus is life and the light of us all. Jesus still shines in the darkness (John1.1-5). From the fullness of Jesus we have all received, grace upon grace, and truth (John1.16-17). Jesus is The One who is at the Father’s side and who makes the Father known to us who have never yet seen God (John1.18)—all from John chapter one this morning. 

The Holy One who John calls Father and Isaiah describes this morning, as—LORD, everlasting God, Creator of the ends of the earth, who does not faint or grow weary and whose understanding is unsearchable (Isa40.28)—can only be known and seen through Jesus. 

Jesus is the key. Just as the words of different languages carved on to the Rosetta Stone became the key to deciphering ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics, Jesus is The Only One by whom any speech, words, voices, can be properly discerned as declaring the glory of God through all the earth and to the end of the world (Ps19.3-4, John14.6), or not. Jesus is The Word written in the language of the Holy Spirit, without which no one can discern, decipher and translate the unsearchable understandings (Isa40.28) and mysteries of God. 

As we heard in Paul’s letter to the Philippians, Jesus is The Only One who can truly free our hearts to rejoice (Php4.4) in life and in God’s goodness and steadfast love. Jesus embodies and exemplifies the purity of The LORD’s commandments, enlightening our eyes (Ps19.8). It is in Jesus that fear of The LORD becomes forever clean (Ps19.9). Jesus is Grace and Truth (John 1.14, 17). And Jesus is the personification and exemplar of whatever is true, honorable, just, pure, lovely, commendable, excellent and praiseworthy (Php4.8). Whenever I am wondering about how I must behave—how I must treat an indigenous person, my father, a wife, a husband, a child, a parent, a friend, someone I disagree with or dislike, where to spend my money and use my time, how to forgive someone who has wronged me—Jesus must be my key and guide for translating the truth into all my situations and relationships. Only in Jesus can I be reasonable to everyone (Php4.5), free of anxiety (Php4.6), true, honourable, just, pure, lovely, commendable, excellent and praiseworthy (Php4.8) in my behaviour and actions.

The LORD is at hand, declared St Paul this morning. So I need not be anxious about anything! If in everything, by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, I make my requests known to God (Php4.5-6), all else will follow. I will mount up with wings like eagles, run and not be weary, walk and not faint (Isa40.31). The God of Peace will be with me and those around me (Php4.9). The words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart will be acceptable in God’s sight (Ps19.14).

Practice these things (Php4.9)—the wise and practical teachings of Jesus, Paul, Isaiah and the Psalmist we heard today—and we will all receive grace upon grace from the fullness of Jesus (John1.16) and we shall see his glory, 

glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth (John1.14).

in the face of our LORD and Saviour,

Jesus.

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.

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. 

Finished

Lenten Reminders of Jesus

My "By The Way" column in today's Medicine Hat News:

Jesus told us to do certain things so we will remember him (I Corinthians 11.24-25). I believe he said it because he knows what we’re like. He’s certainly got me figured out. He knows I forget things; important things; all the time. I forget the names of people I know really well, especially and embarrassingly, when I’m about to introduce them. I forget to say my prayers. I forget to take my pills. I forget to announce things and thank certain people during Sunday services. I get up and go to another room to do something only to find when I get there that I’ve forgotten what I was going to do. I’m writing this on Ash Wednesday because I have it on my calendar to write it today. It’s on my calendar because if it wasn’t, I’d very likely arrive at Wednesday, like one of those rooms I keep getting up and going to, and forget why I’m there.

Which reminds me, you are reading this on the first Saturday in Lent. Lent begins on Ash Wednesday and runs for forty days (not counting Sundays which are always days to celebrate the Resurrection) until the day before Easter Sunday. The word “Lent” has to do with spring. Lent is a season of spiritual “spring-training” in which many Christians take extra time for self-examination, penitence, prayer, fasting, almsgiving, and reading and meditating on the Word of God.

Now, where was I? O yes. Some people think that having a cross drawn on your forehead with ashes on Ash Wednesday is nothing but an empty ritual and a vain “religious” superstition, as are all the other Lenten spiritual “exercises.” I have to agree that they could be misused if I did them hoping to earn some favour from God. Maybe some people really do do them for that reason. I do them, however, not because Jesus needs reminding of anything, I do them because I know I do.

The cross-shaped smudge of ashes on my forehead on Ash Wednesday is a sign that reminds me of my mortality, that I am dust and to dust I shall return, of my need to be penitent and that only in Jesus will I receive and enjoy eternal life. The Lenten spiritual “spring-training” exercises help me remember that, too. And it all reminds absent-minded, forgetful, sinful me that the first word of the gospel is repent.

I never want to forget it—ever—and I know I need reminding, over and over again. So, I suspect, do you. May your Lent be holy, evocative and full of rich reminders of Jesus.

A Short Homily on Jesus Being the Foundation Other Than That Which No Other Can Be Laid

With reference to Leviticus 19.1-2, 9-18; 1 Corinthians 3.10-12, 16-23; Matthew 5.38-48; the Seventh Sunday after Epiphany, Year A

Jesus is the foundation other than that which no other can be laid (1 Cor 3.23). Jesus only (Mk 9.8). “Let’s not have any truck with bland theology,” Archbishop of Canterbury, George Carey, once wrote, “that Jesus is just one option among many. Dialogue with other faiths is very important, but I can respect another faith and a believer of that faith by saying I believe that Jesus Christ is the only way to salvation. Do with that truth what you may, but my job is to say that to you.”

Jesus, he also wrote, “is the the scandal of particularity with which we must live. Christians cannot yield this un-negotiable element in their faith. We believe that the God of the universe longs to reveal Himself and He does so in many different ways and forms, through religion, through reason, art and human intelligence, but each and every one of these ways is limited. Only in a personal relationship with Jesus Christ can God be fully known, worshipped and obeyed.” Jesus only.

There can be no foundation laid other than Jesus Christ, no matter how skilled or gifted or creative or resourceful the builder, or speaker, or teacher, or churchwarden, or parish councillor, or incumbent, or bishop—no matter how filled with the latest wisdom and craftiness (1 Cor 3.19) of the age. The foundation, my foundation, our foundation, must always and in all ways be Jesus Christ because we as individuals and as his church belong to him, pure and simple (1 Cor 3.23).

If I, even with the best of intentions, try to add to, or modify, to improve on the foundation that is Jesus, I am deceiving myself (1 Cor 3.18) and those around me. So are you. And if that is what I’m trying to do, most likely I am suggesting such “improvements” out of the “wisdom” of my age (1 Cor 3.18). Some examples from the age in which we live and move and have our being have to do with our possessions, money, stewardship and tithing; with the need to be, and worship, in our Church community every week; and with matters of sexuality and marriage, both hetero and homo—the wisdom of our age has compromised them all, and more, by permissive relaxing of Biblical teaching. I believe that Jesus is referring to such so called wisdom and misguided permissiveness when he says, “You have heard that it was said,”—three times last Sunday and twice this morning (Mt 5.38, 43).

“But I say to you,” (Mt 5.39, 44) Jesus continues and what he says is not permissive. It doesn’t let us off. Jesus does not relax the Bible’s teaching. He sharpens it. He demands more. Don’t even resist an evildoer let alone teach him or her a lesson. So much for the wisdom of our age. Don’t defeat and destroy your enemies, love them, and pray for those who persecute you,” (Mt 5.39, 44)—be prepared to look like losers according to the wisdom of the age—to become fools so we can become truly wise (1 Cor 3.18) with a wisdom based on the sure foundation of the teaching of Jesus Christ, our Master and owner.

He speaks to us in the same vein through Moses in Leviticus, too. Be generous, leave lots of left-overs for the poor (Lev 19.9-10). Don’t steal, deal falsely, lie, misuse His Name, defraud your neighbour (Lev 19.11-13)—the list goes on. I am fascinated that there is even a reference to treating those with special needs well—no reviling them or trying to trip them up (Lev 19.14 ).

This morning's foundational message from Jesus can be summed up in two simple statements. Be holy (Lev 19.2). Be perfect (Mt 5.48). Nothing permissive about that. Jesus, the foundation other than that which no other can be laid (1 Cor 3.23) calling us to be more than we think we can be, calling us to attempt the impossible, to go beyond the world’s mere common sense. Sometimes it feels like Jesus is calling me to step out on something like one of those glass walk-ways over the Grand Canyon. The wisdom of the age in me is screaming, “There’s nothing there! Don’t be so foolish! You’re going to plummet to your death!” In one sense it’s true. There is nothing there—except Jesus who is everything. The surest foundation. Structurally sound. Absolutely trustworthy. Holy. Perfect. Only Jesus.

All or Nothing: a Short Homily with Reference to Christ the King, Jeremiah 23:1-6, Colossians 1:11-20 and Luke 23:33-43

Jesus is the one Jeremiah was writing about even though he didn't know it at the time. Jesus is our Sovereign LORD and King. That is what today is about. Another twenty-six Sundays of what the Catholics call ordinary time has passed, the culmination of which is today’s celebration of Jesus, Christ the King. Jesus is not just king-for-a-day, or king for an hour or a day a week, or a couple of days—Christmas and Easter—a year. Jesus is our King always and forever.

Not only that, writes Paul to the Colossians: of all of creation (v15), Jesus was Firstborn (v15); of all things (v16): Jesus was Creator, Before, and is The Holder Together, The Reconciler; The One, The Only One, in whom all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell. King Jesus is the Son of the invisible, Living God and his very image.

Jesus is all of that and more, or he is nothing.

I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept his claim to be God. That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic — on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg — or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at him and kill him as a demon or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God, but let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to. ― CS Lewis, Mere Christianity

“Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!” (Lk19.38) called the people in the streets as King Jesus made his triumphant ride into Jerusalem to meet and forgive the soldiers who crucified him, for they knew not what they were doing, and to hang between the criminals who were to die on his right and left; and to extend that royal invitation to one of them:

Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise.” (Lk 23:43)

As CS Lewis said, we must all make our choice. The criminals made their choices, so did the rulers and soldiers. Either Jesus is Son of God and King, or he is nothing. No ifs, ands or buts: no “If he is the Christ of God” (Lk 23:35) or “If your are the King of the Jews” (Lk 23:37). Jesus is all, or he is nothing.

Choose all that Jesus is and I “will be royally strengthened with all power for all endurance and patience with joy (Col 1:11). So will you. Choose Jesus and, like the criminal beside Jesus, I am royally “qualified to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. 13…delivered from the domain of darkness and transferred to the kingdom of his beloved Son, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.”—ready to join King Jesus in paradise. So will you.

Creedal Christian: Verna Dozier on the Old and New Testaments

"If you think the God of the Old Testament is a God of wrath, then you don't know the prophets Isaiah and Jeremiah. If you think the God of the New Testament is a God of sweetness and light, then you don't know Jesus of Nazareth." 

Creedal Christian: Verna Dozier on the Old and New Testaments

O, yes :-)

The Same Jesus Who Changes Everything—28 August - 3 September, Year C, Proper 22

Jesus is the same yesterday and today and forever. Look at verse 8 in the Hebrews reading (ch13). I'm not the same as I was yesterday. Neither are you. The Anglican Church isn't. St Barnabas isn't. Jesus is. So what?

We live in a world of change. In fact, we live in a world where the pace of change is growing faster and faster. So fast that if, as someone said, we're not confused, we're not thinking straight. Pastor, preacher and author, James Ryle, describes it as a part of a cycle in our lives: change challenges us. Challenge makes obedient. Obedience makes us healthy. Healthy things grow.

Change challenges us. No kidding. Life is full of it: the full on growth and learning of infancy, childhood and puberty, education, marriage (or not), parenting (or not), career, retirement, old age, death. Same in the church: BCP to BAS, the old organic hymns to contemporary songs of praise. New ideas. Disagreements. Conflict. Remember the story of the old Scottish Presbyterian elder a visitor met while exploring his even older church. "I bet you've seen a lot of change around here," the visitor said. "Aye," the elder replied, "and I've opposed every one of them." How many Anglicans does it take to change a light bulb? two; one to change it and the other to prefer the old one. The only constant in life is change, someone also said. Which is not true. The other and more important constant, the one who doesn't change and yet who changes everything, is Jesus Christ, Risen Lord and Saviour, who meets us here today.

So change challenges us. The next point in Ryle's change-cycle is this: challenge makes us obedient. That's true. Change can be unsettling. The question for me and you is, to what, or whom, will I be obedient? When I'm unsettled, I want to try and regain some sort of equilibrium, I look for something to help. I want some peace—some solid ground—a blankie. All sorts of appetites begin to clamour for attention: eat me, look at me, buy me, wear me, enjoy me, use me, waste me—I'll make you feel better. None of them, of course, can or will bring peace. To obey those calls, insistent as they are, is an obedience in the wrong direction. They are the equivalents of the "cracked cisterns that can hold no water" (Jer 2:13) we read about in Jeremiah. God created and allows life's challenges to urge and point us to The One who doesn't change and who will be our constant, our anchor, as we are tossed about by life's changes. Jesus who is the same yesterday, today and forever, is the only one worthy of our obedience.

Change challenges us, challenge makes us obedient. Next is, obedience makes us healthy. Obey what, in particular? Holy Scripture provides health-giving principles to obey. There are some hints in our readings this morning:

For example, here's a question to ask ourselves from Jeremiah: look at verses 6 and 8: "Where is the LORD?" God was not pleased with the Israelites for not asking that question more often as they faced the changes and chances of their lives. It is a good one for me, too. Where is the LORD to be found in this changing situation? Where is his stability, his constancy? What is the thing I must obey which will make me and keep me healthy? Obedience makes us healthy.

There is also a list of practical actions in Hebrews (ch13) which, if obeyed, will lead to health: love mutually (v1), show hospitality (v2), honour marriage (v4), be content with what you have (v5), worship (v15), do good (v16). Obedience makes us healthy.

Here's the best one.  Look at the first verse of the gospel (Lk 14:1): "they were watching him closely." That's Jesus they were watching, Jesus was challenging them but they weren't interested in obeying him. They were looking for ways to condemn him. It is, however, a good reminder for us, who live in in the midst of life's often confusing and challenging changes and chances. Want to be healthy? As yourself where Jesus is in the situation. Watch Jesus closely. You know the best places for Jesus watching: in the Holy Scriptures, in the worship of the church. Obedience makes us healthy.

Finally, healthy things grow. Live like this and I will grow spiritually. So will you. Live like this and St Barnabas will grow. As we grow, we will change. Change challenges us. Challenge makes us obedient. Obedience makes us healthy in Jesus who is the same yesterday, today and forever.

One Giant Leap for Humankind

Praying Evening Prayer from the Church of England website during Christmastide. This around the Magnificat:

When peaceful silence lay over all,

and night was in the midst of her swift course:

from your royal throne, O God, down from the heavens,

leapt your almighty Word.

It's from the book of Wisdom in the Apocrypha. Lovely imagery. Jude pointed out that the leap must have happened at Jesus' conception. We wondered what it must have then been like in heaven around that royal throne after the leap. We were reminded of Robin Mark's song, The Wonder of Your Cross:

Were heaven's praises silent in those hours of darkness?

Your Holy Spirit brooding round that empty throne?

Mark, of course, is writing about the time between the crucifixion and the resurrection. But was the Holy Spirit actually brooding around that empty throne for thirty-three years? All the way from conception to resurrection?

Mark again (Robin, not the other):

Until the declaration "He is Risen", You are risen, Jesus,

"He is not dead, behold He lives for evermore".

O, yes!

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Jesus Only: Archbishop George Carey

Let's not have any truck with bland theology, that Jesus is just one option among many. Dialogue with other faiths is very important, but I can respect another faith and believer of that faith by saying I believe that Jesus Christ is the only way of salvation. Do with that truth what you may, but my job is to say that to you. 

Amen and amen.

Illuminated Notes for an Homily on Jesus' High Priestly Prayer in John 17

That upon which I actually spoke. Catherine called it a "Wordle" at the early service. I projected it as I spoke. From one of my Moleskine notebooks full of "illuminated" verses—my Holy Moley :-)

Mike Peterson, the Mad Padre has a good take on Jesus' prayer for today, too. 

Harvey Opens Tonight: on Lines, Invisible Friends, Christianity and Elwood P Dowd's Message

Lines
Harvey opens this evening. I've spent the last few weeks stuffing my lines into my head in the midst of my parish priest life. I've recited them to myself in bed as I've been drifting off to sleep. I said them to myself in the air all the way from Moncton to Calgary. I've declaimed them to the long-suffering Jude. I've spoken them out loud in the car as I've driven to a diocesan executive committee meeting in Calgary and back. Yet there are still a few sticky points I must keep an eye on.

There's a sort of heady risk factor involved. Therein lies part of the rush of performing, I suppose. When I walk on to the stage this evening I won't have all the dialogue neatly laid out in my consciousness. I have to begin, in faith, with the first words, trusting that each line that I deliver thereafter will cue the next one in my memory. I also have to trust that when I finish each of one of my lines or speeches it will properly trigger the next from one of my fellow performers.

Sometimes I know what I'm to say next even as one of the other characters begins his or her line. Sometimes I can't remember what's next until the trigger that's lodged in my memory goes off. This is a little nerve wracking, especially when that trigger is the last word in the line. I have to trust that it will come, that I will hear it when it does and that I will remember what I'm to say next. Phew!

It's like we're (the actors) running along the top of a high fence. If one of us stumbles, all of us can fall off. In public. If someone misses a cue, or skips some lines, one has to think quickly; is there a way of reminding him or her? Does the skipped portion include something really important for the narrative? It can be frightening and exciting.

Invisible Friends
Harvey is about Elwood P Dowd and his invisible rabbit friend, Harvey. Elwood's sister, Veta, tries to have him committed because of this friendship. Elwood’s naive and eccentric behaviour is an embarrassment for her and threatens her social standing.

Although Harvey is not a “Christian” play, its message is an interesting one for Christians to think about. They can be considered as simple and eccentric as Elwood for their belief in and commitment to Jesus, who also seems to be invisible and at odds with the standards of the world.

We can all learn much from Elwood P Dowd about how to live life to the full. For example, life is an absolute joy for Elwood. He savours and enjoys it all. Elwood is positive and friendly, and always interested in the people he meets. Elwood refuses to take offense, even when his sister tries to put him away. Elwood never uses Harvey's supernatural powers to hurt anyone or for personal gain.

Some Dowdisms to enjoy:
On availability:

I happen to have a little free time right now and you're welcome to all of it. 

On evangelism:

I want you…to become friends with a very dear friend of mine. 

On reality:

Doctor, I wrestled with reality for forty years, and I am happy to state that I finally won out over it. 

On drinking and driving:

I had just helped Ed Hickey into a taxi. Ed had been mixing his rye with his gin, and I felt he needed conveying.

On conflict (something we Anglicans need to take to heart?):

An element of conflict in any discussion is a good thing. It means that everybody is taking part and nobody is left out. I like that. 

On being content with our lot:

So far I've never been able to think of any place I'd rather be. I always have a wonderful time just where I am, whomever I'm with. 

A mother's advice:

My mother used to say to me, "In this world, Elwood"—she always called me Elwood—she'd say, "In this world, Elwood, you must be oh, so smart or oh, so pleasant." For years I was smart. I recommend pleasant. You may quote me. 

Christ the Lord: the Road to Cana and Swordplay

Christ the Lord: the Road to Cana

Still enjoying the afterglow of Anne Rice’, Christ the Lord: the Road to Cana. I feel like, through her, the Lord gave me some idea of what might have been going on in his head in those early days as he struggled to comprehend and accept the reality of who he really was. I loved him as I read it. I was brought to tears as John baptized him in the Jordan. Rice’s imaginative take on the wedding at Cana and how Jesus came to be there is brilliant. Wonderful.

Kingdom Swordplay

Camping in Psalm 18 this week with A Guide to Prayer. It’s the “by my God I can leap over a wall” psalm. “He trains my hands for war (v32),” writes David. “I pursued my enemies and overtook them (v37)…I thrust them through, so that they were not able to rise; they fell under my feet (v38).” I can’t imagine thrusting someone through with a sword. David’s world was also one in which what he was called to do exposed him to the risk of being thrust through himself. It’s foreign to me except in some sort of allegorical, “spiritual warfare” kind of way, not to mention being seriously incorrect politically.

Still, it is God’s upright and true Word of Life.

Jesus has something to say about swords:

Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. (Mt 10.34)

and

But now let the one who has a moneybag take it, and likewise a knapsack. And let the one who has no sword sell his cloak and buy one. (Lk 22.36)

But on the other hand,

Put your sword back into its place. For all who take the sword will perish by the sword. (Mt 26.52)

What Are My Hands Trained For?

How does one apply that to life and ministry in twenty-first century Medicine Hat? What have You—do You—train my hands for? Who, or what, must I (figuratively, I presume, I hope!) pursue, overtake and thrust through so they are unable to rise and will fall beneath my feet?

Wow! Anne Rice, CHRIST THE LORD: the Road to Cana!!!!

She describes the process in her Note from the Author:

I have reached into my heart and prayed for my love of the Lord and my faith in Him to infuse and inform the portrait offered here. I cannot write a word for Him to think or speak that is not rooted in my deepest devotion and belief.

The Lord appears to have answered her prayer.

I wanted to draw as close as I could to Jesus and His family and His followers, yet maintain complete orthodoxy at the same time. This is what I feel strongly called to do.

And do, she did.

These novels, whatever their faults, have been written for Him.

They have been written for Him and for any and all who seek Him, and seek to meditate on the mystery of the Incarnation. And if these books do not bring you closer to Him, then you are urged, please, to put them aside.

Anne Rice has helped me to love Jesus more, especially in this book. As she drew close to Jesus and His family she drew me with her. I was brought closer to Him by her inspired imagination and prose. Amazing.

Anne Rice, "Christ the Lord: Out of Egypt": an Act of Literary Worship

I've just finished reading Anne Rice's, Christ the Lord: Out of Egypt. A lovely read in which she tells the story of some of Jesus' childhood, from the return to Nazareth from Egypt to his remaining in the temple when his family made their Passover visit when he was twelve years old. She tells the story in the first person, as Jesus. Fascinating.

In the Author's Note at the end she describes her return to Christian faith after many years away. She also describes her research for the novel during which I was delighted to find she is an NT Wright fan:

one of the most brilliant writers I've ever read, and his generosity in embracing the skeptics and commenting on their arguments is an inspiration. His faith is immense, and his knowledge vast. p318

Rice's research involved much reading of those skeptical about Jesus until:

I became disillusioned with the skeptics and with the flimsy evidence for their conclusions, I realized something about my book.

It was this. The challenge was to write about the Jesus of the Gospels, of course!

Anybody could write about a liberal Jesus, a married Jesus, a gay Jesus, a Jesus who was a rebel. The "Quest for the Historical Jesus" had become a joke because of all the many definitions it had ascribed to Jesus.

The true challenge was to take the Jesus of the Gospels, the Gospels which were becoming ever more coherent to me, the Gospels which appealed to me as elegant first-person witness, dictated to scribes no doubt, but definitely early, the Gospels produced before Jerusalem fell—to take the Jesus of the Gospels, and try to get inside him and imagine what he felt. p319-320

Which is exactly what she's done. An act of literary worship, in fact. It'll be going in the StB library.